BYU: 2025 Pop-Tarts Bowl Champions

BYU has won some pretty big games in its proud football history, because the Cougars have a winning tradition and even boast a national championship back in 1984.

BYU: 2024 Alamo Bowl Champions

 

BYU jumped all over Colorado in a Big 12-on-Big 12 bout in the Alamo Bowl on Saturday night. The Cougars held CU scoreless in the first half, picked off quarterback Shedeur Sanders twice, and walked away with a resounding 36-14 victory.

The win was BYU’s 11th of the season and gave coach Kalani Sitake his fifth bowl win in 7 tries.

For Colorado, it brought about a disappointing end to the collegiate careers of Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter. Sanders completed 16 of his 23 passes for 208 yards and 2 touchdowns, but he was picked off twice in the game and ended the evening with a towel draped over his head on the sidelines. Sanders appeared to pick up a lower-leg injury in the second half but stayed in the game until the closing minutes. Hunter broke loose for a 43-yard touchdown in the third quarter and he caught a 58-yard pass in the second quarter, but that was it for him in terms of impact plays on the evening.

BYU held Colorado without a point on its first 6 drives. The Buffs turned it over on downs to begin the game, missed a second-quarter field goal, and watched helplessly as BYU built a 20-0 halftime lead. The Cougars’ offense didn’t necessarily light up the box score, but BYU completely dominated field position.

Four of BYU’s 11 drives began on Colorado’s side of the 50. The average starting point for every drive was the BYU 45. The Cougars’ first scoring drive of the game started from their 48. The next drive gained just 8 yards in 7 plays, but it began at the CU 41 and ended with a field goal. BYU only produced 3 offensive touchdowns in the game, and none of those possessions needed to go more than 55 yards to reach paydirt.

Special teams swung decidedly in BYU’s favor. The Cougars punted only once all night, but got 44 yards from that boot. Kicker Will Ferrin made all 3 of his field goal tries. With the Cougs holding just a 10-point lead late in the second quarter, Parker Kingston returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown to ensure BYU would take all the momentum into the locker room at the half.

BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff finished the game with 151 yards on 12-of-21 passing. He threw 2 picks and didn’t register a touchdown through the air. All 3 offensive touchdowns came from the rushing attack, which was led by 93 yards from LJ Martin.

The Cougars limited Colorado to 210 yards of offense. Sanders was sacked 4 times and the ground game finished with just 2 net yards on 19 carries. Remove the yardage lost to sacks and Colorado still only produced 53 rushing yards on 3.5 per carry in the game.

Hunter also made 4 tackles on defense.

Colorado (9-4) won its final game of the regular season 52-0 but was shut out of the Big 12 Championship Game because of a tiebreaker. The desire to end the season the right way certainly served as motivation for both Hunter and Sanders during bowl prep. Even though the NFL beckons, the Buffs’ 2 stars were looking to end their collegiate careers with a bit more oomph.

Instead, Colorado’s best season since 2016 ended with a bit of a dud. Now, the 2 stars will turn their attention to the 2025 NFL Draft, where they are both expected to be top-10 selections.

BYU: 2022 New Mexico Bowl Champions

SMU scored a touchdown with 8 seconds left, but Jakob Robinson made an open field tackle on the ensuing two-point conversion as BYU held on in a 24-23 win in the New Mexico Bowl.

Sol-Jay Maiava started at QB in place for an injured Jaren Hall and led a steady ground attack for the Cougars. Maiava finished 7/12 for 47 yards passing, but led the BYU ground attack with 96 rushing on 14 carries and 1 TD. Senior Christopher Brooks complemented Sol-Jay with 88 rushing yards on 1 TD.

BYU had just 256 yards of total offense, and the defense stepped up to win the game. Ben Bywater had a pick six in the third quarter and BYU held SMU star QB Tanner Mordecai to just 218 passing yards.

BYU’s 8-5 season may have been overall disappointing, but BYU heads into a vital offseason with some momentum. BYU will be active in the transfer portal and have an offseason with a new defensive staff to retool the roster ahead of BYU’s Big 12 debut. BYU’s next game will be Saturday, September 2 at home versus new C-USA member Sam Houston.

