Cougar football
Cougar football at Wazzu is a file of 56 stories. The newest of them: “Kirby Moore Breaks Down Kansas State on This Week's Cougar Football Hour”, “Moore's offense showed some pulse, but the Cougs still left plays on the field”, and “Moore faces his old team as a new Pac-12 era begins in Pullman”. Kirby Moore spent part of this week's Cougar Football Hour breaking down Kansas State on film, and if you've been paying attention, you already know that tape doesn't lie. The unofficial read for people who left Pullman and stayed Cougs. The list below is every Cougar football story on Wazzu, newest first.
Kirby Moore Breaks Down Kansas State on This Week's Cougar Football Hour
Kirby Moore spent part of this week's Cougar Football Hour breaking down Kansas State on film, and if you've been paying attention, you already know that tape doesn't lie. Moore walked through what K-State does schematically, and it's the kind of breakdown that makes you appreciate how much goes into a Saturday you probably spent yelling at your TV. He didn't sugarcoat it. He didn't need to. The Wildcats are disciplined, they're physical, and they force you to earn every yard. That's the kind of opponent that tells you where your program really is. We also ran a piece on what the postgame tape revealed about Wazzu's fight, worth a read if you want the full picture of how the Cougs responded when things got tight. Moore's hour is a good companion to that. He's not selling hope. He's showing you the work. Pullman football doesn't get the benefit of the doubt from anyone outside the Palouse, so it matters that the guys in the room are honest about what they see. Moore is. The Cougs are still figuring out who they are, but the film room is where that happens. Go Cougs.
Moore's offense showed some pulse, but the Cougs still left plays on the field
Three offensive touchdowns in three games against FBS teams. Six turnovers. Seven total giveaways. That's not a Power 4 problem. That's a self-inflicted wound problem, and it's the story of this Cougar season so far. Kirby Moore's offense showed a pulse Saturday against Arizona, especially on that opening 11-play, 71-yard touchdown drive where Caden Pinnick looked like he knew what he was doing. The quarterback keeper, the blocks, the finish. That's the offense we were hoping to see. Then it vanished. The third quarter was brutal. Three points, two three-and-outs, four punts, three sacks. Arizona turned a three-point deficit into a four-point lead and never looked back. The defense held up its end. The offense didn't. Pinnick is making bad decisions, not just Power 4 athletes making great plays. The interception into triple coverage against Duquesne. The fumble while trying to throw while being dragged down. The slide a yard short of a first down. Those aren't talent gaps. Those are judgment gaps. Moore said it starts with him. That's the right answer. But the fix has to show up against Fresno State next week. If these problems are about competition, they'll ease up. If they're about Pinnick's decision-making, they won't. We've got more on Moore's postgame comments in "Moore puts it plain after Cougs let early lead slip in Pullman." Worth a read. For now, the Cougs are what we thought: 1-3, right on schedule. The question is whether they're better than the schedule. Go Cougs.
Moore faces his old team as a new Pac-12 era begins in Pullman
Wazzu's own Kirby Moore gets a chance to turn around a 1-3 start Saturday night, and the storylines are too good to ignore. He's facing Fresno State, the program that gave him his first FBS job as receivers coach and offensive coordinator from 2017-22. That's the kind of drama that makes a Palouse fall evening worth the walk to Gesa Field. The Cougs are coming off a loss to Arizona that had a few bright spots, safety Jackquintin Bal's pick-six, punter Max Dean averaging 40 yards despite migraines, but also a whole lot of slog. WSU put up zero points in the third quarter. Caden Pinnick took his 10th sack of the season. The offense has turned the ball over seven times now, which is 119th in the country. That's not a stat you text home about. Fresno State, meanwhile, is rolling. They're 3-1 with the Pac-12's best defense so far, allowing just 19 points a game. Cornerback Simeon Harris has three interceptions already. Moore knows the challenge: "That's gonna be really important, to make sure we take care of the football." He's not wrong. If you want to dig into how WSU's defensive snaps piled up in that Arizona loss, our piece on "Second-half snaps tell the story of WSU's defensive breakdowns" lays it out. Go Cougs.
