Sam Leavitt threw four touchdown passes, including a 3-yard toss to Jordyn Tyson with just 16 seconds remaining, leading Arizona State to a thrilling 35-31 win over Kansas on Saturday night.
The Sun Devils (4-1, 1-1 Big 12) fought hard against the Jayhawks in a game that saw six lead changes in the second half. Cam Skattebo was the top rusher for Arizona State, running for 186 yards, including a key 39-yard run during the game-winning drive.
“Good job by our guys just executing,” said Sun Devils coach Kenny Dillingham. “That was it. We just played the next play. We didn’t get rattled. We just responded.”
Leavitt completed 14 of 24 passes for 157 yards. His steady performance helped the Sun Devils recover from their first loss of the season, a 30-22 defeat against Texas Tech on September 21.
“It was just back to what we do,” Leavitt said. “The last game we played wasn’t our brand of football, so we got back to that.”
Kansas (1-5, 0-3) has now lost five games in a row, with four of those losses being by a touchdown or less. Jalon Daniels passed for a season-high 260 yards and two touchdowns. Devin Neal added 71 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The teams played in record-setting heat in front of a sellout crowd of 54,639. The kickoff temperature was 107 degrees, making it the hottest October game in Tempe since 2000.
The Jayhawks didn’t seem bothered by the heat and took a 31-28 lead with 2:04 left when Daniels connected with Quentin Skinner for his second touchdown catch of the night, this one being a diving 34-yard completion.
However, the Jayhawks couldn’t hold the lead, allowing the Sun Devils to drive 75 yards in eight plays in under two minutes.
