‘Tis the season!

During a month of firsts, where No. 17 BYU won a piece of the Big 12 championship, the basketball program landed the No. 1 prep recruit in the world and the men’s and women’s cross-country teams swept the national championships — something else never seen before is about to happen — and it has everything to do with being seen.

More people are about to watch the Cougars play football than at any time in history. That’s what a top-25, post-Christmas, prime-time matchup on network television can get you, especially if it’s against Colorado.

The Buffaloes, led by head coach Deion Sanders, were the ninth most-watched team in college football this season, with nine games televised by the mainstream networks NBC, Fox, CBS or ABC. BYU was the 36th most-watched team with only one Fox game and the rest relegated to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN+ or FS1.

Large audiences can be found at any outlet, especially if the matchup is intriguing (BYU-Utah drew 2.2 million on ESPN), but the networks still reign supreme. ESPN’s biggest audience of 2024 watched the Florida State-Georgia Tech game (4.99 million). It was college football’s 40th most-watched game of the season. However, the 39 games ahead of them were on ABC, NBC, Fox or CBS.

BYU on ABC on a Saturday night following Christmas is a lineup that hasn’t happened before, and it provides a golden opportunity for the Cougars to show up and show out, even if they take a ride on Colorado’s coattails.

The Buffaloes attracted 5.7 million viewers against Nebraska (NBC) and 6.2 million against Kansas (Fox). The added fact that Colorado features Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and quarterback Shedeur Sanders (Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year), makes the Alamo Bowl must-see TV and almost certain to blow past last year’s 3.93 million viewers that watched Arizona beat Oklahoma.

BYU is no stranger to television, but this time is different, and it will bring a fitting end to the program’s century anniversary season. Forty years ago, the 1984 Cougars helped kick-start ESPN and the Cougars’ national championship run with the network’s first live regular-season football game against No. 3 Pittsburgh.

In 1990, BYU’s upset of No. 1 Miami attracted 3.32 million viewers and gave ESPN its largest audience for a college football game to that point. During the 2009 opening weekend, 2.8 million watched BYU upset No. 3 Oklahoma on ESPN.

Even as an independent for 12 years, the Cougars held their own, drawing 3.75 million against Washington (2013), 3.7 million against Notre Dame (2012), 3.68 million vs. Utah (2015), 3.25 million vs. Michigan State (2016), 3.13 vs. Nebraska (2015) and 3.1 million vs. Washington (2019).

The common denominators in those games are power conference opponents and network television, except for the 2013 Fight Hunger Bowl (ESPN) against the Huskies, which is BYU’s last post-Christmas appearance — until now.

With their own membership in a power conference, the Cougars (10-2, 7-2) delivered one of the surprise stories in college football, finishing tied for first place in the Big 12 after being picked 13th. Colorado (9-3, 7-2) was tabbed 11th and they also grabbed a share of the regular-season title.

For two teams who hail from the same conference but haven’t faced each other since BYU won the 1988 Freedom Bowl, they have a lot to play for and to perform in front of. Yahoo Sports ranks the Alamo Bowl fifth best among the 39 bowls, including the four first-round playoff games.

There are plenty of motivating factors for the Cougars to take their “A game” to San Antonio, including a chance at an 11-win season, a top-15 finish and a tone setter for next year; however, the bigger picture screams something much greater — the Alamo Bowl is a chance for BYU to play in front of the largest television audience in its 100 years of football.

Now that is something to show up for.

Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.