Jake Ripp Scores First Career Defensive Touchdown For Boise State

Well, apparently blowing out a team that lost to an FCS team warrants a demotion in the AP Poll.

Saturday evening, No. 23 Boise State celebrated the 20th anniversary of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl victory by smashing Utah State’s teeth in, 37-18.

The Broncos opened the game with three consecutive touchdown drives. Before the first quarter ended, they were up 14-0, marking their highest scoring opening quarter of the season.

“You come out, your first three drives are touchdowns, that’s going to send a message early,” fifth-year senior quarterback Maddux Madsen said postgame. “That’s kinda what we talked about all week. Not allowing any hope at all and I think that was very well done.”

As the game progressed, Utah State would put some points on the board, but never came within two scores.

A blunt way of putting it would be: Boise State’s offense is the best it’s looked since Ashton Jeanty roamed The Blue. In 2026, Madsen and junior running back Dylan Riley have replicated that production – and then some.

Head coach Spencer Danielson made sure to give Maddux Madsen his due praise. The veteran quarterback is playing “out of his mind,” lately, throwing for a season-high 244 yards against Utah State.

“I just want our community to embrace Maddux,” Danielson said. “All he does is win, all he does is pour into this community, pour into his team and go out every single stinkin’ Saturday night and give everything for this program, this community.”

Just as impressive as the offense's consistent success was the defense's breakout performance.

Against Utah State, the Broncos’ sack total doubled from six to 12, and scored their first defensive touchdown of the season by way of senior linebacker Jake Ripp’s pick-six, the first of his career.

“It’s surreal, it didn’t feel real in the moment. I’m very thankful for it,” Ripp said postgame. “Boen had a great hit on [the quarterback] and got the ball loose … and it was really just trying to run to the endzone from there. Trying not to get hawked down to be honest.”

Boise State's defense allowed just 345 yards of total offense. Perhaps the most impressive statistic of the day was the 1.0 QBR Utah State quarterback McCae Hillstead posted after completing just two of seven passes for 47 yards.

Tacoberfest Stop #1: Bronco Tacos in Boise

I couldn’t have picked a better place to start. For the inaugural Tacoberfest stop, I headed to Bronco Tacos on South Broadway Avenue in Boise.

Bronco Tacos is a family-owned operation that says its food represents generations of family recipes and describes what it serves as a little taste of Sinaloa.

They have plenty of interesting things on the menu, including quesabirria, birria burritos, mulitas and even Maruchabirria, birria ramen. But for Tacoberfest, I wanted to start simple.

Two asada tacos. One carnitas taco. Red hot salsa. That’s it.

The street tacos at Bronco Tacos are exactly what I want when I’m craving a traditional taco. Meat, cilantro and onions on corn tortillas.

The asada was fantastic. There was a little bit of char on the meat, but it was still incredibly tender and the flavor was amazing.

Then came the carnitas. Here’s where you need to know something about me, I’m a carnitas snob. I love carnitas, so I’m probably harder on it than I am most taco meats. Bronco Tacos nailed it. Tender. Flavorful. Simple. Exactly what I wanted and the tortillas were nice and soft but, most importantly, they didn’t fall apart.

That’s important because these tacos were absolutely loaded with meat. By the time I finished, I was picking up pieces of meat with my fingers because there was more meat than the little tortillas could contain.

That is not a complaint.

Gallery Credit: Cory Mikhals

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Source: Maddux Madsen Leads Boise State To Convincing Victory With 244 Yards

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