(Tempe, AZ). Arizona State had beaten Baylor, TCU and Texas Tech and was attempting t sweep the State of Texas as they faced the Houston Cougars in an early 5 p.m. start today.
The Sun Devils (5-2) had a slim lead head to head 5-4, but haven’t met since the Coca Cola Bowl in Tokyo Japan in 2014.
The Cougars (6-1) were 3-0 on the road coming into this game and ASU was undefeated at home playing in front of four previous sellout crowds.
Arizona State would be without the conference’s leading receiver Jordyn Tyson who was out with an injury.
First Quarter
Houston got the football first after the Devils won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Facing a third and four, Connor Weismann bursted though the line for a 50 yard gain down tot the Sun Devil ten yard line. Arizona State’s defense stiffened and forced a 26 yard field goal for a 3-0 lead at the 10:29 mark of the opening quarter.
The Sun Devil offense started off fast on their first possession with a 25 yard pass to Malik McClain to midfield. On a third and sixteen, Sam Leavitt got fourteen yards but was injured on the play. With a four and two after the injury timeout. Backup quarterback Jeff Sims converted on a keeper for 11 yards and a key first down to keep the drive alive.
Jesus Gomez came in to attempt a 31 yard field goal. A high snap seemed to throw off his timing and he pushed it to the right. So, the Devils came away empty which would haunt them later in the game.
Houston showed early they could move the ball downfield through the air, but on their second possession, they broke off some big gains down to the one yard line. After two Sun Devil penalties, Wegman snuck it into score and a 10-0 lead just before the end of the quarter.
Second Quarter
Leavitt returned to the lineup but he had no effect as Arizona State went three and out.
Finally, the Sun Devils stopped Houston from scoring as they had gone two for two on previous possessions.
A short punt from midfield pinned ASU back at their eight yard line to start their possession. A Leavitt fumble and Cougar recovery once again thwarted the Sun Devil drive.
Neither team had success offensively for much of the quarter with several punts.
With just over a minute left in the half, Leavitt hit McClain for 33 yards to the Cougar forty seven yard line. After that, Leavitt threw three incomplete passes and the Sun Devils had to punt again as the quarter expired.
Halftime
Along with the lack of offense, the Arizona State defense was a poiurous at times but neither team had a “killer instinct.”
Arizona State would have to make some really big adjustments to be able to come back but also to keep the Cougars from scoring and increasing their lead.
Third Quarter
ASU took the second half kickoff and did nothing offensively punting after a total of 8 yards.
Weigman hit Tanner Koziol for 32 yards and the Cougars were back in the Red Zone. Houston scored from the seven yards line on a pass to Koziol and the hole grew deeper at 17-0.
Leavitt;s passed began to click as ASU finally had a good drive going. A touchdown pass was called back on an illegal shift. That was the end of that opportunity as Gomez missed a 42 yard field goal way left and the shutout continued.
Houston came right back with a drive of their own but using a lot of clock moving down the field. From the Sun Devil two yard line. Weigman called his own number and scored to go up 24-0 with 1:31 left in the quarter.
Fourth Quarter
Into the final quarter, ASU went into thier hurry up offense and it worked for a 36 yard pass completion to McClain. The following play, Harpole scored on a 3 yard pass, but the try for two failed. The finally got the goose egg off the scoreboard with 13:50 left in the game 24-6.
The ensuing onside kick was unsuccessful, but the Cougars failed to make a first down and punted.
Again with the no huddle offense, the Sun Devil moved the ball down the field. The drive stalled but this time Gomez hit a 47 yard field goal to make the score 24-9 with 11:26 to go.
Houston now just wanted to use clock and finish off the game. The Cougars even went for it on a fourth and thirteen but failed to make the line of gain.
Jeff Sims came in for Leavitt at the 6:50 mark and made good with a 27 yard pass to Metayer to bring ASU within eight points 24-16 and 5:12 left in the game.
Inexplicably, Weigman was still running the ball often on every snap. That’s a good way to get your quarterback injured this late in the game.
The Devi’s defense held Houston and would get one more chance from their own five yard line to pull a rabbit out of their hat with 2:08 and one time out plus the two minute timeout to try to tie the game.
Sam Leavitt reinjured his leg on a couple of big hits he sustained earlier in the game. Jeff Sims gained came in and gained 6 yard on a keeper, there were three incomplete passes followed. The fourth down play was reviewed for targeting but was denied and the Cougars got the ball back on downs.
With the ball aready in the ASU Red Zone, instead of running the clock out, they attempted what amounted to an extra point distance field goal. The Sun Devils sent everyone on the rush and Ethan Sanchez missed the kick, but ASU was flagged for running into the kicker, their twelfth penalty.of the game. After the yardage was marked off, Houston elected to take a knee to end the game.
Final Score Houston with a 24-16 win in the desert.
Wrap Up
Overall, the game was a lackluster until the fourth quarter with ASU down 24-0. The officials took any flow that the game might have had with 19 total penalties called. The Sun Devils were whistled for most of them with 76 yards assessed on 12 infractions.
Arizona State outgained the Cougars in total yards 426-384. The biggest disparity was the Devis could only muster 98 yards on the ground with Houston gaining 183.
Leavitt and Sims combined for 46 passes for 328 yards, but many of those yards came very late while trying to catch up and Houston playing a prevent defense.
ASU only had two Red Zone chances converting one and went 5-15 on third down.
Houston had the ball over 14 minutes more than the Sun Devils.
So with the loss, the Sun Devils fall to 5-3 and 3-2 in the Big XII. Next week will be a huge test to see if this team can bounce back with a Big XII Conference Championship rematch against Iowa State (5-3) in Ames Iowa. The Cyclones lost to BYU today 41-27.
With the loss, it snaps the Sun Devils’ ten game home winning streak. Tonight’s sellout attendance was 54,256
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