When BYU lost its second game of the season to Arizona State, they fell completely out of the College Football Playoff picture. Despite having a true road win over a CFP team in SMU, BYU was an afterthought in the eyes of the national media. Three-loss SEC teams, two-loss Miami, and SMU (who BYU beat) were all ranked ahead of BYU.

After a dominant showing against Colorado on Saturday night, BYU showed that they were absolutely worthy of playoff consideration. The Cougars improved to 11-2 on the season, just the second 11-win season for BYU head coach Kalani Sitake.

The Cougars dominated media sweetheart Colorado from start to finish. BYU was the better football team in every phase of the game. BYU won 36-14 despite throwing multiple interceptions deep in Colorado territory. BYU outgained Colorado 331-210, and 84 of those Colorado yards came on the final Colorado drive in garbaged time. Besides two chunk passing plays to Heisman winner Travis Hunter and some yardage in garbage time, the Colorado offense never got anything going. BYU outgained Colorado on the ground 180-2.

It was clear that the ESPN broadcast was not prepared for a dominant BYU win. The lion’s share of the prepared content was centered around Colorado’s Travis Hunter, Shedeur Sanders, and Coach Prime. Even ESPN commentator Dave Pasch noted the content on the broadcast was geared towards Colorado.

While the star power of Colorado was drawing the attention of the broadcast crew, the on-field product was dominated by BYU.

The story of the night was the BYU defense. The Cougars stifled a dangerous Colorado offense led by future top-10 pick Shedeur Sanders. The Cougars dominated thanks to their play in the trenches. BYU was the more physical team, and the constant pressure on Sanders translated to arguably his worst performance of the season.

On offense, it was BYU’s rushing attack that won the night. The Cougars wore down Colorado with a physical rushing attack. BYU running backs LJ Martin was the best player on BYU’s offense. Martin had 88 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 16 carries. He was also BYU’s leading receiver with two receptions for 33 yards.

Jake Retzlaff did not play his best game of the season. Retzlaff was 12/21 for 151 yards and 2 interceptions. Retzlaff threw multiple interceptions in the redzone, something that plagued him in November. Taking care of the football will need to be the top priority for Retzlaff during the offseason.

BYU was also dominant on special teams. Parker Kingston had a punt return for a touchdown, his second of the season. BYU safety Ethan Slade recovered a perfectly-executed onside kick from Will Ferrin.

It was all BYU all game long. At one point in the fourth quarter, BYU linebacker Isaiah Glasker intercepted Shedeur Sanders near the Colorado sideline and did the famous Deion Sanders dance to celebrate.

With the win, BYU will take a lot of momentum into the offseason. The Cougars return a lot of production from the 2024 team in 2025. BYU should be a Big 12 title contender going into next season.