Fresh off its bye week, Washington State is back in Pullman on Saturday night with a chance to stop the slide and finally grab its first FBS win of the season.
The Cougars will host Colorado State at Gesa Field at Martin Stadium, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. CBS Sports Network will carry the game. WSU opened as a 9.5-point favorite.
It’s a matchup that arrives at a rough point for the Cougars, who are 1-8 overall and 0-5 in Pac-12 play. They’re on a six-game losing streak and sitting through their worst season since 2009, when they finished 1-11. This will also be the first meeting between WSU and CSU in Pullman since 2022.
WSU used its only bye week of the year last week, the latest break in the conference alongside San Diego State. The week before that, the Cougars fell 26-20 at San Diego State and dropped to 0-5 on the road this season. Kirby Moore’s team did make the fourth quarter interesting, pulling within one score on a rushing touchdown by quarterback Owen Eshelman, but the comeback stalled on a turnover on downs later in the period.
The offense showed some life through the air, but the ground game again disappeared. WSU managed only 68 rushing yards and one touchdown, with running backs accounting for just 34 of those yards. Through nine FBS games, Kirby Vorhees, Maxwell Woods and Leo Pulalasi are averaging only 46 yards on 15 carries.
The defense had its moments, too, but not enough of them. Safety Jaylen Thomas picked off a pass tipped by linebacker Keith Brown for the Cougars’ only takeaway, and that was just their sixth forced turnover of the season.
That figure leaves them two spots above dead last nationally. WSU also failed to record a sack for the second straight game and now has just eight on the year, which ranks No. 134 out of 138 FBS teams.
Missed tackles have been a problem as well. San Diego State’s Javion Kinnard broke free for two rushing touchdowns, with WSU defensive backs Jamarey Smith and Khamari Terrell missing on both scoring plays.
In all, the Cougars missed 10 tackles, according to Pro Football Focus. They have reached double-digit missed tackles in six of their eight FBS games.
Colorado State comes in with its own issues, and plenty of them on defense. Under first-year head coach Jim Mora and quarterback Hauss Hejny, the Rams have lost six of their last seven games. Their defense has been the main culprit, ranking last in the country in scoring defense at 44 points allowed per game and last in total defense at 542 yards allowed per game.
That struggle even led Mora to make a mid-game change at defensive coordinator earlier this season, but the move has not turned things around. Colorado State’s last win was a 56-49 victory over San Diego State in late October, and since then the Rams have fallen to Utah State and Boise State.
Last week’s 64-38 loss to Boise State was especially rough. The Broncos piled up 669 yards against CSU, even with backup quarterback Max Cutforth leading the way. Colorado State allowed 352 rushing yards and 317 passing yards, and offensive lineman Toriyan Johnson and strength coach Shelton Bynum were seen arguing on the sideline.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve never been involved with something like this,” Mora said after that game. “So it’s disappointing.”
The numbers around the Rams’ defense are ugly across the board. Their season point totals allowed read 13, 24, 41, 59, 56, 66, 49, 31 and 64. They’re giving up 8.4 yards per play, also last in the country, and 52% of opponents’ drives end in touchdowns.
Still, Colorado State does bring a few disruptive pieces. The Rams have 10 sacks, which is more than WSU’s eight. They also lead the conference in forced fumbles with eight and interceptions with nine.
On offense, Hejny has been productive, completing 104 of 159 passes for 1,391 yards and 16 touchdowns against two interceptions. That production puts him third in the Pac-12 with 231 passing yards per game.
Auburn transfer Durell Robinson has been the Rams’ top runner, with 104 carries for 449 yards and nine touchdowns. He’s had a 117-yard game against Oregon State and a 66-yard outing against Boise State last weekend.
Former Division II transfer RJ Vick leads the receiving group with 32 catches for 463 yards and four touchdowns.
Mel Brown, another CSU back who transferred from UConn with Mora, has seen his role shrink lately. He played only six snaps against Boise State and had just 10 snaps against San Diego State before missing the Utah State game.
The teams last met last season in Fort Collins, where Washington State earned a 20-3 win and held Colorado State to one of its two touchdown-less games of the year.