Colorado raced out to a 14-0 first quarter lead, but couldn’t make it hold up, with a BYU touchdown in the first minute of the fourth quarter giving the Cougars the lead for good in a 24-21 win in Boulder. The Buff defense fell victim to yet another mobile quarterback, with Bear Bachmeier completing 19-of-27 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 98 yards on 15 carries.
The Buffs were led by quarterback Kaidon Salter, who was also effective through the air and on the ground. Salter completed 11-of-16 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown, with 17 carries for 49 yards and another score. But it was Salter’s first interception of the season thrown with 50 seconds remaining, which ended any hope of a CU comeback.
“Tough fought game, I can’t say I’m highly upset,” head coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders expressed. “I’m upset with a few things, but sometimes it seems like you have more talent, but you didn’t quite win the game. We had opportunities, a tremendous amount of opportunities, but nevertheless, we didn’t cash in on them. And sometimes it felt like the moment was just too big for some of our athletes, and they 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. We got to do better as a staff, as a team, and I’ve got to do better.”
Both teams had 188 yards of total offense in the first half, as CU built a 14-10 lead. For the game, though, BYU finished with 396 yards of total offense, compared to only 291 for the Buffs.
“We’re just not doing our jobs”, Coach Prime said of his defense. “That’s it. We’re not doing our jobs. It’s not like it’s a surprise what they’re going to do. It’s not at all. We’re just not doing our jobs. We have to do a better job of preparing these young men to do their jobs in front of the multitudes.”
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