West Virginia Mountaineers at Arizona State Sun Devils

Jeff Sims throws 3 TD passes, Arizona State beats West Virginia 25-23 to keep Big 12 hopes alive

Jeff Sims took his comeback turn with Leavitt out, keeping the Sun Devils in position to repeat as Big 12 champions.

Sims accounted for 288 yards and three touchdowns, Jesus Gomez kicked a 49-yard field goal in the fourth quarter and Arizona State kept its Big 12 title hopes alive with a 25-23 win over West Virginia on Saturday.

“Right now, we're getting it done,” Dillingham said. “It's so cool watching these guys through all the adversity, it's like, 7-3, we're still in this thing.”

The Sun Devils (7-3, 5-2 Big 12) returned from their bye week a game behind No. 8 Texas Tech with six teams in the mix to play in the Big 12 title game.

Arizona State gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns to blow a 12-point lead, but kept its title hopes alive with Gomez's field goal and Keith Abney II's interception with 1:30 left.

Sims threw for 207 yards and three touchdowns on 19-of-28 passing, adding 81 yards on 17 carries rushing.

“Coach Dillingham puts us through a lot of close game scenarios, so we don’t waver in this moments.” said Arizona State receiver Derek Eusebio, who had six catches for 74 yards and a touchdown.

The Mountaineers (4-7, 2-6) turned it over on downs on two trips inside Arizona State's 6-yard line, but rallied with two big passing plays on breakdowns by the Sun Devils.

Jeff Weimer scored on a 75-yard touchdown in the second quarter on a seam pass from Scotty Fox Jr. when Arizona State left the middle of the field open. Cyncir Bowers turned a swing pass on a third-and-27 into a 90-yard touchdown by weaving his way through half of Arizona State’s defense to put the Mountaineers up 23-22 in the fourth quarter.

Fox threw for 353 yards and two touchdowns, but also had the late interception.

“With as hard as they played the run, you should be able to have some play-action passes — that kind of goes hand in hand,” West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. “You've still got to be able to run this ball this much (holding hands close together) when everyone knows you're going to run it this much."

Sims took over Arizona State's offense after Leavitt had season-ending foot surgery two weeks ago and set a school quarterback record with 228 yards rushing in a 24-19 win over Iowa State.

Sims opened with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Chamon Metayer and followed with a 19-yard TD pass to Eusebio, who got a key block from Metayer. Sims threw his third touchdown pass late in the half, whipping a ball to running back Raleek Brown in the face of an all-out blitz for a 33-yard touchdown that gave the Sun Devils a 22-10 halftime lead.

"I think we started off slow, but it’s just going out there and getting used to the flow of the game," Sims said.

For the Sun Devils, it's all about the finish.

The Takeaway West Virginia: The Mountaineers needed to win out to become bowl eligible in coach Rich Rodriguez's first season, but couldn't hold the lead after rallying late. The Mountaineers went 1 for 4 on fourth down and finished with 68 yards rushing on 39 carries.

"If you run for 68 yards, you don't deserve to win the game," Rodriguez said.

Arizona State: The Sun Devils have had a knack for pulling out late wins and did it again with Sims leading the offense instead of Leavitt.

Up Next West Virginia: hosts No. 8 Texas Tech on Nov. 29.

Arizona State: plays at Colorado next Saturday.