Chaos reigns after Arizona State fans prematurely storm field in upset of BYU

Arizona State fans celebrated a key win over No. 14 BYU with a raucous field storm that took down the goal posts and all but covered the grass at Sun Devil Stadium.

And then the officials ruled there was still one second left.

One of the most chaotic endings in recent college football history saw thousands of Sun Devils fans attempt to leave the field so BYU could get one more chance at the end zone. On fourth-and-goal, Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt had thrown the ball high and deep thinking it would end the game, but replay showed the ball landed out of bounds with one second on the clock. The result was a turnover on downs.

Unfortunately, it's quite difficult to get thousands of people to all return to their seats in a massive stadium, not unlike putting toothpaste back in the tube. The officials settled with just getting the fans out of the field of play. And getting the goal posts back up.

Just have a taste of the chaos for yourself:

Thirteen minutes later, BYU went for the win while down 28-23 and with Arizona State fans packed around the sidelines. The Cougars came shockingly close to a miracle when Jake Retzlaff got the ball to wide receiver Chase Roberts, but Roberts was just short of the end zone (the play was curiously ruled incomplete, though it likely would have been overturned if it mattered).

Arizona State again stormed the field, with some ugliness directed at the BYU players.

Oddly, there is precedent for officials just giving Arizona State the win after the Sun Devils pretended the game is over, but some semblance of control allowed the game to actually be played out in this case.

The win throws the Big 12 into further chaos on a day that also saw No. 16 Colorado fall to Kansas. There is now a path to a four-way tie in the wide-open division. If more havoc is to come, Arizona State will likely be ready.