- We Have the Backs, Now We Need a Plan to Use Them
PULLMAN – Think back to January, when Washington State coach Kirby Moore pulled off what was seen at the time as a monumental move, putting together a three-man running back room that figured to gash opponents this fall.
Kirby Vorhees, last year’s starter, was planning on entering the transfer portal but decided to return to WSU the night before it opened. Tailback Maxwell Woods also returned to the team. And fellow running back Leo Pulalasi entered the portal, only to reverse course and also sign a new NIL revenue-sharing deal with the Cougars.
Especially under a head coach like Moore, whose best offenses at Missouri involved a productive ground attack, it seemed like the Cougs had struck gold with the return of their top three running backs.
Now let’s fast forward to this last week of September, after WSU’s 1-3 start to the season, the record the Cougars were expected to open the season with. It’s one thing that the Cougs’ offense has struggled in most of these outings. It’s another that one of the bigger culprits is their ground attack, or lack thereof, which has hampered what Moore and offensive coordinator Matt Miller had planned for quarterback Caden Pinnick’s offense.
WSU deserves credit for gashing FCS Duquesne for 316 rushing yards earlier this month, especially because Woods and Vorhees each cleared the 100-yard mark, but it’s also true that the Cougars did that against one of the FCS ranks’ worst defenses. What’s likely more informative is how they’ve fared against FBS competition, even if there’s been something of a talent gap in those games.
In a loss to Washington, WSU’s running back trio combined for 38 yards. In a setback to Kansas State, those three combined for 74. And on Saturday in a defeat to Arizona, they tallied just 59 yards between them. That adds up to 171 yards, which is 57 yards per game – not exactly eyebrow-raising in the way Moore was hoping for ahead of the season.
That forces Moore and Miller to find a way to get them more involved, to find ways to increase their production. How can they do that? Perhaps one way involves getting them more targets in the passing game, which they haven’t enjoyed much so far.
“We gotta find ways to get them matched up,” Moore said. “They make it tough, Arizona does, with how much they pressure because you are worried about the quarterback being hot at times, and you wanna make sure you’re protecting him as much as you can. And then we gotta stay on the field. That’s the best way to get the backs more touches, right? We gotta convert on third downs. The four drives there in the third quarter, we had three punts and a turnover. That’s not good enough.”
Moore had a point. In Saturday’s third quarter, the Cougars punted on three drives and lost a fumble on another, which happened when Pinnick was trying to escape pressure and attempted to throw the ball away while getting dragged down. That was Pinnick’s fifth turnover of the season and WSU’s seventh as a team.
Perhaps more to the point, WSU went 0-for-7 on third down in the second half. That didn’t just take away chances for the Cougars to score. It also removed opportunities for WSU’s tailbacks to involve themselves in the offense, which in turn could have opened up things for Pinnick and Co. Many of WSU’s problems on offense this season have run together, creating an amalgamation of issues. This is no different.
Consider this stat: This season, WSU running backs have been targeted as receivers a combined 22 times. They’ve hauled in receptions on 14. That comes out to a completion percentage of 64, a few ticks up from Pinnick’s 61% overall completion rate . That seems to suggest the Cougars could do well to incorporate more of that in their offense.
WSU gets a chance to prove it on Saturday with a home matchup against Fresno State, which figures to provide more chances to do so than the Power 4 teams that the Cougars’ offense has struggled against.
- The Ball is the Boss: Moore's First Pac-12 Test is About Holdin' On
PULLMAN — This week, as Washington State prepares to host its first Pac-12 game in nearly three years, the Cougars’ new head coach has to toe a tightrope like he’s walking over the Grand Canyon.
Kirby Moore has to find the right balance between these two ideas. One: Emphasize to quarterback Caden Pinnick, who has lost five turnovers in his first four games, the importance of holding onto the ball this weekend. Two: Don’t psyche him out and cause him to become gunshy.
That’s because when WSU and Fresno State kick off, set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday on the USA Network, the Cougars won’t just be trying to earn their first FBS win of the season. They’ll be taking on a Bulldog (3-1) team that has blossomed into one of the country’s best at generating turnovers, earning a plus-7 turnover margin, good for the sixth-best mark in the country.
That could be bad news for WSU, which is on the other end of that spectrum, checking in at No. 119 nationally with a turnover margin of minus-4. Moore’s team has committed seven turnovers in its 1-3 start to the season. That’s where Saturday’s game could turn: Can the Cougars avoid turnovers against a Bulldog team that could pounce on one of the hosts’ biggest weaknesses?
