College football: Rypien leads Boise State in romp over Colorado State 56-28

Brett Rypien threw for 308 yards and four touchdowns to lead Boise State over Colorado State 56-28 on Friday night.

Boise State (5-2, 3-1 Mountain West), which had to rally from a 35-10 halftime deficit last season against the Rams, flipped the script this time in racing out to a 35-7 halftime lead and never looked back.

Colorado State (3-5, 2-2) was its own worst enemy, turning the ball over three times and giving up a wild punt return for a touchdown. K.J. Carta-Samuels was 19-of-30 passing for 238 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

In the first half, the Broncos’ offense was so efficient that the only third down it failed to convert occurred when Rypien stumbled over his own feet after taking a snap under center. But that was about the only miscue he had in finishing with the same number of touchdowns as incompletions (22 of 26 passing).

Rypien hit A.J. Richardson twice on scoring strikes of 13 and 35 yards in the first half before finding Sean Modster for a 17-yard touchdown near the end of the second quarter. Modster also scored on a 26-yard reception in the fourth.

Boise State defensive back Avery Williams had an interception along with a 44-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, the Broncos’ first since Nov. 23, 2013 against San Diego State.

Air Force gets first conference win 41-35

Isaiah Sanders accounted for four touchdowns Friday night to lead Air Force to a 41-35 win over UNLV.

Sanders completed 9 of 11 passes for 217 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 173 yards and three TDs. Rona Cleveland had three receptions for 100 yards and one touchdown for the Falcons.

Air Force (3-4, 1-3 Mountain West) held off a late rally by UNLV, which erased a 20-point deficit with 5:45 left in the third quarter by scoring 14 unanswered points.

The Falcons stopped UNLV (2-5, 0-3) on fourth-and-8 with less than two minutes left in the game, as Max Gilliam’s pass to Darren Woods Jr. fell incomplete.

Gilliam, who was making his third start in place of injured starter Armani Rogers, was 26-of-38 passing for 261 yards and three touchdowns and one interception. The sophomore averaged 186.5 yards passing in his previous two starts for the Rebels, who rank 123rd nationally with just 123.7 yards per contest.

Lexington Thomas rushed for 108 yards and two touchdowns for UNLV.