Bulldogs
Bulldogs at Wazzu is a file of 3 stories. The newest of them: “Cougs Shut the Door on the Bulldogs, 4-0”, “Wazzu's Saturday math problem: Fresno takes the ball, Cougs give it back”, and “For the Leaupepetele brothers, Sunday dinner looks a lot different now”. Fourteen Cougs went to the bullpen, and fourteen Cougs came home. Here's the math problem for Saturday, and it's not the kind you can solve with a calculator. The unofficial read for people who left Pullman and stayed Cougs. The list below is every Bulldogs story on Wazzu, newest first.
Cougs Shut the Door on the Bulldogs, 4-0
Fourteen Cougs went to the bullpen, and fourteen Cougs came home. Washington State shut out Fresno State 4-0 on Saturday, and if you were watching from a living room in Spokane or a bar in Seattle, you probably felt the same thing: that was a Pullman win. Not a lucky bounce or a late collapse by the other guys. Just clean, hard-nosed baseball, the kind that makes you text your old roommate "did you see that?" The bullpen did its job. The bats did enough. And the defense? It held the door shut. Fresno never really got a foothold, and that matters more than the final score suggests. This wasn't a blowout built on one big inning. It was steady, inning by inning, and that is harder to pull off than people give credit for. If you want the full rundown on how the pros kept Pullman proud in Week 3, we've got that too. But for now, just sit with this one. Four-nothing. No drama. Just Cougs. Go Cougs.
Wazzu's Saturday math problem: Fresno takes the ball, Cougs give it back
Here's the math problem for Saturday, and it's not the kind you can solve with a calculator. Fresno State comes to Pullman ranked sixth in the country in turnover margin at plus-seven. Washington State is 119th at minus-four. That gap is the whole ballgame before kickoff even happens. The Cougars have given it away seven times this season. Five of those are Caden Pinnick's doing. The quarterback has been fine when he keeps it short, completing 71% of his throws inside 19 yards. But the moment he tries to push the ball downfield, the wheels come off. He's hit just 2 of 13 passes of 20-plus yards and thrown two picks on those attempts. That's not a matchup problem. That's a decision problem, and it's shown up against Washington and even Duquesne. So what's the counter? Run the ball. Keep the pressure off Pinnick and make Fresno's defense respect something underneath. That gets harder if Kirby Vorhees can't go with that upper-body injury. He's the best weapon Matt Miller has in the backfield, and without him, the offense loses its teeth. We're not going to overthink this one. The Cougars have a chance because the game is at home and the matchup is more even than the records suggest. But turnovers travel, and Fresno's defense feeds on them. Give us the Bulldogs, 24-20. If you need a break from the math, check out "Three Cougs who made the Boeing Apple Cup one to remember.
For the Leaupepetele brothers, Sunday dinner looks a lot different now
Jirah Leaupepetele called his brother Jonah this week, not to talk trash for once, but to fish for intel. Jonah, Fresno State's starting right guard, wasn't giving anything up. Fair enough. The problem? Jonah's listed as questionable and isn't expected to play Saturday when the Cougs host the Bulldogs. So the first-ever on-field matchup between these two brothers will have to wait. That doesn't mean this weekend is meaningless. Far from it. Their parents, Tony and Rhonda, are driving up from Apple Valley with the other five kids and a whole mess of grandparents, nieces, and nephews. Jirah made it clear what colors they better be wearing. The Leaupepetele family has earned this moment. Jirah transferred in from Eastern Washington and has become a force on the interior of WSU's defensive line, notching his first sack as a Coug last week against Arizona. Jonah earned the starting job at Fresno State as a redshirt freshman before the injury. Even if they don't line up across from each other, they'll share the same field. That's enough for a family that watched these boys grow up sharing a bedroom, one yelling at video games, the other trying to sleep. This is the kind of story that reminds you why Cougar football matters beyond the score. For more on how this weekend is shaping up, check out our piece on how the Cougs stared down the Dawgs and didn't flinch. Go Cougs.