Colorado led 14-0 in the first half before losing 24-21.
No. 25 BYU had the only score of the fourth quarter in the Cougars’ 24-21 win at Colorado late Saturday night.
Colorado jumped out to an early 14-0 lead with touchdown drives on its first two possessions. From there, BYU was the better team as the Cougars crept back into the game.
In his postgame news conference, Deion Sanders said that it felt like “the moment was just too big for some of our athletes.” BYU was the first ranked opponent the Buffaloes had faced in 2025.
“Sometimes when it seems like you had more talent but you didn’t quite win the game, it makes it feel somewhat awkward,” Sanders said. “We had opportunities, tremendous amount of opportunities, but nevertheless we didn’t cash in on it.
“And sometimes it felt like the moment was just too big for some of our athletes. And they’ve got to do something about that. At halftime we challenged certain positions to go out there and up their game. Challenge their opponents. We didn’t get that. We got the same thing that we had in the first half.”
BYU took its first lead of the game at 17-14 with 5:26 to go in the third quarter on a TD pass from Bear Bachmeier to Chase Roberts. Colorado responded with a six-play drive that ended with a Kaidon Salter TD pass to Dre’lon Miller and a 21-17 lead.
That lead didn’t last long. BYU scored on its next possession and took the lead for good on a 32-yard end around from Cody Hagen that thoroughly fooled Colorado’s defense.
Colorado’s next drive ended poorly. A holding penalty on receiver Omarion Miller negated a first-down run by QB Kaidon Salter on third down and Salter was sacked for a 22-yard loss on the next play.
The Liberty transfer threw just 16 passes on Saturday night, completing 11 of them for 119 yards and a score. He also rushed 17 times for 49 yards. It was Salter’s fourth start of the season after he sat out the Buffaloes’ Week 3 loss to Houston.
After the loss to the Cougars from BYU, Salter admitted that the benching affected his psyche. Sanders praised him after the team’s Week 4 win over Wyoming, saying that Salter “had to understand how we do things.”
“Something that I embrace, having to sit a game that really kind of messed my head a little bit, so I knew that when I came back I just had to be that leader that coach was looking for,” Salter said. “We got a young team and like I said before, I’m one of the older guys on the team and they’re looking up to the older guys to step up and be that leader and that’s what I’m trying my best to do for this team.”
True freshman BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier, meanwhile, was 19-of-27 passing for 179 yards and two scores while also rushing 15 times for 98 yards. BYU ran the ball 34 times for 217 yards against the Buffaloes and moved to 4-0 while Colorado dropped to 2-3 ahead of a trip to TCU in Week 6.
Category: General Sports
