It's been a season for the BYU football record books. While the hopes of claiming a spot in the College Football Playoff slipped out of reach when the Kansas Jayhawks and Arizona State Sun Devils tag teamed the previously unbeaten Cougars in a tag-team street fight, a 10-2 season is already a tremendous success that suggests BYU football is miles ahead of where many believed.
But the season isn't over yet, and standing in the opposite corner is a Colorado team that has enjoyed a pretty good season of its own. Coached by Deion Sanders, quarterbacked by his son, and boasting this year's Heisman Trophy winner in two-way ace Travis Hunter, the 23rd-ranked Buffaloes enter this game with one final statement to make.
That statement includes a rare promise from a program with first-round NFL Draft picks on the sidelines.
"Our kids are going to play in our bowl game," said Coach Prime, "because that's what we signed up to do, and we're going to finish."
An admirable response from a head coach who understands his players' NFL goals, but hopes to instill one last lesson on commitment and following through. The football powers in the modern age of college football often encourage their best players to sit out "meaningless" non-playoff competition in the postseason out of fear that a poor performance or brutal injury could tank their draft stock.
I have great respect for Colorado in that they insist on playing at full strength in their season finale.
"We're not going to tap out, because that throws off the structure of next season," the Buffaloes' head coach continued, "There's a couple of teams that you take note. They laid an egg in the bowl game, and they haven't recovered since. We don't plan on doing that. We plan on going out there and fighting just like we fought today, regardless of where we are"
BYU hopes to match their foes' energy, as these Big 12 foes share a slice of the Big 12 regular season title, though they never faced off during the season. A win for either program validates the argument that they belonged in the conference title game.
If you didn't have a reason to tune in already, hopefully you do now!
How to Watch the Valero Alamo Bowl: 17 BYU vs 23 Colorado
Date: Saturday, December 28th, 2024
Time: 5:30 PM MT
Location: Alamodome, San Antonio, TX
Channel: ESPN
Odds: Colorado -5