Conference foes No. 17 BYU and No. 23 Colorado will square off on Saturday night in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.
The Cougars (10-2) and Buffaloes (9-3) once had their sights set on a Big 12 Conference championship game appearance and a berth in the College Football Playoff.
But late-season losses dashed those dreams, and in the era of mega conferences, the rare intra-conference bowl game will pit teams that didn’t play in the regular season.
Another rarity is the lack of players opting out to prevent injury. Colorado has taken out disability insurance to safeguard Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
In its latest NFL mock draft, CBS Sports had Hunter going No. 2 to the New England Patriots and Sanders going No. 3 to the Las Vegas Raiders, who would need to trade up to acquire that pick.
Sanders completed 74.2 percent of his passes for 3,926 yards, 35 touchdowns and only eight interceptions. Hunter rarely took a snap off, doubling as a wide receiver on offense and a cornerback on defense.
Hunter has declared for April’s NFL draft and had 92 catches for 1,152 yards, 14 receiving touchdowns and a rushing score. He had four interceptions, 11 passes defended and 31 tackles at cornerback.
“Colorado has a ton of talent in all three phases,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “I think a lot of credit goes to the offense for the Heisman Trophy winner (Hunter), Shedeur and the rest of the crew. But we are excited, they are a complete team and we’re excited about the matchup.”
The rest of the crew Sitake referenced includes second-leading receiver LaJohntay Wester, who caught 70 passes for 880 yards and 10 touchdowns, and Will Sheppard, who had 617 yards and six TDs.
Colorado was 4-8 last year in coach Deion Sanders’ first season at the helm.
Freshman receiver Drelon Miller came on late in the season with two touchdowns in the Buffaloes’ last three games and is part of a youth movement that has Deion Sanders excited.
“We have some young talent here that’s going to help this program tremendously,” said the elder Sanders, who has the Buffaloes in just their third bowl game in the past 17 seasons. “When those (young) guys walked on the field, you felt their presence and they wanted us to know that they belong. And it was phenomenal. I don’t want to throw names out, but we got some talent.”
A 9-0 start had the Cougars rise to No. 6 in the Week 11 CFP rankings, but back-to-back losses to Kansas and eventual Big 12 champion Arizona State knocked them out of a shot in the conference title game.
Jake Retzlaff led the BYU turnaround — the Cougars were 5-7 last season — with 2,796 passing yards and 20 passing touchdowns. Chase Roberts was his top target with 51 catches for 843 yards and four scores.
Darius Lassiter racked up 679 receiving yards and four touchdowns, but he will sit out the first half of the Alamo Bowl after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the second half of the Cougars’ last game of the regular season.
“To flip it and turn it around, what they’ve accomplished this season isn’t a surprise given who their coach is,” Deion Sanders said. “(Sitake is) a good guy with a great team and I adore him.”
