Boise State QB Brett Rypien leaves Las Vegas a winner
A Ram, Bronco and Cowboy walk into a bar …
Well, actually, they entered three casinos and at least one of them cleaned up.
That would be Boise State quarterback Brett Rypien, who played blackjack and three-card poker Tuesday night and was accompanied by fellow Mountain West Conference quarterbacks Nick Stevens of Colorado State and Josh Allen of Wyoming.
“I did better than they did,” Rypien said Wednesday, without disclosing how much he profited. “I came out a winner.
“I love three-card poker. That’s where I won most of my money.”
The quarterbacks were in town as part of the conference media days at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. They gambled at the Cosmo, Paris Las Vegas and The Cromwell.
“I was just the good-luck charm for them because I didn’t win anything,” Stevens said. “I was present for them winning money, but it was fun. It was a good time to hang out. Definitely a cool experience.”
Three rival quarterbacks hitting the Strip was noteworthy enough, but earlier in the evening two Colorado State and two Wyoming players happened to wind up in the same restaurant, so they dined together.
Given the intensity of the Front Range rivalry, news of the dining rendezvous might not go over well in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Laramie, Wyoming. Allen jokingly denied any such sit-down took place.
“It was cool,” Stevens said. “They’re good dudes. Don’t tell the CSU fans.”
New Colorado State digs
Colorado State moves into its new $220 million stadium this season, which seats 36,500 and has a capacity for 41,000.
“It’s been an exciting last three years, and now it’s a reality,” Rams coach Mike Bobo said. “It’s a state-of-art stadium. It’s not just for our football program, but our fan base and the Fort Collins community. I think it’s going to raise the bar of what we’re trying to do here.”
Boise State not satisfied
Expectations are always high at Boise State, and coach Bryan Harsin said he has no problem with that. That’s because just as much is expected within the football offices as well.
So there was disappointment over last season’s 10-3 record because it didn’t include a Mountain West championship.
“Did we win a championship?” Harsin asked. “Did we win a bowl game? Did we win all of our games? Isn’t that the purpose of trying to put all this time in? If guys are disappointed in not achieving everything, that’s OK. That’s real life.”
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.
