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Sun Devils beat up Buffs for third win in 2022
Xazavian Valladay rushed for 118 yards and three touchdowns as Arizona State rolled over Colorado for a 42-34 win at Folsom Field on Saturday night.
The Wyoming transfer had all three scores in the first half before eventually breaking the century mark in the final 30 minutes. An outstanding night with a 42-yard touchdown to put the Sun Devils up 21-10 with 7:59 left in the second quarter. Valladay came into the game needing three touchdowns to match Washington’s Cameron Davis for the most in the Pac-12.
ASU QB Trenton Bourguet picked up where Valladay left off with two of his three touchdowns in the second half. All of them to Jalin Conyers, who finished with six catches for 108 yards. Bourguet’s coming out party with a career-high 435 yards, smashing his previous mark of 182 yards set three weeks ago vs. Washington. Ironically, just the sixth career game for the junior from Tucson.
Colorado, behind J.T. Shrout, hung around for a majority of the contest and tried to stage a comeback late in the fourth. A 14-play, 71-yard drive capped off by a 1-yard touchdown from Deion Smith put the Buffaloes within striking distance down by 15 with 8:12 to go. CU’s defense forced a punt on ASU’s ensuing drive which was returned for an 88-yard touchdown by Jordyn Tyson, and gave the Buffs a single-digit deficit down by eight with 3:50 left. All for nothing as the Sun Devils would eventually run out the clock after consecutive first downs.
Tyson finished with five catches for 115 yards and two touchdowns. The Allen, Texas freshman also caught a beautiful 58-yard touchdown strike from Shrout on CU’s last possession before halftime. His first career 100-yard receiving effort after coming up eight yards short against Oregon State last week.
A career-best game for Shrout as well. The Tennessee transfer finished with 222 yards along with two touchdowns and an interception. His second-straight game throwing for over 200 yards and completing more than ten passes in relief of the injured Owen McCown.
Overall, Colorado’s defense gave up 557 yards, but held ASU’s offense to 122 yards on the ground, which is the second-lowest rushing total so far this season. It was the fourth time the Buffs have allowed an opponent to gain 500+ yards, and sixth time they’ve given up over 40 points this year.
However, CU did break the “curse of twenty” with the fourth quarter surge. Win or lose, the Buffs haven’t broken the 20-point barrier in the previous ten games. Unfortunately, Colorado is one of the first FBS team eliminated from postseason contention. They’re also in jeopardy of matching the school’s worst record in ten years, and may suffer the third one-win season since 1984.
UP NEXT:
Colorado (1-7) welcomes 8th-ranked Oregon in Boulder next Saturday (1:30 p.m./TV: ESPN). The first of three meetings with ranked teams in the final month of the season. The Ducks (7-1) have not scored under 41 points in each of the past six games. A strong response after taking a 46-point beating at the hands of Georgia to open the season at the Chick-Fil-a Kickoff.
by Jeff Hauser
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