What a difference three years makes as it was the 70-7 Duel in the Desert loss to the Sun Devils that led to Kevin Sumlin getting fired as head coach of Arizona and the hiring of Jedd Fisch. Then early in the season last year the Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards also got fired—this one stemming from an NCAA investigation regarding recruiting violations. His Defensive Coordinator at the time, Antonio Pierce resigned prior to the 2022 season and is now the head coach of the Raiders. Shaun Aguano, who joined Edward’s staff in 2019 as the running backs coach took over as interim coach until the hiring of Kenny Dillingham who was the Offensive Coordinator and QB Coach of the Oregon Ducks last season under Dan Lanning. So, what all that amounts to is that Jedd Fisch in is year three of his Arizona rebuild and Dillingham, as of this game, just finished year one. What a difference three years makes.
With the 59-23 drubbing of their in-state rival in the Duel in the Desert this past Saturday, the Arizona Wildcats wrapped up a great 9-3 season, 7-2 in conference, and a brilliant turn-around by Fisch. His 5’ 11” Freshman phenom QB, Noah Fafita, completely picked apart what could barely be called a defense as he completed 30-of-41 for a staggering 527 yards—a school record—5 TD’s and 1 interception. Two of his receivers, Sophomore Tetairoa McMillan and Senior Jacob Cowing combined for a jaw dropping 427 yards and a TD each on just 20 receptions, an average of over 20 yards per reception. Senior TE Tanner McLachlan collected seven for 60 yards and 2 TD’s, while Senior RB Michael Wiley picked up another 25 yards and a TD on two receptions in addition to rushing 12 times for 66 yards and two more TD’s. All toll, the Wildcats rushed 25 times for 92 yards and 3 TD’s with Jonah Coleman picking up the other score.
After a Wildcat field goal to start the game, the Sun Devils actually led for a while in this one—just a little while—as they scored a TD on a Cameron Skattebo run at the end of a 7 play, 75 drive on their first possession of the game to go up 7-3 half-way through the first quarter. After that is was all Arizona who was up 10-7 after one, 38-7 at the break, 52-15 after three and 59-23 to close it out. Could have been closer but the Sun Devils helped out with a couple of interceptions that turned into TD’s, not that it mattered much. For Arizona State, Freshman QB Jaydn Rashada completed just 10-of-22 for 82 yards, 1 TD to Junior WR Troy Omeire, and 2 interceptions. The running game had more traction for the Sun Devils with Junior RB Cameron Skattebo rushing 17 times for about half of the Arizona State 224 yards on the ground and a TD with Junior TE Jalin Conyers picking up another 43 yards and a TD on eight carries. Even though there was only just a difference of two regarding first downs and both teams were within six seconds of each other as far as time-of-possession goes, the Wildcats more than doubled the total yards of offense in the same amount of time, 619-to-306 and were successful 70+% of the time on their 3rd down attempts and scored on six of their first seven possessions to start the game.
With a 3-9 overall record, 2-7 in conference, Arizona State’s season is over. After their 70-7 Duel in the Desert butt kicking of the Wildcats three years ago that led to the firing of Kevin Sumlin, a billboard was erected between Tempe and Tucson on Interstate 10 that read, “No Pity for the Kitty.” Payback’s a bitch and I doubt there will be a lot of sympathy regarding their loss. But Kenny Dillingham is a good coach and this is just year one. It will be interesting to see where he goes from here. As he said after the game; “Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to bounce back up.” As far as Jedd Fisch and his Coordinators and Assistance Coaches go, they’ve done the hard work that it takes to rebuild and have a great program in place led by a Freshman QB who will be around for quite a while.