December 7, 2024; Arlington, TX, USA; Iowa State Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell waves to the referees during the second half against the Arizona State Sun Devils at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory attribution: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

ARLINGTON, Texas — Missed tackles. Costly sales. A lack of attention to detail.

No. 16 Iowa State’s countless mistakes culminated in the driving story of Saturday’s 45-19 loss to No. 15 Arizona State in the Big 12 championship game at AT&T Stadium – but the Cyclones didn’t just lose the game.

The Sun Devils, picked to finish last in the league (11-2), flexed their muscles and won.

“They executed with great precision,” said ISU head coach Matt Campbell, which led ISU (10-3) to its first 10-win season with a chance to get to 11 in a bowl game to be determined. “Hats off to them.”

Likely All-American tailback Cam Skattebo rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns and also caught a 33-yard touchdown pass, and ISU (10-3) had no answer for his wide-ranging talents. His redshirt freshman quarterback, Sam Leavitt, rushed for 33 yards and threw three touchdown passes. Arizona State’s defense forced three turnovers early in the second half, cementing its first Big 12 title in the conference’s inaugural season.

Essentially, the Sun Devils had a near-flawless performance in all three phases, and the Cyclones stumbled across the board.

“It just shows what we can be,” said Arizona State University head coach Kenny DIllingham, whose team secured a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff for the first time ever. “With the right direction, with the right players who are committed to the program and the work, I think you can achieve anything here. I always thought that. People have always said that this place is a sleeping giant. Well, you’re not a sleeping giant if you never wake up. You’re a dead giant, aren’t you?”

Fair enough.

The Sun Devils’ high hopes of not only making the playoffs but also competing for a national championship are fully alive. ISUs have been eliminated, of course, but a warm-weather bowl destination still beckons — be it the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio or the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando. There remains one last guaranteed game for the Cyclones’ star-studded senior class, which includes captains like Safety Beau Freylerdefensive tackle JR Singleton and wide receivers Jaylin Noel.

“The courage and toughness they have shown over the last two years is like nothing I have ever seen,” Campbell said.

Dillingham feels the same way about his “player-led” program, which went 3-9 last season in his first year at the helm.

“These guys believed in the vision, even though it’s hard to believe when you’re not very good and you’re 3-9,” Dillingham said. “Not many people believed that. But we had a sense of faith because the guys next to me, the leaders of our football team, create a sense of faith with their work.”

The same goes for the Cyclones, who will be playing in a bowl game for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.

“I’m going to play in the bowl game,” Noel said when asked about opting out of the game. “Just having that final moment – ​​it’s going to be a defining moment for this program to win 11 games and do better than we did last year. … If you don’t want to meet this standard, you don’t have to play in the last game. But we will be prepared for it.”