No. 24 TCU at Arizona State
After watching Arizona State the last couple of weeks, one thing’s for sure about these Kenny Dillingham coached Sun Devils—they don’t give up and as Dillingham said afterwards; “It’s incredible [how] our guys find ways to get it done in the big moments. It’s a testament to the character of the guys we have on our team.” For the second week in a row it was a field goal by Arizona State Senior Place Kicker Jesus Gomez that put them on top late. Last week against Baylor it was with time expiring. This past Friday, with a little over a minute left, there was a bit more drama as Sun Devil Sophomore LB Martell Hughes intercepted the Horned Frogs’ Junior QB Josh Hoover’s attempt to move the ball down the field, tie the score, and send the game into overtime. But it wasn’t to be and Arizona State, who knocked off four ranked teams in the regular season last year, has knocked off their first one this year by the same exact score as last week, 27-24. And as of this coming week are on top of the standings in the Big-12, ahead of No. 14 Iowa State, No. 12 Texas Tech, and No. 25 BYU.
After going scoreless for the first 25 minutes of the game and down 17-0 late in the 2nd Qtr you began to have serious doubts about not just the Sun Devil’s chances of winning the game but whether or not they were even going to be able to score a point on these Horned Frogs. But finally after two punts, a missed field goal, and a turnover on downs Arizona State Sophomore QB Sam Leavitt hit his favorite target, Junior WR Jordyn Tyson, with a 57 yard TD pass to make it 17-7. The now inspired Sun Devil defense would hold TCU to a three-and-out on their next possession and five plays after that Leavitt would run one in himself to make it 17-14. Once again holding the Horned Frogs to a three-and-out, with 1:23 left in the half Arizona State looked poised to take the ball down field and either tie the score before the break or take the lead—but instead fumbled the ball and went into the locker room at the half down three.
TCU got the ball to start the 3rd Qtr but would be intercepted six plays into their drive deep in the ASU red zone at the eight yard line. 12 plays and 83 yards later Jesus Gomez would kick in his first field goal of the game from 26 yards out to tie the score 17-17. But after working so long to get back into this game they’d give up the lead less than three minutes later on back-to-back 20 yard pass plays and a 1 yard TD run by TCU QB Josh Hoover to get them back on top 24-17. The Sun Devils would have the ball to start the 4th Qtr and took it deep into the TCU red zone—all the way to the three yard line—where they would try four times to punch it in but ended up turning the ball back over instead. But the Arizona State defense wasn’t about to give up and held the Horned Frogs to a three-and-out. A short 31 yard punt gave the Sun Devils great field position at the TCU 39 yard line. But bogging down still outside the red zone six plays later Jesus Gomez came in for a 43 yard field goal attempt which he missed—his second miss of the night. But after two sacks by the ASU defense on TCU’s next possession the Sun Devils would get the ball back and tie it up 24-24 eleven plays later on another Leavitt to Tyson TD pass. With under two minutes left in the game QB Josh Hoover would be sacked by Senior DL Prince Dorbah on the second play from scrimmage and force a fumble that Dorbah would hang onto at the TCU 15 yard line. After three attempts to get it into the end zone as well as offside and offensive holding penalties Kenny Dillingham would send in his place kicker Jesus Gomez who won the game for them last week with time expiring but had missed two field goals in this game, one to the left and one to the right. But with over a minute left he’d nail the 23 yarder to put them on top 27-24. Two plays later Martell Hughes would make the lead permanent with his interception of TCU QB Martell Hughes.
For Arizona State, Sam Leavitt was 27-of-39 for 291 yards, 2 TD’s, no interceptions while also rushing 13 times for 62 yards and the team’s only score on the ground. Junior WR Jordyn Tyson collected 126 of those yards and both TD’s while Junior RB Raleek Brown did the heavy lifting on the ground, rushing 21 times for 134 of the team’s 209 total yards. The Sun Devil defense was relentless all game long recording six sacks, thirteen tackles for loss, and five pass disruptions while also picking off the TCU QB twice and forcing a late fumble which directly led to the winning field goal by Senior Place Kicker Jesus Gomez who kicked three extra points and connected on 2-of-4 field goals. On the season he’s 7-for-7 inside the 40 and just 3-of-6 on those 40+. For TCU, Junior QB Josh Hoover connected on 20-of-32 for 242 yards, 0 TD’s, and 2 interceptions and although finding the end zone lost 38 yards hanging onto the ball. On the ground the team collectively rushed, discounting Hoover’s lost yardage, 15 times for 50 yards with Senior RB Trent Battle and Sophomore Jeremy Payne also picking up rushing TD’s. The Sun Devils get a week off before they his the road to take on a very tough Utah team and then come back to host what could be a real shoot-out against the No. 12 Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Utah at West Virginia
Utah won the toss and deferred holding West Virginia to just a 24 yard gain on their first drive and forcing a punt. Once they got the ball the Utes wasted no time putting up points on the board scoring back-to-back TD’s on either side of a three-and-out to go up 14-0 at the end of the 1st Qtr. The second quarter went much the same way with the Mountaineers getting the ball to start and having to turn it back over on downs just seven plays later on both their possessions while Utah connected on back-to-back TD’s again to go up 28-0 at the break.
