Arizona State buries Colorado in second half

BOULDER, Colo. – Rashad Ross returned the second-half kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown to break open a close game, and Taylor Kelly threw three scoring passes to tailback Marion Grice in Arizona State’s 51-17 victory over Colorado on Thursday night.

Grice caught touchdown throws of 37, 16 and 20 yards from Kelly, who threw for 308 yards and five TDs with no interceptions thanks to a steady diet of screen passes.

The Sun Devils (5-1, 3-0 Pac-12) will take a three-game winning streak into their showdown next week against second-ranked Oregon. The Buffaloes fell to 1-5, 1-2.

Ross took the second-half kickoff a yard deep in his end zone and darted down the right sideline untouched, reaching the other end zone 11 seconds later to make it 27-17.

That jump-started a 31-0 second-half onslaught by the Sun Devils.

 ASU—Grice 37 pass from Kelly (kick blocked)

Col—T.Jones 2 run (Oliver kick)

ASU—Foster 34 pass from Kelly (Garoutte kick)

ASU—Grice 16 pass from Kelly (Garoutte kick)

Col—Kasa 20 pass from J.Webb (Oliver kick)

Col—FG Oliver 36

ASU—Ross 100 kickoff return (Garoutte kick)

ASU—Grice 20 pass from Kelly (Garoutte kick)

ASU—FG Mora 38

ASU—R.Smith 31 pass from Kelly (Mora kick)

ASU—C.Marshall 14 run (Garoutte kick)

A—45,161.

RUSHING—Arizona St., C.Marshall 13-98, Kelly 14-67, Foster 9-61, Eubank 3-23, Miles 2-7, R.Smith 1-6, Grice 1-0, Middlebrooks 1-(minus 1). Colorado, Ford 7-38, T.Jones 9-37, Goodson 1-11, Creer 2-4, Hirschman 1-3, Hobbs 1-2, G.Thomas 2-0, J.Webb 9-(minus 20).

PASSING—Arizona St., Kelly 20-28-0-308, Eubank 3-5-0-24. Colorado, J.Webb 20-41-0-180, Hirschman 0-1-1-0.

RECEIVING—Arizona St., Foster 6-71, Grice 5-101, R.Smith 4-51, Coyle 2-48, Ozier 2-23, Ross 2-23, Rodgers 1-20, C.Marshall 1-(minus 5). Colorado, Kasa 4-71, Spruce 3-31, Slavin 3-20, Ebner 3-17, G.Thomas 2-28, Hobbs 2-7, T.Jones 2-1, McCulloch 1-5.