In the last seven days, Arizona State found out assistant head coach Charlie Ragle would be going on a medical leave of absence, Sam Leavitt would be ruled out for the year and Jordyn Tyson would miss his second straight game of the year.
Oh, they also had to go on the road to Iowa State in what would be widely considered their toughest road game of conference play.
And the Sun Devils found a way to win 24-19 over the Cyclones.
Jeff Sims took over the Sun Devil offense for his second start of the year. He totaled 177 passing yards and a score to tight end Chamon Metayer. He also rushed for 228 yards and two scores as well.
He crushed the the record for most rushing yards in a game by a Sun Devil quarterback. The previous record-holder was Mark Malone, who rushed for 139 yards in 1978 against USC.
The Sun Devils out-gained Iowa State 467-336. What kept the game close was that the Cyclones won the turnover battle. Sims had two fumbles and threw an interception. Arizona State’s lone takeaway came on a Jordan Crook interception.
Defensively, Keyshaun Elliott lead the Sun Devils with 10 tackles and tackle for loss. Justin Wodtly set the tone up front with six tackles, a sack, tackle for loss and a crucial pass batted down at the line.
The defense also held Iowa State to 2/14 on third down.
The Devils will look to shore up the penalties as they were tagged 11 times for 119 yards.
The have a chance to look at that and get healthy as they hit their second bye of the season before hosting West Virginia on November 15.
Jordan Hamm