The Utes got the ball to start the 2nd half and would take it into the end zone again at the end of a 10 play 63 yard drive on Devon Dampier’s 4th TD of the game so far to stretch that lead to 35-0. The Mountaineers would finally get on the board with their next possession on a 39 yard TD pass from Freshman QB Kahlil Wilkins to Sophomore WR Cam Vaughn. Utah’s Dillon Curtis would kick a 33 yard field goal just five plays later to make it 38-7 at the end of three. Holding the Mountaineers to a turnover on downs, after a drive that included a TD called back due to offensive pass interference, Curtis would kick another 33 yard field goal to start the 4th Qtr to put the Utes up 41-to-7. West Virginia would get that TD back on their next drive that included a 68 yard run after the kickoff by their Senior WR Jarod Brown back down to the Utah 7 yard line. After two negative yard runs and a penalty the Cavaliers would finally punch it in on a Diore Hubbard 1 yard TD run to make it 41-14. Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham would put in his backup quarterback for their last drive of the game with the same results after a 10 play 75 yard drive—a 2 yard TD pass from Freshman QB Byrd Ficklin to Senior RB Bryce Duke—now 48-14 where it would stay after West Virginia was barely able to get past mid-field on their final drive.
For Utah, Junior QB Devon Dampier connected with six different receivers multiple times on 80% of his passes for 237 yards, 4 TD’s, and 1 interception while also rushing 11 times for 33 yards and another score. Senior WR Ryan Davis led the way with 7 receptions for 107 yards and 1 of those TD’s with TE’s Dallen Bentley and JJ Buchanan along with Sophomore RB Wayshawn also collecting one each. On the ground the Utes collectively rushed 47 times for 242 yards and the one score by Dampier. The Mountaineer passing game really struggled with the two QB’s they had in there—Freshman Khalil Wilkins and Senior QB Jaylen Henderson–collectively connecting just 6-of-13 times for 85 yards, 1 TD by Wilkins, and no interceptions. They did pick up a lot of yards on the ground, 261 on 48 rushing attempts, but only found the end zone once on a TD run by Freshman RB Diore Hubbard.
As you can imagine Utah led in every statistical category at the end of the game, recording 33 first downs to 14 for West Virginia; 532 total yards of offense compared to 346; were successful on their third down attempts better than 60% of the time and were perfect all three times they attempted a fourth down conversion. They had fewer penalty yards and had possession of the ball over nine minutes longer. Utah takes the week off before going up against two Top-25 ranked teams–No. 25 Arizona State at home and No. 23 BYU on the road.
No. 25 BYU at Colorado
This was a game I was hoping Coach Prime and his guys could take—especially since they were at home in front of that very supportive sold out stadium. And it certainly looked as though they were capable of doing it as they scored on back-to-back TD’s to start the game while forcing the Cougars to turn the ball back over after an unsuccessful 4th down conversion attempt. Trailing 14-0, BYU would cut into the lead at the end of their second drive of the quarter on a Will Ferris 28 yard field goal to make it 14-3 at the end of the first.
The Cougars would force the Buffaloes to punt on their first two possessions of the 2nd Qtr while finding the end zone on their second time at bat at the end of a 10 play 94 yard drive that was aided by Colorado holding and pass interference penalties. Sitting 1st and goal at the Colorado 5 yard line BYU Freshman QB Bear Bachmaier would find Senoir WR Chase Roberts in the end zone to cut that Buffalo lead by seven, now 14-10, going into the break.
Both defenses held the other team to a short drive and forced a punt to start the 2nd half. But after that BYU would go up on a 9 play 74 yard drive and another TD pass from Bachmaier to Chase Roberts—this one for just 4 yards to make it 17-14 Cougars. Colorado would come right back with a TD of their own just six plays later to go ahead 21-17 game at the end of the 3rd Qtr on a 19 yard pass from Senior QB Kaidon Salter to Sophomore WR Dre’lon Miller. But BYU would make it back-to-back TD’s with another one to start the 4th Qtr on a 32 yard run by their Sophomore WR Cody Hagan to retake the lead 24-21. Back-to-back punts by the Buffaloes as well as one by the Cougars with a missed BYU field goal in between would lead us to Colorado’s last chance to win this game with less than 2 minutes left and starting from their own 4 yard line. But with less than a minute left and needing to move the ball a significant distance downfield Cougar Junior LB would intercept Kaidon Salter’s pass at the Colorado 40 yard line. With less than 40 seconds left BYU would run out the clock and the Buffaloes would go to 2-3 overall, 0-2 in conference and will hit the road to take on Texas Christian this coming Saturday before coming back to host No. 14 Iowa State the following week.
