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Fun Facts, Iowa State-Arizona State: Cy, Sparky, Skattebo, the Salt and the South Skunk
First meeting between Cyclones and Sun Devils is a big one, for the Big 12 championship. It pits two former youngest FBS coaches in the nation.
Dec. 5, 2024 10:34 am, Updated: Dec. 5, 2024 2:21 pm
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If you’re in a conference, playing in a conference-championship game is fun. So that means there will be Fun Facts. Like:
1. This is the first football game between Arizona State and Iowa State. The teams meet in Ames next season.
2. Cyclone quarterback Rocco Becht has thrown touchdown passes in his last 16 games.
3. Sun Devil quarterback Sam Leavitt threw three touchdown passes in four of his last five games.
4. Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham had been FBS’ youngest head coach at 34 until Florida Atlantic hired 33-year-old Texas Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley Monday.
5. Iowa State Coach Matt Campbell was the youngest FBS head coach at 32 when he got the job at Toledo in 2011.
6. Dillingham is ASU’s 26th head football coach, but the first to be born in Arizona and to be an ASU graduate.
7. Twenty player in the nation have 1,000 receiving yards. Iowa State is the only team with two, Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel.
8. ASU running back Cam Skattebo has 4,074 career rushing yards in four seasons. He played his first two seasons at Sacramento State.
9. Skattebo is a Norwegian name, pronounced Skat-uh-boo. Burrito Express in metro Phoenix an NIL deal with him, and sells the Boo-ritto, a combination of chicken, beans, cheese, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, sour cream, guacamole and rice for $11.88.
10. Ten players on Iowa State’s Big 12 title-game team of 2020 are currently on NFL active rosters, including its top quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end.
11. Arizona State was picked to finish in last place in the Big 12 in the media preseason poll. It went 7-2 to tie Iowa State, BYU and Colorado for first place. Utah was picked to win the conference. It went 2-7.
12. Iowa State has finished in the top four of the Big 12 in seven of the last eight years.
13. The Sun Devils haven’t punted on an opening drive this season.
14. Texas Tech defeated ASU and ISU.
14. This is only Iowa State’s sixth day game out of 13, and first start before 1 p.m.
15. Arizona State wide receivers coach Hines Ward had 12,083 receiving yards for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1998 to 2011.
16. Iowa State has scored 20-plus points in its last 14 games. The only team that tops that is Miami (Fla.), at 16 games.
17. ASU defensive lineman Jacob Kongaika planted the Sun Devils’ signature pitchfork at midfield at Arizona following the Sun Devils’ 49-7 win last Saturday in Tucson. Kongaika is a transfer from Arizona. He is 3-0 in the state rivalry game, since he was with Arizona the previous two seasons when it won.
18. At No. 16, Arizona State is the highest ranked opponent Iowa State has faced this season. The Cyclones are 2-0 against teams that were ranked at the time they played them, No. 21 Iowa and No. 24 Kansas State.
19. ASU’s mascot is named Sparky and Iowa State’s is named Cy. The New York Yankees’ Sparky Lyle won the 1977 American League Cy Young Award.
20. The Salt River flows through Tempe, Ariz. The South Skunk River flows through Ames.
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