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Colorado Dominates Ball, But Can't Get Past No. 24 UCLA 35-31

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) ��� Colorado's first ever Pac-12 winning streak was there, waiting to be claimed inside the 20-yard line at the Rose Bowl. The Buffaloes just couldn't grasp those opportunities.

Soso Jamabo rushed for the go-ahead touchdown with 8:28 to play, and No. 24 UCLA blew an 18-point lead before escaping with a 35-31 victory over Colorado on Saturday.

The Buffaloes set a school record with 114 plays from scrimmage and rolled up 554 yards against a tired and depleted Bruins defense, but only scored touchdowns on 2 of 6 red zone possessions.

"It is frustrating when you feel like you controlled the game, but didn't come out on top," Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre said. "If you watched the game but never saw the scoreboard, I think you'd think we would have won the game, and that was disheartening."

Josh Rosen passed for 262 yards and a touchdown for UCLA (6-2, 3-2), who avoided an embarrassing loss despite giving up 18 consecutive points in the second half to Colorado (4-5, 1-4), which hasn't beaten a ranked team on the road since 2002.

Patrick Carr rushed for 110 yards, and his TD run put Colorado ahead with 12:04 to play. The Bruins answered with Jamabo's score before stopping the Buffaloes twice in UCLA territory.

Takkarist McKinley's pressure forced a poor throw by Sefo Liufau on fourth down with 3:34 to play. Nate Meadors intercepted a pass by Liufau near midfield with 51 seconds left.

Liufau went 37 of 57 for 312 yards while Colorado outgained UCLA by 144 yards and had the ball for more than 41 minutes.

The Buffs still lost their 20th straight game against ranked teams. After beating Oregon State last week, they fell painfully short of the first back-to-back Pac-12 victories in school history.

Samson Kafovalu returned a fumble 33 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter for Colorado. Donovan Lee also rushed for a score.

Paul Perkins had an 82-yard touchdown run among his 118 yards and two scores for UCLA, and Ishmael Adams returned an interception 96 yards for a second-quarter touchdown. Nate Starks rushed for a score for UCLA, which still could win the Pac-12 South by winning its final four regular-season games.

Nelson Spruce became the Pac-12's career receptions leader in the second quarter for the Buffaloes, finishing with 11 catches for 90 yards. Spruce has been a stalwart on four mediocre Colorado teams, and he passed the Pac-12 record of 259 catches set by Arizona's Mike Thomas in 2008.

"It's cool," said Spruce, who grew up in the suburbs north of Los Angeles. "It's something I will be able to look back on and remember for the rest of my life, but probably would have traded a win for it because this one hurt."

Colorado headed into an 88-degree Halloween game at the Rose Bowl hoping to build on its first Pac-12 victory since 2013. Instead, the Buffaloes wasted an enormous advantage in possession over the Bruins, running 40 plays to UCLA's four in the second quarter alone.

Colorado's frustration began early and extended throughout the first half. The Buffaloes got no points from two 16-play drives, and they managed only field goals from an 11-play drive and a 13-play drive after that.

After a short missed field goal in the first quarter, the Buffs got back inside the UCLA 5 before Liufau was picked off by Adams, who returned it untouched down the UCLA sideline. Adams missed UCLA's first three games after a preseason arrest.

"It was really rough and it set us in a hole," MacIntyre said of those early struggles. "What was so awesome is they came right back out, went down on that opening drive, kept fighting and battling and didn't let that bother them. On the road in the Pac-12 against a Top 25 team, I think that showed a lot. Coulda, shoulda, woulda today."

Colorado made it interesting in the fourth quarter when Rosen fumbled while getting sacked. The ball went straight to Kafovalu, and the defensive tackle returned it with 14:37 to play.

The Buffaloes then went 68 yards in two plays to take a 31-28 lead on Carr's TD run and a 2-point conversion with 12:04 left.

Spruce was certain Colorado's fortunes had turned on those sequences, but Rosen confidently led a 69-yard drive culminating in Jamabo's scoring run.

"We fought until the end, and again it didn't go our way," Spruce said. "I know it's not bad luck, but sometimes it just feels like that. I know this team, we're going to come back next week and keep fighting. That's all we can do."

By Dan Greenspan, AP Writer

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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