Boise State football fell hard from the New Year’s Six race at home, dropping to San Diego State in Mountain West play. Here’s what we learned on Saturday.
San Diego State did everything right on Saturday as they traveled to Idaho and walked away with a key 19-13 victory over Mountain West rival Boise State. The win put the rest of the conference on notice about the Aztecs’ chances of reclaiming the conference crown for the third time in the past four years.
More significantly, though, it probably knocked the Mountain West out of contention for the New Year’s Six bid given to the top Group of Five conference winner. If the Aztecs can run the table and win the conference crown, they might have an outside shot depending on what happens in the American Athletic Conference. But Boise State went from being on the cusp of returning to the AP Top 25 to falling completely out of the consciousness of voters with this loss.
Brett Rypien struggled mightily against a San Diego State defense that stepped up in a huge way. The Aztecs ranked second nationally in rushing defense coming into the game, and they stood firm against the run today. But they also excelled against the pass, holding Rypien to only 170 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
There were some ugly drops as Rypien went 21-of-41 passing, but part of that was placement on his part. His accuracy seemed consistently off, as Rypien overthrew and underthrew receivers all day. On the final play, he overthrew Sean Modster up the seam as the receiver let up on the route, indicative of how the quarterback seemed to be on a different page than his receivers all day.
Alexander Mattison ran for 66 yards and two scores against the Aztecs, but he needed 25 carries just to get two-thirds of the way to triple digits. The team finished with only 51 rushing yards, which bolstered San Diego State’s hold on on a top-five position in rushing defense.
San Diego State came up big on the road, as Chase Jasmin ran for 78 yards and a touchdown in his first start for injured Juwan Washington. The running back was part of an effort that netted 154 yards and two touchdowns collectively on the ground. They also got a so-so performance from Ryan Agnew, who went 8-of-15 for 113 yards.
With the road win, San Diego State positioned themselves as the team to beat in the MWC West. Boise State will still have a shot to return to the conference title game, though this also opened the door for Utah State to contend for the division crown in 2018.