College Football Playoff
Wazzu keeps College Football Playoff in one place: 11 stories so far. The section currently leads with “The Pac-12 chaos bowl math for Cougs to sort”, “Two new coaches, two very different first halves in the new Pac-12”, and “Boise State comes to Pullman for the first time since 2017”. The math for the Cougs right now is quantum physics, and not the fun kind. The end of Week 7 is as good a midpoint as any in this weird, staggered Pac-12 schedule. The unofficial read for people who left Pullman and stayed Cougs. The list below is every College Football Playoff story on Wazzu, newest first.
The Pac-12 chaos bowl math for Cougs to sort
The math for the Cougs right now is quantum physics, and not the fun kind. Jon Wilner's latest bowl projections lay it out cold: Washington State needs five wins in five games just to get to six and be bowl-eligible. That's not a stretch run. That's a Hail Mary from your own end zone with no time left. The rest of the Pac-12 legacy schools are sorting through their own chaos. UCLA and Utah are undefeated, Oregon has two losses, and somehow Oregon State is a juggernaut with a path to the College Football Playoff. Five legacy schools are one win away from locking in a bowl. The other seven, including the Cougs, are doing calculus, trigonometry, and long division just to see if they can get to six wins. For Wazzu, the answer is probably no. Wilner suggests the Cougars should turn their attention to 2027, and he's not wrong. They've already flipped play-callers and quarterbacks. There aren't many cords left to pull. You can read more about one of those tough tests ahead in "Boise State's offense is the test WSU's D hasn't passed yet." But here's the thing: even if the bowl math doesn't add up, you still show up on Saturday. You still yell. You still wear the flag. Because being a Coug was never about the math. Go Cougs.
Two new coaches, two very different first halves in the new Pac-12
The end of Week 7 is as good a midpoint as any in this weird, staggered Pac-12 schedule. Half the teams have played seven games, half have played six. It's messy, but it's ours. The big headline: two teams, Boise State and Oregon State, are still alive for a College Football Playoff berth. That's more than anyone realistically expected from this rebuilt league. The Broncos have a quality loss at Oregon and wins over Memphis and Western Michigan. If they win out, they're in. The Beavers have a trickier path but stay in play if they finish with only two losses. Oregon State's JaMarcus Shephard is the midseason Coach of the Year. The rookie has made master-class moves with his staff and roster. Meanwhile, Washington State's Kirby Moore sits on the hottest seat. His decisions have been deeply flawed. We don't expect him fired after one season, but the trajectory is ugly. Best offensive player: Oregon State freshman receiver Jesse Legree. He leads the country in receiving yards and touchdowns. Best defensive player: San Diego State linebacker Sione Hala, who leads the Pac-12 in tackles and forced a fumble that won a game. Best game so far was San Diego State's 31-29 win over Texas State. Worst loss? Idaho State 29, Utah State 17. Double-digit home losses to FCS opponents are brutal. Add 11 penalties and four turnovers, and it's an all-systems failure. If you haven't yet, read about Owen Eshelman's first start giving Wazzu its best FBS offense yet.
Boise State comes to Pullman for the first time since 2017
The last time Boise State came to Pullman, Tyler Hilinski came off the bench and won it in triple overtime. That was 2017. This Saturday, the Broncos are back at Gesa Field, ranked No. 21, and WSU is still looking for its first FBS win of the season. The Cougs are 14-point underdogs. That feels about right. Boise State has won five straight since losing to Oregon, and running back Dylan Riley is averaging 139 yards per game. Quarterback Maddux Madsen has thrown 13 touchdowns and zero picks. Zero. That offense is a machine, and WSU's defense just gave up 347 passing yards to Oregon State. But there was something to like last week. Owen Eshelman got his first start and looked like a different offense. 32 of 49, 289 yards, two touchdowns, and 136 rushing yards. The running backs? Still stuck in neutral, 26 yards on 13 carries. Moore said it starts up front, and he's right. This is also a full-circle game for Kirby Moore, who played at Boise State and built the coaching connections he uses now. You can read more about what worked for him after the Oregon State win in our piece "Kirby Moore breaks down what worked after the win over Oregon State." It's a long shot. But it's Pullman, and it's Boise State, and that 2017 game still echoes. Go Cougs.
