TROY — Brett Rypien passed for 305 yards and four touchdowns, and Sean Modster had 167 yards receiving, to lead No. 22 Boise State to a 56-20 opening victory over Troy on Saturday night.
PHOTOS: Boise State vs. Troy
The Broncos raced to a 35-7 halftime lead over a Trojans team coming off an 11-win season, largely with the Rypien-to-Modster connection. Then, Tyler Horton and Boise State’s defense mostly took over the scoring for the second half against Troy.
GAME TRACKER: Boise State vs. Troy
The cornerback scooped-and-scored on a pair of fumbles, with returns of 55 and 11 yards. Horton, who has four defensive touchdowns, tied the FBS record for fumble returns for TDs in a game shared by four others.
The Broncos made the most of their nearly 2,300-mile trip for a second straight opening win over Troy.
Rypien passed for 276 yards and four touchdowns in the first half, with Modster easily topping his career high by the break.
He had 161 receiving yards in the half against Troy, which came in hoping to establish itself as a Group of Five elite but got routed instead. Rypien completed 20 of 28 passes and Modster did his damage on seven catches.
Troy struggled in the first start of quarterback Kaleb Barker but did score a pair of second-half touchdowns after falling behind 42-7. Barker completed 20 of 29 passes for 211, including a 33-yard touchdown to Deondre Douglas in the fourth quarter.
THE TAKEAWAY
Boise State: Looked perfectly sharp in the opener, with heavy pressure on defense and an array of big plays on offense. Rypien had touchdowns of 53 yards to CT Thomas and 54 yards to Modster. The active FBS leader, he joined Kellen Moore as the only Boise State quarterbacks with 10,000 passing yards. ... Converted 7 of 8 third downs in the first half.
Troy: Sputtered offensively in Barker’s first start, but Trojans had four turnovers and his blockers didn’t give him a lot of time to look downfield. The Trojans, who won 21 games the past two seasons, are replacing four-year starting quarterback Brandon Silvers and tailback Jordan Chunn. However, it was also the most points Troy had allowed in an opener.
MODSTER’S BIG NIGHT
The fifth-year senior had 335 yards in 14 games last season and was nearly halfway there after two quarters. His previous career-high was 82 yards against BYU in 2016.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Boise State didn’t hurt its stock or the Broncos’ aspirations of becoming the highest-ranked Group of Five team at the end of the regular season.
UP NEXT:
Boise State hosts Connecticut in its only September home game.
Troy hosts Florida A&M before hitting the road against Nebraska.