'He's a darn good football coach': Colorado eager for conference tilt with No. 17 BYU

PROVO — As has become his self-effacing brand, BYU coach Kalani Sitake's thoughts when his team was selected to play in the Valero Alamo Bowl for the first time drifted to his dinner plate.

The former BYU fullback-turned-ninth year head coach wondered what kind of cuisine would be available in the south central Texas city of San Antonio when the 17th-ranked Cougars (10-2) arrived for the Dec. 28 bowl game against No. 23 Colorado (5:30 p.m. MST, ABC).

"I'm a guy that eats," joked Sitake, who agreed to a long-term contract extension with BYU late Saturday night. "Most people eat till they're full, I eat until my mouth gets tired. As you can tell, I've got a pretty healthy mouth."

Colorado coach Deion Sanders joked that may just be a ruse, though.

"Don't get it twisted; he's a darn good football coach," the second-year Buffs head coach known as "Coach Prime" said via videoconference during the bowl's official unveiling. "He's a leader of men, and he's a God-fearing man.

"To see him, to watch him, to glean from him, to get to watch him and get the opportunity to meet him at the Big 12 meetings, and now to be able to compete against him is unbelievable. I'm so thankful that you're affording me this opportunity."

When Sanders first arrived in Boulder, Colorado, two years ago after a highly successful run at FCS Jackson State, where the former two-sport star went 27-6 in three years with a pair of SWAC titles, he and athletic director Rick George had the same ambition, he said: "To win, and win, and win."

"When you win, this is one of the perks that you get," Sanders added. "I cannot wait for our kids to land the plane there, to see the festivities, how beautiful the city is.

"I've heard George Strait and Texas A&M have the record for attendance. I'm pretty sure we're going to break that one. I know that coach (Sitake) is going to bring it to the table, and I know how deep our fans come. We're going to sell this game out expeditiously."

The Buffs (9-3) are back in a bowl game for the first time under Sanders, whose team went 4-8 a year ago in his first (and final) season in the Pac-12. It's Colorado's first bowl game since the 2020 Alamo Bowl, and though it matches up two teams from the current Big 12, the Buffs will take the place of the Pac-12 (and home) team in the neutral-site game.

When conference realignment dramatically shifted the college football map, Alamo Bowl representatives worked in arrangement with the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 (which still has two teams in Washington State and Oregon State) to be able to select any of the former Pac-12 schools for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

That keeps alive a tradition that has also included teams arriving in San Antonio with an average ranking of No. 16, a 60,120-fan attendance average that is 93% of the Alamodome's capacity, and over 5.1 million viewers across ESPN platforms.

And though the two teams come from the same conference, the Cougars and Buffs did not play each other in 2024, when quarterback Shedeur Sanders led the country with a 74.2% completion percentage and is the only quarterback nationally in the top five of passing yards (3,926), completions per game (28.1) and quarterback rating (168.79).

Sanders confirmed Sunday that all of his players — including his senior quarterback son and two-way star Travis Hunter — will play in Colorado's first game against BYU since 1988.

"We have a collection of young men on this team that believe," Sanders said.

"We have a plethora of seniors that are pro-bound," he added. "And guess what? Every last one of them are going to play. We don't tap out, we don't sit out. It's a blessing to play this wonderful game, and our kids are going to play.

"We have a kid who is going to pick up the Heisman Trophy this week, and he's going to play. … We cannot wait to put on our best suit and our best uniforms, and we are going to come there to have a good time."

For Sitake, the respect is mutual between his program and the one that leads the all-time series 8-3-1 between the Rocky Mountain rivals.

"This will be a very important part of our program, and and I'm pretty sure coach Prime is looking forward to the same thing," Sitake said. "We're just really excited about all of it. It's going to be a lot of fun, a lot of work, but I think you can't miss out on all the fun that's happening with it."

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