Group of 5 power rankings, Week 12: Top five holds steady
Boise State Broncos
Last week: Def. Colorado State 59-52
Last rank: 3
In one of the craziest games of the entire college football season, Boise State took a commanding lead in the Mountain West race by erasing a 25-point deficit on the road against Colorado State.
Saturday’s matchup, went all Colorado State’s way in the first half with the Rams building a 28-3 lead early in the second quarter before the Broncos started to battle back. Still trailing by two touchdowns with three minutes to go, Boise State tied the game on a pair of Brett Rypien touchdown passes before Alexander Mattison’s four-yard run in overtime sealed the victory.
The Broncos are now a perfect 6-0 in Mountain West play and 8-2 overall with good wins over Troy, San Diego State and Wyoming. A blowout loss to Virginia at home in late September is still perplexing, and the Broncos would be right in the New Year’s Six race if they hadn’t collapsed in epic fashion at Washington State back in Week 2.
After looking shaky for much of the season, Rypien has gone off for 849 yards and 10 touchdowns, eliminating any quarterback controversy with effective backup Montell Cozart. Mattison is also nearing 1,000 yards rushing for the defense, and the Broncos are allowing just 3.5 yards per rush against some tough competition.
Boise State needs to win just one of its remaining two games to clinch the Mountain Division, and should wind up with a decent bowl matchup despite the tough nonconference slate. The Broncos will look to keep rolling on Saturday night against sliding Air Force.