Arizona State’s comeback attempt falls short, Big 12 Championship hopes are on life support

TEMPE, Ariz. (KYMA) - The Arizona State Sun Devils dropped their football matchup 24-16 to the University of Houston Cougars.

It was a little bit of an emotional roller coaster for the Sun Devils who were without top receiver target Jordyn Tyson out with an injury.

The Cougars put together a ten play drive on their first possession of the game, ending in a field goal.

ASU answered with a long, eleven play drive but missed a 31-yard field goal attempt. In the process, quarterback Sam Leavitt was injured on a run and Jeff Sims was forced into action.

Leavitt returned to action in the second quarter, but the Sun Devils' offensive attack remained stagnant and the Cougars built up a 24-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Then started the comeback. Leavitt led his offense to a touchdown, with a miss extra point, and a field goal, but was pulled from the game, leaving Sims at the helm for the rest of the game.

The backup QB hit Chamon Metayer for a 27-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to one score with 5:12 left in the game, but that's as far as the team would get in their come-from-behind attempt.

Arizona State got the ball with a chance to tie, but a turnover on downs drew the end to the game.

The Sun Devils will have a chance to bounce back against Iowa State next week, but will need several Big 12 opponents to lose multiple games in order to sneak into the conference championship.