Coach Prime doesn’t have revenge on his mind heading into Alamo Bowl rematch against BYU

The Colorado Buffaloes were embarrassed by the BYU Cougars in the Alamo Bowl last year, but revenge isn't on Coach Prime's mind ahead of the rematch on Saturday

BY TRENT FINNEGAN

Sep 25, 2025, 2:25 PM Updated: Sep 26, 2025, 8:50 am

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Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes were embarrassed by the BYU Cougars in the Alamo Bowl a season ago. The final score read 36-14, but those numbers didn’t truly show just how much of a butt-kicking it was. The Cougars were up 27-0 at one point, Shedeur Sanders was on the sideline looking confused as he had ever been at Colorado and Ralphie VI was walking her way into retirement.

The saying is “Remember the Alamo,” right? Especially after a game like that in which the Buffs went down quickly with the whole country watching, one would think that Prime is looking to get his get back.

Coach Prime isn’t with the ‘get back’ stuff

Wrong. Prime was asked during his weekly media availability earlier in the week if this game meant more to him, and he quickly emphasized that it doesn’t.

“Every game means a lot. It’s a conference game [so it] means more. But yeah, it is not like we ain’t with that get back stuff. I ain’t with that… So they played their butts off, kicked our butts in the bowl game. Now we have a whole new team. They have a similar team as well, with new, abundant, new management, I mean quarterbacking,” he said.

Kalani Sitake is preparing for a hungry Buffs squad

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake didn’t share the same sentiment, as he’s preparing for the Buffs to come out the gates on Saturday night with revenge on their mind.

“I’m sure they remember the bowl game and I’m sure they want some payback,” he said on Monday.

Back in Boulder, Prime emphasized that the two programs look a lot different now than they did back in December. The Buffs obviously revamped their roster as they had a lot of talent from that 9-4 team head to the pros, so he’s focused on changing things that happened in that game due to coaching and effort, not because of the personnel out on the field.

“We got to be a lot more disciplined. Not some of the pass interference — the PIs that we had — and the stupid penalties that we had, you know, unnecessary roughness. We got to stop all that foolishness and play a consistent game, prayerfully, penalty free,” Prime said.

The Buffs had eight penalties in last year’s contest and are coming off a win against Wyoming in which they had five penalties, all of which could’ve easily been avoided. The penalty aspect of the game has improved greatly for Colorado since Prime first got to town, but they still have lapses from time to time.

CU players want their get back

While the coaches have their own thoughts, some of Colorado players definitely have revenge on their mind, as they didn’t appreciate the whooping they received from their neighbors to the west in the bowl game. Defensive tackle Amari McNeill didn’t play in the bowl game last year, but he wants to get his get back for his teammates who were out there in San Antonio.

“It’s a big game for me because, of course, as y’all know, I missed last year, so I want to face these guys. They’re a good group that I’m ready to face. So yeah, I’m very excited to face them,” he said Tuesday.

Saturday night’s conference clash will tell the college football a lot about these two programs. Have the Buffs figured it out? Or are they just beating up on inferior opponents? Do the Cougars deserve their No. 25 ranking? Or has an easier schedule made them look better than they are?

Those questions will be answered at 8:15 p.m. MDT on Saturday when the two sides square off against each other under the lights at Folsom Field in Boulder.