The Washington State Cougars are 1-8 after nine games, and the reasons for that record are piling up fast. But in a 26-20 loss to San Diego State, one theme stood out above the rest: the Cougars kept making the kind of decisions that handcuff a team before the other side even has to do much.
Football is a strange mix of the obvious and the impossibly detailed. Bigger, stronger, faster players matter.
So do the ones who can bend, turn, and read space before everyone else catches up. At the same time, the sport is loaded with layers of scheme, disguise, and study that most fans only see in fragments.
Still, some choices are plain enough to judge in real time. And WSU made several that were hard to defend.
One of the most costly came from recently anointed starting quarterback Owen Eshelman in the third quarter. With the Cougars in range for a field goal that would have cut the deficit to three, he escaped pressure by throwing the ball away - except he threw it to no one and did not get it past the line of scrimmage. That turned into an easy intentional grounding penalty.
A sack would have been bad on third down, but it still would have left the Cougars with a chance. The grounding call made the situation much worse, and it was the kind of mistake that can’t happen when a drive is already close to points.
There was also the end of the first half, when WSU had 52 seconds and two timeouts while trailing 17-14. That was enough time to try to get into field goal range and go to halftime tied.
Instead, the Cougars kept the timeouts in their pocket, ran a quarterback keeper, and let the half expire. San Diego State got the ball to open the third quarter, which meant Washington State chose to play conservatively even though it knew the margin could grow before it touched the ball again.
The Aztecs, meanwhile, were willing to gamble. Early in the fourth quarter, up 20-14, they called a double-reverse pass on fourth-and-goal and turned it into seven points. They missed the two-point conversion, so it stood as six, but the aggression paid off.
WSU’s worst decision came late. With 1:18 left in the fourth quarter, Kirby Moore burned his final timeout to avoid a 10-second runoff after a false start. The problem was the Cougars had already spent the previous 4:43 driving from their own 14 to their own 42, and they still needed to move a long way in a hurry.
By using that timeout to save 10 seconds, Washington State gave up the chance to stop the clock later, after the kind of deep completion it would almost certainly need to have any real shot at the end zone.
Maybe none of those calls alone decided the game. But for a team already dealing with plenty, the Cougars did themselves no favors by making life easier for San Diego State.
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 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 🡒]
Washington States Offense Is Improving But One Problem Wont Go Away
Washington States offense took another step forward with redshirt freshman quarterback Owen Eshelman looking more comfortable, completing 16 of 20 passes for 161 yards while adding 34 yards on the ground. The Cougars also got a small milestone from preferred walk-on Caleb Northcroft, who made his first reception in a WSU uniform as the passing game continued to find a steadier rhythm under first-year coach Kirby Moore.
The bigger concern, though, remains on the other side of the ball, where Moore has seen the same issue linger even as the offense improves. San Diego State was able to lean on its ground game and keep the Cougars under pressure with repeated success running the football, a problem Washington State will have to clean up if it wants the progress on offense to turn into wins. [Read more 🡒]