For Colorado, Senior QB Kaidon Salter was 11-of-16 for 119 yards, 1 TD to Sophomore WR Dre’lon Miller, and 1 interception while also rushing 17 times for 49 yards and another score. On the ground, Sophomore RB Micah Welch and Dre’lon Miller would lead the way with 119 of the team’s 172 yards on 19 attempts and a TD by Miller to go along with Salter’s. For BYU, Freshman QB Bear Bachmaier was 19-of-27 for 179 yards, 2 TD’s, and no interceptions while also rushing 15 times to lead the team in yards on the ground at 98. All toll, the Cougars rushed 36 times for 208 yards including a TD by Sophomore WR Cody Hagen. In spite of the close final score the Cougars led in first downs, 27-to-17; total yards of offense, 387-to-291; converted their 4th down attempts 66% of the time; had half the penalties and had possession of the ball seven minutes longer. Afterwards Coach Prime had this to say; “Sometimes, it felt like the moment was just too big for some of our athletes, and they’ve got to do something about that. I’m not going to make excuses for them. They’ve got to step up. I don’t know what else I can say about it.”
Arizona at No. 14 Iowa State
Arizona had a chance to go out in front out of the gate in this one but their Sophomore Place Kicker Michael Salgado-Medina missed one from 46 yards out at the end of their first 10 play drive. After that the Wildcats were stopped with back-to-back three-and-outs while the Cyclones scored a TD on a QB keeper and a 2-point conversion on their first possession of the game to go up 8-0. Iowa State would score again to start the 2nd Qtr on a 1 yard TD by their Junior RB Carson Hansen to make it 15-0. The Wildcats would have to punt on their possession just five plays in and then, after holding the Cyclones to a six play drive and a punt on theirs, would have a Noah Fafita pass intercepted by Junior DB Jontez Williams at the Iowa State 47 and returned 42 yards to just outside the Arizona red zone. From there it would only take Iowa State four plays including a 27 yard pass and another TD run by Carson Hansen, this one for 4 yards, to expand their lead to 22-0. The Wildcats would finally get on the board at the end of their next possession, a 12 play 69 yard drive and 9 yard TD pass from their Junior QB Noah Fafita to Senior WR Kris Hutson to make it 22-to-7 at the break.
Iowa State would get the ball to start the second half and would extend their lead on back-to-back TD’s to go out in front 36-to-7, both on 1 yard TD runs by their Junior QB Rocco Becht. Arizona would come back on their final drive of the 3rd Qtr in a desperate attempt to give themselves a chance to overcome the huge deficit and would, in fact, score a TD on another TD pass, this time from Fafita to Sophomore WR Tre Spivey to make it 36-14. Both teams would end up punting the ball away of their first possessions of the 4th Qtr followed by back-to-back interceptions, one by each team. The Wildcats would have to turn the ball back over after failing to convert a 4th and 12 at their own 40 yard line on their next possession followed by a 34 yard Iowa State Chase Smith field goal to make it 39-14 with less than a minute left where it would stay.
For the Wildcats, Junior QB Noah Fafita connected on 32-of-48 for 2 TD’s—one to Senior WR Kris Hutson and one to Sophomore WR Tre Spivey—and 2 picks. On the ground Arizona rushed 24 times for 107 yards led by Senior RB Ismail Mahdi with 85 of those yards on 13 attempts, but would not find their way into the end zone. Junior QB Rocco Becht was 14-of-20 with 146 of his 243 yards going to Junior WR Chase Sowell on just four receptions but never found the end zone in the air. On the ground the Cyclones didn’t gain all that many yards, just 111 on 47 attempts, but were very efficient with 5 rushing TD’s, three by their QB Becht and two more by their leading rusher Junior RB Carson Hansen. Looking at the stats you wouldn’t think that there would be such a disparity in the scoring. Arizona led in first downs by just one, 20-19; trailed in passing yards by less than 40; trailed in rushing yards by just four; only had the ball two minutes less than Iowa State; trailed in yards-per-catch but led in yards-per-rush. Hopefully the Wildcats had some good BBQ at Hickory Park while they were in Ames because that place will definitely leave a good taste in your mouth even though this game won’t. Arizona heads back home to host Oklahoma State this next Saturday.