West Virginia beats Arizona State 43-42 in Cactus Bowl

It was an exciting game of high power offense between the two teams, who combined for 1,196 yards of total offense. West Virginia is allowing 24.5 percent shooting from deep and is grabbing 41.8 rebounds per game.

Howard also broke Marc Bulger’s school bowl record of 429 yards, set in 1998, and connected with Shelton Gibson four times for 143 yards. The junior quarterback had only thrown for over 300-yards once this season in the opener against Georgia Southern when he tossed for 359 yards. The ball went off Iwundu’s hands, and then two Jevon Carter free throws clinched the four point victory. West Virginia kept on coming with Howard throwing and throwing some more, finding Daikiel Shorts for touchdown passes from ten yards out and 17 yards away along with a 64-yard play to Gary Jennings.

Wendell Smallwood rushed for 72 yards, earing him the honor of Big 12 rushing champion. A 40-yard pass from Bercovici to White was the biggest play of the drive, and a two-yard pass to White got ASU a touchdown and a 25-22 lead.

“We have a good reputation for travel”, said Matt Wells, West Virginia’s sports marketing director. A flag was thrown on the play, but after a lengthy discussion, officials picked up the flag and didn’t give an explanation as to what the penalty could have been. Quarterback Skyler Howard threw the ball 42 times, but only managed 19 completions for 281 yards and a touchdown.

Howard once again marched the offense down field, taking eight plays to travel 75 yards. But the defense would hold and force the Sun Devils into a 37-yard field goal to cut the lead to 6-3.

Those came after WVU had waltzed up and down the field until they got close to the goal line, setting for field goals from Josh Lambert on three trips into Arizona State territory.

Through the first 12-minutes of the first quarter the Mountaineers had rolled up 204 yards compared to 14 for the Sun Devils but had only three field goals to show for it.

The Mountaineers started the game in a rhythm, outgaining ASU 236 to 42 in the opening quarter, but could only post a 9-3 lead thanks to some stout redzone defense from the Sun Devils. The Mountaineers were only six for 16 on third downs but managed to convert a third and 22 on the ground on the game winning drive in the fourth quarter. The Sun Devils had been superb at holding onto the ball during their first three seasons under Graham, but finished 55th nationally this season, losing 19 turnovers – 10 of those fumbles. The Sun Devils have a 1,000-yard rusher too. ASU didn’t generate the pressure it has done consistently this year and trying to play more zone coverage was a failure.

The junior from Fort Worth, Texas turned in a dream-like performance in West Virginia’s 43-42 win over the Sun Devils.

Series Record: Arizona State leads 1-0. That mattered when West Virginia was running out the clock with under two minutes to play.

Four years have passed since Dana Holgorsen – then West Virginia’s rookie head coach – guided the Mountaineers to an Orange Bowl win.

There is no 2-point conversion chart in the world that will recommend going for a PAT up five.