It hurts: Beavers rising while Cougs slide in the new Pac-12
It hurts to read this, and it should. Six weeks ago, we were standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Oregon State, the last two Cougs and Beavers holding the damn thing together. We were partners in the salvage operation, the rebirth of the Pac-12. Now? One of us is ascending, and it isn't us. The Beavers are the story of the season. JaMarcus Shephard, their third-choice head coach, has them at 4-2 with a path to the College Football Playoff. They hit on a quarterback nobody wanted and a defensive coordinator who used to be a national Coach of the Year. They got lucky. We got Kirby Moore, who just changed quarterbacks and stripped his offensive coordinator of playcalling duties in the same week. We're 1-5 and winless against FBS competition. It's easy to sit in Pullman and wonder what if. But the difference isn't luck. It's a series of decisions made last fall. OSU fired Trent Bray and swung for energy. We chased stability. Stability got us an inept offense and an overburdened defense. On the margins of this sport, success is fleeting, and right now, we're the ones who caught the wrong end of it. For a deeper look at how we handle pressure, check out our study on sensitivity and social threat, "Wazzu Study: Sensitivity Is About Social Threat, Not Just Loud Noises." It might explain a thing or two about how this team is reacting. Go Cougs.
Oh look, WSU football found the cellar and the lights are off
The Pac-12 power rankings are out, and WSU football is sitting at the bottom. Dead last. Number eight. The Cougs lost to Utah State 17-16, dropping to 1-5 on the season, and the Hotline's take is brutal: "destined for a 2-10 season." Readers asked where the second win comes from, and the answer was basically, maybe they stumble into another one. Ouch. That's the kind of week it was. Meanwhile, Boise State handled Fresno State 38-31 with a 13-play, all-run drive that was pure Boise grit. Oregon State wiped San Diego State 66-14. The conference is moving on without us. The real story in this week's rankings isn't just the order, it's the math. The Pac-12's path to the College Football Playoff runs through the Group of Six. Boise State is the only team in the conference that can clear the 12-1 bar. The rest of us are just trying to figure out if two losses becomes the threshold by December. For WSU, that's a long way off. First, they've got to find a second win. Kirby Moore is making a change at quarterback, with Owen Eshelman getting the start against Oregon State. If you want the full breakdown on that, check our piece on the QB switch. The Cougs head to Corvallis still searching for their first win of the season. It's not pretty, but it's where we are. Go Cougs.
Pac-12 bowl math still makes no sense, but here's how Cougs fit
The Pac-12 bowl math is still a mess, but for once it might actually work in the Cougs' favor. The 2026 setup treats the legacy 12 schools like the conference never fell apart, grouping them together for most bowls while the new Pac-12 teams have their own deals. Washington State and Oregon State sit in both worlds. Legacy bowls pick first. So if the Cougs get to 8-4 or 9-3, they're looking at the Holiday or Sun Bowl. If they stumble to 6-6, they slide into the Poinsettia as a new Pac-12 team. That's not the worst fallback. Let's be honest: the Cougs are 1-4 right now. Kirby Moore just took over play-calling, which means he's owning the mistake at quarterback and coordinator. At least Trent Bray has the defense right. The path to six wins is narrow but not dead. If they find a rhythm, the Holiday Bowl in San Diego against an ACC team sounds a lot better than explaining to your boss why you need December 26 off for the Poinsettia. For more on the quarterback shuffle, check out "Three Quarterbacks Walk Into a Palouse Fall." It pairs well with this math problem. Go Cougs.
Pac-12 power rankings leave little doubt about the gap ahead of WSU
The gap between the top three and the rest of the Pac-12 is a chasm, and the power rankings make it official. Boise State, Oregon State, and Fresno State are the class of the conference. Washington State? We're sitting at No. 7, and the takeaway from the rankings is brutal but fair: we don't have enough offense to secure a bowl berth, let alone sniff the championship game. It's one week into round-robin play, and the picture is already clear. The beauty of this eight-team league is everyone plays everyone, so there are no excuses. The defining dates are set: Boise State at Fresno State, Oregon State at Fresno State, and Oregon State at Boise State. The analytics favor the Broncos to sweep. Our hunch is they do. For the Cougs, the immediate concern is finding an offensive pulse. First-year coach Kirby Moore has no answers right now, and if that doesn't change in the next 19 games, Pullman will be in the market for a new coach. That's the hard truth. We've got deeper coverage on the situation, including a look at Moore taking over playcalls and what the Cougs need against Utah State this Friday. It's a short week, and the offense is MIA. Pullman is letting them hear it. Go Cougs.
