Let the hype machine commence in earnest.
Looking like a quarterback making his 21st and not first career start, and taking into account the level of competition he was facing, Brett Rypien put on quite the little show for a primetime Friday night audience, playing a starring role in Boise State taking Virginia to the woodshed and heading back to Idaho with a 56-14 win. While it wasn’t all about the true freshman signal-caller, a lot of it was just that.
In place of an injured Ryan Finley, who suffered a broken ankle in Week 3, Rypien put on a show for those in attendance and watching on the idiot box, completing 24-of-35 passes for 321 yards and the first three touchdowns of his collegiate career. Perhaps most impressively as he was playing on the road and in less-than-stellar weather conditions, he did not turn the ball over on either an interception or a fumble. While head coach Bryan Harsin had stated in the days leading up to the game that both Rypien and sophomore Tommy Stuart would see action against the Cavaliers, the former’s performance dictated that the latter didn’t see much meaningful time on the field.
Rypien, the first Boise State true freshman quarterback to play since Tony Hilde in 1993, was a four-star member of the Broncos’ 2015 recruiting class who was rated by Rivals.com as the No. 8 pro-style quarterback in the country. As one of the most touted signees in the program’s history, he was an early enrollee who competed with Finley for the starting job throughout spring practice and on into summer camp before the veteran was named the starter in late August.
The hype on Rypien, however, should probably be tempered a bit. True freshman Josh Rosen threw for 351 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start. UCLA’s opponent that Week 1 Saturday? Virginia, of course.
That said, it was a tremendous debut for the collegiate rookie even as it wasn’t all Rypien on the night. In fact, Boise’s defense did its damndest to keep up in the scoring column with its offensive counterparts.
On the first play from scrimmage, defensive tackle Justin Taimatuia intercepted a Matt Johns pass and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown. Later in the half, the defense forced Johns into an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone for a safety. Late in the third quarter, Mercy Maston‘s pick-six from 25 yards out gave the Broncos a 46-14 lead and essentially iced the game with still more than a quarter remaining in Charlottesville.
In between the defensive scoring by the opponent, the Cavaliers offense was consistently stifled in its attempts to even minimally move the ball. For the game, UVa. was held to 273 yards of offense, including just 40 yards on the ground on 33 carries (1.2 ypc).
As for beleaguered Hoos head coach Mike London? It seems highly likely one third of the way through the regular season that the 1-3 Cavaliers will be searching for a new sideline boss at season’s end -- if not sooner.