Instant Analysis: Boise State, Rypien flop in showdown with San Diego State
This was supposed to be the year that the Boise State football team’s offense was electric again.
It was supposed to be the year that senior quarterback Brett Rypien took his expected place among the nation’s best passers.
It certainly wasn’t supposed to be the year that the Broncos played two of their worst games in recent history in the first six weeks of the season.
But that’s where the Broncos stand after an almost-unthinkable flop Saturday afternoon at Albertsons Stadium — just three weeks after a blowout loss at not-very-good Oklahoma State.
San Diego State (4-1, 1-0 MW), which is building a case as the Mountain West’s best football program, beat Boise State 19-13. The Broncos scored their only points of the first half on a 4-yard touchdown drive after the Aztecs muffed a punt. Quarterback Brett Rypien looked confused, throwing two interceptions in the first half, taking sacks when he had time to throw and firing a bunch of passes that didn’t come close to the intended mark.
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Rypien finished 21-for-41 for 170 yards with the two picks and four sacks. He ended the game with two awful decisions, an intentional grounding penalty on second-and-2 and a never-had-a-chance deep ball into triple coverage on fourth-and-9. The Broncos had gotten the ball down six with 1:59 to go and a chance to win.
Coach Bryan Harsin, who lost at home for the fourth time in his five seasons, placed the blame for Rypien’s ugly day on the protection, which seemed better than at Oklahoma State but still wasn’t good enough. Rypien wasn’t available to the media.
“I thought Brett showed extreme toughness today,” Harsin said. “Bottom line, he can’t protect himself out there.”
It got so bad for the Broncos’ offense that they turned to redshirt freshman backup Chase Cord early in the fourth quarter, trailing 13-7. Cord, who operates the running attack the Broncos used with senior QB Montell Cozart to close out the Aztecs last year, ran four straight plays and had the team moving until a holding penalty sabotaged the drive. Rypien came back in and completed a pass but his third-and-6 throw went through the arms of true freshman wide receiver Khalil Shakir.
The Broncos punted, and moments later San Diego State busted a 72-yard touchdown run for a 19-7 lead.
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Cord stayed in the game for much of the next drive, with Rypien coming in to throw an incompletion on third-and-5.
It was a stunning turn of events considering Rypien had thrown 12 touchdown passes and no interceptions while leading the Broncos to a 3-1 record to start the season.
But Rypien had a chance for redemption, returning to run the hurry-up offense. He led a touchdown drive to make it 19-13 and got the ball with 1:59 on the clock, no timeouts and 67 yards to go. The Broncos didn’t even manage a first down.
“We knew how much time we had, we knew how many timeouts we didn’t have and we didn’t get it done,” tailback Alexander Mattison said.
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This story was originally published October 6, 2018 at 5:03 PM.