ASU Football: '12 Plays of Christmas' No. 7 Short and sweet

Arizona State was slipping and slipping badly. Once up 34-3 on Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish scored 28 unanswered points to bring the score to 34-31 midway through the fourth quarter. It seemed like it would be a repeat of the Sun Devils' 2013 matchup with UCLA where they would need to fight and claw their way to victory. Demario Richard and Taylor Kelly decided to make things a little easier than that.

Play No. 7: Demario Richard's 4-yard touchdown catch vs. Notre Dame

2 Points: The play changed the momentum of a game

3 Points: The play occurred in a Sun Devil victory

5 points: The play was a Sun Devil touchdown

9 points: The play was a touchdown in the 4th quarter of a Sun Devil victory

Total: 19 points

Everett Golson just hit Amir Carlisle on a 25-yard touchdown to put Notre Dame within three points. It was decision time for ASU, would it be a game until the end or could they pull away? The Sun Devils chose the latter. D.J. Foster ran for 31 yards on three plays to move the maroon and gold across the 50-yard line. Kelly then hit Richard for a 40-yard gain and on first and goal. On the next play, De'Marieya Nelson went in motion left to right with Kody Kohl and Richard lined up in I formation behind Kelly.

Everything about the positioning pointed to a run play. Kohl picked up the blitz from the right side, Kelly motioned toward a handoff with Richard coming up the middle and then broke into the flat with Kelly rolling out right. He then found Richard with ease for the touchdown. It put ASU up 10 and let Sun Devil fans breathe a sigh of relief to be up 10 with under 4:30 to play in the game.