Buffs Arrive In San Antonio To Begin Final Alamo Bowl Preparations
December 23, 2024 | Football, General, Neill Woelk
SAN ANTONIO — Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders and his Colorado Buffaloes arrived in San Antonio on Monday with the simple goal of reversing a trend:
Win a Valero Alamo Bowl.
The 9-3 Buffs will play in their fourth Alamo Bowl in program history on Saturday when they meet fellow Big 12 member BYU (10-2) in a 5:30 p.m. (MT) game at the Alamodome (ABC).
The two teams tied for first in the Big 12 regular season standings with 7-2 conference marks, but did not play in the regular season. Thanks to a quirk in the selection process, the Alamo Bowl was allowed to take the two teams, setting up a quality matchup that is being billed as the top non-playoff bowl this season.
Colorado is no stranger to San Antonio and Alamo Bowl environment. The Buffs have played here three times previously — 2002, 2016 and 2020 — but have come up short in each appearance. Overall, the Buffs have lost their last four bowl appearances, with their last postseason win coming in the 2004 Houston Bowl, when CU beat UTEP, 33-28.
But Coach Prime made it clear in Monday's press conference that his team arrived in San Antonio with the idea of taking care of business.
"The purpose is to win the game," he said. "It's like the main course. You know, the appetizers and all is all the other stuff. So we're happy to go through what we need to go through to get to what we need to get to. But the young men know what we're here for. We're not here for the festivities. We're not here for all other things, the tangibles. We're here to win this football game."
The Buffs are clearly the top drawing card for the game. They feature this year's Heisman Trophy winner, two-way star Travis Hunter, as well as another Heisman finalist, quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Both are expected to be among the top five picks in next spring's NFL Draft and it's possible that they could go 1-2 in the process.
Along with the Heisman, Hunter also won the Lott IMPACT Award (defense), the Paul Hornung Award (versatility), AP Player of the Year, the Bednarik Award (defense), the Biletnikoff Award (receiver), and the Walter Camp Player of the Year honors. He played 670 snaps on offense, 686 on defense and 24 on special teams for the Buffs and finished with four interceptions and 11 pass breakups on defense while allowing just 22 catches for 205 yards and one touchdown and an FBS-low six first downs.
At wide receiver, he was equally dominant, finishing the regular season with 92 receptions and 14 touchdowns (both Big 12 bests) for 1,152 yards and 53 first downs. He also led the FBS with 21 receptions of 20 yards or longer and had 396 yards after the catch and 185 after contact.
Sanders, meanwhile, won the Johnny Unitas Award after he led the nation in completion percentage (74.2%) and finished as the only quarterback in the top five of passing yards (3,926), touchdowns (35), completions per game (28.1) and quarterback rating (168.79).
In recent years, it has become a trend in college football for players projected to go high in the draft to skip bowl games unless they were involved in the playoffs.
But Coach Prime made it clear from the beginning that he expected his star players to participate.
Monday, CU Athletic Director Rick George announced that CU has made sure all of the Buffs will be covered by disability insurance policies in the game.
"It was (Coach Prime's) idea," George said. "It was his idea that we should get disability insurance for our student athletes for this game to ensure that if there was some kind of injury, that they'd be well taken care of. And so we worked together on that. We're excited about it. We think it's great that all of our players are playing in the game, and that's what all bowl games should be like."
The Cougars also have some star power, beginning with quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who threw for 2,796 yards and 20 touchdowns during the regular season. He also rushed for 388 yards with six additional scores.
Overall, 17 different players scored touchdowns for the Cougars, who were the only team in the nation to score four touchdowns on special teams (three kickoff returns and one punt return), while the BYU defense featured 12 different players recording an FBS-best 20 interceptions on the season.
This will be the third Alamo Bowl trip for CU's George.
"The hospitality that we get when we're in San Antonio is second to none," he said. "The Valero Alamo Bowl does a phenomenal job, and the hospitality that they give all of our players and our fans. It's just a great week. They have a lot of things planned, and they just do a great job of embracing their community and allowing us to be guests in it. And you know, we expect to have a lot of fans here, and it's going to be great for the city and the state, and it's going to be great for our fans as well."
