Advertisement

Plummer Helps Arizona State Win : Nonconference: He passes for career-high 327 yards and three touchdowns in 36-15 victory over No. 20 BYU.

Share via
From Associated Press

Arizona State Coach Bruce Snyder thought he knew exactly where to hurt 20th-ranked Brigham Young.

It turned out he did, and he had the quarterback--Jake Plummer--he needed to bring off a stunning 36-15 upset on Saturday.

“I think BYU’s secondary is the area where we thought we could make some yardage,” Snyder said, “and it turned out to be that way.”

Advertisement

Plummer passed for a career-high 327 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions, was sacked only once and even ran for 26 yards. BYU’s secondary, suspect all season, couldn’t match the speed of the Sun Devil receivers.

ASU (3-5) so completely dominated the game that BYU’s homecoming crowd of 65,208 had markedly thinned by the fourth quarter. BYU (7-2) was never in the game, falling prey to two fumbles and an interception in the first half. Arizona State led, 23-0.

The score was 36-7 in the final minute before BYU scored on a 10-yard pass from John Walsh to Mark Atuaia. Walsh also completed the two-point conversion.

Advertisement

Plummer, a sophomore, outplayed Walsh throughout, picking apart the porous BYU secondary. Arizona State’s Jon Baker kicked field goals of 20, 42 and 38 yards in the first half.

BYU scored early in the second half on a quirky 70-yard play. It started with Walsh passing 10 yards to tight end Chad Lewis, who, while in the grasp of defenders, pitched to running back Jamal Willis, who ran 60 yards for the score.

The score made it 23-7 and excited the crowd. But Plummer immediately slammed the door on any hope of a Cougar comeback with touchdown pass plays of 44 yards to Terry Battle and 83 yards to Keith Poole to make the score 36-7 with 4:22 to play in the third quarter.

Advertisement
Advertisement