(Provo, UT) Freshman quarterback Jake Fette rallied Sun Devil Football from a two-touchdown halftime deficit in his first career start, but Arizona State came up just short in a 27-20 decision at No. 8 BYU on Saturday afternoon
The Cougars (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) converted on a fourth-and-one on its own 14-yard line, leading 20-17, with just over five minutes left in the game and would go on to finish a 95-yard touchdown drive with 2:09 remaining to make it a two-score game that ASU was unable to overcome.
For the first time in program history, Arizona State (4-4, 2-3 Big 12) started a true freshman at both the quarterback and running back positions. Cardae Mack finished with 170 total yards of offense with 123 coming on the ground, the third 100-yard rushing game of his season. Fette shook off a tough first half in his first career start to finish 22-of-42 with two touchdowns and no picks with 166 yards.
The Sun Devils held BYU to a season-low 47 rushing yards – its lowest total since 2023 – and just 283 total offensive yards (of which 95 came on its penultimate drive of the game). Owen Long collected his fifth double-digit tackle game of the season and forced a fumble. Montana Warren collected his first career interception and added another pass breakup with five tackles and Martell Hughes had eight tackles with 0.5 tackles for loss and a breakup.
After entering halftime down 17-3, Arizona State climbed within a touchdown midway through the third quarter as Fette found Omarion Miller for a 20-yard connection on a back-shoulder fade for the first touchdown pass of his young career.
Owen Long forced a fumble on the ensuing drive to give the ball back to the Sun Devils in Cougar territory and the Sun Devils drove 39 yards -converting two fourth downs and getting a massive truck stick from Fette on QB scramble – to eventually set up Fette’s one-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Miller to net the game at 17-17 with a little over a minute remaining in the third.
BYU would take the lead for good early in the fourth quarter on a 45-yard field goal before its decisive 95-yard drive. The Sun Devils added a 44-yard field goal with 57 seconds left but were unable to recover the onside kick and BYU ran out the clock for the victory.
The Sun Devils struggled on offense in the first half, with a true freshman quarterback trying to find his rhythm behind ASU’s seventh offensive line combination in eight games. ASU’s final four drives of the half tallied just 14 total yards on 14 plays.
Warren notched his first interception of his career to stop a BYU scoring drive late in the half that would have made it a three-score game and gave the Sun Devils some momentum heading into the break.
ASU will next host Colorado on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 5:30 p.m. MST at Mountain America Stadium, as it continues its stretch of nine-straight games to close the regular season after its open weekend coming back from its London win over Kansas.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Jeremy Hawkes
