No. 8 BYU Beats Arizona State 27-20 on Late 95-Yard Touchdown Drive

No. 8 BYU spent most of Saturday afternoon in Provo trying to shake an Arizona State team that would not go away. The Sun Devils erased a 14-point halftime deficit, and with the Cougars clinging to a three-point lead late in the fourth quarter, the answer came from the shadow of their own goal line.

BYU beat Arizona State 27-20 at LaVell Edwards Stadium, closing it out with an 11-play, 95-yard touchdown drive that started at the Cougars' own 5-yard line and took six minutes off the clock. Sione Moa finished it with a 1-yard run with 2:09 to play, Moa's second touchdown of the day, and BYU had a two-score lead.

The win moved BYU to 7-1 and 4-1 in the Big 12, a week after a 39-31 double-overtime loss at UCF cost the Cougars a perfect record. Arizona State fell to 4-4 and 2-3 in league play, one week after Cardae Mack scored four touchdowns against Kansas State.

A strange start, then a 17-3 lead

The game turned on a loose ball almost immediately. On Arizona State's opening possession, Jake Fette was sacked and fumbled, and BYU linebacker Isaiah Glasker recovered at the Arizona State 29.

The Cougars cashed in, though not the way they drew it up. Six plays into the drive, Bear Bachmeier lost the ball, and running back Sione Moa recovered it and carried it into the end zone at 11:31 of the first quarter. BYU led 7-0.

Arizona State answered with a long, patient drive, 13 plays and 53 yards, but it ended in Carson Smith's 24-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter. BYU kicker Matthias Dunn made a 28-yarder at 6:22, and the Cougars added a touchdown before halftime when Bachmeier found Kyler Kasper for 13 yards with 1:55 left. BYU went to the locker room up 17-3.

Arizona State takes over the third quarter

The second half belonged to the Sun Devils for a while. Fette led a 13-play, 81-yard drive that ended with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Omarion Miller at 6:30 of the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 17-10.

Then Arizona State made it a new game. The Sun Devils needed only 39 yards on their next scoring drive, but they took 12 plays to get there, and Fette hit Anthony Miller for a 1-yard touchdown with 1:15 left in the quarter. After a scoreless third quarter for BYU, it was 17-17.

The turning point: 95 yards with the game on the line

Dunn put BYU back in front with a 45-yard field goal at 12:08 of the fourth quarter, but a 20-17 lead against an offense that had just scored on back-to-back drives did not feel safe. When the Cougars took over at their own 5 with 7:49 left, the next possession was going to decide a lot.

Bachmeier ran three times to start the drive and came up a yard short of a first down at the BYU 14. BYU called timeout, kept the offense on the field on fourth-and-1, and Bachmeier picked up 2 yards to move the chains.

On the next snap, Bachmeier threw deep down the middle to Legend Glasker for 53 yards to the Arizona State 31. A roughing-the-passer penalty on a completion to Walker Lyons moved the ball to the 12, and BYU converted again on fourth-and-4 from the 6 to set up first-and-goal at the 1. Moa scored on the next play, and Dunn's extra point made it 27-17. At 95 yards, it was the longest scoring drive of the day for either team, and it came against a defense that had held BYU to a single field goal since halftime.

Arizona State got the ball back trailing by 10 with just under two minutes left. Fette completed four passes on the drive, including a 20-yarder and a 14-yard catch by Mack, to move the Sun Devils to the BYU 26. The drive stalled there, and Carson Smith kicked a 44-yard field goal with 57 seconds left to make it 27-20. Arizona State's onside kick traveled only 8 yards, and BYU took over at the Arizona State 43. The Cougars lost ground while Arizona State spent its timeouts, and Bachmeier's deep pass on fourth-and-33 fell incomplete as the final seconds ran off.

The stars beyond the box score

Bachmeier did not have a clean day. The first-quarter fumble became a touchdown only because Moa was in the right spot, and Arizona State's Montana Warren also intercepted a pass. Still, the BYU quarterback completed 19 of 30 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown and kept the Cougars on schedule when it mattered. Bachmeier also ran 16 times for 15 yards, including the fourth-and-1 run that kept the final drive alive.

Glasker caught four passes for 87 yards, with the 53-yarder as the biggest play of the game. Kasper had four catches for 57 yards and the touchdown, and Lyons added five catches for 49 yards. Moa finished with two touchdowns, though the rushing total was modest.

For Arizona State, Mack was the steadiest player on the field. The running back carried 23 times for 123 yards against a BYU defense that otherwise controlled the line of scrimmage. Fette threw two touchdown passes but completed 22 of 42 passes for 166 yards, and finished with negative rushing yards once sacks were counted. Derek Eusebio caught seven passes for 48 yards, and Omarion Miller had four catches for 37 yards and a score.

BYU's defense did its best work early and late. Isaiah Glasker's fumble recovery set up the first touchdown, Cade Uluave had a sack, and safety Faletau Satuala led the Cougars with nine tackles. For Arizona State, linebacker Owen Long made a game-high 10 tackles, and Jalen Thompson recorded a sack.

The numbers that matter

The box score reads like a close game, because it was one. Arizona State had 20 first downs to BYU's 18 and held the ball for more than 31 minutes. The difference was in the passing game: Bachmeier averaged 7.9 yards per attempt, while Fette averaged 4.0. BYU barely outgained the Sun Devils, 283 total yards to 279.

Third downs were a struggle for both offenses. Arizona State converted 6 of 17, and BYU converted only 3 of 13. The Cougars made up for it on fourth down, converting 3 of 4, including two conversions on the decisive 95-yard drive.

Penalties also tilted the late stretch. Arizona State was flagged six times for 61 yards, including the roughing-the-passer call that moved BYU from the 25 to the 12 on the final scoring drive. BYU was penalized twice for 19 yards. Each team lost one fumble, and Bachmeier threw the game's only interception.

The full details are in the official box score (opens in a new tab).

What it means

For BYU, this was the response the Cougars needed after the UCF loss knocked them out of the unbeaten ranks. The offense was not sharp for long stretches, and the defense gave up two touchdown drives in the third quarter, but a team with Big 12 title hopes found a way to win a one-score game in the fourth quarter at home. BYU entered the day a game behind unbeaten Utah in the conference standings and stays in that chase.

For Arizona State, the loss stings because the Sun Devils did enough to win for long stretches. They won time of possession, protected the ball after the opening drive and erased a 14-point deficit on the road. Mack gave them a reliable running game for the second straight week, and the defense kept BYU out of the end zone for nearly 30 minutes of game clock between the Kasper touchdown and Moa's late touchdown run. But the offense could not get explosive plays through the air, and the defense could not get off the field on the drive that mattered most.

The last word

BYU did not play its best game, and it did not need to. When the Cougars needed 95 yards with the game in the balance, they got them, and that drive is what this one will be remembered for.

Sources: Official box score and play-by-play via ESPN. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Sun Devil Athletics (file photo).