Oct. 31—SAN DIEGO — One day this winter, when this Washington State football season has come to a merciful end and coach Kirby Moore reflects on his first season with the program, he might sit in his office and ponder how it all went so disastrously wrong. And he might think about how at times, his Cougars were close to getting things right.
That was the case in WSU's final game before the bye week, a 26-20 road loss to San Diego State on Saturday evening. In a game coming down to the final drive, Moore might wish he could have a few things back: the timeout he called on the Cougars' final drive, the one he called before the Aztecs' last touchdown, the decision to send out kicker Jack Stevens for a 53-yard field goal in spitting rain that fell hopelessly short.
When Moore contemplates it all, the reasons why the Cougars have spent the entire season to this point without an FBS win, he might wish for a do-over in several spots.
"We gotta learn how to finish — plays, drives, games," Moore said after Saturday's game.
The Cougars, 1-8 overall and 0-5 in Pac-12 play, did well to put themselves in a position to take the lead on their final drive of this game, a reality that reflects well on quarterback Owen Eshelman, who completed 30 of 42 passes for 299 yards and one interception that didn't come back to bite him. The visitors' defense also forced one turnover and forced a quick three-and-out to pave the way for that opportunity.
The Cougars reached midfield before a sack, a 5-yard penalty and two incompletions ended their hopes.
The majority of the rest of this loss, however, falls at the feet of Moore and his coaching staff. The list of costly decisions includes calling a timeout before SDSU's final touchdown, which he said was at the recommendation of defensive coordinator Trent Bray, who didn't like the look he saw. He called his team's final timeout on its final drive, after a false-start penalty, to avoid a 10-second runoff. Earlier in the game, after Eshelman took a 10-yard sack, he sent out Stevens for a 53-yard field goal that never really stood any chance, thanks to the rain and wind.
Then, toward the end of the first half, WSU got the ball back with two timeouts and 50 seconds to go. The Cougars didn't show much aggression at all, choosing to run the ball and kill the rest of the clock. Conditions weren't exactly in their favor — Eshelman had just thrown his interception, and the rain made taking a shot risky business — but Moore and coaches have shown the same kind of dull approach in several other spots earlier in the season.
Besides, what does a 1-7 team have to lose? Too often, Moore has made conservative decisions instead of aggressively going for a win.
And on the timeout Moore called before SDSU's trick-play touchdown: On fourth-and-goal from the 2, the Aztecs only needed a field goal to go up two scores. By going for it, they ran the risk of getting stopped short, leaving the door open for the Cougars to take the lead. They came out ready to go for it, which is when Moore called a timeout. What if SDSU had used that opportunity to think better of it and kick an easy field goal? That's not what happened, of course, but that timeout gave SDSU a chance to make a better decision.
Here's what Moore said about having zero timeouts for the final 74 seconds of the Cougars' final drive, which ended on a turnover on downs when an Eshelman pass fell incomplete: "I think you're still trying to just gain chunks. There's pass opportunities there. Obviously, we gotta learn from, if no one's open, we gotta be comfortable throwing the ball out of bounds and not taking a sack, and that's one we definitely gotta learn from the next two-minute drive."
Moore and his coaching staff bear even more of the brunt than that. The Cougs went 0-for-3 on fourth down in this one. Remember in the third quarter, when WSU decided to go for it on fourth-and-4 from the SDSU 30? Eshelman dropped back and couldn't complete a pass to running back Kirby Vorhees. Give Moore credit for deciding to go for it in that spot, but that's not the problem with that play.
Eshelman had to look for Vorhees in the flat because he got pressure pretty quickly, which happened because San Diego State utilized the same approach that Boise State did last week: a simple stunt. An interior Aztec lineman went inside and an edge rusher looped around to surge untouched into the backfield, hurrying Eshelman.
For WSU's offensive line and coach Jack Abercrombie, it's one thing to get beaten by that against Boise State, the class of the conference. It's another to fall victim to the same approach a week later — to an SDSU defense that ranks among the nation's worst.
Think about the defense WSU was facing in this one. Headed into Saturday's game, San Diego State ranked No. 135 of 138 FBS teams in total defense (462 yards per game), No. 133 in scoring defense (36 ppg), No. 109 in rush defense (178 ypg) and No. 134 in pass defense (284 ypg). The Aztecs' defense has given up 41 points to Toledo, 29 to Texas State, 66 to Oregon State and 56 to Colorado State.
So what prevented the Cougars from enjoying the same kind of success?
"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."
To their credit, the Cougs sustained several long drives on offense in this game, including series of 4:28, 4:59, 6:15, 6:25 and 4:05. They converted 9 of 14 third downs, a remarkable feat for a group that entered Saturday's game ranked five spots up from dead last in the country in that department.
But this season, this group hasn't been able to make the winning plays when they count most. These Cougars have been subject to the same kinds of problems all season long, like the fact that in Saturday's game, their running backs combined for 34 yards on 14 carries. The same problems have vexed them all season, and while their offensive line should get some of that blame, the rest should go to their coaching staff, which has not been able to put their team in the best positions to succeed.
In fairness, Moore is a first-time head coach, and most people watching games on TV — or in person — are never privy to the hectic nature of games in which coaches make these decisions. It isn't easy. But Moore is paid to learn these lessons, and in Week 9, it doesn't appear that is happening.
