Boise State Football: 3 takeaways from runaway victory over BYU

3. Brett Rypien is back on track after throwing first TD of season

It certainly wasn’t the prettiest of games for Brett Rypien. His first throw of the game resulted in an interception, and the junior finished the game against BYU with fewer than 200 passing yards. But Rypien settled down, put together a few solid drives, and he finally threw his first touchdown of the season.

The streak of futility had been surprising for a quarterback expected to take the next leap this year. Rypien threw 20 touchdowns as a freshman in 2015 and 24 last year during his sophomore campaign. Before this year, he had never been held scoreless for two straight games.

Then Rypien opened the year with a three-game scoreless streak, failing to find the endzone against Troy, Washington State, and Virginia. The Boise State veteran was knocked out of the overtime loss to the Cougars, and he sat out the New Mexico game as he healed. It was a rough bit of luck for Rypien, as he likely would have thrown a touchdown pass sooner without the injury issues.

In Provo, Rypien finally snapped the drought with a 24-yard strike to Sean Modster. The catch gave Modster the first touchdown of his career. Even though Rypien couldn’t follow it up with another on Friday night, he will head into the heart of Mountain West play more confident now that he no longer has the albatross of a scoring drought hanging around his neck.