It was not an easy game to watch for Wyoming fans as Brett Rypien and the Boise State Broncos seemed to move the ball at will on their way to a 34-14 victory over the Cowboys in Laramie.
Boise State would jump out to an early lead and enter halftime leading the Cowboys 24-0. After only scoring a touchdown in the first quarter Boise State would increase their lead with 17 second quarter points and kept Wyoming from getting in striking distance. Boise would add a field goal in the third quarter and a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Wyoming would score a touchdown in each the third and fourth quarter.
Rypien passed for 342 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Wyoming defense. Even when faced with third and long at different times through out the night Rypien was able to keep the drive going. AJ Richardson would be a favorite target as he would catch six passes for 113 yards and a touchdown. Most of the yardage and touchdowns came in the first half.
Boise would also rush for two touchdowns and 161 yards in their victory. Alex Mattison would lead the way with 57 yards rushing and a touchdown.
Wyoming would once again have a stagnate offense as they rushed for 81 yards and passed for 214 yards. Vander Waal would complete 15 out of his 25 passes but Wyoming would never be able to put many drives together. The two touchdowns they scored came off of a 72-yard pass from Vander Waal to James Price late in the fourth quarter after the game was already decided. The other score came from the opening play of the second half when Nico Evans would take the ball 75 yards for a touchdown. Evans would end the game with 141 yards rushing.
Wyoming had a lot of mistakes in all three phases of the game. Defensively missed tackles and untimely penalties allowed Boise State to keep some drives alive. The Cowboy defense was also unable to get pressure on the quarterback allowing Rypien time to get the ball down field for some big plays.
Offensively Wyoming was unable to gain consistent yardage and many times would go three and out. Wyoming saw a lot of third and long situation due to the five Boise State sacks that negated 53 yards from the Wyoming offense.
Wyoming would have trouble in the punting game also with a low snap leading to a dropped punt by the punter and Boise State would later block another punt.
Wyoming loses their conference opener and drops to 2-3 on the season. Wyoming will be on the road next week as the go to Hawaii for their second conference game of the year.
