Wide receiver Sincere Brown scoring a touchdown at the game against Wyoming at Folsom Field on Saturday Sept. 20th, 2025 (Scott Tan/CU Independent).
The University of Colorado football team remains at Folsom Field for a second consecutive night game as it hosts No. 25 Brigham Young University on Saturday. The Buffs look to ride the wave of last week’s 37-20 home victory over the University of Wyoming in which embattled starting quarterback Kaidon Salter broke through and accounted for four total touchdowns and nearly 400 yards of offense.
Salter looked good on both ground and air, rushing for 86 yards and a touchdown while getting his star receiver, Omarion Miller, involved for the first time this season with six receptions, 88 yards and a touchdown. It was a watershed game in a season where Colorado football has struggled to find an identity or, notably, a true starting quarterback.
BYU arrives in Boulder with a ranking attached to their name for the first time in 2025 after a 3-0 start to the season and convincing wins against Portland State University, Stanford University and East Carolina University. That being said, BYU’s opponents through their first three games have a combined three wins between them and Brigham Young’s finest line of resume is an away victory over the 2-2 East Carolina Pirates of the American Athletic Conference.
Despite an easier schedule, BYU has held up well under freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier, who has passed for 513 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions through the first three games of his collegiate career. Bachmeier is joined by veterans running back LJ Martin, wide receiver Chase Roberts and tight end Carsen Ryan to form what is essentially a four-man BYU offense in 2025, and they’ve seen moderate success. The real story, though, is the Brigham Young defense which was one of the best in the country last year and remains so in 2025, having allowed only 16 points thus far.
Storylines to watch for on Saturday night:
BYU’s formidable linebacking duo– Linebackers Jack Kelly and Isaiah Glasker form the backbone of the BYU defense through their hybrid capabilities as both pass rushers and off-ball linebackers. Both defenders were included in watchlists for prestigious awards coming into the season, with Kelly named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy for the nation’s top defensive player and Glasker named to the Chuck Bednarik Award for the most outstanding defensive player in college football. Kelly specializes more as a pass rusher, currently leading the Cougars with three sacks and a forced fumble, while Glasker flexes a versatile toolbox with premier coverage and tackling skills. Both are tied for second on the team with 13 total tackles on the season.
Last week against Wyoming, Colorado rushed for nearly 200 yards and two touchdowns, both season highs. Particularly, Kaidon Salter led the team in rushing yards with 86 off only 11 carries. Salter’s rushing ability has always been a significant aspect of his game, considering his 1,089 rushing yards, 12 rushing touchdowns season two years ago, and a victory over BYU might be dependent upon unlocking the quarterback run game. Preventing this from happening will be the talented trio of Kelly, Glasker and standout sophomore linebacker Siale Esera. Combined with the rest of the BYU defense, this group has allowed the second lowest rush yards per game in college football with just 44.3 through three games. Expect the middle of the BYU defense to get after the quarterback while Salter’s both in and outside the pocket.
When asked about Colorado’s biggest difference from a year ago, Glasker said, “the run game. I feel like they have some pretty good running backs that are well rounded and they can run the ball, and block pretty [well].”
The Colorado defense getting the freshman quarterback out of rhythm– While Bear Bachemeier’s first few games as a college football starting quarterback have gone without major hiccups, he will be tested by arguably the best defense he has faced on Saturday night. The Colorado defense has seen steady improvement in the young season with breakout players on all levels of the defense including safety Tawfiq Byard, the team’s leading in tackles, defensive end Arden Walker, the team’s leader in sacks and cornerback DJ McKinney, the team’s leader in passes defended. The group was especially stubborn against Wyoming’s passing game last week, holding quarterback Kaden Anderson to a brutal 11 completions in 25 attempts for 176 yards, despite giving up two touchdown passes with the game out of reach in the second half.
Bachmeier has been used conservatively to begin his career, averaging only 172 passing yards per game and operating primarily out of play action. Nearly half of completions and 64 percent of his passing yards have been to two receivers, wide receiver Chase Roberts and tight end Carsen Ryan. When on schedule, the BYU offense tends to help their quarterback as much as possible with first read passing plays such as screen passes and a heavy use of misdirection and motions at the line of scrimmage. Generally, the BYU offense prefers to operate through its run game.
However, the few times that Bachmeier has needed to step into obvious passing situations, such as the two minute drill at the end of the first half against Stanford, he has flashed. In said scenario, the freshman quarterback completed consecutive big downfield passes between defenders out of shotgun to lead the Cougars into Stanford territory before the drive stalled at the Stanford 37 yard line. Bachmeier will likely face another such scenario this Saturday and this time against a better defense.
“We wanna come out there and give you the best that we possibly can give you… and we wanna come out victorious, and we will if we execute the things that we’re capable of doing. And this is a darn good, capable team,” head coach Deion Sanders said during his press conference on Tuesday.
Colorado will play BYU at home on Saturday, Sept. 27, at 8:15 p.m. MDT. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN.
Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Charlie Hewitt at charles.hewitt@colorado.edu.
