UCLA 45, Colorado 23

PASADENA, Calif. -- UCLA proved the last two weeks that it's not yet among the elite teams in the Pac-12 conference.

But in Brett Hundley, the Bruins certainly have someone they can comfortably insert into the conversation for the league's best quarterback.

And that might just be enough to help them win the Pac-12 South Division.

That's a question for another day, but thanks to Hundley, the No. 17 Bruins got back on the winning track Saturday with a 45-23 victory over Colorado.

Hundley accounted for 344 total yards, 272 of which came through the air on 19-of-24 passing and two touchdowns as UCLA (6-2, 3-2) rebounded from back-to-back losses to Stanford and Oregon.

Colorado (3-5, 0-5) remains winless in the Pac-12, although the Buffaloes did push the Bruins in the first half before Hundley and UCLA ran away with two third-quarter touchdowns to go ahead 35-13.

Hundley's 1-yard run made it 28-13, followed by a 5-yard run by Damien Thigpen to make it 35-13.

A 5-yard run by Colorado's Tony Jones made it 35-20 early in the fourth quarter, but the Buffaloes could manage only a 37-yard field goal by Will Oliver beyond that.

Meanwhile, the Bruins added an 8-yard touchdown run by Devin Fuller to increase the lead to 45-23.

After sloughing through a sluggish first quarter in which they fell behind 3-0, the Bruins unleashed Hundley and the result was a 77-yard touchdown pass to Fuller in which Hundley shook off an open pattern underneath to go long to Fuller to make it 7-0.

But Colorado answered with a 10-play, 73-yard drive capped by a a 7-yard pass from Sefo Liufau to Paul Richardson to put Colorado up 10-7.

Once again, Hundley had a solution.

And this time it was the catalyst for a decisive punch by the Bruins.

First, Hundley engineered an eight-play, 61-yard drive in which he ran for 11 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-10. On the ensuing kickoff, Colorado's Ryan Severson fumbled and the Bruins' Jayon Brown fell on it at the Colorado 14. That set the stage for an 11-yard touchdown pass from Hundley to Fuller to make it 21-10.

Hundley finished with 72 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Liufau had 247 yards on 25-of-36 passing.

NOTES: Colorado has dropped 13 straight Pac-12 games and 13 in a row to ranked teams. ... The last Colorado win in conference play came against Washington State last season. ... UCLA is 4-0 at home for the first time since 2006, and under Jim Mora the Bruins are 10-2 at home. ... Mora and the Bruins are now 10-5 in conference play in the past two seasons.