SAN DIEGO - Washington State kept itself in the game long enough to make Saturday night feel winnable, then watched a handful of decisions tilt the whole thing the other way in a 26-20 road loss to San Diego State.
For Kirby Moore, the final game before the bye week offered another harsh lesson in how thin the margin has been for his first season with the Cougars. WSU had a chance to take the lead on its last possession, but the drive unraveled after a sack, a 5-yard penalty and two incompletions. By then, the Cougars had already spent too much of the night giving away little edges they couldn’t afford to lose.
“We gotta learn how to finish - plays, drives, games,” Moore said after Saturday’s game.
The Cougars are now 1-8 overall and 0-5 in Pac-12 play, and the final sequence only reinforced how close they were to a different result. Quarterback Owen Eshelman finished 30 of 42 for 299 yards with one interception that did not turn into a costly mistake. The defense also forced one turnover and got a quick three-and-out to create that late opportunity.
But the coaching choices piled up. Moore burned a timeout before San Diego State’s final touchdown, saying it came at the recommendation of defensive coordinator Trent Bray, who didn’t like the look he saw.
He also used the Cougars’ last timeout on the final drive after a false-start penalty to avoid a 10-second runoff. Earlier, after Eshelman absorbed a 10-yard sack, Moore sent out Jack Stevens for a 53-yard field goal in rain and wind, and the kick never really had a chance.
The first half brought another conservative stretch. WSU got the ball back with 50 seconds left and two timeouts, but instead of pushing for more, the Cougars ran the ball and let the clock bleed away. The weather and Eshelman’s earlier interception made the situation tricky, but it also fit a pattern that has shown up more than once this season.
“Besides: You’re 1-7! What do you have to lose?” the source article notes of the approach.
Moore’s timeout before SDSU’s trick-play touchdown also loomed large. On fourth-and-goal from the 2, the Aztecs only needed a field goal to move ahead by two scores, and they initially came out prepared to go for it.
Moore called timeout, which gave them a chance to reconsider. They did not, and the play stood.
The Cougars also went 0 for 3 on fourth down. One of those failures came in the third quarter, when WSU went for it on fourth-and-4 from the SDSU 30.
Eshelman tried to hit running back Kirby Vorhees in the flat, but the pass fell incomplete after pressure arrived quickly. San Diego State used the same basic stunt Boise State had used a week earlier: an interior lineman went inside while an edge rusher looped around untouched into the backfield.
That made the result sting even more considering the defense WSU faced. San Diego State entered the game ranked No. 135 of 138 FBS teams in total defense at 462 yards per game, No. 133 in scoring defense at 36 points per game, No. 109 against the run at 178 yards per game and No. 134 against the pass at 284 yards per game. The Aztecs had already given up 41 points to Toledo, 29 to Texas State, 66 to Oregon State and 56 to Colorado State.
Still, the Cougars couldn’t fully capitalize. Moore pointed to the moments that mattered most.
“The situational football piece,” Moore said. “We didn’t do a good enough job there in the red zone.
We didn’t do a good enough job there on fourth down. Everyone’s got a piece of that, and obviously that starts with me.”
There were positives in the way WSU moved the ball. The Cougars put together drives of 4:28, 4:59, 6:15, 6:25 and 4:05, and they converted 9 of 14 third downs. That was no small feat for a team that entered the game ranked near the bottom of the country in that category.
But the same old issue surfaced again: the Cougars did not finish. Their running backs combined for just 34 yards on 14 carries, and the offense again came up short in the spots that decide games. The line deserves blame, but so does the staff for not putting the team in better position.
Moore is a first-time head coach, and the job comes with a steep learning curve. But after another narrow loss, the Cougars are still waiting for those lessons to turn into a win.
In Other News...
Washington State Let Another Winnable Game Slip Away Late
Washington State had enough of the game to leave Snapdragon Stadium with a result it could have lived with, but instead walked away with a 26-20 loss to San Diego State after a late chance slipped through its hands. The Cougars moved the ball better than the Aztecs in yardage and controlled possession for longer stretches, which made the ending sting all the more in a game that felt there for the taking.
The bigger concern is the familiar one: WSU is still searching for its first Pac-12 win and sits at 1-8 overall, with another winnable game ending in frustration. There were positives in the performance, including a productive outing from tight end Trey Leckner in his return from a foot injury, but the Cougars could not turn those moments into the one drive that would have changed the night. [Read more 🡒]
Washington States Latest Loss Put One Frustrating Problem On Display
A frustrating season for Washington State kept taking on more familiar contours in a 26-20 loss to San Diego State, where the Cougars again found themselves undone by the kind of self-inflicted mistakes that have piled up over the first stretch of the year. With only one win in nine games, the margin for error has been thin for a team trying to stabilize itself, and this one featured a handful of decisions that left points on the field and momentum hanging in the balance.
The issues were not limited to one side of the ball, either. A conservative stretch before halftime slowed the offense when it still had a chance to press, and the late-game clock management only added to the sense that Washington State let opportunities slip away in a game it could have controlled more cleanly. For a team searching for answers, the loss was another reminder that the problems are not just about execution, but about the situational details that keep deciding close games. [Read more 🡒]
Washington State Just Hit Another Painful Low This Season
Washington States season took another hard turn Saturday, with the Cougars falling 26-20 to San Diego State and staying winless against FBS competition. The loss left them at 1-8 overall and 0-5 in conference play, another reminder of how little margin this team has had to work with as the losses keep piling up.
There were some signs of life on offense, with quarterback Owen Eshelman helping the Cougars move the ball through the air and adding two rushing touchdowns of his own. But the defense had trouble slowing San Diego State on the ground, giving up 202 rushing yards, and Washington State could not turn enough of its chances into points to change the direction of a season that has become increasingly difficult to salvage. [Read more 🡒]