Understudy plays best role
EL PASO, Texas – Sam Keller made Arizona State forget all about injured star quarterback Andrew Walter, if only for one special afternoon.
Keller made everyone else forget about Kyle Orton’s last-minute heroics with some of his own.
Showing remarkable poise in his first collegiate start, Keller threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Rudy Burgess with 44 seconds left to lead the Sun Devils to a 27-23 victory over Purdue in the Sun Bowl on Friday.
“I’ve never been so ready for anything my entire life,” said Keller, who finished 25 of 45 for 370 yards and three TDs. “I had a ton of confidence coming into the game but I still didn’t really know what to expect.”
Neither did Purdue.
Starting for Walter, the untested sophomore completed all four of his passes on the winning drive for 80 yards in a frantic finish that stunned the Boilermakers and the Sun Bowl-record crowd of 51,288.
Burgess caught Keller’s final throw on a screen play, slipped two tackles along the sideline and cut back inside en route to the end zone to give the 21st-ranked Sun Devils (9-3) the lead after Purdue had gone ahead 30 seconds before.
The Boilermakers (7-5) had one more chance, but Orton’s desperation heave into the end zone fell incomplete as time expired.
Burgess, who wasn’t named a starter until Hakim Hill was kicked off the team earlier this week for breaking unspecified team rules, also had a career afternoon – 189 yards of total offense and two TD receptions.
Derek Hagan added nine receptions for 182 yards and a touchdown for the Sun Devils, who had lost their three previous bowl games.
The Sun Devils held the nation’s 12th-ranked offense to 347 yards, the Boilermakers’ third-lowest output of the year.
“Sam played great today,” Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter said, “but the game was won by our defense.”
Arizona State’s two novice offensive standouts outplayed Purdue’s Orton and Taylor Stubblefield, one of the NCAA’s most prolific pass-and-catch duos. Orton finished 23 of 47 for 281 yards with three touchdowns and Stubblefield had seven catches for 81 yards in their final college game together.
With the Sun Devils leading 20-16 midway through the fourth quarter, Orton misfired on three straight passes to go three-and-out, and on Purdue’s next offensive play, Brandon Jones fumbled at the end of a 24-yard catch to seemingly end the Boilermakers’ comeback hopes.
But Arizona State gave Purdue another chance when punter Chris McDonald struggled to field a snap, and safety Bernard Pollard stormed through to block the punt. The ball rolled out of bounds at the Sun Devil 36, giving Purdue excellent field position and about 2 minutes to work with.
Orton seized upon the unexpected opportunity, completing a 20-yard pass to Stubblefield and then lofting a 6-yard touchdown throw to 6-foot-6 tight end Charles Davis for a 23-20 lead with 1:14 remaining.
That gave Keller just enough time to work his late-game magic.