Sam Leavitt threw three touchdown passes, two of them to Jordyn Tyson, helping Arizona State hold off UCF for a 35-31 win on Saturday.
The game saw five lead changes, with Arizona State (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) taking the lead for good with 4:55 left. Leavitt connected with Tyson on a 13-yard pass to give the Sun Devils the advantage.
“It’s an unbelievable connection right now,” said Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham. “Sam knew they were in cover one on the one scramble. He bought some time and then knew there was a one on one in the corner, launched it, gave him a jump ball and great job by Jordyn going to get it.”
Arizona State played without star running back Cam Skattebo, who was out with a shoulder injury.
UCF (4-6, 2-5) got a strong performance from RJ Harvey, who rushed for 127 yards and three touchdowns. However, with 3:18 left in the game, Harvey was stopped on a crucial fourth-and-2 play. UCF didn’t get the ball back until just five seconds remained, and their final play only resulted in a short pass as time expired.
“I felt like our defense was getting a little tired,” UCF coach Gus Malzahn said. “We put the ball in our best player’s hands and it didn’t work.” He added, “Another disappointing loss. We didn’t play well enough to win.”
At the end of the first half, Arizona State scored two touchdowns in just nine seconds to take a 21-17 lead into the break.
The Sun Devils cut UCF’s lead to 17-14 with 56 seconds left in the second quarter, when Leavitt threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Chamon Metayer. Then, after UCF mishandled a kickoff return, Arizona State’s L.T. Welch intercepted a pass from Dylan Rizk and returned it 9 yards for a touchdown with 47 seconds left.
Tyson finished the game with 99 receiving yards on seven catches. Leavitt, a redshirt freshman, completed 16 of 25 passes for 161 yards and ran for 22 yards on 11 attempts.
“People should be fired up about the opportunity to build around that and I’m just glad he’s here,” Dillingham said of Leavitt. “Helps me makes me look good.”
UCF’s Christian Peterson fielded a kickoff in the end zone but tried to run it out, only to be tackled at the 1-yard line. On the next play, Arizona State’s defense made a big play, leading to the touchdown that gave them the lead at halftime.
Earlier in the game, Arizona State had scored after Martell Hughes blocked a punt, and Montana Warren returned it 46 yards for a touchdown.
Although UCF outgained Arizona State 406-260 in total yards, penalties hurt the Knights. They committed five false-start penalties and had a 46-yard field goal attempt that bounced off the goalpost in the fourth quarter, which hurt their chances of making a comeback.
In the first half, UCF controlled the ball for 19 minutes and outgained Arizona State 227-103. Rizk was perfect on the opening drive, completing all eight of his passes for 75 yards and leading the Knights to a touchdown on an 8-yard run by Harvey.
The other touchdown for UCF came when backup quarterback Jacurri Brown ran for a 6-yard touchdown late in the second quarter.
With Skattebo out due to injury, Kyson Brown stepped in and carried the ball 18 times for 73 yards. Harvey, who entered the week third in the nation with 1,201 rushing yards, stepped up in Skattebo’s absence.
Rizk finished the game with 229 yards, completing 24 of 34 passes. This was his second career start for UCF, following a win over Arizona the previous week. He was the fourth different quarterback to start for UCF this season.
