By PAUL NEWBERRY AP National Writer
ATLANTA — The Texas Longhorns were in Atlanta less than a month ago, playing for a championship.
That one didn’t go as planned.
Now, the Longhorns get an A-T-L do-over when they face Arizona State at the Peach Bowl in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game on New Year’s Day.
Fifth-seeded Texas (12-2) insists it has gotten over the disappointment of losing an overtime thriller to Georgia on Dec. 7, a result that denied the Longhorns a title in their debut season as a member of the SEC.
“Of course we’re going to kind of feel that a little bit, but we kind of want to move on and just get ready for Arizona State,” Texas linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. said. “They’re a good football team and we kind of don’t want to think about that (Georgia) game all over again.”
The Longhorns showed no signs of a hangover when they held off Clemson in the opening round of the expanded 12-team playoff.
If Texas can knock off Arizona State – the Longhorns are a two-touchdown favorite – it will be back home for an in-state semifinal game against either No. 1 Oregon or eighth-seeded Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.
Fourth-seeded Arizona State (11-2) has been one of the nation’s most surprising teams.
The Sun Devils went 3-9 a year ago in Kenny Dillingham’s first season as head coach. Making the move from the disintegrating Pac-12 to the 16-team Big 12, Arizona State was picked to finish dead last this season.
Instead, it was tied with three other teams for the top spot during the regular season, reached the title game via a convoluted tiebreaker and claimed the crown all to itself in the Big 12 championship game, rolling past Iowa State.
This is a chance for ASU to prove to everyone that its stunning season was no fluke.
“We’re going to face one of the best teams in the country, if not the best team in the country,” Dillingham said Tuesday on the eve of the game. “It’s a really tall task for our guys. But by the same token, if you’re a competitor, you want to compete versus the very best in the best environments.”
The guys who helped ASU reach its biggest game in decades aren’t the least bit surprised to be big underdogs.
“We’ve been the underdog all year,” offensive lineman Leif Fautanu said. “That’s kind of what’s been fueling us.”
“We just feel like the whole team has been an underdog their whole life,” defensive back Shamari Simmons added. “Once you put a whole lot of underdogs on one team, everybody just wants to prove everybody wrong.”
It took a while for most everyone to notice what was rising in the desert.
The Sun Devils didn’t crack the CFP Top 25 until a victory at Kansas State in mid-November. They further bolstered their credentials with a win over BYU, which had looked like the team to beat in the Big 12 for much of the season and romped to a 45-19 victory over Iowa State with its most impressive showing of the season.
“We are talented,” receiver Xavier Guillory said defiantly. “We’re here for a reason.”
The Sun Devils haven’t made a major bowl appearance since the 1996 season, when they won the Pac-10 title with a perfect regular season and headed to the Rose Bowl with a shot at their first national title. Those hopes were dashed when Ohio State rallied for a 20-17 victory in the closing seconds.
ASU has rarely been part of the national conversation since. The school cycled through one coach after another, managed only 13 winning seasons over a 27-year span, and recently endured a scathing investigation into NCAA violations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, the Sun Devils have a chance to really shock the world with three more wins.
“It would be awesome for all of college football,” Guillory said, barely able to contain his enthusiasm. “We’re ready for the opportunity. We’re not content. That’s one thing about this crew. We’re not like, ‘Hey, we just we won the Big 12 championship, let’s just coast, whatever happens here, cool.’”
Ewers vs. Leavitt
Quinn Ewers has a stellar resume as the Texas quarterback.
Sam Leavitt is out to prove he’s the better man.
The Arizona State QB has been a major reason for his team’s unexpected success. He’s eager for a head-to-head showdown with Ewers, who has passed for 2,867 yards and 26 touchdowns this season.
Leavitt has put up similar numbers, with 2,663 yards and 24 TDs.
“I’m just excited for the opportunity,” he said. “People keep counting me out since Day 1, and I’m going to go prove why I’m the better quarterback.”