Which is where the balance Moore has to find comes in.
“I think it’s just trusting the play-the-play, and each play has life of its own,” said Moore, whose first FBS coaching job came at Fresno State, where he worked as receivers coach and offensive coordinator from 2017-22. “Obviously, we want to create explosive plays, and then with that, the defense has a say in the fight. So there’s times where, shoot, if they’ve got a good call or they execute a little bit better than us, it’s OK at times, whether it’s taking a sack or throwing the ball away. Obviously, we’ve gotta have great ball security by the runners as well. So all those things you talk about. There was some instances of it on Saturday, and we gotta learn from it and carry it over this week.”
WSU’s offense, which is still looking to find its footing against FBS competition, might not be at full strength Saturday evening. Running back Kirby Vorhees, who has started two games, will be a gametime decision thanks to an upper-body injury he sustained during practice this week. If Vorhees can’t play, it would deal a costly blow to the Cougs’ ground game, which has yet to hit 100 yards from running backs against FBS teams this fall.
There’s also good news for WSU on that front. Tight end Trey Leckner, who missed all of spring practices and fall camp with a foot injury, could make his season debut. He’s listed as probable on the Pac-12 availability report, and Moore also described him as a gametime decision. That would provide a nice boost for the Cougars, who would get their best pass-catching tight end back in the fold, which could unlock part of their offense that they have yet to get to.
That comes at a key time for WSU, whose season might not hinge on this home contest against Fresno State, but it might come close. The Cougars might be 1-3 on the year, but none of those games have counted against their standings in the Pac-12, meaning they could still get a headstart in conference play with a win. But if not, they would be staring at a 1-4 start to the season, putting their bowl streak — they’ve earned bowl eligibility in 10 of the last 11 full seasons — in serious jeopardy.
Besides, WSU has two road games coming up next, at Utah State and at Oregon State. However the Cougars fare here on Saturday evening, they have a tougher stretch on the horizon.
So how can the Cougars get Pac-12 play, which they haven’t participated in since knocking off Colorado in November 2023, started on the right note? They will have to take care of the ball. That starts with Pinnick, who threw an interception and lost a fumble in a loss to Arizona last week. He also threw another near-interception, which he avoided because the Wildcat defender bobbled it on his way out of bounds.
Pinnick will have to keep a close eye on Fresno State cornerback Simeon Harris, who already has three interceptions this season, underscoring why he earned some preseason votes for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. He’ll also have to avoid putting the ball on the floor against Fresno State, which has also forced and recovered three fumbles.
“It’s definitely a balance,” Moore said earlier in the week. “It’s dialogue during the week. If something’s there, if it’s not there, self-preservation, making sure we’re playing the next play. Every play has a life of its own, and we had some of that come up on Saturday.”
On defense, WSU defensive coordinator Trent Bray’s unit will lead the way in trying to slow down Fresno State quarterback Jayden Mandal, who has completed 64% of his passes for six touchdowns against just one interception. Leading his club to wins over Sacramento State, San Jose State and Rice, Mandal and the Bulldogs have averaged nearly 38 points per game in their victories.
Running back Rayshon Luke, the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, has looked just as dangerous. In Fresno State’s win over Rice last weekend, he piled up 167 rushing yards and a score on just 11 carries, highlighting the efficiency with which he’s operated.
“They’re a good football team,” Moore said. “I think you look at the number of wins they had last season, the tradition there. Those guys are going to come in expecting to win, and it’s shown up on offense, defense, the complementary football, special teams. They do it a very high level. John Baxter (special teams coach) does a really good job, so it’s gonna be a great challenge for us on Saturday night.”
- Second-half snaps tell the story of WSU's defensive breakdowns
PULLMAN – A few minutes after halftime began and Washington State players filed into their locker room, the sparkly new crimson and black lair that was remodeled over the summer, linebacker Keith Brown turned to a teammate with a question.
“What’s the score?” asked the sixth-year linebacker.
It was Saturday evening, and WSU had just taken a three-point lead on visiting Arizona into halftime, but Brown was none the wiser, according to his retelling. Brown and the Cougars’ defense had yielded a pair of scoring drives, and because quarterback Caden Pinnick had thrown an interception, that unit had to be on the field for one extra drive.
As the rest of the game unfolded, the Cougs lost one more turnover, a fumble from Pinnick on a play where he was trying to throw the ball away as he was getting tackled. That was the seventh turnover WSU’s offense has committed this season, which has spawned all kinds of other problems, perhaps this above all: The Cougars’ defense has been tasked with playing tons more snaps, lots more drives, putting them at risk of tiring themselves out when they shouldn’t have to.
