San Antonio • It gnawed at Chase Roberts as the week wore on. As BYU attended event after event where Colorado’s stars were introduced to standing ovations — the Heisman winner and the potential top NFL draft pick — Roberts sat in the background thinking the Cougars deserved more recognition.
“We can hang as a team with these great players,” the receiver insisted.
Later he said, “We can match up with anyone, and ... score a lot of points, and we stop them on defense. Just excited to play a talented team like Colorado and go show what we can do.”
At the time it felt like a bit of bravado from one of BYU’s captains.
In reality, it was only foreshadowing.
Not only did the Cougars hang with the star-studded Buffaloes, they blew them out on a national stage. BYU beat Colorado 36-14 in the Alamo Bowl, scoring the game’s first 27 points and holding Colorado to just 210 yards of offense.
Quietly, defensive coordinator Jay Hill kept saying he had a plan to grind quarterback Shedeur Sanders to a halt. Confuse him. Bring pressure from everywhere.
It worked to perfection as BYU sacked Sanders four times and hit him every chance it could. Hill brought blitzes from the secondary and the linebacker position. Sanders looked confused as he kept taking drive-killing sacks and throwing interceptions.
In the second quarter, with Colorado inside the 10-yard line, defensive lineman Logan Latui brought Sanders down for a 23-yard loss. It forced a long field goal that the Buffaloes missed.
Later, Hill dialed up a safety blitz with Raider Damuni. He flew in on third down for a 16-yard loss. It left Colorado with just 61 total first-half yards. All of BYU’s sacks resulted in more than 10 lost yards.
And when they didn’t get home, the pressure threw the potential No. 1 pick off. A Jack Kelly blitz led to an Isaiah Glasker interception in the fourth quarter. It was the final blow to Colorado’s comeback hopes.
Sanders finished 16-of-23 for 208 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Travis Hunter, the reigning Heisman winner, ended with four catches for 106 yards and a touchdown.
With the defense doing its job, head coach Kalani Sitake called for his most aggressive game of the season. BYU had an onside kick it recovered. Parker Kingston returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown — his first since he did it against Kansas State in October.
Even if the offense took a bit to settle in, it moved the ball well enough. The Cougars had 331 total yards and 180 on the ground.
Quarterback Jake Retzlaff ended his night 12-for-21 with 151 yards and two interceptions.
Running LJ Martin went for 88 yards and two touchdowns. His last score, a 9-yard scamper where he dragged multiple defenders, gave BYU a 33-7 lead and sent Colorado fans heading for the Alamodome’s exits.
