Orange crush: Boise State continues dominance over Colorado State in rout

You knew a win was just meant to be by the way Boise State began to pull away from Colorado State on Friday in a 56-28 rout.

Punt returner Avery Williams had a nice return going at the end of the first quarter at Albertsons Stadium, but was stripped by the Rams’ Jordan Fogal.

It could have turned the momentum in a major way toward the visitors, but Kekaula Kaniho was ready to turn from blocker into ball carrier.

The sophomore defensive back was behind Williams, picked up the fumble, and had just Colorado State’s punter to worry about. Not a problem — no one touched him as he raced 74 yards to take a 21-0 lead.

“Kekaula is always a guy that’s in the right place at the right time, but that’s just Bronco football — my teammate had my back,” Williams said.

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Williams losing that fumble may have been one of the few negative moments Friday in front of a crowd of 32,299, but the sophomore more than made up for it in what senior quarterback Brett Rypien called “one of the better games I’ve seen somebody have, all-around.”

Boise State (5-2 overall, 3-1 Mountain West) continued to roll to a 35-0 lead 24 seconds before halftime, scoring on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Rypien to Sean Modster set up by a Williams interception.

It was a far cry from the orange-clad Broncos’ last two first halves, in which they scored 20 points and had six turnovers combined against San Diego State and at Nevada.

“I kind of challenged myself this week to be able to get off to a good start,” Rypien said. “... It felt awesome, especially after losing a game on the Blue (against San Diego State), being out there the last time, it leaves a really sour taste in your mouth.”

As usually is the case when Boise State plays Colorado State (3-5, 2-2), the Broncos made the big plays and made the Rams pay for mistakes consistently. The Broncos are 8-0 all-time against the Rams, winning by double digits in six of the matchups.

The defense forced three turnovers, and the Broncos turned them into 14 points — not that Rypien needed much help, anyway.

Three of the senior’s four touchdowns came in the first half as he finished with 308 yards passing with no interceptions, completing 22-of-26 attempts. Boise State quarterbacks are 168-of-239 passing (70.3 percent) for 2,410 yards with 23 touchdowns and just two interceptions against Colorado State.

The Broncos scored touchdowns on six of the eight possessions Rypien was on the field, and scored all three times they had a field of less than 55 yards to work with to start a drive. Two of those short fields came on Williams’ interception and a fumble he forced that safety Kekoa Nawahine recovered.

“That’s really it, how do you continue to keep the momentum in games?” Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said. “... Guys feed off of that — the defense got a turnover, let’s go score; the offense scored, let’s hold them; we’ve got field position, let’s keep them pinned back.

“For the most part, we kept that momentum throughout the game, and I thought that was a big key for us.”

Williams put a bow on the game with a 44-yard kickoff return for a touchdown with 8:54 to play as the Rams’ onside kick went right to him, and no one was in his way as he took it straight ahead for the score.

“I don’t know if I’ve (ever) seen that live,” Harsin said.

Colorado State recovered back-to-back onside kicks their last visit to Boise, turning an easy win into a white-knuckle 28-23 win Oct. 15, 2016. But on Friday, both onside kicks failed, as the first went out of bounds, and Williams raced the other way with the second.

“He had a hell of a game ... that onside kick, that’s only something Avery can do,” said Kaniho, who had an interception at the 2-yard line in the second quarter.

Rypien threw a pair of touchdowns each to Modster and fellow senior A.J. Richardson, who had a career-best 137 yards. The Broncos were 9-of-11 on third downs, and on defense had three sacks, led by Curtis Weaver’s 2.5.

The Rams outgained the Broncos 489-472 and played the second half to a 21-21 tie, but Boise State made the plays to bury them early.

On its second drive, Colorado State, already trailing 14-0, reached the Boise State 32-yard line, but a holding penalty followed by a Chase Hatada/Weaver combo sack and then a 1-yard loss made it fourth-and-36 from the Rams’ own 42. It was the ensuing punt Kaniho picked up for the touchdown.

“That’s just good team football at the end of the day, we played well with each other tonight. ... We’ve got to keep that going,” Rypien said.

Boise State got back on the winning side at home having lost two weeks prior at Albertsons Stadium. The Broncos will head back on the road next Saturday to a place they have never won — at Air Force (3-4, 1-3) — with a 17th straight bowl-eligible season on the line.

“We had a lot to prove, we needed to protect The Blue, that’s an important part of this program, that was our main goal and mindset ... we went out there and did that, it feels good to accomplish that,” Williams said.

This story was originally published October 20, 2018 at 1:17 AM.