The College Football Playoff was changing how fans, players and coaches viewed bowl season even before it expanded to 12 teams. There have been dips in ratings. Last season, an Alamo Bowl featuring Arizona and Oklahoma averaged 3.

BYU and Colorado both finished in a four-way tie for first place in the Big 12 standings, but neither team had the tiebreaker advantage to reach the Big 12 title game. That, among other factors, led Cougars quarterback Kedon Slovis to describe the Alamo Bowl matchup against the Buffaloes as "the people's" Big 12 championship game.

BYU made the final game of Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders’ Colorado careers one to forget. The No. 17 Cougars blew out the No. 23 Buffaloes 36-14 in the Alamo Bowl on Saturday night as Colorado was overmatched in nearly every facet of the game.