Next stop on the Boise State revenge tour: Air Force, where Broncos have never won
Boise State senior quarterback Brett Rypien was not afraid to discuss why a win at Wyoming meant so much last month.
Considering the Broncos had lost on their visit two years prior, it was a chance to exact some belated revenge to push aside “bad memories.”
With a trip to Air Force coming Saturday, that mindset is once again front and center — the Broncos are 0-2 in their two visits at Falcon Stadium, including a 27-20 loss on Nov. 25, 2016.
“Definitely left a bad taste in our mouth ... we obviously want to change that, get it going in our direction,” Rypien said.
Before San Diego State evened up the all-time series with Boise State on Oct. 13, no Mountain West team other than Air Force had defeated the Broncos more than twice. The Falcons are 3-3 against the Broncos.
Boise State coach Bryan Harsin, who said after the Wyoming win that “there’s no secrets” when it comes to some motivating factors, put it succinctly Monday when looking ahead to facing the Falcons: “This is Air force week, that’s probably all I need to say about that.”
“Any competitor, that motivates you, and it should — if it doesn’t, then we have a problem,” Harsin said.
For some, the Falcons and their triple-option offense strike fear, considering its difficulty to prepare for, and how it forces both sides of the ball to be extremely patient. But all things considered, Boise State has fared well defending it.
The Broncos’ offense, however, has been a problem when they head to Colorado Springs — the Broncos are 8-of-30 combined on third down in the two games, 39-of-84 passing, and have a total of 34 points.
“That’s great motivation, going over there and knowing how we played a couple years ago,” Boise State offensive coordinator Zak Hill said. “... (Our) guys are hungry to get back there and it’s always a tough battle with those guys.”
Reflecting on his last trip to face the Falcons, Rypien could have pointed to his passing struggles (9-of-26), but it all boiled down to one series. On their final drive, the Broncos had a first-and-goal at the Air Force 5-yard line, but four runs failed to get into the end zone.
“It’s something you definitely don’t forget about, definitely a rough moment for us, for our entire team, our program,” he said.
Boise State didn’t know at the time, but had the Broncos been victorious in that game, Wyoming’s loss that weekend would have put them in the Mountain West championship game.
Even if this Air force team isn’t quite the challenge that the 2016 team was (9-3 that year), beating a team that has always given them fits, and notching another Mountain Division win, would exorcise some demons for the Broncos.
“I think it’s a very big game ... the way we lost, being on the goal line, losing like that, it doesn’t sit well with a couple of the seniors that were there,” senior wide receiver A.J. Richardson said. “Going there with a chip on our shoulder — enough is enough. We’re trying to get that win. At the end of the day, it’s another team in our way trying to stop us from our goal.”
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BOISE STATE AT AIR FORCE
When: 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Falcon Stadium (46,692; FieldTurf)
TV: CBS Sports Network (Rich Waltz, Steve Beuerlein, Cassie McKinney); Cable One ch. 139/1139, DirecTV ch. 221, Dish Network ch. 158
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/KTIK 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: BSU 5-2, 3-1 (won 56-28 over Colorado State on Friday); Air Force 3-4, 1-3 (won 41-35 at UNLV on Friday)
Series: Tied 3-3 (Boise State won 44-19 on Nov. 18, 2017 in Boise last meeting)
Vegas line: Boise State by 9
Weather: Mid 50s, clear