The Houston Cougars beat No.24 ranked Arizona State Sun Devils 24-16 on Saturday, Oct. 25.
Last week ASU pulled off a significant upset giving No.7 Texas Tech their first loss of the year.
With that win, ASU (5-2) headed into Saturday slipping in to the Top 25.
ASU tried to overcome the 6-1 Houston Cougars without their star wide receiver Jordyn Tyson who suffered a hamstring injury in last week’s win.
Coach Kenny Dillingham spoke postgame about how Tyson was missed.
“I mean you’re losing the number one pick at his position, in college football so that’s obviously pretty critical for your football team when you’re losing him, is that an excuse? Heck no we didn’t play good enough to win,” Dillingham said.
Houston got on the board right away, as their opening drive went ten plays and ended with a 26-yard field goal from kicker Ethan Sanchez making it 3-0 cougars.
On ASU’s first drive, on third and 16 quarterback Sam Leavitt scrambled through the middle and gained 14 on the play, after he was tackled, he was slow to get up.
Backup quarterback Jeff Sims came in the game for Leavitt and was able to get the Devils in field goal range, but kicker Jesus Gomez missed wide right to keep it 3-0 Houston.
Houston’s offense came out firing on their next drive as they went 10 plays and 80 yards, ending with a one-yard QB sneak from Connor Weigman making it 10-0 Houston.
Fortunately for the Devils, Leavitt was able to come back into the game on the next drive.
Despite ASU’s QB return, the rest of the second half was dominated by both defenses and the next seven drives were six punts and a fumble, keeping the game at 10-0 going into half.
After ASU’s offense went three and out to start the half, Houston extended their lead when Weigman found Tanner Koziol in the endzone for a seven-yard touchdown pushing the lead to 17-0.
ASU’s offense finally got a drive going, getting all the way in field range, but Gomez missed the field goal, this one from 42 yards.
Houston took advantage of the miss, putting together a ten-play drive, ending in another one-yard QB sneak from Connor Weigman, making it 24-0 cougars.
ASU finally got on the board in the fourth quarter, Leavitt found tight end Cameron Harpole in the endzone for a two-yard touchdown, the two-point try was no good, making it 24-6 Houston.
ASU’s onside kick attempt was unsuccessful.
The defense forced a punt and the offense drove all the way down and attempted a forty-seven yarder, this one from Gomez split the uprights, making it 24-9. With 11:26 left in the game.
ASU got the ball back with seven minutes left and backup quarterback Jeff Sims was in the game.
“Sam got retweaked there in the end, he got tweaked in the beginning, we sat him in there, got some imaging, he wanted to go right back in and I said no you’re going to get before you go back in, I don’t care how you feel, and he came back, and in the end he tweaked himself again, so we held him out,” Dillingham said.
Sims took advantage of the playing time, as he found tight-end Chamon Metayer for a 27-yard catch and run touchdown.
It was a one score game.
ASU’s defense got another stop, giving the Devils a chance to tie with 2:08 left and one timeout.
On fourth and two, Sims was looking over the middle for wide receiver Derek Eusebio but the ball was knocked away and ASU’s comeback fell short.
With the loss, ASU moves to 5-3 and 3-2 in conference play.
The Sun Devils hope to bounce back on the road next week against Iowa St.
