Arizona State cornerback Javan Robinson intercepted a pass from BYU’s Jake Retzlaff to thwart the No. 14 Cougars’ threat with 1:04 left in a 28-23 victory for the 21st-ranked Sun Devils Saturday at Tempe, Ariz.
Robinson made the interception on a second-and-10 play at the Arizona State 39, returning the interception all the way to the BYU 7.
The Cougars used their two timeouts and Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt tried to burn time by running backward on a couple of plays to the BYU 39.
Two delay-of-game penalties put the ball at the BYU 49 with 7 seconds left.
Leavitt tried to burn those seconds by dropping back and throwing the ball high into the air. The ball dropped out of bounds with 1 second left.
A throng of fans rushed the field thinking that Arizona State won. The game was delayed at least 20 minutes for the last play of the game to be played.
Retzlaff’s hail mary pass fell incomplete short of the end zone on the last play.
Arizona State (9-2, 6-2) now holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over BYU (9-2, 6-2) in the Big 12 standings with each having one game remaining.
Cam Skattebo rushed for 147 yards on 28 carries with three touchdowns for Arizona State.
Sam Leavitt completed 16 of 25 pass attempts for 247 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Retzlaff passed for 297 yards while completing 22 of 38 pass attempts with a touchdown and two interceptions.
BYU scored touchdowns on its three first possessions of the second half to cut into a 21-3 halftime lead for Arizona State.
Keelan Marion’s 10-yard run with 2:49 left in the third quarter cut the lead to 21-9. A 2-point conversion run by LJ Martin was stopped short.
Arizona State responded with a 61-yard touchdown pass from Leavitt to Xavier Guillory to increase the lead to 28-9 with 2:06 remaining in the third quarter.
The Cougars scored on a 21-yard pass connection between Retzlaff and JoJo Phillips with 43 seconds left in the third quarter. Retzlaff completed a 2-point conversion pass to cut the lead to 28-17.
After forcing Arizona State to punt, BYU put together an 88-yard scoring drive that was culminated by a 1-yard touchdown run by Marion. The 2-point conversion pass attempt by Retzlaff was incomplete.
Arizona State was stopped on downs on its next possession at the BYU 11.
