No. 17 BYU’s stout defensive effort shut down No. 23 Colorado’s explosive offense in the Cougars’ 36-14 Alamo Bowl win on Saturday night in San Antonio.
The Cougars, who had four sacks and two interceptions, held Colorado to just two rushing yards and 210 yards of total offense. The Buffaloes averaged 34.5 points and nearly 400 yards of offense per game entering the Alamo Bowl.
BYU’s Parker Kingston had a 64-yard punt return touchdown. Jake Retzlaff completed 12-of-21 passes for 151 yards and two interceptions.
LJ Martin (93 rushing yards) had two touchdowns on the ground and Sione I Moa ran one in for the Cougars (11-2). Evan Johnson and Isaiah Glasker had interceptions.
Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders completed 16-of-23 passes for 208 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter caught four passes for 106 yards and a touchdown. Sav’ell Smalls added a touchdown catch.
DJ McKinney, Anquin Barnes Jr. and Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig had interceptions for Colorado (9-4).
Martin gave BYU a 7-0 lead with a 1-yard touchdown run midway through the opening quarter. A 28-yard pass to Martin on a wheel route out of the backfield was the key play on the drive.
After BYU forced a three-and out, Will Ferrin gave the Cougars a 10-0 cushion with a 51-yard field goal.
At the start of the second quarter, Sanders hit Hunter on a short crossing route he turned into a 58-yard gain. But the drive stalled when Sanders was sacked by Logan Lutui for a 23-yard loss. On the next play, Alejandro Mata missed a 48-yard field goal.
With a wall of blockers down the sideline, Kingston’s 64-yard punt return touchdown gave the Cougars a 17-0 lead late in the second quarter. BYU went into halftime up 20-0 on Ferrin’s 54-yard field goal.
On Colorado’s first second-half possession, Johnson picked off a pass that set up BYU’s nine-play scoring drive. The Cougars took a 27-0 lead on Moa’s 13-yard touchdown run.
Hunter made three Cougars defenders miss on a 43-yard touchdown reception that cut the BYU lead to 27-7 with 6:14 left in the third.
Martin’s second TD run gave BYU a 33-7 fourth-quarter lead. Colorado tacked on a late score when Sanders hit Smalls with a 2-yard pass.
