How will Sam Leavitt’s absence, weather affect Utah-Arizona State matchup?

Arizona State star quarterback Sam Leavitt will miss Saturday’s game at Utah, according to multiple reports.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that Leavitt has been “has been dealing with a lower body injury he suffered at Baylor on Sept. 20.”

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This season, Leavitt has thrown for 1,039 yards and eight touchdowns with two interceptions on 63.1% completion, and is a real threat on the ground. Leavitt is the second-leading rusher on Arizona State’s team, carrying the ball 55 times for 281 yards and five scores.

A big emphasis for the Utes this week was going to be containing Leavitt when he ran.

“He’s so dangerous when he breaks the pocket,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “If you look at the big plays he’s made this year, most of them have been with his legs and breaking the pocket at critical times.”

Instead of Leavitt, the Utes will now be facing ASU backup quarterback Jeff Sims.

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A six-year college football veteran, Sims has totaled 4,914 yards and 31 touchdowns with 29 interceptions on 57.4% completion and added 1,464 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns with 27 fumbles.

“He makes explosive plays, which is what he’s done early in his career. My first game at Florida State, I lost to Jeff Sims as the offensive coordinator. The game plan is not changing. We got a lot of confidence in Jeff.”

Sun Devil coach Kenny Dillingham on backup QB Jeff Sims

Sims started at quarterback as a true freshman for Georgia Tech. In his freshman season, Sims threw for 1,881 yards and 13 touchdowns (with 13 interceptions), adding 492 yards and six scores on the ground.

Sims spent the next two seasons in Atlanta, throwing for 1,468 yards and 12 touchdowns with seven interceptions and rushing for 372 yards and four scores over eight games, missing the rest of the season with an injury. In 2022, he played in seven games, throwing for 1,115 yards and five touchdowns with three interceptions and adding 288 yards and a score on the ground.

After 2022, he transferred to Nebraska, where he was primarily the backup, though he did start two games. His final stat line in Lincoln was 282 yards and a touchdown with six interceptions with a 59.6 completion percentage and 189 rushing yards with one touchdown and six fumbles.

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In 2024, he transferred to Arizona State, where he’s been Leavitt’s backup.

Sims played meaningful snaps in just one game last season — a 24-14 loss at Cincinnati. He threw for 155 yards (52.2% completion) and rushed for 53 yards.

As far as backup quarterbacks go — especially in the transfer portal era — Sims is solid, but there’s obvious reasons that he is the backup. He’s never been able to get the turnovers under control or have an excellent completion percentage, but he can make plays.

Importantly, he’s also a dual-threat quarterback, meaning Arizona State won’t have to drastically adjust its game plan.

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“He makes explosive plays, which is what he’s done early in his career. My first game at Florida State, I lost to Jeff Sims as the offensive coordinator,” Dillingham said on the Bickley & Marotta” radio show on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “… “The game plan is not changing. We got a lot of confidence in Jeff.”

Helping Sims will be one of the best receivers in the country in Jordyn Tyson, who is averaging 96.6 receiving yards per game, and running back Raleek Brown, who is averaging 101.2 yards per game.

Though Leavitt’s absence is a big blow to the Sun Devils, they still have the offensive weapons to win in Salt Lake City, especially with the Utes missing two of their three rotation safeties in Rabbit Evans and Nate Ritchie.

Another aspect that could impact this game? The weather.

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As of Friday afternoon, forecasts call for thunderstorms and rain around 8 p.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium, with 12 mile-per-hour winds and gusts of up to 30 miles per hour that are expected to die down to 10 miles per hour with 23 mile-per-hour gusts throughout the course of the game.

Rain is expected to continue throughout the game.

Dillingham has been preparing his players for rainy conditions all week, dousing the football with water during practice.

It remains to be seen just how much Saturday’s weather will impact the game, but steady rain and wind usually does. Teams don’t throw as much as they do when it’s dry and pass attempts and completion percentages tend to be lower.

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Arizona State, which has made its living on the ground this year with 216.6 yards per game, will take that.

On the flip side, Utah is also a run-first offense that has had a lot of success on the ground with 242.6 yards per game. Arizona State, however, has one of the best rushing defenses in the country, allowing just 78.2 yards per game.

Perhaps the biggest key to a Utah win Saturday will be if the Utes can have early success in the run game.

“Their fundamentals and their technique,” Whittingham said when asked what stands out about Arizona State’s run defense.

“They do a great job of their front seven, staying square, separating from blocks, just playing basic fundamental football. And I think that’s really the strength of what they do on defenses and that permeates all the way through the secondary. They’re not overly complicated or elaborate schematically, but they’re so good fundamentally and technique-wise and they’re athletic; they run, they run really well.”

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Utah is currently favored by 9.5 points, and ESPN’s matchup predictor gives the Utes a 69.6% chance to win.

Though perhaps not quite as big of a test as if Leavitt was playing, Saturday night’s game will still be a notable measuring stick for this Utah team. With one Big 12 loss already, the Utes need to practically be perfect through the second half of the schedule, and Saturday could reveal a lot about the direction of this team.