Arizona State came out on top against BYU, thanks to a defensive play that sealed the victory in the final minutes, but the final sequence of plays may be the dumbest thing we've ever seen.
Arizona State started strong, with Cameron Skattebo scoring a 3-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to take an early 7-0 lead. Skattebo continued his dominance in the second quarter, punching in a 4-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 14-0.
Later in the quarter, Skattebo broke free for a 23-yard touchdown, giving the Sun Devils a commanding 21-0 lead. BYU managed to get on the board before halftime with a 49-yard field goal by Will Ferrin, making it 21-3 at the break.
The third quarter saw BYU fight back, with Keelan Marion scoring on a 10-yard run, though a failed two-point conversion left the score at 21-9. However, Arizona State quickly responded with a 61-yard touchdown pass from Sam Leavitt to Xavier Guillory, pushing the lead to 28-9. BYU wasn’t done yet, as Jake Retzlaff found JoJo Phillips for a 21-yard touchdown, followed by a successful two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 28-17.
In the fourth quarter, BYU kept the pressure on with another Keelan Marion touchdown, this time a 1-yard run, but another failed two-point conversion left them trailing 28-23. As BYU looked for a game-winning drive, disaster struck. With 1:04 remaining, Jake Retzlaff’s pass was intercepted by Arizona State’s Javan Robinson, who returned it 64 yards to the BYU 7-yard line.
Then, the dumbest coaching decisions in the history of decisions were made by Kenny Dillingham.
Though Arizona State had the ball up at the BYU 7-yard line up 28-23 and the Cougars were expending their timeouts, the Sun Devils decided after first down to begin running backwards. On consecutive downs, Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt ran backwards to try and ice the clock. On 4th down, Leavitt threw the ball in the air hoping to get seven seconds off the clock.
It didn't happen.
Arizona State tried to chew the final 58 seconds off the clock but left ONE second left for a BYU Hail Mary pic.twitter.com/o0hXkEPrRe
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) November 24, 2024
Instead, the ball sailed out of bounds with 0:01 second remaining, giving BYU possession for one more shot.
Fans had already rushed the field and they were forced to evacuate the field before the final play could take place.
1 second left lmao. pic.twitter.com/KMTdtyOXKQ
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) November 24, 2024
All Arizona State had to do was run the ball up the middle. They would've had three downs to try and score and put the game away. If worse came to worse, they would've kicked a field goal, which also would've iced the game. Instead, Dillingham's decision — one of the dumbest miscalculations in college football history — left so many scratching their heads.
What a mess.