The most recent Colorado Buffaloes football vs BYU football match player stats tell a clear story: BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier outplayed his more experienced counterpart in the fourth quarter, and that was the difference. BYU beat Colorado 24-21 at Folsom Field on September 27, 2025, rallying from an early 14-point deficit behind a strong ground game and a pair of short touchdown passes. Below is a full breakdown of every skill-position player who mattered, plus the numbers that explain how a 25th-ranked BYU team dug itself out of a hole against a Big 12 opponent playing at home.
Quick Answer: Colorado Buffaloes Football vs BYU Football Match Player Stats at a Glance
- Final score: BYU 24, Colorado 21 (Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado)
- BYU QB Bear Bachmeier: 19-of-27 passing, 179 yards, 2 TD passes, plus 98 rushing yards on 15 carries
- Colorado QB Kaidon Salter: 11-of-16 passing, 119 yards, 1 TD pass, plus 49 rushing yards and 1 rushing TD on 17 carries
- BYU’s Cody Hagen scored the game-winning touchdown, a 32-yard run early in the fourth quarter
- Colorado’s Dre’Lon Miller scored two touchdowns — one rushing, one receiving — in his first game at running back
- BYU linebacker Isaiah Glasker sealed it with an interception with 50 seconds left
That’s the shorthand version. The fuller picture involves a defense that couldn’t hold a 14-0 lead, a freshman quarterback who didn’t blink, and a Colorado receiving corps that did enough to make this a one-score game until the final whistle.
How the Game Unfolded
Colorado came out fast. Salter opened the scoring with a 3-yard scramble on a play the Buffs initially thought was stopped short — a replay review confirmed the touchdown. Miller followed with a 5-yard rushing score of his own, and just like that Colorado led 14-0 before the first quarter had finished. It was more points than BYU’s defense had allowed in any full game earlier that season.
BYU didn’t panic. An end-around play began chipping away at the lead, and by halftime Colorado’s advantage was down to 14-10. The Buffs briefly pushed it back to 21-17 late in the third quarter, but BYU took the lead for good in the opening minutes of the fourth on Hagen’s 32-yard burst. From there, Colorado had chances — this was a game decided by four points, not forty — but couldn’t finish a drive when it mattered, and Glasker’s interception of a Salter pass with under a minute remaining closed it out.
Colorado Buffaloes Football vs BYU Football Match Player Stats: Passing
| Player | Team | Comp/Att | Yards | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bear Bachmeier | BYU | 19/27 | 179 | 2 |
| Kaidon Salter | Colorado | 11/16 | 119 | 1 |
Bachmeier’s final line doesn’t look flashy on paper, but the two touchdowns both went to Chase Roberts on short, high-percentage throws, and he protected the ball all night. Salter, by contrast, threw the interception that ended Colorado’s last real chance — a costly moment in an otherwise efficient outing for the Buffs’ starter.
Rushing Production
| Player | Team | Carries | Yards | Avg | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bear Bachmeier | BYU | 15 | 98 | 6.5 | 0 |
| Micah Welch | Colorado | 11 | 67 | 6.1 | 0 |
| Kaidon Salter | Colorado | 17 | 49 | 2.9 | 1 |
| LJ Martin | BYU | 15 | 58 | 3.9 | 0 |
| Dre’Lon Miller | Colorado | 8 | 52 | 6.5 | 1 |
This is where the game actually turned. BYU finished with 208 rushing yards to Colorado’s 172, and a good chunk of that gap came from Bachmeier himself — a freshman quarterback who ran for nearly 100 yards against a Power Four defense on the road. Colorado’s staff had flagged BYU’s rushing attack as the game’s biggest mismatch before kickoff, and the box score backed that up.
Receiving Leaders
| Player | Team | Receptions | Yards | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Roberts | BYU | 5 | 49 | 2 |
| Joseph Williams | Colorado | 5 | 56 | 0 |
| Dre’Lon Miller | Colorado | 2 | 27 | 1 |
Roberts was the intended target on both of Bachmeier’s touchdown throws, which made him the single most important receiver on the field even without gaudy yardage. Williams led Colorado in catches and yards but couldn’t find the end zone; Miller’s one catch, tacked onto his rushing score, made him the only player from either team to reach the end zone twice.
Defense and the Play That Ended It
Colorado’s Tawfiq Byard led all players with 10 tackles, his second double-digit game of the season, and Carter Stoutmire added seven stops with two pass breakups. On the other side, BYU’s defense bent for most of the first half but tightened when it counted — Glasker’s late interception of Salter is the single stat that decided the outcome, more than any yardage total.
Team Stats Comparison
| Category | BYU | Colorado |
|---|---|---|
| First Downs | 27 | 17 |
| Rushing Yards | 208 | 172 |
| Passing Yards | 179 | 119 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 3-11 | 3-9 |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 2-3 | 0-1 |
Twenty-seven first downs to seventeen is a lopsided number for a game decided by three points, and it explains why BYU controlled the clock for long stretches even while trailing.
Series History: Colorado vs BYU
This wasn’t the first time these two programs had gone down to the wire. BYU beat Colorado 36-14 in the 2024 Alamo Bowl, a much more lopsided result that made the 2025 regular-season meeting feel like a measure of how far Colorado had closed the gap. Zoom out further and Colorado holds the all-time series edge at 7-4-1, a number built mostly on games from decades earlier — the two programs had not met in the regular season since 1988 before Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes and Kalani Sitake’s Cougars renewed the rivalry.
BYU entered the 2025 game having scored in 27 straight quarters, a program record, and the win pushed Sitake’s record to 30-9 whenever the Cougars are ranked — a small but telling number about how this coaching staff performs under pressure.
What This Means Going Forward
Neither program’s 2026 non-conference or Big 12 slate has produced a rematch as of this writing, so the September 2025 result remains the most current data point in the rivalry. For Colorado, the loss dropped the Buffs to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in Big 12 play at the time, an early-season stumble the program spent the rest of the year trying to recover from. For BYU, it was proof the Cougars could win an ugly, back-and-forth road game against a ranked-caliber opponent rather than just beating up on weaker non-conference teams.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the last Colorado vs BYU football game?
BYU won the most recent meeting 24-21 on September 27, 2025, at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado, rallying from a 14-0 first-quarter deficit.
Who led BYU in passing against Colorado?
Bear Bachmeier led BYU, completing 19 of 27 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns, both to receiver Chase Roberts.
Who led Colorado in passing against BYU?
Kaidon Salter led Colorado, going 11-of-16 for 119 yards and one touchdown, while also rushing for 49 yards and a score.
What was the score of the 2024 Alamo Bowl between BYU and Colorado?
BYU beat Colorado 36-14 in the 2024 Alamo Bowl, the two teams’ meeting prior to their September 2025 regular-season matchup.
What is the all-time series record between Colorado and BYU?
Colorado leads the all-time series 7-4-1, though most of those games were played before the two programs’ 2024-25 renewal of the rivalry.
Key Takeaways
- BYU 24, Colorado 21 remains the most recent and most relevant result in this matchup as of the 2026 season
- Bear Bachmeier’s dual-threat performance (179 passing yards, 98 rushing yards) was the single biggest factor in BYU’s comeback
- Colorado’s Dre’Lon Miller was the most efficient offensive weapon on the field, scoring twice on just 10 total touches
- BYU’s 208 rushing yards exploited a matchup Colorado’s coaching staff had already identified as a weakness before kickoff
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