Nov. 6, 2004
By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Andrew Walter threw four yards to Matt Miller - hisfourth touchdown pass of the night - with nine seconds to play Saturday to giveNo. 23 Arizona State a wild 34-31 victory over Stanford.
Cardinal backup quarterback T.C. Ostrander had given his team a 31-26 leadwith a 67-yard touchdown pass to Alex Smith with 2:02 remaining.
But Walter, who was 28-for-43 for 415 yards and broke John Elway's Pac-10record for career touchdown passes, was 4-for-8 for 79 yards on a 13-play,80-yard drive for the winning score.
Walter has 80 TD passes, breaking Elway's record at Stanford of 77.
Jon Alston's fourth sack of the game and a holding penalty had left the SunDevils second-and-29 on their 43, but Walter threw 19 yards to Derek Hagan,then 11 to Terry Richardson for the first down that kept the drive alive.
On the touchdown, Walter found Miller deep in the end zone for his second TDcatch of the game. Burgess ran for the two-point conversion.
Miller also caught a 52-yard, last-second touchdown pass on the final playof the first half to give Arizona State (7-2, 4-2 Pac-10) a 17-14 lead.
Rudy Burgess, converted from wide receiver three weeks ago, carried 34 timesfor 186 yards, the biggest running day for an Arizona State back in threeyears.
The game featured nine turnovers - five by Stanford (2-4, 4-5), four of theminterceptions. ASU had five turnovers, and had two punts blocked by UdemeUdofia. Both blocks set up Stanford touchdowns.
Cardinal starter Trent Edwards went down with an injured left shoulder onthe first play of the second half, and Ostrander, a redshirt freshman, directedthe Cardinal to 17 consecutive points and the lead.
Arizona State had a 583-283 advantage in total yards.
The Sun Devils led 26-14 after Walter's 7-yard touchdown pass to Zach Millerwith 34 seconds to play in the third quarter.
Stanford's comeback began when Burgess fumbled a punt and Marcus McCutcheonrecovered at the Arizona State 40. Ostrander's 11-yard scramble helped set upRay Jones' 3-yard touchdown run. Ostrander threw to Greg Camarillo for thetwo-point conversion and it was 26-22.
Stanford held on fourth-and-one at its five, then drove down the field forMichael Sgroi's 47-yard field goal that cut the lead to 26-25.
After Stanford held, Ostrander found the big tight end Smith over themiddle, and he broke Justin Burks' attempted tackle and ran in for the score togive the Cardinal the lead. Kyle Caldwell tackled Ostrander to foil thetwo-point try and it was 31-26 Stanford.
Arizona State had a 373-98 yardage advantage in the first half, but heldonly the three-point lead.
Walter fumbled the ball away at the end of a 16-yard run at the Stanford2-yard line. Two plays later, Ricardo Stewart, with help from a couple ofteammates, tackled Tolan in the end zone put ASU up 19-14.