For about 10 minutes Saturday, Washington State looked like it had found something real.
The Cougars came out sharp against Arizona at Gesa Field in Martin Stadium, stacking together their best offensive series of the season right out of the gate. Quarterback Caden Pinnick led a 71-yard march in 10 plays that ended with his 11-yard touchdown run, a drive that had all the ingredients WSU has been chasing: rhythm, balance and tempo. Then, after the defense got after Noah Fifita early, Jackquintin Bal jumped a pass and took it back for a touchdown, and suddenly the Cougars were up 14-0.
That’s the version of Washington State that can make people believe.
The problem is that the rest of the afternoon looked a lot more familiar. Arizona rallied from the two-touchdown deficit and beat the Cougars 34-24 behind Fifita, a stronger second-half run game and a pressure-heavy defense. And once the Wildcats settled in, the same issues that showed up in losses at Washington and Kansas State came back around: shaky protection, no sustained ground game, untimely Pinnick mistakes and another missed field goal.
The run game was especially telling. WSU’s offense is built around getting its outside-zone game going, but Arizona didn’t let that happen.
The Wildcats set the edge and forced the Cougars to try to run inside, and that simply wasn’t there. Washington State finished with a season-low 94 rushing yards, just 3.1 yards per carry, and only two runs of 10 yards or more - Pinnick’s scoring run and a 14-yard carry by Maxwell Woods in the third quarter.
That was a far cry from the 316 rushing yards the Cougars piled up against Duquesne in Week 3, when Woods and Kirby Vorhees each topped 100 yards. But that came against an FCS opponent. In the three games against Washington, Kansas State and Arizona, Washington State has managed just 295 rushing yards combined, and no running back has gone over 50 in any of those matchups.
“There were some ID things (on inside or outside zone runs) there, but give (Arizona) a ton of credit in how fast and hard those guys play,” Moore said.
Pinnick had some cleaner moments through the air than he did in the Cougars’ previous two FBS games, and that mattered. Still, the turnovers keep piling up. He threw two more against Arizona, bringing his season total to five in four games, with four of them interceptions.
There was also a pivotal third-down scramble early in the second quarter, when Pinnick appeared to have enough for a first down but slid just short after replay review. That turned the possession into a punt and cost Washington State a chance to keep building on its early lead.
“We are all in this together, so it starts with me,” Moore said. “Obviously with the offensive staff, it’s just having that dialogue with him, whether it’s in practice, on the headset, (or) reminders in making sure he knows exactly the stipulations.”
The mistakes aren’t exactly new for Pinnick. In his season as the UC Davis starter last year, when he was named the Big Sky Conference freshman of the year, he threw for 2,527 yards and 24 touchdowns but also committed 14 turnovers, including 10 interceptions.
Washington State now turns to Pac-12 play next week against Fresno State, and the offense is still stuck on the same question it’s been asking since the season opened: was that early burst against Arizona a real breakthrough, or just another flash that didn’t last?
In Other News...
Kirby Moores Washington State Debut Comes With Real History Attached
Kirby Moores first season at Washington State arrives with more weight than a standard coaching debut, because the matchup on the other sideline also carries its own layers. Fresno State comes in under second-year coach Matt Entz, a proven winner who built his reputation at North Dakota State, and the Bulldogs have already shown the kind of balance that can make a September or early-season test feel much bigger than the calendar suggests.
There is also some familiar coaching overlap in the backdrop, with Moore now trying to put his own stamp on the Cougars after stops as an offensive coordinator at Fresno State and Missouri. Meanwhile, Fresno State has gotten important recent production from quarterback Jayden Mandal and running back Rayshon Luke, giving the Bulldogs a steadier profile as Moore steps into a game that connects his present job to parts of his past in more than one way. [Read more 🡒]
Jack Bal Is Forcing A Bigger WSU Role Than Anyone Expected
Jackquintin Bal did not arrive at Washington State with the kind of fanfare that usually comes with a season-shaping defensive piece, but he has worked his way into that conversation fast. The Arizona State transfer has started the last three games for the Cougars, and his snap count has climbed each week as he has become more comfortable in the defense. He also leads the team with nine tackles and turned in one of the defenses biggest plays of the year with a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown against Arizona.
What makes Bals rise more interesting is how steady it has been. Pro Football Focus credits him with missing only two tackles all season, which fits with the kind of reliability Washington State has needed while dealing with an injury to another player in the secondary. Kirby Moore has praised Bals mindset and the way he has handled the opportunity, and for the Cougars, his emergence has started to look less like a fill-in and more like a role they will have to keep finding room for. [Read more 🡒]
Washington State Faces An Early Home Test It Cant Take Lightly
Washington State is back at Martin Stadium for its first true Pac-12 home test of the season, and Fresno State brings just enough intrigue to make this one feel less routine than a typical early conference date. The Bulldogs arrive at 3-1 after a relatively soft non-conference slate, but they have still shown enough on offense to demand attention, with quarterback Jayden Mandal steering the attack and giving the Cougars a different kind of challenge than they have seen so far.
For Washington State, the game also sets up a few individual matchups that could shape the afternoon. Fresno State receiver Josiah Freeman has been one of the names to track, while cornerback Simeon Harris will be part of the Cougars' effort to keep the Bulldogs from finding easy answers outside. Early conference games can punish a team that assumes the record tells the whole story, and this is the sort of home opener in league play that can reveal whether Washington State is ready to handle the details that matter. [Read more 🡒]