TEMPE, Ariz. - Overall, Andrew Walter has had better games. His performance in the fourth quarter against UCLA, however, was as good as it gets.
The senior threw for 415 yards and six touchdowns, two in a late rally, to lead Arizona State (No. 23 ESPN/USA Today, No. 21 AP) to a 48-42 victory over the Bruins on Saturday.
"I saw some people clearing out with seven minutes, two scores down, and that kind of got me fired up," Andrew Walter said. "Maybe they should do that every game. But there were so many plays out there that we left, all it was was a matter of time and, thank God, finally it came around to our time."
Andrew Walter tied Danny White (1971) for the second-most TD passes in a game by an Arizona State quarterback, and his 76 career scoring throws is one shy of John Elway's 22-year-old Pac-10 record.
Andrew Walter has 21 TD passes this season against six interceptions, although the Bruins (4-3, 2-2) picked him off three times in an erratic but sometimes brilliant (25-for-51) performance.
Derek Hagan had three scoring grabs, including a 46-yarder with 6:36 left in the game to start the Sun Devils (6-1, 3-1) on their way back from a 42-31 deficit.
Andrew Walter threw behind Rudy Burgess on the 2-point attempt and UCLA's Ben Emanuel II knocked him out of bounds. But the Bruins went three-and-out, and Andrew Walter passed Arizona State into a 43-42 lead with a 65-yard throw to Terry Richardson with 4:51 to play, then found Brent Miller in the back of the end zone for two points.
"The momentum swings in this game were many," said Sun Devils coach Dirk Koetter, who beat one of the Los Angeles-based conference members for the first time in seven tries. "They came back. I give them credit. But, ultimately, the good guys won."
The Sun Devils were blown out 45-7 by No. 1 Southern California a week ago in the Coliseum.
Maurice Drew Jones and Manuel White ran for UCLA TDs, and Drew Olson passed for a career-high 325 yards and hit Mercedes Lewis and Tab Perry for scores.
But Olson, with five interceptions coming in, threw four this game.
"If I don't throw those four interceptions, especially in the red zone, it's a different game," Olson said.
Perry also completed the last 12 yards of a huge play that pulled UCLA into a 28-all tie in the third quarter. White began it with a 55-yard run, including yardage gained by Junior Taylor, who recovered White's fumble but then lost the ball himself before Perry picked it up at the 12 and scored with 7:48 left in the third.
After the first of Jesse Ainsworth's two field goals for the Sun Devils, UCLA got its first lead at 35-31 on White's scoring run following a 61-yard burst by backup Chris Markey.
Jarrad Page set up UCLA's last TD with a 10-yard interception return to the ASU 38, and the Bruins capitalized nine plays later with Perry's 9-yard scoring catch.
"We had an opportunity late in the game to do something in a great environment, here in this stadium with a great crowd, and we couldn't hang on," UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. "I'm just disappointed. That's all I can say."
UCLA's Justin Medlock had two field goals, including a 48-yarder that pulled the Bruins within 21-20 on the final play of the first half.
The Bruins scored twice in the final 46 seconds of the second quarter, going 84 yards in nine plays capped by Olson's 3-yard pass to Lewis, and getting the ball back on an interception.
UCLA moved the ball well in the first quarter but kept stalling deep in Sun Devils territory.
The Bruins had two big plays on their second possession a 20-yard run by Maurice Drew Jones and Olson's 29-yard pass to Joe Cowan but fizzled in the red zone. On third-and-13, Olson was sacked by cornerback Josh Golden, and UCLA settled for a 40-yard field goal.
Arizona State responded 55 seconds later when Andrew Walter found Hagan near the 40-yard line while two defenders collided behind him. Hagan ran to the end zone for a 79-yard play that sent Arizona State to a 14-3 lead in the first.
UCLA got within four points early in the second quarter on Maurice Drew Jones's 2-yard scoring run after a 38-yard pass from Olson to Perry, but the Sun Devils made it 21-10 on Andrew Walter's 12-yard pass to Hagan following Justin Burks' interception and 27-yard return to the UCLA 11.
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