In the lovefest that was the back-and-forth between Kalani Sitake and Deion Sanders at the Alamo Bowl, the BYU coach used a word to describe the Colorado Buffaloes that turned out to be neither precise nor prophetic.

“Dangerous.”

He could never have been happier to be so wrong.

It was his own team that fit that description.

Dangerous and devastating – for Coach Prime’s boys.

There’s no polite way to say this, so we’ll stick with the rude: The Buffaloes were presented with their shorts, shirts, shoulder pads, socks, jocks and shoes Saturday night in San Antonio. They were beaten hard. With a score of 36-14, their football soul was ripped away by BYU.

It turns out that being warm, relaxed, and determined can really triumph over highly touted talent when it matters most. Or maybe the truth is that the talent wasn’t all that one-sided. In any case, it played a role in a bowl game that BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff famously called “the people’s Big 12 championship” after pointing out that the two teams tied Arizona State and Arizona State in their league records Iowa State, which was able to match but was left out on a technicality, had something to prove in a dome named after one of the most infamous defeats in North American history.

And the Cougars definitely handed Colorado a loss in the popular game.

Phrasing the way it happened could be seen not only as rude but also as cruel, a bit like ripping out the wings and legs of a fly with tweezers, tearing the limbs off piece by piece .

Should we be specific about this? Yes, okay. But stay tuned, we’ll zoom out on the big BYU picture, the better stuff. There are real and pleasing conclusions to be drawn about the Cougars, what they have done and what they could still do.

But first, the explicitly ugly thing about these other guys: The Buffaloes couldn’t run the ball, and BYU knew it. So the Cougars cleverly pressured quarterback Shedeur Sanders, sometimes with extra resources, but often with a standard four-man rush that left seven defenders in coverage, reflecting Sanders’ intent to pass the ball over and through the back end of the field BYU shooting made resistance difficult. Even a smart QB, a projected high NFL draft pick who happened to target Heisman winner Travis Hunter, couldn’t quite solve what the Cougars threw at him.

He was pressured and sacked a few times about 16 and 23 yards behind the offensive line. A rather unique highlight for Colorado was a 58-yard reception by Hunter in the first half, but even that failed to produce any points. Check this out, another impressive reception from Hunter led to the Buffs’ first score well into the third quarter when they trailed by 27 points.

On the other hand, BYU did its damage through aggression – on offense and on special teams. For example, after the Cougars took a 10-zip lead, Sitake called for an onside kick, which BYU successfully blocked. Another play in the third period, a punt return by Parker Kingston, resulted in a touchdown, making it 17-nothing. Two 50-yard field goals from Will Ferrin worked further wonders.

The score was 20-0 at halftime, a lead that actually could have been much larger had it not been for a series of BYU errors like those that plagued the Cougars in their two losses in the final three games of the regular season had. There were three total interceptions, including ill-advised passes and picks in the red zone, a dropped touchdown throw wide open and other infractions such as penalties.

But penalties put Colorado even further behind, including ones that halted its own offense and prevented key BYU plays.

This game could actually have been called a Penalty Bowl, sponsored by, for example, Annin Flagmakers, the oldest flag manufacturer in the country. It reached a point of ridiculousness, the referees kept interfering but they called what they saw.

Another winger is this: A BYU touchdown early in the third quarter gave the Cougars a 27-0 lead, and… well, let’s not dwell on the points.

It was funny, if that’s the right word, how much focus there was in this bowl, especially from the TV people, on Colorado here and Colorado there, with Deion Sanders fronting the Buffs, along with Shedeur and Hunter on lead and rhythm guitars, and Miss Peggy was even Groupie No. 1. Another, perhaps more apt analogy: Sitake’s Cougars were the Washington Generals who coached Prime’s Globetrotters.

But with BYU dominating so loudly on the drums in the beginning, as the other band’s music was drowned out and the Generals scored in excitement, bright spotlights suddenly shone in the opposite direction. When you outrebound your opponent by a total of 121 yards and rack up 13 more first downs, plus the one-sidedness of the special teams and the defense blanketing the other team’s stars and completely outshining them, then…

Change is happening.

A broader, more comprehensive look at this BYU performance points to a few important things. The performance saved the Cougars’ season. As mentioned, they had already lost two of their last three regular season games, missing out on a chance to play for the real Big 12 Championship and even qualify for the College Football Playoff. Had BYU stumbled and stumbled here, given these still-painful failures for those not mathematically inclined, it would have posted a late record of 1-3, truly undoing a 10-win season, a season that began surprisingly and it would have ended in disappointment.

BYU’s players weren’t going to let that happen.

And so it was that an 11-2 mark, delivered as boldly and convincingly as it was against a vaunted but respected opponent, enveloped the Cougars in warmth, comfort, contentment and optimism for what they believe in is next Season.

“These guys believe in each other,” Sitake said afterward. “…They love each other.”

And maybe they’ll learn to love each other more.

If this was both a hoot and a shout about what BYU football is and where it stands now in the Big 12, and also a precursor, a pitched Titleist for a massive swing of a pure driver next time, then that would be one declarative statement is correct and appropriate. Pay attention to what the Cougars are building.

A surprise can sometimes seem like a coincidence, especially if it falters even a little. But BYU reminded everyone Saturday night that it’s real. And it could be… what is that, more real. Yes, that is a real possibility. I watched the game and studied the squad. And it’s a real word too. I looked it up.

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