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For the 26 seniors on the ASU football team, Saturday meant more than just a comfortable victory over a winless opponent in the Pac-12. For the first time in their collegiate careers, those 26 players are bowl-eligible.The No. 21 Sun Devils (6-2, 4-1 Pac-12) used four first half touchdowns and forced five turnovers to blow out visiting Colorado 48-14 in front of a Homecoming crowd of 53,168 at Sun Devil Stadium.
“Just being a senior and being bowl eligible, I’m happy,” said ASU senior safety Clint Floyd, who caught an interception Saturday. “But that’s not all we want to do this year.”
The Sun Devils haven’t been to a bowl game since 2007, when they lost to Texas 52-34 in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl.
“For me, it’s really cool,” said ASU senior wide receiver Gerell Robinson, who racked up 89 yards on four catches. “There were a lot of schools I could have gone to coming out of high school and to see where those schools are now, I’m very happy with the choice I made. I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to be around, a better coaching staff and a better faculty.”
ASU came out of the gates fast coming off its bye week, not letting the Buffaloes (1-8, 0-5 Pac-12) hang around. Against Oregon State and Utah, the Sun Devils fell behind early before pulling away late.
“We’ve learned how to start a football game,” ASU junior quarterback Brock Osweiler said. “How to be prepared and how to execute. I think we did a great job of doing that tonight.”
Osweiler finished Saturday 18-of-28 for 307 yards and two touchdowns without playing the fourth quarter.
ASU junior running back Cameron Marshall scored three times and totaled 114 yards on the ground.
“We ran the football better than we had,” ASU coach Dennis Erickson said. “It got a little sloppy in the fourth quarter but that’s the nature of games like this.”
The Sun Devils forced three fumbles and two interceptions, upping their season turnover differential to plus-12.
“I don’t know if I’ve been on a run like this turnover-wise,” Erickson said. “I just hope it keeps going for two or three more months. We’re knocking the ball out. You start believing you can knock it out and you do knock it out.”
ASU junior wide receiver Jamal Miles got the scoring started two minutes into the first quarter with a 25-yard touchdown reception from Osweiler.
“That play was something we had worked on all week,” Osweiler said. “Jamal did a great job of getting on that safety’s toes and crossing his face and he made a great catch.”
Four minutes later, Marshall scored from 19 yards out to put the Sun Devils up 14-0. ASU sophomore wide receiver Kevin Ozier caught a 33-yard pass from Osweiler in tight coverage to cap the Sun Devils’ 21-point first period.
After ASU redshirt freshman kicker Alex Garoutte hit a 38-yard field goal, the Buffaloes got on the board when Osweiler threw a backwards lateral that redshirt freshman defensive back Josh Moten recovered and returned 16 yards for a touchdown.
The Sun Devils responded with a minute left in the second quarter on an 11-yard scoring run from Marshall to take a 31-7 lead into halftime.
With its starters still in, ASU scored twice more in the third quarter, one on a 46-yard Garoutte field goal and another on Marshall’s third touchdown run of the night to go up 41-7.
Colorado scored its first offensive points of the night two minutes into the fourth quarter on a 21-yard senior wide receiver Toney Clemons touchdown reception. ASU junior running back James Morrison added an eight-yard scoring run to end the night.
“We are a veteran team and we are very hungry,” Osweiler said. “We set very high goals for this football team and we haven’t forgotten that.”
Injury note
Erickson said ASU junior cornerback Deveron Carr left the game Saturday with a mild concussion.
The status of Carr moving forward won’t be known until he is further evaluated.
Reach the reporter at tyler.emerick@asu.edu
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