Brigham Young: 2020 Boca Raton Bowl Champions

No. 16 BYU wasted no time making a statement with its final performance of a memorable 2020 season, rolling through UCF in a 49-23 win in the Boca Raton Bowl on Tuesday. The Cougars jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and rolled to an easy victory over the Knights (6-4) to cap an 11-1 season.

BYU was the talk of college football for much of the season, jumping out to a 9-0 start before falling literally 1-yard short of an undefeated season in a 22-17 loss at Coastal Carolina on Dec. 5. The circumstances of that game, scheduled just days before the game, and the epic finish were turning points of the season. Unfortunately for the Cougars, being on the losing end meant a drop in the selection committee's rankings and the independent status left no conference championships to play for on Dec. 19. 

Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Zach Wilson finished with 425 yards and three touchdowns on 26-of-34 passing with another two scores on the ground. Wilson set a Boca Raton Bowl record with his passing yards and BYU set a Boca Raton Bowl record with 656 yards of total offense, breaking the previous record set by Western Kentucky (598) in 2016.  

Racking up impressive offensive stats comes a little bit easier when all the bowl season trick plays are hitting, like when BYU pulled off the handoff, lateral and toss back to the quarterback on a Wilson touchdown pass to tight end Isaac Rex. 

Rex finished with a team-high 96 yards and two touchdowns on five catches for the game. 

What the win brings into focus is how the Cougars have been one of the best teams in college football in 2020. The selection committee downgraded BYU based on its strength of schedule but this was the only FBS team in the country ranked in the top-10 in scoring offense, total offense, scoring defense and total defense. When it comes to lining up against the opponent, few teams can say they dominated competition like BYU and that seemed to be the statement all the way until the final moments of the lopsided win. When Wilson was kneeling the clock out inside the 10-yard line to close out the 11-1 season, the team was able to celebrate the conclusion of one of the best seasons in program history. 

For UCF, the loss is the first double-digit defeat of the Josh Heupel era. All seven of the previous losses under Heupel have been close and mostly to other top teams in the American Athletic Conference. It's been a while since UCF has been blown out like it was in the Boca Raton Bowl and the fallout from that will be the first item to address in the preparation for 2021. 

BYU: 2018 Potato Bowl Champions

BOISE, Idaho -- At the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl pregame news conference Thursday, BYU coach Kalani Sitake set high expectations when asked about how he thought quarterback Zach Wilson would play.

"Perfectly," Sitake said jokingly. "That's what I'm praying for, perfect play from everyone."

Sitake didn't get it from everyone, but he did from Wilson.

The BYU freshman was 18-of-18 passing for 317 yards and four touchdowns, and the Cougars beat Western Michigan 49-18 on Friday.

Selected the game MVP, Wilson tied the NCAA bowl record for completion percentage set by Riley Skinner at 11-for-11 for Wake Forest in the 2008 EagleBank Bowl.

Wilson and Skinner are the only players in FBS history to post a 100 percent completion percentage in a bowl game (minimum 10 pass attempts).

Wilson's 18 straight completions are second-most in an NCAA bowl game behind Georgia's Mike Bobo, who had 19 straight against Wisconsin in the 1998 Outback Bowl.

His four passing touchdowns also tied a BYU bowl game record.

"I've been trying to let Zach loose for a long time now," Sitake said as he patted Wilson on the back. "I think an aggressive style of offense is what we need. This was really good for us to see that we could win a game when a team commits to stopping the run against us."

In the first half, BYU (7-6) struggled to sustain momentum offensively and had just 115 yards, despite Wilson completing all eight of his attempts, mostly on short routes. The ground game had a total of 20 yards on 17 carries.

But with BYU down 10-7 at halftime, Sitake unleashed Wilson in the second half.

The Cougars' 28-point third quarter started with an 8-yard pass from Wilson to Dylan Collie. Then, after a 37-yard TD run by Riley Burt, Wilson hit Aleva Hifo on a 70-yard scoring strike.

"I think the bar is set a little too high for the next bowl game," Wilson said. "But I think we proved what we can do as a team and found our offensive identity and discovered what we're good at."

