We're seeing a higher level of football IQ than Finley and the rest of the team has responded to his leadership. It's been great to have soft competition to get him his first collegiate reps but the kid is still getting plenty of hits on him, yet releases quickly and with poise. He also has a far better bomb than Finley. Defense does play a role in the INTs but he hasn't had many bad throws where a defender would have a really clean grab. UH caught a pass but it had been tipped at the line. Fortunately, there was a roughing the passer as that lineman followed through on the swat and hit Ryp in the helmet. Ryp still has no INTs on the books.

Now, check out this pass, how many times out of ten do one of your DBs keep this out of Sperbeck's hands? Most amazing part of this was Rypien cooked this up and told Harsin he could take advantage of UH defense if they reacted in a particular way. They did and he went to Sperbeck when they did what Ryp thought they would. That's Kellen Moore status right there (I said it! We're all saying it up here lol). The poise and football IQ this kid is showing is incredible, despite the level of competition. At some point, he's going to have a bad game, or two, or three but it's hard not to be stoked about the way he's playing right now, this early.

We're looking forward to our NY6 bowl game to get a really good barometer of how far he's come this early (hopefully against UCLA or another Cali Pac12 team, Cal or Stanford). We've already beaten Oregon, UW, Utah, ASU, Arizona in recent years. CU and WSU suck. Time to get a shot against a Cali school. This is our dream of course, still have plenty of games to go! Wouldn't be crazy to see a couple teams give us a run for our money. Heck, San Jose State took us down to a fg in 2006 prior to our first Fiesta Bowl. That taught me something about not counting out the little guy.

Also, I'm still pulling for Mangum, being a local boy and secondary Boise State fan himself Not looking forward to having to play him for the next 2-3 years but hopefully Rypien will be the forimidable match we're all drooling about. Keep winning! Ignore the bozo Boise State fans, giddy as schoolgirls (myself) right now. Losses focus you and I think we see ourselves as reinvented, refocused, and playing at a higher level/swagger since BYU. Like AFA was to us last year, we're hoping BYU is to us this year.