SAN ANTONIO — Colorado’s third straight Alamo Bowl appearance resulted in an underwhelming performance as CU fell to BYU, 36-14, Saturday in Texas.
The Alamo Bowl hasn’t been kind to Colorado in the past as the Buffs are now 0-4 all time at the Alamodome. What looked like it could be a competitive matchup between two of the Big 12’s top teams resulted in the Buffs, who were a 3-point favorite, setting themselves up for failure in the first half. That eventually created a situation that CU couldn’t climb back from Saturday night. Colorado’s lackluster offensive performance, struggles on special teams and the defense’s inability to stop the run led to four quarters of BYU taking full advantage and ultimately hoisting the Alamo Bowl trophy.
Shedeur Sanders and the CU offense were only able to muster two scores with just nine first downs. The Buffs haven’t shown this level of offensive ineffectiveness since the 28-10 loss to Nebraska. Head coach Deion Sanders and his Buffs just didn’t have the firepower in San Antonio to minimize a balanced BYU team.
Jake Retzlaff finished with 12 completions on 21 attempts for 151 yards passing and two interceptions. Meanwhile, Sanders, the third leading passer in college football, was feeling the pressure while the Cougars were rushing five resulting in Sanders recording the fewest passing yards of the season after completing 16-of-23 passes for 208 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Despite Colorado coming up short, overall there’s much to be celebrated in Year 2 under Sanders leadership with the Buffs clinching nine wins, Travis Hunter winning the Heisman Trophy, Shedeur Sanders' productive season and much more. The future is bright at Colorado, and Sanders feels the Buffs will continue to maintain an elite and winning standard.
“We’ve established expectations,” Sanders said. “So now you expect us to perform a certain way. You expect us to win. You expect us to be excited. You expect us to be a lot more disciplined than we displayed today. You just have expectations of us now. That’s what we’ve established.”
Deion Sanders' final game with his sons and seniors
There’s have been a number of father-son duos like Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr., LeBron and Bronny James and others, but the journey that Sanders and his sons have shared throughout the years is truly special.
The Alamo Bowl was Shedeur and Shilo Sanders’ final collegiate game and potentially (never say never) the last time coach Sanders will be standing on the sideline with them. Saturday's game carried a lot of emotion as Sanders expressed the difficulty of the Alamo Bowl being the last game coaching his sons in college.
