Sam Leavitt threw three touchdown passes, two to Jordyn Tyson, and Arizona State held on to beat UCF 35-31 Saturday. In a game that featured five lead changes, the Sun Devils (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) took the lead with 4:55 to play on Leavitt’s 13-yard pass to Tyson. Arizona State played without star running back Cam Skattebo, sidelined with a shoulder injury.
RJ Harvey rushed for 127 yards and three touchdowns for UCF (4-6, 2-5). But he was stopped on fourth-and-2 with 3:18 to play and the Knights did not get the ball back until 5 seconds remained, and they could only complete a short pass as time ran out. Arizona State scored two touchdowns in 9 seconds near the end of the first half to take a 21-17 lead at the break.
The Sun Devils scored with 56 seconds left in the half on a 4-yard pass from Leavitt to Chamon Metayer to cut the Knights’ lead to 17-14. Tyson finished with 99 receiving yards in seven catches. Leavitt was 16 of 25 for 161 yards and ran 11 times for 22 yards.
The kickoff was fielded in the end zone by UCF’s Christian Peterson, who didn’t take a knee, tried to run it out and was tackled at the 1-yard line. On the next play, L.T.
Welch intercepted Dylan Rizk’s pass and returned it 9 yards for a touchdown with 47 seconds remaining in the half to take a four-point lead. Earlier, the Sun Devils scored when Martell Hughes blocked a punt and Montana Warren returned it 46 yards for a TD. UCF (4-6, 2-5) dominated time of possession in the first half, controlling th.