Can BYU top off its already successful 2024 season with another win?

The Cougars face fellow Big 12 team Colorado in the Alamo Bowl on Saturday (5:30 p.m. MST, ABC), a matchup expected to be one of the best of the bowl season between two teams locked in a four-way tie Conference stand ended at the top.

What will happen when the two teams meet in San Antonio?

The Deseret News ran a simulation of Saturday’s game in the EA Sports College Football 25 video game, and the video game version of the competition predicts a high-scoring matchup.

How the BYU simulation was built

There were a few ground rules: The simulation used 10-minute quarters and I let the computer simulate the game without user intervention.

There were also moves made on the depth chart – since it was a bowl season, this included moving guys like safety Crew Wakely and wide receiver Kody Epps off the depth chart for BYU as they are in the transfer portal.

How accurate was the simulation of BYU’s last game?

The actual score: BYU 30, Houston 18

College Football 25 Simulation Final Score: BYU 35, Houston 23

My analysis: The simulation and the actual game weren’t exactly the same, but there were some similarities.

BYU fell behind early in both cases before taking control — although Houston was perhaps able to hold on longer than it should have.

In this sense, the simulation was a reliable indicator of how the real game would turn out.

How did the Alamo Bowl simulation between BYU and Colorado go?

Final result: BYU 37, Colorado 27

Key sequence: The Cougars took an early 17-0 lead before the Buffaloes finally responded with a long touchdown drive to bring the score to 17-7.

BYU, however, had its own answer.

The Cougars moved the ball 80 yards in 12 plays – converting three third downs on possession – and scored on a 6-yard touchdown catch by Chase Roberts in the corner of the end zone with 1:57 left until halftime.

Roberts converted two of those third-down attempts while LJ Martin converted the other, and with that score the Cougars created enough distance to withstand a late Colorado surge.

How the simulation went: Unlike the last few games of the regular season, BYU got going early against Colorado.

Roberts made a 28-yard grab on the Cougars’ first possession, which was followed by a catch by Keelan Marion to the Colorado 1, leading to a 1-yard touchdown run by Martin and a 7-0 Cougars lead.

BYU forced Colorado to punt on its first two drives – one possession ended with a three-and-out and another failed when Tyler Batty recorded a third-down sack – and the Cougars turned their next two drives into points.

First there was a 49-yard field goal by Will Ferrin, then a 68-yard touchdown pass to Roberts in the final two minutes of the first quarter, giving BYU a 17-0 lead.

Eventually, Colorado made a game of it. The Buffaloes converted a fumble by Jojo Phillips at the end of a long catch into a touchdown drive, aided by a 28-yard diving catch by Heisman winner Travis Hunter. That led to a 7-yard Sav’ell Smalls TD catch and a 17-7 game.

This was followed by BYU’s aforementioned attempt to extend its lead back to 24-7.

Colorado struck quickly before halftime when Hunter caught a 17-yard pass from Shedeur Sanders with 50 seconds left before halftime.

This touchdown gave Colorado a chance to cut the lead to single digits in the third quarter as the Buffaloes received the ball first in the second half.

However, BYU’s defense forced back-to-back Colorado punts early in the second half, then the Cougars capitalized on an 89-yard drive that ended with a 9-yard touchdown catch by Marion with 2:17 left in the third quarter it’s 31-14.

While the Cougars’ offense began to stagnate in the second half after firing on all cylinders in the first half, BYU was able to add two short-field field goals in the fourth quarter – one after Colorado failed to convert a fourth down on its side was able to get off the field and another after BYU recovered an onside kick.

With Colorado trailing 34-14 with just under five minutes to play, the Buffaloes put together two touchdown drives, leading to a 1-yard TD run by Isaiah Augustave and a 69-yard scoring grab by Hunter, to tie it up to make the result more respectable.

Star player: Retzlaff starred for the Cougars, throwing for 437 yards and three touchdowns. Roberts was his main target as he had eight catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns.

Martin added 85 rushing yards and a touchdown.

BYU also finished with six sacks, led by 1.5 from Batty.

Sanders, on the other hand, shone for Colorado with 417 yards and three touchdowns.

Hunter had the best receiving day among a group of star receivers, finishing with nine receptions for 172 yards and two touchdowns.

Important statistics: The Cougars had 511 yards of total offense while Colorado put up 423.

However, BYU came out on top in third-down conversions — going 6 of 12 and 3 of 11 for the Buffaloes — and helped the Cougars overcome the turnover with a 1-0 lead.

How realistic was the simulation?

My analysis: Even if BYU’s passing numbers were once again inflated, as has often been the case in previous Colleger Football 25 simulations this season, this simulation could also happen in reality – there is a possibility of a bust if a team is more motivated than that other.

However, this game is considered one of the best non-playoff matchups and could just as easily be a close back-and-forth contest, which didn’t happen in the simulation.