​BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier, back, congratulates running back Lj Martin after his touchdown reception against Colorado State in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, in Fort Collins, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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David Zalubowski
The No. 11-ranked BYU Cougars didn’t exactly nail the ending Saturday night in a 41-23 romp past former Mountain West rival Colorado State. Given the chance to impress pollsters and perhaps the College Football Playoff selection committee down the road a bit, the Cougars blew an opportunity that might not come around again now that the remaining opponents are all Big 12 foes and Notre Dame.Suffice it to say that BYU’s second- and third-teamers have some work to do, and head coach Kalani Sitake can never be accused of chasing style points. Not even close.But through nearly three quarters at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins in front of a supposed sell-out crowd of 38,759 and a dwindling national television audience preoccupied naturally by the LSU-Ole Miss game on another channel, the 3-0 Cougars looked every bit the part of a College Football Playoff contender against the Rams. BYU’s first teamers did, at least.“Obviously, there’s some really good things that we did in the game and some things that we could have done better, but I thought the reps (for the backups) were valuable for all our players and I liked the way that we started the game,” Sitake said.The Cougars led 38-7 toward the end of the third quarter before Bear Bachmeier forced a throw to Kyler Kasper near the goal line and saw it picked off by CSU’s CJ Blocker, BYU’s first turnover of the season.“I think we were getting a little greedy on that,” Sitake said of that turnover and one by CSU’s D’Angelo Hagans on Treyson Bourguet’s tipped pass on the Cougars’ very next play after Blocker’s interception. After Hagans’ pick, the Rams took the ball near midfield and drove 48 yards for a touchdown, a drive that was aided by a roughing the passer penalty.“We can get mad at the defense for not getting stops, but we had a holding call on defense, we had a roughing he passer. We had lot of mistakes (on offense), too,” Sitake said. “So, we just have to be better as a team. There are some guys that are backups that are one play away from getting in the game, so they need to be ready for it.“I think if they just play more assignment-sound, we will be in a better position,” he continued. “We just made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes that shouldn’t happen from our guys, but this is a good moment for us to learn from. But to win comfortably … was a good time to do it. It just got a lit