TEMPE, Ariz. — Cam Skattebo carried the load once again for Arizona State, rushing for 147 yards and three touchdowns. His reward was a well-earned celebration with fans.
Twice.
Skattebo had another big game, Sam Leavitt threw for 247 yards and No. 21 Arizona State held on in the final minutes to beat No. 14 BYU 28-23 on Saturday. The tight finish was capped by a bizarre final minute, including a premature field storming by Arizona State’s fans that took roughly 15 minutes to clear before BYU heaved a final Hail Mary that fell incomplete.
“We won the football game,” second-year coach Kenny Dillingham said. “We beat another ranked team at Mountain America Stadium. So this is all about the guys. These guys battled, these guys fought and found a way to win. Whatever happened at the end, it happened.
“You know what? We got to rush the field twice, how about that?”
Javan Robinson’s interception with 1:04 left looked as if it would close it out for Arizona State, but the Sun Devils stalled on the ensuing offensive drive. Leavitt threw the ball out of bounds on fourth down, and Arizona State’s student section — believing the game was over — rushed the field.
But officials ruled there was 1 second left, and BYU had a shot at the Hail Mary attempt from its own 49. BYU coach Kalani Sitake argued for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which would have moved the ball closer to the end zone, but he didn’t get it.
Thousands of fans had to be cleared from the field before Jake Retzlaff’s deep pass fell incomplete a few yards short of the end zone.
“This game didn’t come down to that,” Sitake said. “That’s just the game. This ref crew was awesome; they communicated well with me. We had a chance to snap the ball from the 49. We would have loved to have it closer, but that’s just the game. The game wasn’t won or lost in that moment.
“It was the 59 minutes and 59 seconds before.”
Sitake said officials informed him that the Big 12 Conference made a ruling that there would be no unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. However, sources told ESPN’s Paolo Uggetti that the call was not made by the conference but by Greg Burks, who is the coordinator of officials and part of the officiating crew.
Sitake said he wasn’t upset at the officiating crew, but it was an emotional loss for the Cougars, who likely had their College Football Playoff hopes dashed.
“I was trying to cling on to as much hope as I could,” Sitake said. “It’s OK. None of our guys were hurt. There was no big issue there. They eventually cleared it and we were able to get that one play. I understand the fans’ excitement and energy.”
The surprising Sun Devils (9-2, 6-2 Big 12) have won four straight and now find themselves on the fringe of the College Football Playoff discussion. BYU (9-2, 6-2) has lost two in a row, all but dashing its CFP hopes.
Arizona State took a 28-9 lead when Leavitt hit a wide-open Xavier Guillory for a 61-yard touchdown with 2:06 left in the third quarter, but BYU rallied, cutting the margin to 28-17 less than 90 seconds later when Retzlaff hit Jojo Phillips for a 21-yard score.
After a defensive stop, BYU scored again on Keelan Marion’s 1-yard touchdown run with 8:44 left. The Cougars’ 2-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the score at 28-23.
Retzlaff threw for 297 yards and a touchdown but also had two costly interceptions. Darius Lassiter caught five passes for 103 yards.
Arizona State started the game with a defensive stop on fourth-and-5 at midfield and responded with a bruising 10-play, 54-yard drive, capped by Skattebo’s 3-yard touchdown run. The 215-pound back had 44 yards on seven carries on the drive.
“The boys have fought every day,” Skattebo said. “We didn’t blink when they started scoring points.”
The Sun Devils and Skattebo were back at it in the second quarter, putting together a methodical 12-play, 95-yard march for the team’s longest touchdown drive of the season.
Skattebo finished it off with a 4-yard run, slicing through the right side of the offensive line for a 14-0 lead.
Arizona State stayed aggressive with a perfectly executed onside kick that was recovered by Plas Johnson. Six plays later, Skattebo broke through the line again and sprinted 23 yards for his third touchdown of the first half.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
