By ,
Published September 27, 2015
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) Cody Kessler threw for 375 yards and five touchdowns and No. 19 Southern California took advantage of Arizona State's mistakes to roll past the Sun Devils 42-14 on Saturday night.
USC (3-1, 1-1 Pac-12) scored touchdowns after all four Arizona State turnovers in the first half and led 35-0 at the break.
Arizona State (2-2, 0-1) had the ball first-and-goal at the 1 early in the second quarter when quarterback Mike Bercovici fumbled trying to hand off. Chris Hawkins scooped it up and ran 94 yards for the third of the four second-quarter touchdowns for the Trojans, who lost their conference opener at home to Stanford last week.
Demario Richard ran for 131 yards and two scores for the Sun Devils in their Pac-12 opener.
Arizona State had won three of four in the series, last year on Bercovici's ''Hail Mary'' 46-yard pass to Jaelen Strong as the game ended.
There was no miracle on this night.
Kessler completed 19 of 33 passes. His string of 103 passes without an interception, dating to the final 12 passes last season, ended when Kareem Orr picked off an attempt at the Sun Devils 1 in the first series of the game.
Bercovici was for 23 of 44 for 272 yards, but 195 of those yards came in the second half when USC had the game in hand.
USC took the lead early after Richard's fumble. On third-and-13, Kessler quarterback threw wide to Adoree Jackson, who broke tackles down the sideline on an 80-yard touchdown play.
Then came USC's 28-point second-quarter eruption.
Early in the quarter, Bercovici threw deep from midfield and USC's John Plattenberg intercepted. A roughing-the-passer penalty on Arizona State's Demetrius Cherry kept the subsequent nine-play, 74-yard drive going, Kessler throwing a 27-yard TD pass to Steven Mitchell Jr.
The third touchdown of the quarter followed Zane Gonzalez's missed 52-yard field goal. Kessler's 45-yard pass to Jackson set up a 5-yard TD toss to Juju Smith-Schuster.
Arizona State's best drive of the half ended when De'Chavon Hayes burst up the middle on a 16-yard run and was stopped just start of the goal line. On the next play, Bercovici ran into his running back Richard and dropped the ball.
Hawkins picked it up and was untouched to the end zone.
There was time for one more Arizona State turnover.
Hayes fumbled on the kickoff return and Kessler threw a 10-yard TD pass to Smith-Schuster with three seconds left in the half to make it 35-0.
During the game, Arizona State's D.J. Foster became the fourth player in NCAA history with 2,000 yards rushing and passing.
The Bruins were without standout linebacker Miles Jack, who tore a meniscus and is out for the season.
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AP college football website: http://collegefootball.ap.org
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/kessler-throws-5-tds-no-19-trojans-roll-past-sun-devils