Oct. 9—Coming off one of its worst losses in recent memory, Washington State stumbled to another humiliating defeat, blowing what appeared to be a comfortable lead and falling 17-16 to fellow Pac-12 bottomfeeder Utah State on Friday night at Maverik Stadium in Logan, Utah.
The Cougars' offense was unwatchable for the large part of the game, even with coach Kirby Moore taking over playcalling duties from offensive coordinator Matt Miller, who failed to get the unit moving in last weekend's dismal display against Fresno State. As has been the case for much of what has become a lost season, the Cougars' defense had a respectable performance squandered and WSU slipped to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the rebuilt Pac-12 Conference.
Wheels are off
After WSU fell flat last weekend against Fresno State, many fans were rightfully in full-blown panic mode, and Friday's effort only made matters worse.
The Cougars are off to a disastrous start under their new staff in the new Pac-12. They were expected to be contenders in this refashioned conference with a seemingly soft schedule. WSU saw an opportunity to establish itself as one of the conference's top dogs. Instead, the Cougs are one of its worst teams. And they face Pac-12 contenders Oregon State and Boise State in the next two weeks. Any bowl hopes are almost certainly out the window.
To restore some amount of faith in the fanbase, the Cougars absolutely could not afford to lose to lowly Utah State (2-4, 1-1). The Aggies, like WSU, have one of the worst offenses in the country. The Aggies lost to FCS Idaho State to open their season. The Aggies were just steamrolled last weekend by Boise State, a team that was supposed to be a good rivalry match for WSU.
WSU needed to win to preserve some hope in this season. But the wheels are fully off now.
Something else needs to change offensively
WSU's offense was not quite as bad as last week. But it was close. Quarterback Caden Pinnick, the receivers, the run game — nothing was inspiring.
The Cougars had few openings in the ground game, save for Leo Pulalasi's 54-yard scoring scamper in the second quarter — a play that only happened because a Utah State defender committed an unsportsmanlike penalty after the Aggies sacked Pinnick on third down on the previous play.
Take away that run, and WSU managed 47 yards on 31 carries, good for a whopping 1.5 yards per attempt.
Following the season's trend, Pinnick couldn't complete passes downfield. He settled almost entirely for checkdowns or designed receiver screens. He threw 36 passes and finished with just 156 yards and committed a costly turnover — already his seventh of the year. At some point, the Cougars need to consider their other options.
Whatever changes Moore brought as the new playcaller clearly didn't bring results, as the Cougars' offense continued to trend downward, putting up the kinds of numbers WSU hasn't seen since the Paul Wulff era. And it obviously didn't help that the offense committed 10 penalties, a few of them costly errors in scoring position.
To be fair, it seemed like the Cougars offense operated with some semblance of rhythm for parts of the first half. They scored (field goals) on their first three drives, logged their first touchdown in two weeks and totaled 193 yards — more than they mustered in all of last week's loss.
Then the Cougs fell apart in the second half, recording only 64 yards, no points, averaging less than 1 yard per carry, 2.2 yards per play and going 1 of 8 on third downs. They led by 13 entering the second half, but couldn't put any offense together to finish the deal and had no answers when Utah State went ahead in the fourth quarter. The Cougs' offense practically handed it to Utah State, committing two turnovers (fumbles by Pinnick and tight end Jack Pedersen) in their own territory to gift Utah State a momentum-turning touchdown, and later, the go-ahead score.
Aggies weren't good, either
It's not like Utah State found some groove and turned into a competent team. The Aggies also looked miserable throughout this one. Their offense only moved in the second half when they were given two possessions on short fields. Utah State totaled 236 yards, 21 fewer than WSU, which had possession for about 11 more minutes than the hosts.
The Aggies' quarterback, Grady Brosterhous, completed just 11 of 26 passes for 150 yards. Those are not winning numbers. Many of his throws were just plain off-target. But he got enough chances that eventually, some of them hit.
Utah State averaged 2.9 yards per carry. Again, not a good number. The Cougars' interior defense mostly held, but could only preserve a low score for so long. Will the offense ever reward its defensive counterparts?
