The national perception of BYU has changed immensely after the Cougars' 36-14 rout of Coach Prime's Colorado Buffaloes in 33rd annual Alamo Bowl.

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.

There have been dips in ratings. Last season, an Alamo Bowl featuring Arizona and Oklahoma averaged 3.93 million viewers — an 18% decline from the 4.78 million who watched Washington and Texas in the same bowl game a year earlier. But don’t tell Kalani Sitake and Deion Sanders that the non-Playoff bowl games are meaningless.