West Virginia battles but falls on the road 25-23 at Arizona State
West Virginia battled back but couldn’t hold on late falling 25-23 to Arizona State on the road Saturday afternoon.
True freshman Scotty Fox continued to start for the Mountaineers and completed 19-31 passes for 353 yards and 2 touchdowns and an interception.
The Mountaineers started the game with a three and out on defense and the offense quickly moved the football into the Sun Devils red zone with a nice blend of the pass and run as well as good pace. The drive would stall in the red zone and Kade Hensley would give West Virginia a 3-0 lead on a 29-yard field goal.
The defense would again force a three-and-out on the second possession to give the football back to the offense at their own 37-yard line holding onto a field goal lead. West Virginia would convert on a third and 10 and then quickly move the football into Sun Devils territory.
Jones would then convert on a third and short opportunity to set the Mountaineers up at the Arizona State 14-yard line. The Mountaineers would then face fourth down at the six yard line and Fox pulled the ball and fired to the end zone only for it to fall incomplete and erase a good drive to keep the score 3-0.
The Sun Devils would pick up their first first-down of the game on their third possession and were able to move the football into West Virginia territory for the first time. The Sun Devils would connect on two third and long situations from there and score on a touchdown toss from Jeff Sims to Chamon Metayer to take a 7-3 lead.
The Mountaineers would then go three and out to give the football to Arizona State at the Mountaineers 40-yard line after only a 26-yard punt. It would only take the Sun Devils four plays to put the ball into the end zone on a 19-yard touchdown toss to Derek Eusebio and then a two-point conversion put the home team out front 15-3.
West Virginia would then respond on the next play as Fox would hit Jeff Weimer in stride for a 75-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to just 15-10.
The Mountaineers defense would get off the field after giving up a first down and would take over at their own 20-yard line with 5:55 remaining in the first half. West Virginia would start the drive aided by a facemask penalty, but the drive would stall giving the football back to the Sun Devils.
Arizona State would move the football into West Virginia territory and on third and 10 threw a short pass to Raleek Brown who would take it the rest of the way for a 33-yard touchdown to take a 22-10 lead and that would be the score heading into the halftime break.
West Virginia opened the second half with the football and a 42-yard pass play to Cam Vaughn got the drive started and the Mountaineers moved the football inside the Arizona State five-yard line. Again, Arizona State would stand tall and stuff West Virginia on fourth and goal to keep the score at 22-10.
The Sun Devils would move the football into West Virginia territory aided by some penalties but on fourth and short this time the Mountaineers would get a stop after Sims fumbled the football to keep the score at 22-10 in the third quarter. However, West Virginia would go three and out to give the football back to Arizona State at their 40-yard line after just a 20-yard punt.
The Sun Devils would move the football deep enough to attempt a field goal but it was blocked to keep the score at 22-10 at the start of the fourth quarter. The Mountaineers would quickly move 72-yards in 10 plays and this time finish the drive inside the five with a Jones touchdown run to cut the deficit to 22-17 with 10:41 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The West Virginia defense would then get its own stop to give the football back to the offense at their own 27-yard line with a five point deficit and 8:06 left in the football game.
However, a penalty and a sack pushed the offense back to third and 27 and Fox dumped the ball off to Cyncir Bowers who would take the football 90-yards for a touchdown to give the Mountaineers a 23-22 lead although the two-point conversion would be unsuccessful.
The Sun Devils then moved the football into West Virginia territory aided by a penalty for roughing the passer and they could retake the lead on a 49-yard field goal to make it 25-23 with 2:44 left.
The Mountaineers would take over at their own 25-yard line but Fox was intercepted on fourth down to allow the Sun Devils to run out the clock.
The Mountaineers will now enter a bye week before hosting Texas Tech to close the season Nov. 29 at home with the game time yet to be determined.
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