On the latest edition of the State of the Sun Devils podcast, Jeremy Schnell, Damon Allred and Jesse Morrison react to Arizona State football’s 48-7 blowout win over Wyoming.

ASU’s defense stood out during the game with three takeaways, two of which resulted in touchdowns.

The Sun Devils’ rushing attack propelled the offense, as Arizona State carried the ball 49 times for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Eleven ASU players carried the ball, with starter Cam Skattebo leading the way with 49 yards and a score.

Quarterback Sam Leavitt made his debut as the Sun Devils’ starting quarterback. He went 14-for-22 with 258 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 47 yards on eight attempts.

ASU will now try to improve to 2-0 when it welcomes SEC program Mississippi State to Mountain America Stadium on Saturday. The Bulldogs won their first game 56-7 over FCS Eastern Kentucky.

The game can be found on ESPN 620 AM, the Arizona Sports app and arizonasports.com.

A woman died in a plane crash Sunday near Meeteetse, the coroner has confirmed. 

The crash also sparked a fire. 

The woman was an adult and appears to have been the passenger, Park County Coroner Cody Gortmaker told Cowboy State Daily. He will identify her publicly after he has notified her family of the fatality, he added. 

The pilot appears to have survived the crash, according to Gortmaker and Park County scanner traffic at the time. 

Gortmaker also confirmed that Park County Search and Rescue responded to the scene. 

Park County Sheriff’s spokesman Monte McClain did not immediately respond to a Sunday message from Cowboy State Daily. 

The crash sparked a fire, agents also told dispatch on the scanner. 

Agents discussed sending aerial vessels to the area of Phelps Mountain.

“Got eyes on the smoke, no eyes on the wreckage yet,” said an agent. “We’ll be landing very shortly.”

One agent speculated the fire might be more than Meeteetse personnel could handle.

“Cody (personnel) please respond to the area of Francs peak,” said one agent. “Possible plane crash that started the forest on fire.”

No other information about the crash was immediately available.

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.

Four games. That’s how long it took for the Arizona State defense to generate its first turnover in 2023.

Forty seconds. That’s how it long it took for ASU to get its first turnover for this 2024 season. 

Redshirt junior linebacker Zyrus Fiaseu read Wyoming junior quarterback Evan Svoboda perfectly and intercepted the Mesa Red Mountain alum on the second play of the game, returning it for a touchdown to start the year in near-perfect fashion for the Sun Devils to establish an early 7-0 lead.

They didn’t stop there either.

On the very next offensive drive for the Cowboys, facing a long third-and-23, the ASU defense again capitalized on a mistake from Svoboda, this time as another linebacker – junior Keyshaun Elliott – intercepted Svoboda on an overthrown pass. Seven plays later, redshirt sophomore Ian Hershey booted a 29-yard field goal to make it 10-0 at the 6:19 mark in the first quarter.

Coach Kenny Dillingham called the linebacker room the “most improved” during the preseason. And less than 10 minutes into the first game, the group proved him right. It’s also a testament to ASU’s ability in the transfer portal as both Fiaseu and Elliott are transfers. The Sun Devils picked up 30 transfers this past offseason, with the class ranking No. 30 in the nation and fourth in the Big 12, according to 247Sports.

ASU added its third turnover of the game in the third quarter when Svoboda attempted to hit wide receiver Tyler King on a swing pass to the left, but threw the ball behind his intended target. ASU redshirt senior Justin Wodtly scooped it up and ran 6 yards for the touchdown to make it 41-0 with 6:07 to go in the third quarter.

It was all part of a superb evening from the ASU defense, which held Wyoming to just 53 yards of total offense in the first half. Wyoming didn’t score its first points until 2 seconds remained in the game.

One of the themes of spring and fall camp for ASU was emphasizing the need for turnovers.

Great play all around: Sam Leavitt leads ASU to convincing victory in 1st career start

“I expect us to run to the football, and I expect us to get takeaways this year,” ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham said ahead of the season.

ASU didn’t get its first takeaway until the first quarter of the fourth game of last season against USC when linebacker Tate Romney recovered a fumble. The Sun Devils were the last team among FBS schools to force their first turnover last season.

ASU was a dismal 127th — out of 130 schools — last year in turnover margin. Rice, Nebraska, and Temple were the only schools to finish below ASU in 2023.

That trend is now shifting in favor of the Sun Devils. The message is starting to get through.

“It’s incredible,” Dillingham said in his postgame news conference. “Every single day — guys are probably bored of it — we start our team meeting and the only two things I show are: effort plays and takeaways. That’s it. Bad ball security, takeaways, effort. That’s it. I don’t show anything else. It’s those two things, over and over. It’s just to get in their mind that if you play really hard and you win the turnover battle, all these schemes that you’re about to go do are awesome, but they’re obsolete. And we have to be able to do those two things, and then go play smart football. That was game-changing when you turn the ball over at that rate. It was as close to a shutout as you can possibly get. So in my mind, it’s a shutout and it’s two defensive touchdowns. Awesome job by our defense tonight. They deserve it because they’ve been working hard.”

ASU also executed on running the ball as senior running back Cam Skattebo (11 carries, 49 yards, one touchdown) and redshirt senior running back DeCarlos Brooks (six carries, 47 yards, one touchdown) led a potent, multipronged ground attack. 

Even redshirt sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt got in on the action, showcasing his scrambling ability to the tune of 47 yards on eight carries.

In all, the Sun Devils rushed for 241 yards on 49 carries as a team. ASU had 499 yards of total offense on the night in a commanding 48-7 victory.

Logan Stanley is a sports reporter with The Arizona Republic who primarily focuses on high school, ASU and Olympic sports. To suggest ideas for human-interest stories and other news, reach out to Stanley at logan.stanley@gannett.com or 707-293-7650. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @LSscribe.