Arizona State was forcing turnovers so quickly in the second half, trainers didn’t even have time to get the blood off Brock Osweiler’s jersey.
“They were cleaning it one second and the next second it was, ‘Hey, you got to go,’” the Sun Devils’ 6-foot-8 quarterback said. “But that’s a credit to our defense. They were staying focused, playing with a lot of intensity, creating turnovers.”
Three Utah turnovers on consecutive possessions late in the third quarter and beginning of the fourth helped turn a close game into 35-14 victory for No. 22 Arizona State in Salt Lake City.
When it was over, the Utes (2-3, 0-3) had committed five turnovers for the second consecutive game — and the result wasn’t much different than last week’s 31-14 loss to Washington.
“The wheels came off,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “We’ll start winning games when we stop turning the ball over. That’s the bottom line. Until that happens, it’s going to be a long road.”
Osweiler was 25-for-41 passing for 325 yards and three touchdowns for Arizona State (5-1, 3-0 Pacific-12 Conference). It was the third 300-yard game of his career.
At the beginning of the season, many thought the Pac-12 South would be a three-team race between USC, Arizona State and Utah, a new member in the conference.
Now everything is lined up for Sun Devils to claim the South. They already have big wins over the Trojans and now the Utes.
Though they play at Oregon next week, they should be favored in the rest of their games – Colorado, UCLA, Washington State, Arizona and California. ASU does not play Stanford or Washington, which entered the weekend atop the North division standings.
Osweiler showed he and the team could put together a solid outing on the road against a tough defense.
“I think we passed with flying colors,” he said. “Obviously there are things we’ll do better. But the biggest thing is we just won a football game on the road against a very good quality opponent. … It means a lot to this team. We need to learn how to do this week in and week out.”
At Oregon State 37, Arizona 27: Sean Mannion threw for 267 yards and two touchdowns and the Beavers defeated the mistake-prone Wildcats in Corvallis, Ore., for the their first victory of the season.
Quarterback Nick Foles was intercepted twice and Arizona (1-5, 0-3 Pac-12) lost two fumbles in its fifth loss in a row overall and eighth consecutive conference loss.
Oregon State (1-4, 1-2) snapped a six-game losing streak dating to last season.
At Stanford 48, Colorado 7: Andrew Luck threw for a season-high 370 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Cardinal (5-0, 3-0) stay perfect. with a win over Pac-12 newcomer Colorado in Stanford, Calif.
The Buffaloes (1-5, 0-2) are still in search of their first Pac-12 win.
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