For his part, Brown says it isn’t much of a problem.
“I don’t even think about it, man,” Brown said. “As a defender, you’re so excited to go out there and play, no matter what. … We just go out there every single series, and that series right there is the only thing I’m worried about. I don’t care if I just came off the field or the offense has been out there for a while. I’m excited to go out there and play.”
That may be the case, but it also means WSU defenders are playing heavy amounts of snaps. Check out some of the total snap counts from the Cougars’ loss to the Wildcats last weekend. Cornerback Khamari Terrell led all defenders with 72 snaps. Then came Brown, who logged 69, followed by defensive backs Jackquintin Bal with 67 and Jamarey Smith with 61.
That was the second time at least three WSU defenders played at least 60 snaps each, joining the team’s earlier loss to Kansas State: defensive backs Kai Rapolla, Jaylen Thomas and Smith all cleared the 60-snap mark.
Headed into WSU’s next game, a home matchup with Fresno State to kick off Pac-12 play, two defenders have hit the 200-snap threshold: Thomas leads the team with 225 snaps while Brown is on his heels with 222. Several others are in the area, including Smith at 199, linebacker DJ Warner at 196 and safety Jeremiah Bernard at 192.
Does that add up over time? Or does it all come out in the wash for a bunch of 19- to 22-year-olds?
“It adds up in fact that you’re going against a really good quarterback,” WSU coach Kirby Moore said, referring to Arizona’s Noah Fifita, “and we were very aggressive on defense, and you saw that in the first half. Over time, he’s gonna make some plays. He’s gonna create some passes downfield, and they had the quick drive right there, and just keeping our guys fresh because the coverage and the front, it’s all gotta work together. If the front is tired and we’re not getting the rush that we want to, well, that’s affecting the back end. That’s what we gotta get solved there in the third quarter, and it really starts playing complementary football.”
Perhaps no single stat illustrates the point better than this: WSU’s defense ranks in the top half of the country in points allowed in the first quarter, permitting just 4.3, which ranks No. 57 nationally. In the fourth quarter, the Cougars are allowing an average of 11.3 points, which ranks No. 123 nationally, only about a dozen spots up from last in the country.
Think about the way WSU’s defense was operating in the first quarter against Arizona. Defensive end Linus Zunk earned a sack on the first play of the game. Bal snagged that pick-six. Then later in the first quarter, defensive tackle Jirah Leaupepele got home for another sack. “Just doing my job,” he said about that play.
The Cougs (1-3) couldn’t replicate that level of production in the second half. The Wildcats won the second half to the tune of 20-7, averaging nearly 7 yards per play, keeping Fifita clean the rest of the game.
In other words, WSU defenders wore down as the game unfolded, which is partially to be expected of a group headed out onto the field so often. The Cougars have lost seven turnovers on the season, remember? Only 18 other teams in the country have committed more. That sets up defensive coordinator Trent Bray’s unit with more and more series, and while the Cougars could certainly be doing more on defense – their inability to get much pressure on Fifita in Saturday’s second half loomed large, as did a long touchdown rush K-State broke off earlier this month – check out their high snap counts and you start to understand the root of the issue.
So what’s the solution? Play more defenders? That isn’t feasible in all of WSU’s position groups. Cornerback Jalil Tucker, a starter in Week 1, has missed the last three games with an injury. Linebacker Nylan Brown was out last week. Defensive ends Malachi Wrice and Mike Hughes were too, and they figure to be out this Saturday against Fresno State. The Cougars could get more out of young safety Kyle Peterson, for example, but after he made an early mistake that led to an Arizona touchdown, he didn’t see the field again.
What about other players on the roster? Could the Cougs give more looks to guys like defensive lineman Josh Wedel (73 snaps) or defensive end Ben Beatty, who has played just 67 snaps? The latter seems possible, but in an interesting development, WSU coaches have never separated starters Zunk and Matyus McLain. They have both played 184 snaps, indicating that coaches like them best when they’re on the field together.
With that in mind, it’s possible that the best respite for this WSU defense is an improved offense, an offense that can sustain drives. The Cougars figure to have an easier time doing that against the likes of Fresno State than they did against Power Four foes like Washington, Kansas State and Arizona. If they can hold onto the ball against the Bulldogs – whose defense ranks sixth nationally with a plus-seven turnover margin – the Cougs won’t just be doing their offense a favor.
They’ll also be doing a favor to their defense.
