What is one thing a fan can always expect on a Saturday when college football is on?
Chaos.
And that is exactly what ensued in No. 21 Arizona State’s 28-23 upset win over No. 14 Brigham Young in Tempe, Arizona on Saturday.
With the Cougars attempting to make a miracle comeback after being down 21-3 at the half, quarterback Jake Retzlaff threw his second interception of the game with just over a minute left in the game to give the Sun Devils the ball back while up by five.
Instead of trying to make it a two-possession game, ASU kept running backwards in order to chew the clock down to zero.
The plan backfired - kind of.
Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt chucked the ball up on fourth down as the clocked ticked down to zero. However, as Arizona State students began to rush the field, thinking the game was over and secured one of the biggest wins in recent program history, a review showed that one second was left in the game.
After about a 13-minute delay as officials tried to usher fans off the field and set the goal posts back up, BYU got the ball back for one last chance at a Hail Mary.
The play ended in a reception, but the Retzlaff pass fell a few yards short of the endzone as the Sun Devils secured the win.
Leavitt finished the game with 247 yards passing, one touchdown and one interception. ASU running back Cam Skattebo added 147 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Arizona State has been one of the biggest surprises in college football this season.
Ahead of the school’s first season in the Big 12, they were chosen to finish last in the conference. Instead, the Sun Devils find themselves with a 9-2 record, winners of four straight games, and potentially playing for the conference title and a spot in the College Football Playoff.
ASU also finishes undefeated at Mountain America Stadium with a 6-0 record, the first time the school is undefeated at home since 2004.
After the game, Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham didn’t go into details about the play calling at the end of the game but was excited the team got the win.
“We won the football game,” an exuberant Dillingham told reporters. “We beat another ranked team in Mountain America Stadium.
“This is all about the guys. These guys battled, these guys fought, these guys found a way to win. And it doesn’t matter whatever happened in the end because we got to rush the field twice. How about that? We rushed the field three times this year. That’s pretty cool. How many people get to do that? Come to Arizona State because there’s a lot more of that coming forward.”
As for BYU, the Cougars have dropped their second straight game and fell to 9-2.
BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said that he couldn’t “get mad at the fans” for rushing the field and causing a delay.
“They are so excited to get the win,” Sitake said. “It’s two ranked teams that were playing. All we heard was there might be one second left and I am going to cling on as much hope as I can. It’s okay. None of our guys are hurt so there was no big issue there.”
Coming into November, BYU controlled their fate in the Big 12 but with the loss and No. 16 Colorado’s upset loss to Kansas on Saturday, the two teams who will play for the Big 12 title at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on December 7 is still up for grabs with one game left in the regular season.
The Sun Devils will travel to Tuscon, Arizona to take on in-state rivals University of Arizona in the “Territorial Cup” as BYU hosts Houston next Saturday.