http://twitter.com/WVUfootball/status/683766857103376384

Amazing. I can think of two other games when Dana Holgorsen was comparably plugged in, which is to say outwardly expressing his happiness, frustration and even sadness like this.

• Texas in 2012
• Oklahoma State in 2013

There may have been others. Honestly, I typically can’t see him from the press box, and I’m usually watching other parts of the game. But there was something about his mannerism and displays that the eye could not resist. I suppose he really wanted this one.

Confession time: I knew I was flying from Phoenix to Dallas and shifting from football to basketball, but what I didn’t know was what would happen in the Cactus Bowl and then after. I booked my Sunday flight to Dallas as late as I could because … well, let’s be honest, OK? What if WVU got boat raced in the bowl? Or, what if WVU simply lost the game?

I didn’t want to be in the air if something happened, didn’t want to be somewhere over Las Cruces when texts or emails tipping me off that something was brewing were stonewalled by airplane mode. None of that happened, and in truth, those worries seemed misplaced the closer we got to the game, but we didn’t know that, especially when making travel plans.

So when you see Holgorsen running and trying to fly and collapsing and cheering and yelling, consider the backdrop that may or may not have existed, but understand he needed that win and wanted that win and got that win.

I know it’s cool to say the game didn’t matter, and in the broad view, it did not. But the games aren’t solely about the people who sit in the stands, watch on television or cover it from the press box and from abroad.

Those are guys who witnessed a vicious momentum swing only minutes earlier. Arizona State scored to take a 41-36 lead with 4:56 to go, and then Todd Graham did what may be a Todd Graham thing and went for the extra point instead of the two-point conversion. That error gave the Mountaineers belief they deserved to and would win the game, and then they embarked on the game-winning drive, which started out very nicely.

• First-and-10 at the 25: Skyler Howard draw, the first of the game, gains 11 yards
• First-and-10 at the 36: Maybe Howard’s worst throw of the game is behind Gary Jennings
• Second-and-10 at the 36: Swing pass outside to Wendell Smallwood gains 4 yards
• Third-and-4 at the 40: Outside receiver clears the left side of field, Howard throws to Jordan Thompson outside the left hash for 20 yards
• First-and-10 at the 40: Similar play as on third down, this time to the right, and Howard throws to Daikiel Shorts for 13 yards

WVU has the ball at the Arizona State 27 with 3:48 remaining, and the offense looks to be on its way. Then everything changes.

Howard quite likely got away with intentional grounding. Whether he was outside the tackle box is at best arguable, but his throw out of bounds didn’t get past the line. It probably should have been second-and-24 at the 41.

But that was quickly dashed aside by what immediately followed. It was a surreal two-play sequence.

Begin with the first play, because, wow.

WVU’s pass protection was, all things considered, pretty good throughout the game. This was as bad as WVU’s pass protection looked, and it was an eight-man protection scheme. Arizona State’s pass-rush specialist Antonio Longino races around Yodny Cajuste and then Marcell Lazard when Lazard slides over to help. Smallwood goes low to take out a rusher, but he can’t remove that threat. That threat and the guy spinning out of Cody Clay’s block pull the fire alarm, and Howard has a chance to throw the ball to Smallwood, except that Longino is still motoring along and strikes.

I thought it was a touchdown for the Sun Devils. They sent six and had five guys near the ball, each faster than WVU’s offensive linemen and able to keep Smallwood from making a tackle. The ball actually hits defensive lineman Tashon Smallwood in the hands, but Clay ends up landing on it for the first and only fumble recovery of his career.

Remember on the opening kickoff of the second half when Shelton Gibson stripped a ball free on the return and Xavier Preston and Marvin Gross landed on it and didn’t recover it and Arizona State ended up scoring on the drive?

Oh, you don’t? Gee whiz.

So in quick succession, WVU maybe gets away with intentional grounding (on a night with iffy officiating) and survives a strip sack. You’d feel pretty good about your chances, except it’s third-and-22 on a do-or-die drive.

Now go to the 0:35 mark and press play. The Sun Devils have three defensive linemen and then three defenders to the right of the right defensive end. It’s a 3-4, but a middle linebacker sunk to the right, and Longino, who just made his play from the left side, scrambled to the right.

Wendell Smallwood is behind Howard in the pistol, which means WVU can run this to the right or the left. If Smallwood is to Howard’s left, it has to go right, and vice versa, because WVU’s not running a counter here. But you have to think Arizona State doesn’t think WVU is running, period. From center Tyler Orlosky to his right, WVU has five players to Arizona State’s five players, but there’s a lot of space, especially at the second level, before the cornerback drops back, indicating the defense expects a pass.

The line wins early, sealing off the crowd on the left before right guard Kyle Bosch and Cajuste do well to get to the second level. The rest is Smallwood, who does a fantastic job reading those two, cutting back and then just running fast.

This play is a lot harder if Longino is on the left.

This is my favorite text from TFGD:

2:21:
I was legitimately getting in my car to drive to Arizona when he handed that off.

Never mind the touchdown pass to David Sills or the late pass breakup by Jeremy Tyler or another odd move by Graham that follows. This is the play that saved the day and perhaps more. WVU wins the bowl and its eighth game of the season, both for the first time since joining the Big 12. How did we get here? Let’s find out by taking a look at a particularly macho edition of the Good and the Bad of WVU v. Arizona State.