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Arizona State RB Cam Skattebo Makes Confident Claim When Asked About Texas's Defense
No one should ever accuse Arizona State's Cam Skattebo of being shy.
On Monday, during media day for the Sun Devils' Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl matchup with Texas, the senior running back addressed facing the Longhorns, who have one of the best defenses in all of college football. Skattebo was asked how he'd be impacted by Texas' plan to try and stop him, and his response sure was something.
"They continue to keep saying that people are going to try to stop me," Skattebo said, per ESPN’s Andrea Adelson. "There's nobody out there that can stop me. We played in 13 games, and I've been the target on each one, so I'm not too worried. We're going to play our game and play ball and see what happens."
He certainly has confidence in his ability.
Skattebo racked up 1,568 yards and 19 touchdowns on 263 carries this season (6.0 yards per carry) while adding 37 receptions for 506 yards and three more scores. He finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting while being named first-team All-Big 12 and first-team All-American.
He's correct that teams have tried, and failed, to stop him all season. He hasn't been held below 100 total yards in a game since September 12 against Texas State.
Skattebo continued in his discussion of Texas' defense:
"If they're studying hard, there's a reason. I have full respect for them because they understand what they're playing against, and that's why I love playing in games like this, because they constantly look at me as a threat, and that's something I've always wanted to be. And if I'm a threat on the football field against an SEC team that was the runner-up to win their conference, then I think I'm in a pretty good position."
We'll see how Skattebo does against Texas on Wednesday afternoon in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Peach Bowl.
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Ryan Phillips is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in digital media since 2009, spending eight years at The Big Lead before joining SI in 2024. Phillips also co-hosts The Assembly Call Podcast about Indiana Hoosiers basketball and previously worked at Bleacher Report. He is a proud San Diego native and a graduate of Indiana University’s journalism program.