Sep. 18—PULLMAN — In the third week of his FBS career, Caden Pinnick finds himself in a precarious position. As Washington State 's starting quarterback, he has all kinds of eyeballs on him, and he's standing on a stage he never has before.
Last week, after his WSU squad dropped a blowout decision to Kansas State , he wasn't quite ready to process things. That prompted him to dish out curt five-word answers in his postgame news conference, and a couple days later, he returned to the podium to acknowledge he made a mistake with that approach. Whoever made that call, the 20-year-old Pinnick showed a remarkable bit of maturity in that spot.
Pinnick has to answer lots of questions at the moment because of how this WSU season has started. The Cougars have opened the season with two straight losses for the first time in a decade, and their offense ranks last in the country in total offense (408 yards) and points per game (8.5). Coach Kirby Moore's team is still finding its footing, at least on offense, where the Cougars have totaled one touchdown in two games.
Can WSU turn things around with a home-opener matchup against FCS Duquesne on Saturday? It's a complicated question. The Cougars would do well to show some spark on offense, particularly against a Dukes defense that ranks four spots up from dead last in the FCS in scoring . But in this game, is there a way to convince people in the WSU orbit that this offense has meaningful life?
Think about it like this: If the Cougars dominate and cover the spread, which is 381/2 points as of Friday afternoon, they'll have done what they were expected to do against a winless FCS team. If they don't, well, things could feel dicey.
Pinnick and the Cougs offense have lots of potential, even with senior wideout Tony Freeman sidelined the rest of the season with a torn ACL. They can use Saturday's game as an opportunity to showcase as much. Since last weekend, Pinnick said, he's put heads together with Moore and offensive coordinator Matt Miller to find the right way to get this ship turned around.
"I think we've reached an agreement on what can help with the offense holistically," Pinnick said, "whether that's simplifying plays, trying not to do too much, just make our easy plays. At the end of the day, whatever leads up to Saturday is on me."
If the Cougars have a checklist of areas to improve in Saturday's game, converting on third downs is likely somewhere near the top. Through two games, WSU has converted just 2 of 21 chances on third down, which is one spot up from last nationally. Many of the Cougs' problems stem from the stiff competition they've faced so far — Washington and Kansas State — but players and coaches have also acknowledged they can do more themselves.
How can they boost their efficiency on third down? Against Duquesne, which has dropped games to FBS Air Force and FCS Youngstown State to open this season, WSU could get its rushing attack going. The Dukes are allowing 314 rushing yards per game — many coming in a 70-13 loss to Youngstown State — which figures to provide a chance for Cougar running backs Kirby Vorhees, Maxwell Woods and Leo Pulalasi to generate plenty of yards.
It's also an opportunity for WSU's offensive line, which ranks last nationally with a Pro Football Focus pass-blocking grade of 17.3, to get things going in the right direction. Last week against K-State, four of the Cougars' six offensive linemen finished with individual grades of 0.0, underscoring how they struggled to block the Wildcats' defensive linemen and edge rushers.
Duquesne won't roll out the same caliber of defenders, which is another reason why WSU should be able to keep Pinnick clean and give him time to show off the talent that he used to become his team's QB1.
Pinnick, who has thrown two interceptions and has only completed 56% of his passes, has picked up a team-best PFF overall offensive grade of 75.6.
"We're all in this thing together. He's gotta have a great week of practice," Moore said. "There were some things outside of his control in terms of protection (against K-State). Thought he tried to extend plays, and there's a couple times where we gotta make sure we make this simple play."
On defense, some good news is in store for WSU: Starting cornerbacks Khamari Terrell and Jalil Tucker, who both missed last weekend's game due to injuries, are expected to return to action against Duquesne. It's encouraging news for the Cougars, whose secondary will grow even stronger alongside Jaylen Thomas, the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week thanks to his two interceptions last weekend.
WSU's defense will hunt for more turnovers against Duquesne quarterback Carson Camp, a seventh-year senior who has completed just 32% of his passes for 105 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in two games. The Cougars also hope to reactivate their pass rush, which produced just six pressures last weekend, and show why edge rushers Matyus McLain and Linus Zunk remain two of that unit's best players.
The Cougars' offense could use a high-scoring outing to establish some momentum headed into another home showdown against Arizona the following week.
