Even the guy who threw the pass could hardly believe the way it ended.

Senior quarterback Danny Sullivan could only crouch down and throw his hands out in disbelief after his 50-yard throw found senior wide receiver Chris McGaha for a touchdown with five seconds left that lifted ASU to a 24-17 win over Washington on Saturday in front of 53,219 fans at Sun Devil Stadium.

“I looked down the field and saw white man over here [turning to McGaha] running wide open, and I just told myself, ‘Do not overthrow it.’”

He didn’t.

Instead, he completed the instantly heralded pass for what was easily the biggest play in the Sullivan era at quarterback for ASU.

In fact, it was “the number one, number two, number three and number four,” best play of his career, Sullivan said of the game-
winning heave.

The touchdown throw, which ASU coach Dennis Erickson said seemed to be “in the air for three days,” was the longest pass of the senior quarterback’s college career. The catch was also the longest reception for McGaha during his time at ASU.

The Sun Devils (4-2, 2-1 Pac-10) appeared headed for overtime when they took over at midfield with just 13 seconds remaining following a UW punt.

The plan on the next play was to gain a big enough chunk of yards to give junior kicker Thomas Weber — who missed two of three attempts on the night in his first action since the season-opener — a chance at a long field goal.

“We were trying to throw a comeback route to try and get down there and try to kick a field goal,” Erickson said. “We had to get down there because, obviously, Thomas [Weber] isn’t 100 percent healthy.”

But Sullivan and McGaha let their kicker rest his tender groin by taking advantage of a busted coverage by the Husky secondary.

“I could not believe it,” Sullivan said of how open McGaha was near the goal line.

The Sun Devils led the majority of the contest and had several chances to add to the lead.

In addition to Weber’s two unsuccessful field-goal attempts, the Sun Devils missed a touchdown opportunity in the second quarter when senior wide receiver Kyle Williams, just steps away from the goal line, was stripped by UW junior linebacker Mason Foster. The ball rolled out of the end zone for a touchback, giving the ball to the Huskies (3-4, 2-2 Pac-10).

ASU also recovered a muffed punt inside Husky territory at the beginning of the fourth quarter but was unable to come away with a score.

“We left a lot of points out there,” Erickson said.

UW did everything it could to make up for the Sun Devils’ missed chances. After a 75-yard run by freshman Cameron Marshall led to a field goal that put ASU up 17-7 in the third quarter, the Huskies, in a manner that has been familiar to them all season, stormed back to score 10 straight points and knot the score at 17-17.
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First, UW redshirt freshman running back Chris Polk bounced off several would-be tacklers and scored from 23 yards out.

Then, the Huskies capped off an eight-play, 67-yard drive — highlighted by an acrobatic 34-yard reception by sophomore Jermaine Kearse — with a 29-yard field goal to tie the game.

But questionable play calling on UW’s final drive forced the Huskies to give the ball back to ASU with time for a last-gasp scoring chance.

Booed ferociously just two weeks earlier when ASU fell at home to Oregon State, Sullivan, who completed 21 of 35 passes for 263 yards, ran off the field late Saturday night to chants of his name from the maroon-and-gold faithful.

“I’ve been waiting for a game like that, as you guys probably know,” Sullivan said. “Especially with the last time I played in this stadium, it wasn’t too fun. My frustration showed after that game, but it’s a complete 180 now, that’s for sure.”

The Sun Devils reached deep into the play bag in the first half, using two trick plays to set up first half touchdowns.

On ASU’s first drive, sophomore wide receiver T.J. Simpson went around the end on a reverse for 30 yards. Four plays later, Sullivan rushed it in from a yard out — his third rushing score of the season.

The first play of the second quarter saw sophomore wide receiver Kyle Williams take a pitch on a reverse and then unleash a 32-yard touchdown pass to Simpson, who made the grab in traffic in the back of the end zone.

Reach the reporter at nkosmide@asu.edu.