BYU (3-0) travels to Boulder to take on the Colorado Buffaloes (2-2) in a rematch of last year's Alamo Bowl. As BYU fans still gleefully remember, Kalani Sitake's squad dominated Deion Sanders' team on national television. Jay Hill's masterful defense flummoxed quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy-winning wide receiver Travis Hunter.
ESPN's broadcast crew arrived with a preordained mission to crown Coach Prime's team in prime time. BYU's participation in the contest was viewed as something of an inconvenient distraction. But in the end, the Cougars emerged with a dominant 36-14 win, validating their No. 13 ranking to end the season.
I don't bring this up to gloat or to throw shade at Colorado.
I bring this up to pay respect and show gratitude to Deion Sanders, Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter, and the entire Colorado program.
In an age when many NFL talents understandably sit out bowl games to not risk injury, Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter both played. Coach Prime set the tone for his team that he expected his players to play, and his team responded.
Had Coach Prime done things differently last year or if his NFL-bound players had sat out, there would have been an asterisk next to BYU's Alamo Bowl victory. The narrative would have been, "Sure, BYU dominated Colorado's B-team, but if Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter had played, the Buffaloes would have boat raced the Cougars."
Coach Prime, if you read this, please know that many, many BYU fans respect and appreciate how you handled last year's bowl game. You bring attention to our often overlooked Big 12 conference, and a multitude of BYU fans appreciate who you are and how you operate.
Now, on to this week's game...
Colorado's 2025 season summary
The Buffaloes have started the season 2-2. They lost their first game versus Georgia Tech 27-20 then followed that up with a 31-7 win versus Delaware. Colorado then had an early Big 12 conference game against Houston on the road, and Coach Prime's team fell 36-20. Last week the Buffs beat Wyoming (something most Cougar fans appreciate) by a score of 37-20.
The main item for BYU fans to watch is Colorado's quarterback play.
Coach Prime has been flip-flopping throughout the season between Kaidon Salter and Ryan Staub. Salter started the season for the Buffs, got benched in favor of Staub in the Delaware game, then Staub started in the loss to Houston.
Colorado reinstated Salter as their starting quarterback in last week's win against Wyoming. Only time will tell what this snip-snap-snip-snap experience will do to Salter's confidence as he prepares to face a dominant BYU defense led by DC Jay Hill.
On the defensive side of the ball, Colorado is giving up 194.5 rushing yards per game and allowing 4.5 yards per carry. BYU's offensive line and running back LJ Martin should be licking their chops coming into this game.
Most prognosticators have BYU favored by about a touchdown, which frankly feels light after what BYU did to Colorado in the Alamo Bowl, but winning Power Four conference games on the road is never easy.
No matter the outcome, BYU fans appreciate Coach Prime for the platform he gave the Cougs in the Alamo Bowl last year and for the attention he brings to the Big 12.
As the attention now turns to Boulder, here's to hoping for another positive outcome for BYU with a lot of eyes on the Cougars versus Coach Prime.