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This Day In Sports…September 15, 2018:
A highly-anticipated ESPN telecast turns into a one-sided show, as No. 24 Oklahoma State burns No. 17 Boise State 44-21 in Stillwater, OK. The Broncos’ most glaring problem was two blocked punts that produced two OSU touchdowns, delighting the crowd of 55,000 at Boone Pickens Stadium. The Cowboys also held Boise State to 34 rushing yards while sacking quarterback Brett Rypien seven times. This came one week after the Broncos rushed for 400 yards in a rout of UConn on the blue turf.
The Scott Slant observation at the time: “The futility of the Boise State offensive line against the relentlessly quick Oklahoma State defense, as in seven sacks allowed, actually tells us something. It shows that the Group of 5, even the best among ‘em, is going to have trouble keeping up with elite Power 5 talent as the financial gap keeps widening.” The Broncos O-line was better than it showed, but little did we know that the financial gap would explode in the early 2020s.
Nobody could fault Rypien for this one. The senior star spent the afternoon under duress, but he hit the reset button time after time after time. Rypien took what little Oklahoma State gave him and went underneath, hitting nine different receivers while having to save the deep ball for highlight reel touchdown catches by John Hightower and A.J. Richardson. Rypien ended up 39-of-56 for 380 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions while becoming the first Boise State quarterback ever to open the season with three straight 300-yard games. Rypien also broke Kellen Moore’s school record for career 300-yard game with his 17th.
There are some parallels between that September and this one. Since the summer of 2018, Boise State had been getting much of the rumble as the Group of 5’s top candidate for what was then a New Year’s Six Bowl bid. The Broncos were coming off 36-point and 55-point wins over Troy and UConn, respectively. The loss to Oklahoma State reset expectations, putting the Mountain West championship back in the crosshairs.
Boise State would make the title game that December but would fall 19-16 in overtime to Fresno State in the slush on the Blue. UCF was the Group of 5 representative in the New Year’s Six, falling 40-32 to LSU in the Fiesta Bowl. The Broncos got a bid to the First Responder Bowl in Dallas against Boston College, but that game was called late in the first quarter by lightning and was declared “no contest.” They finished 10-3, still a great year—it was the program’s 14th 10-win season of the new century.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