The Ball is the Boss: Moore's First Pac-12 Test is About Holdin' On
Saturday night in Pullman, the Cougs finally get to play a game that counts in the Pac-12 standings. It's been nearly three years. Problem is, Fresno State is coming to town, and they take the ball away for a living. Plus-seven turnover margin. Sixth-best in the country. Meanwhile, Caden Pinnick has lost five turnovers in four games. That math doesn't add up. Kirby Moore is walking a tightrope. He has to tell his quarterback to protect the ball without making him afraid to throw it. That's a fine line, and Moore knows it. He's been saying all week that every play has a life of its own. That's coach-speak for "don't force it, but don't freeze up either." The ground game might not help. Kirby Vorhees is a gametime decision with an upper-body injury, and the running backs haven't cracked 100 yards against an FBS team all year. The good news? Trey Leckner could finally debut at tight end. That's a weapon they haven't had yet. Defensively, they have to slow down Jayden Mandal and Rayshon Luke, who just put up 167 yards on 11 carries. That's a problem. This game won't decide the season, but it'll tell you a lot. Lose, and you're staring at 1-4 with Utah State and Oregon State on the road. The bowl streak starts looking shaky. Win, and you're 1-0 in conference play with a pulse. If you want the deeper numbers, check out our piece on Pinnick's five turnovers.
Your diploma is still a Coug, even if you haven't set foot on campus since 2003
Your diploma is still a Coug, even if you haven't set foot on campus since 2003. The WSU Global Campus just got ranked among the top online programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, in multiple categories. That's not a surprise to anyone who's ever tried to finish a degree while working a full shift or raising kids. WSU built this thing for people who don't have the luxury of quitting life to go back to school. It's easy to forget that Pullman isn't the only place Cougs are made. Thousands of us earned the same degree from a kitchen table or a library computer. This ranking says the university hasn't forgotten you either. The same rigor, the same faculty, the same land-grant mission, just delivered to wherever you are. WSU has always been good at showing up where it matters. The same practical drive that put the Cosmic Crisp® in your grocery store and helped build Washington's wine industry is what makes the Global Campus work. It's not flashy. It's just effective. If you've been thinking about finishing what you started, or you know someone who should, this is your sign. The university earned the recognition. You earned the degree. Go Cougs.
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.
How Wazzu Alumni Turn a Pullman Return Into a Proper Tailgate
You roll into Pullman for a game, and within an hour you've seen three people you haven't talked to since graduation. That's the whole point. For Wazzu alumni, coming back isn't just about the scoreboard. It's about parking the car in the same dusty lot, cracking a can, and picking up a conversation that started five or ten years ago. The tailgate is the real reunion. There's a ritual to it. Someone brings the grill they bought at Dissmore's in 2014. Someone else shows up with a cooler full of something local. You stand in a circle, talk about the game, then talk about everything else. The town hasn't changed much, and neither has the feeling. That's what makes it work. We wrote about how Dean Khosla recently made the case that the land-grant mission still means something. That mission is part of Pullman's soul. When you come back for a tailgate, you're not just visiting a campus. You're standing on ground that was built for people to return to. The town stays small, the research stays big, and the people keep showing up. A proper Pullman return tailgate is simple. You bring food. You bring stories. You remember why you left, and why you keep coming back. Go Cougs.
Kirby Moore breaks down Fresno State tape on this week's Cougar Football Hour
Kirby Moore went to the tape. On this week's Cougar Football Hour, the offensive coordinator sat down and walked through Fresno State's defense. Not the general stuff. The specific stuff. The kind of breakdown that makes you think he's been up late with the lights on and a remote in his hand. That's the guy you want calling plays in a big spot. Fresno State is next. They're good. They're always good. But Moore has seen what they do, and he has a plan. The segment is worth your time if you want to know what WSU is actually trying to do on offense, not just what the box score says. He gets into alignments, tendencies, the little tells that separate a smart read from a forced throw. It's the kind of detail that makes you feel like you're in the room. If you missed last week's loss to Oregon State, we've got you covered there too. Check out "Citowicki and Hawkins break down the Beavers loss in Pullman" for the full postmortem. But for now, the focus is forward. Moore's tape session is the closest most of us will get to sitting in on a real game plan meeting. Go Cougs.