“You can't lose the turnover battle four to one,” head coach Kenny Dillingham said. “That's got to be cleaned up before next week.”

Despite the turnovers, ASU (8-3, 5-2 Big 12) managed to pull away from Colorado (3-8, 1-7 Big 12), eventually riding junior running back Raleek Brown to a dominant 42-17 victory Saturday night in frigid conditions at Folsum Field. 

While Brown had a career night, rushing for 255 yards and a touchdown en route to eclipsing the school record for most yards on the ground in a road game, the star running back added to the Sun Devils' turnover tally on the night, losing the ball following a hurdle attempt on a 20-yard rush.

The running back didn’t let the fumble weigh him down, however, leaving the defense in the dust in an 88-yard rushing touchdown to kickstart ASU’s fourth quarter.

“I told everybody…I was going to get a touchdown on the next possession,” Brown said. 

The turnover woes were evident from the jump for the Sun Devils on Saturday, when freshman running back Demarius “Man Man” Robinson gave the Buffaloes prime real estate, fumbling the ball on a screen play on the Sun Devils 29-yard line. 

Add in the Sims interception late in the second quarter, and you have four turnovers on the night, a stat that seals most teams' chances of victory. 

However, ASU’s offense had something to say about that, rattling off 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, along with 205 total yards of offense to boost the team to victory. 

“We knew we could get the job done,” Brown said. “We had to do the main thing…Just focus on the little things.” 

Dillingham, on the other hand, felt the offense as a whole improved throughout the second half, specifically crediting the team's offensive line for a large portion of the success in the ground game. 

“O-line played phenomenal in the second half,” Dillingham said. “We started getting the right hats on the right hats, we started moving people, (Brown) saw the right holes.”

While the offensive struggles that the Sun Devil faced Saturday would’ve left most teams in the nation for dead, ASU’s defense held the team together when it needed to most and often kept the squad in the game while the offense was floundering. 

“You defend 17 drives, you’re defending a game and three quarters,” Dillingham said. “(To) only give up 17 points and 300 yards in a game and three quarters is phenomenal…Defense definitely kept us in that (game).” 

Heading into the fourth quarter with only a four-point advantage and an offense that just turned the ball over a possession ago deep in its own territory, the Sun Devil defense pulled through yet again, forcing Colorado to fumble and giving the offense the ball back after the almost costly turnover. 

“You can’t turn the ball over on back-to-back possessions…Especially in your own area,” Dillingham said. “We gave (Colorado) short fields twice…Defense bailed out the offense.” 

Despite losing the turnover battle four to one, ASU racked up more rushing yards than the Buffaloes — 355 to 135 — a stat Dillingham feels is crucial to winning games. 

“(When) you can run the ball and stop the run, you win 90% of your games, if not more,” Dillingham said. 

While the Sun Devils were able to scrape by off the backs of an incredible defensive performance, along with a breakout game on the ground, the team will need to be at its best on Friday, Nov. 28, in the Territorial Cup against a surging Arizona squad. 

“(Arizona) is probably one of the best teams in our league right now,” Dillingham said. “They’re a really good football team, and we better have more explosives next week.”