PROVO, Utah — No. 17 BYU has accepted an invitation to play No. 23 Colorado in the 32nd annual Valero Alamo Bowl at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday, Dec. 28. The game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast nationally on ABC.
BYU (10-2, 7-2) and Colorado (9-3, 7-2), though both from the Big 12 conference, did not meet in the 2024 regular season. The Buffaloes were selected to fulfil the existing Pac-12 bowl agreement with the Alamo Bowl as a former Pac-12 team, while the Cougars were picked as the top Big 12 team for the league’s premier bowl game. The two teams tied for first place in the Big 12, along with Arizona State and Iowa State, but did not win tiebreaker scenarios to play in the conference championship game.
“The Valero Alamo Bowl is one of the premier bowl games in the country, and we are excited to be selected to come to San Antonio for this nationally ranked matchup,” said BYU head coach Kalani Sitake. “Coach Deion Sanders has done a tremendous job with his program and has an extremely talented team with some of the best players in the entire country. We are looking forward to a great game and great bowl experience for our team and our fans.”
The matchup features two of the game’s best head coaches in Sitake and Sanders. Sitake, named the AFCA’s Region 4 Coach of the Year and a finalist for AFCA National Coach of the Year, has led BYU to the program’s 19th 10-win season and third in five years, while Sanders, the former two-time Super Bowl champ and Pro Football Hall of Famer, has transformed a Colorado program that had just three winning seasons in its previous 20 years, qualifying for its first bowl game since 2020.
BYU Tickets & Bowl Information
Orders are now open for tickets from BYU's official allotment. Ticket orders will be fulfilled in order of Cougar Club level and priority points. For additional details and to order tickets, please visit the official BYU Tickets portal here. For details on events surrounding the bowl game, travel and lodging, please visit byucougars.com/alamobowl.
BYU will be making its first appearance in the Valero Alamo Bowl and just its third postseason game in the state of Texas. BYU most recently played in the 2011 Armed Forces Bowl in Dallas and the Cotton Bowl following the 1996 season. The Cougars won both of those games, 24-21 in 2011 against Tulsa, and 19-15 against No. 14 Kansas State on Jan. 1, 1997, to give BYU a then NCAA-record 14 victories.
This year will be BYU’s 41st bowl overall dating back to the 1974 Fiesta Bowl. Among their 41 bowl appearances, the Cougars have played in 21 different bowl games in 12 states. BYU’s 41 bowl invitations rank tied for No. 23 among college programs—more than storied programs such as UCLA, Oregon, Iowa, Wisconsin and Virginia Tech. In the Big 12, only Texas Tech has made more bowl appearances (42). The Cougars have gone bowling in 18 of the past 20 seasons, most recently, winning the 2022 New Mexico Bowl over SMU.
Series History
BYU and Colorado are matching up for the 13th time in the history of the two programs, with the Cougars trailing 3-8-1 in the series. The two schools were previously members of the same conference, beginning with the Rocky Mountain Conference from 1922-1936 and then the Mountain States from 1937-1947.
The most recent matchup was also in a bowl game, the 1988 Freedom Bowl. BYU won the game played in Anaheim, California, 20-17, behind a comeback effort off the bench by redshirt freshman quarterback Ty Detmer, who two years later won the 1990 Heisman Trophy.
The Buffs dominated the early series history, winning the first six games from 1923 to 1940 before BYU got its first win in the series in 1942. The two schools split games through 1947 and then did not play in the regular season again until 1981, when quarterback Jim McMahon led the Cougars to a 41-20 victory on the road.
The two schools are scheduled to play in Boulder as conference foes in 2025.
Colorado Buffaloes
Colorado finished the regular season at 9-3, its first winning record in a full season since 2016 (Buffs had 4-2 mark in the pandemic 2020 season) in Coach Sanders’ second year at the helm of the program after a 4-8 record in 2023.
This is the fourth Alamo Bowl appearance for the Buffaloes, playing in the game in 2020, 2016 and 2002. Colorado is 0-3 in the game.
The Buffaloes are star-powered by Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year defensive back Travis Hunter. Hunter, a unique two-way player, also earned All-Big 12 First Team honors as both a defensive back and a wide receiver.
Hunter, a Heisman hopeful and finalist for Walter Camp, Maxwell, Bednarik, Lott IMPACT, Hornung and Biletnikoff awards, has 92 catches, 1,152 yards, 14 receiving touchdowns, 15 total touchdowns, four interceptions and 11 pass break-ups. Hunter has 688 defensive and 672 offensive snaps and is the only FBS player with 150-plus snaps on both offense and defense.
Sanders, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Winner, a finalist for Davey O'Brien and the Manning Award, has posted 3,926 passing yards and 35 touchdowns to just eight interceptions with a 168.8 pass efficiency rating. Sanders is the son of head coach Deion Sanders.
BYU Cougars
The Cougars, one of the best in college football at complementary football, are led by a collective effort of a roster featuring 20 seniors and contributions throughout the year from offense, defense and special teams, where 17 different players scored touchdowns in 2024. BYU finished the regular season with its third double-digit season in the past five years and were one of just 18 FBS teams to finish the year with 10 or more victories.
The Cougar offense averaged 30.8 points per game, including topping 34 points in six consecutive games for the first time since 1996. The unit was one of the most efficient offensive teams again, averaging 2.62 points per possession against FBS teams to rank in the top 35 for the fourth time in the past five seasons in this revealing efficient productivity category.
Quarterback Jake Retzlaff has thrown for 2,796 yards and 20 touchdowns while adding 388 yards rushing and six touchdowns on the ground. Retzlaff’s favorite targets were the Cougar receiver tandem of Chase Roberts and Darius Lassiter. Roberts led BYU with 51 receptions, 843 yards and four touchdowns while Lassiter tallied 43 catches for 679 yards and four touchdowns.
On defense, BYU tied for the nation’s lead in interceptions with 20 and was No. 3 in the nation and tops in the Big 12 in pass efficiency defense at 102.73. The Cougars had 12 different players notch interceptions, more than any other school in the country.
BYU’s defense featured All-Big 12 First Team defensive end Tyler Batty and second-team cornerback Jakob Robinson, joined by honorable mention linebackers Jack Kelly, Isaiah Glasker and defensive tackle Blake Mangelson and cornerback Marque Collins.
BYU’s special teams were of the best in the nation in playmaking. All-Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year kicker Will Ferrin led the league in field goals, kick returner Keelan Marion took two back to the house to tie for the nation’s lead and punt returner Parker Kingston had one of the most dynamic punt return touchdowns by any player in the FBS. Safety Talan Alfrey, another special teams star, also picked up an onside kick and returned it 58 yards for another score.
BYU was the only FBS program with three kickoff returns for touchdowns and four total return touchdowns on special teams in 2024.
The Valero Alamo Bowl
The holidays mean more than Christmas lights and jingle bells to San Antonio. Since the first game in 1993, the Valero Alamo Bowl has created excitement and pageantry in San Antonio that rings in the New Year with thrilling games between top ranked teams in front of capacity crowds and record television ratings.
The first 32 games combined to attract over 1.8 million spectators, generate a total economic impact in excess of $1 billion dollars, and contribute over $163 million to higher education through team payouts and the top local scholarship giving program of all the bowls.
In the CFP era, teams competing in the Valero Alamo Bowl have arrived in San Antonio with an average CFP ranking of #16. These games also featured an average attendance of 60,120 fans, which is 93 percent of the Alamodome’s total capacity, and garnered over 5.1 million ESPN viewers.