Instant Analysis: We didn’t learn much from Boise State’s rout of Colorado State

This was what the Boise State football team needed after five grinding weeks — an easy win full of big, fun plays.

Just don’t read too much into it.

Boise State whacked Colorado State 56-28 on Friday night at Albertsons Stadium in a game that felt over by the end of the first quarter. The wide receivers and quarterback Brett Rypien starred again, defensive backs Avery Williams and Kekaula Kaniho combined for a bunch of memorable plays (two interceptions, a forced fumble, a punt-return for a TD and an onside-kick return for a TD) and the Broncos twice led by 35 points.

“We wanted to get back to where we were clicking early in the year,” said Rypien, who tossed four touchdown passes without a turnover.

[Related: Boise State continues dominance of Colorado State; Announcer takes strange interest in tee dog; scoring summary]

But Colorado State (3-5 overall, 2-2 Mountain West) is bad. And the Rams didn’t seem to have much want-to on Friday night, either. That was apparent on Boise State wide receiver A.J. Richardson’s second catch of the night, when he ran through several tackle attempts like he was playing with kids.

This was nothing like the tests that are lined up for the Broncos (5-2, 3-1) now: at Air Force next week, then consecutive home games against BYU and Fresno State. The Broncos never have won at Air Force, BYU has a win at Wisconsin this year and Fresno State has looked like the Mountain West’s best team so far.

Still, two weeks after a rare loss on the blue turf, the Broncos were happy to focus on a night full of positives.

“Just to have our team come out and just have fun, enjoy it, play the way they did, that was fun to be a part of,” coach Bryan Harsin said, “and certainly something that gives us momentum going into this week.”

The issues that presented themselves Friday night were the same ones that plagued the Broncos over the previous five weeks — a loss at Oklahoma State, win at Wyoming, loss to San Diego State and win at Nevada with a bye in the middle.

The run game still isn’t producing — at least in the traditional sense. When the Broncos hand or pitch the ball to wide receivers and even, as they did for a touchdown Friday night, to tight ends, they get yards. But tailback Alexander Mattison (20 carries, 85 yards, TD) was bottled up for much of the night again by a weak Rams defense.

Mattison’s longest run went for 12 yards — on his first carry. His average remains at 3.9 yards per carry.

“We ran the ball better,” Harsin said, and the Broncos did — just still not the way they expect to run it.

The second half was unimpressive again. The Broncos led 35-7 at half but allowed 21 points after the break on drives of 87, 83 and 75 yards.

And the injury-riddled defense continued to give up the occasional explosive play, like the 47-yard touchdown pass Colorado State hit 2 seconds before halftime. The Rams actually outgained the Broncos 489-472 and averaged 7.1 yards per play. Five Rams contributed a play of at least 20 yards — one more than the Broncos.

“We still need to do a better job of finishing ... on defense, especially,” Kaniho said.

Those issues aren’t going away. They weren’t even really masked by Friday’s blowout.

But for the Broncos and their fans, a stress-free win was a nice respite.

Fan takes from Facebook

Fan takes from Twitter

This story was originally published October 19, 2018 at 10:22 PM.