Skattebo’s big stage
Cam Skattebo is ASU’s biggest star, a bowling ball of a running back who has become one of the rare players in FBS history to put up more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage.
No one exemplifies ASU’s improbable turnaround more, and the 5-foot-10, 225-pounder doesn’t lack for confidence, either, calling himself the best runner in all of college football.
The Peach Bowl provides a prime opportunity to back up his bravado, especially against a defense that has been stingy against the run but has struggled with missed tackles at times.
“I feel like I’m the best,” Skattebo said. “I’m excited to play those guys because I’m going to present to them something new that they haven’t seen before. I’m excited, and hopefully they’re ready to play some football.”
Skattebo began his college career at FCS school Sacramento State, where he played for two seasons before gaining enough notice to transfer to ASU ahead of the 2023 season.
He showed flashes of his potential a year ago, but this season Skattebo turned in one of the greatest campaigns in school history. Despite missing one game with a shoulder injury, he has rushed for 1,568 yards and 19 touchdowns, to go along with 37 catches for 506 yards and three TDs.
He considers it a slight that he finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy balloting, barely missing out on an invitation to the award ceremony in New York. He averaged 6 yards per carry, but the Longhorns rank 11th nationally in rushing defense, allowing 104.5 yards per game.
“I’m in one of the four biggest conferences in the country, and I’m doing it at the highest level. That’s simple,” he said. “I believe that I’m the best because I always think I’m the best. … If you have that mindset, you never know where you can end up.”
Exes from Texas
The Longhorns will see plenty of familiar faces when they look across the line.
A half-dozen players on ASU’s overhauled roster used to play at Texas. They all ended up in Tempe through the transfer portal.
The list of former Longhorns players also includes receivers Jake Smith and Troy Omeire, defensive back Xavion Alford, defensive ends J’Mond Tapp and Prince Dorbah, and defensive tackle Zac Swanson.
“All those guys, obviously, they’ll be extra fired up to play the Longhorns,” Texas defensive back Michael Taaffe said. “Anytime you leave a school and you know some people, it’s always fun to play those guys.”
Dillingham said the Texas transfers have made a huge impact on the ASU program.
“We know what we’re getting when we’re getting a guy from that program, and that’s a guy who has worked really hard, competed and been pushed,” the Sun Devils coach said. “Those are the things that we like to bring in.”
Turning it over
Turnovers usually play a key role in big games. It will be interesting to see how that works out in the Peach Bowl.
ASU has coughed up the ball only eight times, tied for the second-fewest turnovers in the FBS. Texas, on the other hand, has forced a nation-leading 29 turnovers.
Dillingham said it will be important to keep the pocket clean around Leavitt.
“It all starts with pass rush,” he said. “They get pass rush, they get tipped balls. Their defensive line gets in throwing windows.”
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian praised Skattebo and the rest of the Sun Devils for losing only three fumbles all year, to go along with five interceptions.
“You just don’t not fumble the ball. You work at not fumbling the ball,” Sarkisian said. “They’ve done a great job of controlling football games by not turning it over.”
Suspended star
ASU will have to play the first half without star DB Simmons, who is suspended for the first two quarters after being ejected for targeting in the Big 12 championship game.
“Shamari is a leader on our team,” Alford said. “It’s very unfortunate that he’s not going to be with us in the first half in the game, but he’ll still be there as a leader and as a teammate on the sidelines and things of that nature.”
Redshirt freshman Montana Warren will take Simmons’ spot in the lineup during the first half.
“God always has a plan, and I just feel like his plan right now is just basically showing who Montana Warren is to the world,” Simmons said. “He’s going to be a great defensive back for Arizona State for a long time coming.”
No. 5 seed TEXAS (12-2) vs. No. 4 ARIZONA STATE (11-2)
What: Peach Bowl, CFP quarterfinal
When: Wednesday, 10 a.m. PT
Where: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
TV/radio: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, 830 AM
Line: Texas is favored by 12½ points.
Series record: Texas leads 1-0 (2007 Holiday Bowl)