In most pressing situations, Boise State offense and Rypien have been at their best
During a timeout in the waning seconds of the first half Saturday at Air Force, the Boise State football team was trailing 28-21 and needed a big play before halftime.
The coaching staff asked senior quarterback Brett Rypien for suggestions on plays that may work — the one he had dialed up on the second play out of the timeout, a fourth-and-10, certainly did.
His 35-yard touchdown pass to CT Thomas tied the game with 5 seconds left in the second quarter, providing a huge momentum boost. As good of a season as Rypien has had, it has been those situations where he’s been at his best.
“You always ask your quarterback what they want, and that’s what he wanted,” Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said. “In a critical moment, he’s thinking more clearly than any one of us, in my opinion.”
Reflecting on Rypien’s stellar showings in clutch situations, Harsin started by saying “He has dug us out ...,” before stopping himself and noting that those third-and-long or fourth-down situations will occur. He said a member of the coaching staff recently said before a game they were looking forward to getting into a third-and-long, as the Broncos had a good play, and they wound up converting.
Harsin said he usually understands teams convert third-and-long about 25 percent of the time, but with Rypien throwing, the Broncos have been much better — he is 18-of-24 for 366 yards without an interception on third-and-10 or longer, 14 of those completions going for first downs. He’s 7-of-9 on fourth down and five conversions.
“It’s huge, that’s a huge reason we’ve got such a good third-down percentage is because he can make all the throws ... the timing and the anticipation he’s playing with is phenomenal,” offensive coordinator Zak Hill said. “He’s not scared of the third-and-long situations.”
Boise State is No. 2 in the nation in third-down conversion percentage (55.3 percent), trailing only Alabama (56.2 percent). Yes, the Crimson Tide have faced a third down, believe it or not — though the Broncos have been in 25 more with one fewer game played.
“You’ll see us on the sideline, we’re always saying ‘money down, money down,’ we practice it all the time,” Rypien said. “... it’s a mentality we build in practice.”
Rypien said from the practice field, to the meeting room, the success in those key situations can be traced to what happens during the week. It also trickles up, since he has shown he can make the passes in those spots — it also helps having a deep receiving corps that can spread a defense thin on passing downs.
“It starts with the coaching staff having trust with me to be able to throw the ball downfield in those situations, a lot of times you’ll see teams dump it off,” Rypien said.
Continuing third-down success will be key Saturday against BYU. The Cougars are a solid 47th nationally in stopping third downs (36.5 percent), but in their four losses, opponents have converted 47.2 percent.
Surely, if it were up to Rypien, he wouldn’t be in a situation where he must gain 10 or more yards on third down, but the Broncos’ inconsistent rushing attack and offensive line has sometimes forced the Broncos’ hand. However, good offenses find a way, and can make things happen when some parts aren’t working.
“We don’t want to be in those situations, we have to be better on first and second down ... but when we can convert those, it does gain a lot of momentum for us and it kind of deflates a defense,” Rypien said.
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BYU AT BOISE STATE
When: 8:15 p.m. Saturday
Where: Albertsons Stadium (36,387; FieldTurf)
TV: ESPN2 (Kevin Brown, Andre Ware, Alex Corddry)
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/KTIK 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: BSU 6-2 overall (won 48-38 at Air Force on Saturday); BYU 4-4 (lost 7-6 to Northern Illinois on Saturday)
Series: Boise State leads 6-2 (Broncos won 24-7 on Oct. 6, 2017 in Provo last meeting)
Vegas line: Boise State by 13 1/2
Weather: High 40s, cloudy
Tickets: Office on the west side of Albertsons Stadium, visit BroncoSports.com/tickets or call 208-426-4737.
This story was originally published October 30, 2018 at 7:10 PM.