No. 21 Arizona State is likely to be without QB Sam Leavitt against Utah on Saturday night.
Leavitt was downgraded to doubtful on Arizona State’s injury report with an undisclosed injury on Thursday. A day earlier, Leavitt was listed as probable.
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Per ESPN, Leavitt will miss the game and Jeff Sims will start for the Sun Devils. Sims, a sixth-year senior, transferred to Arizona State ahead of the 2024 season after stints at Georgia Tech and Nebraska.
Leavitt was one of the better quarterbacks in college football in 2024 as Arizona State won the Big 12 and made the College Football Playoff. He was 216-of-350 passing for 2,885 yards and just six interceptions while finishing as the team’s second-leading rusher behind Cam Skattebo with 443 yards and five touchdowns.
The Sun Devils were off in Week 6 and Leavitt played the entirety of their 27-24 win over TCU in Week 5. He was 27-of-39 passing for 291 yards and 2 scores with 13 carries for 56 yards and a TD in the comeback victory. Arizona State scored 10 points in the final two minutes to get the win.
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ASU is 4-1 so far this season and the trip to Utah is a pivotal game in the Big 12 race behind Texas Tech. The Utes lost to the Red Raiders 34-10 in September and were 5-point favorites at BetMGM before Leavitt was downgraded. The line is now 7.5 points with Leavitt officially unlikely to play.
Only Tech and BYU are undefeated overall in the Big 12, and Arizona State and Cincinnati are the only other teams in the conference who haven’t lost at least one conference game through the first six weeks of the season.