The offense is MIA and Pullman is letting the Cougs hear it
The boo birds hit Gesa Field early Saturday night, and honestly? Fair. Three feeble drives to open the game. Three punts. A home crowd that drove hours, some from across the state, some from across the country, sat through it and let the Cougs hear it. That crowd is the hardiest bunch in college football. They don't deserve this. Here's the part that stings: this was supposed to be the payoff. When the Pac-12 collapsed and WSU got shoved into the wilderness, the silver lining was always the rebuild. A conference WSU and Oregon State built together. A level playing field. A chance to be a lead school instead of the smallest fish in the biggest pond. Saturday was the formal kickoff of that rebuilt Pac-12. The Cougars are now 0-1 in a conference they helped create. And they looked ready to settle into a familiar spot in the standings. Fresno State might be decent. They came in 3-1. But I can't sell that. This isn't Pat Hill's Fresno State. This is a team WSU was favored against, and the only offense the Cougars have is a kicker finally finding his range. Meanwhile, Oregon State looks great. Freshman receiver Jessee Legree has nine touchdowns, three times more than every WSU receiver combined. The Beavers are building something in Corvallis. What does Pullman have to offer? Playing time and fans who are almost hoarse from booing. There's no structural excuse for this. WSU made bowl games in both wilderness years.
We Got Picks, You Got Questions, and the Ducks Still Have Problems
The Hotline went 6-5-1 last week and sits at 15-20-1 for the season, which means the picks are for entertainment purposes only. Unless they aren't. This week's slate features two former Pac-12 matchups in the late-afternoon window: Oregon at USC, and Arizona visiting Washington State on the Palouse. That feline affair serves multiple purposes. It gives the Cougars a home game against a power conference opponent their fans know, and it helps Arizona satisfy a Big 12 scheduling requirement. Because the series was agreed to before the Wildcats left the Pac-12, WSU still counts as a Power Four opponent. The line opened at Arizona -10, which initially felt high. But after looking at WSU's offense against Power Four teams like Washington and Kansas State, 17 total points, the spread makes sense. The Hotline picks Arizona. The bigger picture here is unsettling. Outside of UCLA-Cal, a future Arizona State-Stanford series, and the surviving Apple Cup and Civil War, former Pac-12 schools are not scheduling each other. The CFP could fix that by incentivizing quality nonconference games. Or NIL-driven neutral-site double-headers in Las Vegas could emerge. We aren't confident. Check out "Are blowouts getting worse? The Pac-12 mailbag crunches the numbers" for more on the state of the sport. Go Cougs.
Your Pac-12 Picks Guy Is Back and He's Got the Cougs
The Hotline's picks guy is back, and he's got the Cougs covering. That's the headline from this week's betting column, and for a WSU team sitting at 1-3, it's the kind of news you text a friend before the line moves. The man went 10-3-1 last week and is now 25-23-2 for the season. He's picking Washington State to cover the 2-point spread against Fresno State on Saturday night, and he's doing it because he thinks the Cougs played well enough against Arizona to trust the home side. That's a specific vote of confidence, not a homer pick. The column digs into the larger story of the rebuilt Pac-12, too. The conference's first month produced a 19-12-1 record against the spread. Five teams, Oregon State, Boise State, Fresno State, Washington State, and Colorado State, are a combined 15-4-1. That's not nothing. The betting public hasn't caught up to Oregon State's improvement, and the Cougs are quietly covering. The picks guy notes that while this success won't sway the CFP selection committee, a Pac-12 champion with no more than two losses should be well-positioned for a bid. If you want the full picture on WSU's running back situation heading into Saturday, our story on Kirby Vorhees being banged up for Fresno is worth your time. The Cougs need ball security, and the picks guy thinks they've got enough to cover. Go Cougs.
Boise owns September, but the Cougs are still a question mark
Boise State owns September. That much is clear. The Broncos are sitting at 3-1, holding the inside track for that Group of Six playoff berth, and they've got the resume equity to survive a slip in conference play. They averaged 237 rushing yards per game this month. That's almost identical to their 2024 playoff run. You don't need a spreadsheet to see that. The Cougs? We're a question mark. 1-3, and we haven't faced a single Group of Six team yet. That changes Saturday against Fresno State, and frankly, we need the answer. The Hotline's hunch is that what we saw against Arizona will be substandard. I hope they're wrong, but I'm not betting against the data. The rest of the league is sorting itself out. Oregon State looks like a real contender. Fresno State finishes fast, which is a problem for us. San Diego State is a mess. Colorado State can't stop anybody. If you want to know where the Cougs are headed, keep an eye on Trey Leckner's return. That story is worth a read. But the bigger question is whether this team can hang with the rest of the conference. We'll find out Saturday. Go Cougs.