Arizona State Upends WVU’s Comeback Attempt in Final Minutes

With hopes for a bowl game still alive and the opportunity to play spoiler adding extra motivation, WVU attempted to turn up the heat in Tempe against Arizona State on Saturday afternoon.

A defensive battle early eventually led to West Virginia preparing a common theme of their recent win streak – putting together a successful first quarter drive and taking an early lead. But unfortunately for the Mountaineers, they had to settle for a Kade Hensley short 29-yard field goal after stalling out in the red zone.

However, WVU was only able to put up those three points on the scoreboard despite controlling most of the opening quarter. West Virginia led in total yards 84-17 and 5:49 to 3:16 in time of possession with 5:55 left in the quarter.

Then, living up to a prediction made by WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez during his interview for the TNT TV broadcast, Arizona State quarterback Jeff Simms starts airing the ball out. Simms connects on multiple deep passes, one for 25 yards and another for 22 that precedes a Sun Devils touchdown, flipping the lead to 7-3 in favor of Arizona State.

Simms then tacks on another score with a quick four-play march up the field. A successful two-point try on a fake made the score 15-3, although it wouldn’t stay that way for long.

In a blink of an eye, Fox connected with Jeff Weimer for 75 yards all the way to the house. The Mountaineers’ one-play score cut Arizona State’s advantage to 15-10 with 7:53 on the clock before halftime.

West Virginia’s momentum would be short-lived though, as Simms led the Sun Devils into the end zone for the third time in the final minutes of the first half.

Starting out the second half with an aggressive mentality, Fox gets Cam Vaughn involved with only his second catch of the day, a 42-yard reception. Failing to capitalize  on the big play, the Mountaineers eventually turned the ball over on downs. Curtis Jones, a linebacker turned running back who scored a pair of goal line touchdowns against Colorado, was only able to get one of the two yards needed to get into the end zone.

Fortunately for West Virginia, their defense came alive, causing Arizona State’s offense to struggle. Safety Fred Perry made up for some mental mistakes with a fumble recovery and WVU also blocked a field goal.

And this time, WVU made Arizona pay. Jones redeemed himself by hammering home his third goal line touchdown, keeping the Mountaineers in the game at 22-17 with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Another stop and another big play later and West Virginia was all of sudden ahead 23-22 with 6:31 on the game clock. Fox completed his second deep touchdown pass of the game, outdoing the previous one with a swing pass to Cyncir Bowers that went 90-yards and shocked the crowd in attendance.

Arizona State answered with a 49-yard field goal, reclaiming the lead and making up for the blocked attempt.

That would become the difference, too. WVU’s comeback effort came up short as Fox was intercepted on a fourth down pass, securing the game for the Sun Devils and derailing the two-minute drive.

Arizona State won the game 25-23.

The loss dropped WVU to 4-7 (2-6, Big 12), eliminating the Mountaineers from bowl contention.