BOULDER, Colo. -- Sefo Liufau threw for 345 yards, rushed for 108 more and scored 3 touchdowns as No. 10 Colorado beat No. 22 Washington State 38-24 on Saturday in a matchup of unlikely Pac-12 division leaders.
Phillip Lindsay added 144 yards rushing and two TDs for the Buffaloes (9-2, 7-1), who can wrap up the South side of the conference if Southern California loses to UCLA later Saturday or by beating Utah next week.
"It means the world to go out there and win, keep our hopes alive," Liufau said. "It's more fun than anything. We've been in close games for a long time now. We've gotten a little older and a little better at being consistent and executing."
Liufau briefly left in the fourth quarter only to return and pick up a crucial third-and-short that led to a game-sealing TD run by Lindsay. He becomes the second-ever Colorado player to throw for 300 and rush for 100 in a game, joining Steven Montez, who accomplished the feat at Oregon in September while filling in for a banged-up Liufau.
Luke Falk threw for 325 yards and three scores for Washington State (8-3, 7-1), which had won eight in a row. The Cougars can still win the North Division with a victory against No. 6 Washington next week.
"I just thought we were incohesive as far as doing our jobs," Washington State Coach Mike Leach said.
Colorado's defense stepped up after the Buffaloes fell behind 24-21 late in the third quarter. The next four Washington State drives went like this: Turned the ball over on downs, punt, fumble and interception.
"We lost focus and in the second half we buckled down," defensive back Chidobe Awuzie said.
Washington State and Colorado weren't really expected to be in position for a division title this late into November. The Cougars were picked to finish fourth in the North during the preseason conference poll and the Buffaloes last in the South.
In other games involving Pac-12 teams Saturday, Justin Herbert hit Darren Carrington for a 17-yard touchdown pass with two seconds remaining to give Oregon a 30-28 upset victory over No. 12 Utah, putting the Utes’ hopes of a Pac-12 championship in jeopardy. Herbert led the Ducks, who have struggled all season and suffered several lopsided losses, on a 10-play, 75-yard drive in just over two minutes, capping it with the TD pass to Carrington. Carrington was initially called out of bounds but that call was reversed after a replay showed he got a foot down inbounds. … Christian McCaffrey’s 90-yard touchdown run highlighted a record-setting 284-yard rushing performance that led Stanford to its seventh consecutive Big Game victory, 45-31 over California. McCaffrey broke his own single-game rushing record at Stanford of 243 yards and the Big Game record of 226 yards set by Cal’s Joe Igber in 2002 to help the Cardinal (8-3, 6-3 Pac-12) keep the coveted Axe with yet another victory over rival Cal (4-7, 2-6).
Sports on 11/20/2016