Martin, No. 17 BYU overpower No. 23 Colorado in primetime Alamo Bowl

SAN ANTONIO — No. 23 Colorado entered Saturday night's Alamo Bowl with the reigning Heisman Trophy winner in Travis Hunter, a projected first-round draft pick at quarterback in Shedeur Sanders, and arguably the greatest NFL player of his generation calling plays in Deion Sanders.

BYU had elite special teams and LJ Martin — and Parker Kingston can't lose.

Kingston had 129 all-purpose yards, including a 64-yard touchdown on a punt return, and Martin ran for 93 yards and two scores as the 17th-ranked Cougars held down the high-octane Buffaloes 36-14 in front of a capacity crowd of 64,261 fans at the Alamodome.

Jake Retzlaff threw for 151 yards with two interceptions, and ran for 29 yards on seven carries for the Cougars, who won 11 games for the second time in five years in beating its first power conference opponent in a bowl game since 2009.

Hunter caught four passes for 106 yards, and Sanders threw for 208 yards and two touchdowns, with two interceptions for Colorado (9-4), which remained winless against BYU since leaving the Mountain States Conference in 1947.

But the team with as much star power as anyone in college football was beat out by a motivated team from its own conference led by a Jewish quarterback playing on the fourth night of Hanukkah and a linebacker from South Jordan who led the team in tackles with a tackle for loss and an interception.

"I think a lot of things just worked out in our favor in all three phases," said BYU coach Kalani Sitake, who has coached the Cougars to two of the program's 13 11-win campaigns all-time. "We didn't play error free, but I liked the way our guys played, I liked the aggressiveness, the physical part of the game. Yeah, just looking forward to — we have a lot of young guys still, but I'm happy for our seniors, the things that they've been able to accomplish.

"I'm very fortunate to be their coach, and I'm lucky I get to coach this guy," Sitake added, pointing to Isaiah Glasker, the game's defensive MVP who had eight tackles, a tackle for loss and one of two interceptions. "Not bad for a wide out — in high school very talented wide out. He's got some nice hands, should have had two picks."

The Cougars (11-2) sacked Sanders four times, added six tackles for loss on defense, and had two interceptions for the seventh game of the season.

And then there was Kingston, who became the first BYU player since James Dye in 1996 to return multiple punt returns for a touchdown when he housed a 64-yard punt with 5:32 left in the half to give the Cougars a 17-0 lead.

BYU's special teams scored 13 of the Cougars' 17 first-half points, including two field goals by Will Ferrin to set a single-season program record for made field goals before tying a season-high from 54 yards out as time expired.

The Cougars' defense held Colorado to 61 yards before the break, including -9 rushing yards aided by three sacks for a loss of 49 yards by Raider Damuni, Harrison Taggart and Logan Lutui.

Retzlaff threw an interception, and backup quarterback Gerry Bohanon added another, in addition to an 11-yard run that set up Martin's first-quarter touchdown from a yard out.

But BYU ran 11 more players than the Buffaloes in the first half, and stole a possession when Ethan Slade recovered an onside kick attempt in the first quarter.

"I think people forget about special teams," Sitake said. "It's a big part of our success, and coach K-Pop, coach A-Rod and, obviously, coach Hill, those guys have done an amazing job. It's pretty easy for me; I just decide if we go for it or not on fourth down and stuff like that, but I'm lucky to work with wonderful men that are great mentors to me and to the players, and more than anything I'm lucky enough to be around these guys."

Sione Moa capitalized on Johnson's second interception of the year with a 13-yard touchdown up the gut to stretch the lead to 27-0 to open the third quarter.

Sanders pulled one back, finding Hunter for a 43-yard score midway through the third. The projected first-round pick who played for his father at FCS Jackson State and the past two seasons in Boulder found Sav'ell Smalls for a 2-yard score with 2:17 remaining, as well.

But the Cougars recovered an onside kick with 2:14 remaining to allow Bohanon and backup running back Pokai Haunga to kneel out the final snaps of the 2024 season.

"Wonderful job by BYU," said the man known as "Coach Prime" who led Colorado to its first nine-win campaign since 2016 in his second. "They're well-coached. They did a phenomenal job of running the football. Special teams kicked our butts. We couldn't do nothing offensively much at all. Defensively I think we had some sound stops, but we didn't eat enough and we came up short.

"Not to take nothing away from them," he added. "They played a heck of a football game. If I'm going to get my butt kicked, I'd rather get my butt kicked by that coach (Sitake). I love him to life, man. He's a good man."

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