Despite the record-setting performance, Wilson admitted afterward that he had no idea his day was going so well statistically.

"The game flashes by so quick, and I thought I had at least six or seven incompletions," Wilson said. "That's when you realize the success for a quarterback is based on the team around you."

Western Michigan (7-6), which was without starting quarterback Jon Wassink due to a foot injury, rolled up 192 yards of offense in the first half with freshman Kaleb Eleby. But the Broncos managed only 41 yards on 18 plays in the decisive third quarter.

"I thought our defense did a great job of keeping us in it," Western Michigan coach Tim Lester said. "Once they got a lead on us, they got after our secondary pretty good. We knew this game was going to be about which quarterback could get into a rhythm, we said that all week, and [Wilson] got comfortable."

Brigham Young: 2016 Poinsettia Bowl Champions

SAN DIEGO -- Jamaal Williams and the BYU Cougars are a good fit in San Diego bowl games.

Once a staple of the Holiday Bowl, the Cougars won their second Poinsettia Bowl on a rainy Wednesday night thanks mostly to Williams.

The senior gained 210 yards on 26 carries and scored once, and Tanner Mangum ran for a touchdown and threw for another to lead BYU to a 24-21 victory over Wyoming.

It was the sixth 100-yard game for Williams this year and the second time he gained more than 200. He ran for a career-best 286 against Toledo.

With BYU (9-4) leading 17-7, Williams gave the Cougars some breathing room when he broke a 36-yard scoring run early in the fourth quarter. That TD was set up by Dayan Lake's interception of Josh Allen. The interception came one play after BYU's Micah Hannemann was ejected for targeting after a helmet-to-helmet hit on the sliding Allen.

Williams is BYU's career leader with 3,901 yards rushing. He also scored a touchdown in the Cougars' 23-6 Poinsettia Bowl victory against San Diego State in 2012.

"It felt like almost the same because I scored in both of them," Williams said. "It just brings back a whole bunch of memories, and in the same end zone, too. It just brought back a whole bunch of memories of my freshman year, but I was still in the game."

He praised his blockers, particularly wide receiver Jonah Trinnaman, for springing him on his scoring run.

"Honestly it was just great offensive line blocking and the tight ends and Jonah. Jonah is the man," Williams said. "That man had the best block in the world. I wanted to celebrate right there before I even scored."

Williams fell short of the Poinsettia Bowl record of 228 yards by San Diego State's Ronnie Hillman in 2010.

Wyoming, which lost to San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference championship game Dec. 3, finished 8-6.

"It was a play or two here or there," coach Craig Bohl said. "To go from two wins last year to where we are now, it's been a change of culture."

Brian Hill, who ran for 1,767 yards this season, didn't play the first quarter.

"That was my decision and that is all I'm going to say," Bohl said.

Hill scored on a 4-yard run in the third quarter and finished with 93 yards on 26 carries.

Allen brought the Cowboys back with touchdown passes of 9 and 23 yards to Tanner Gentry in the span of 3 1/2 minutes late in the game. The 23-yard scoring pass came with 2:11 left and pulled the Cowboys to 24-21.

Wyoming got the ball back one final time, but Allen tried a pass across his body into double coverage and it was intercepted by Kai Nacua, his sixth pickoff of the season.

This was the renewal of a rivalry that began in 1922 and ended when the Cougars left the Mountain West after the 2010 season.

Mangum ran for a 3-yard score late in the first quarter and then threw a crazy 5-yard touchdown pass that bounced off two Wyoming defenders before Tanner Balderree grabbed it to give BYU a 17-7 lead.

Mangum started in place of Taysom Hill, who strained his left elbow Nov. 26 against Utah State.

Hill scored on a 4-yard run for Wyoming in the third quarter.

LOSING THE HANDLE

With a heavy rain falling in the first quarter, Wyoming punter Ethan Wood fumbled the snap and teammate Dalton Fields recovered at the Cowboys 3.Two plays later, Mangum scored on a 3-yard run. The Cowboys also botched the hold on a field goal attempt in the third quarter.

UP NEXT

While this was the senior season for Williams and Hill, Mangum will be back next year as a junior. For the Cowboys, they hope this breakout seasons sustains them for several seasons.