CU Buffs falter late, get thumped by Arizona State

For three quarters the Colorado Buffaloes put up a fight enough to have a shot at an upset in the home finale An odd personnel decision a costly fumble and a porous defense put an end to that Arizona State No in the College Football Playoff rankings pulled away late and rolled past the Buffs - at Folsom Field on Saturday night Related Articles Western Colorado stuns Central Washington to advance in Division II football playoffs CU Buffs gold jacket coaches delivering Hall of Fame message Statue of legendary CU Buffs head coach Bill McCartney unveiled CU Buffs seniors have had varied experiences but all closing chapter at Folsom Field CSU Pueblo heads into Division II playoffs with Kiahn Martinez fueling run challenge Marcellus Honeycutt Jr as deep threat CU slipped to - - Big with its fourth consecutive loss while ASU improved to - - with its third straight win Aided by four ASU turnovers CU had a shot to win going into the fourth quarter The Buffs pulled within - and a -yard pass from freshman JuJu Lewis to Sincere Brown gave them first-and- at the ASU -yard line early in the final quarter Then CU put walk-on converted receiver Ronald Coleman in at running back despite regular backs Dallan Hayden and Micah Welch running well all night On the first touch of his career Coleman fumbled and ASU recovered at its own -yard line On the next play ASU s Raleek Brown raced untouched through the Buffs defense for an -yard touchdown and a - lead Brown s backup Kanye Udoh added a -yard touchdown run less than five minutes later to essentially shut the door on the Buffs at - And Jason Brown Jr scored on a -yard TD run with to go to cap the scoring ASU overcame its four turnovers to rack up yards including on the ground of those in the fourth quarter Brown finished with yards on carries Lewis making his second career start and first at Folsom Field was under pressure all night and finished -of- for yards and a touchdown CU s defense started strong forcing a three-and-out on ASU s first possession and holding the Sun Devils to a -yard Jesus Gomez field goal on its second The Sun Devils also punted on their third possession while CU s Tawfiq Byard forced a Demarius Robinson fumble on the next possession Offensively however CU couldn t take advantage of that The Buffs went three-and-out on their first three possessions After the Robinson fumble CU took over at the ASU -yard line and still couldn t convert going four-and-out after Lewis was stuffed for no gain on fourth-and- from the ASU s fifth possession ended in another punt and CU certainly got specific offense going Micah Welch had a -yard run on first down setting up Hayden for a -yard TD run That gave the Buffs a - lead with seconds left in the first quarter their first lead since a - win against Iowa State on Oct CU maintained its lead until late in the second quarter ASU s Jeff Sims hit running back Raleek Brown on a wheel direction for a -yard touchdown and a - lead ASU tacked on a -yard Gomez field goal just before the half going into intermission with a - lead To open the second half Lewis led the Buffs on a six-play -yard drive capping it with a -yard touchdown pass to Omarion Miller to put the Buffs back on top - That lead didn t last long however Just three plays later Sims hit Derek Eusebio across the middle and he sprinted untouched for a -yard touchdown ASU was fruitful on a two-point conversation to regain the lead at - with to play in the third quarter Midway through the third the Buffs Shaun Myers recovered a Sims fumble and returned it to the Sun Devils -yard line The CU offense went backwards but still got a -yard field goal from Alejandro Mata to pull within - with to play in the third The teams traded punts after that but Raleek Brown fumbled near the end of the third quarter to give CU a bit of momentum That too didn t last long though Four plays later Coleman fumbled to set up Brown s -yard touchdown which changed the complexion of the match Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams