Duquesne
9 stories filed under Duquesne on Wazzu. The newest of them: “Owen Eshelman's first start gave Wazzu its best FBS offense yet”, “Max Dean's migraines make Cougs' punting a game-time call”, and “Duquesne came to Pullman. The Cougs handled business. Go Cougs”. Owen Eshelman's first start gave Wazzu its best FBS offense yet, and that's the kind of sentence that makes you wonder what took so long. Max Dean's migraines are making Saturday a game-time call, and for a Coug punter averaging 45 yards a boot, 18th in the country, that's a problem Washington State doesn't need. The unofficial read for people who left Pullman and stayed Cougs. The list below is every Duquesne story on Wazzu, newest first.
Owen Eshelman's first start gave Wazzu its best FBS offense yet
Owen Eshelman's first start gave Wazzu its best FBS offense yet, and that's the kind of sentence that makes you wonder what took so long. The Cougs lost 48-30 to Oregon State, which makes it four straight losses, but the offense finally looked like it had a pulse. Eshelman threw for two touchdowns, ran for another, and unlocked Branden Ganashamoorthy for career highs in catches and yards. The running game from the tailbacks? Still stuck in neutral. Maxwell Woods, Kirby Vorhees, and Leo Pulalasi combined for 26 yards on 13 carries. That's not going to cut it. Kirby Moore benched Caden Pinnick after six starts, and the question hanging over Pullman is whether he waited too long. Probably yes. With Eshelman, the Cougs likely beat Utah State, maybe Fresno State, maybe even Washington. Moore defended punting on fourth-and-short from midfield, saying he trusted the defense. The defense gave up 48 points. That math doesn't add up. The good news is Eshelman looked legit. The bad news is Boise State comes to town next weekend, and the Cougs still can't run the ball against FBS teams. For deeper coverage on that Boise State matchup, check out Greg Woods' piece on the first visit from the Broncos since 2017. For now, the take to text a friend: Eshelman might be the real deal, but Moore's clock management and a dead running game are going to make the rest of this season a grind. Go Cougs.
Max Dean's migraines make Cougs' punting a game-time call
Max Dean's migraines are making Saturday a game-time call, and for a Coug punter averaging 45 yards a boot, 18th in the country, that's a problem Washington State doesn't need. Dean emerged from the locker room around 3:15 p.m. for warmups, which is a good sign, but if he can't go, kicker Jack Stevens takes over punting duties. Stevens has never punted in college. Not once. High school was the last time. He's also 1-for-5 on field goals this season, including a missed extra point. So, yeah, that's not ideal. Dean has been a bright spot in a season that already saw the Cougs let a 14-point lead dissolve against Arizona, a game we covered in "Cougs jump Arizona early, then watch a 14-point lead dissolve." His 14 punts for 627 yards, five inside the 20, and a long of 52 are the kind of quiet consistency that wins close games. Coach Kirby Moore said it best: Dean's work in the punt game is getting overshadowed. He's right. If Dean can't go, the Cougs lose more than a leg. He also holds kicks, and that job is suddenly up for grabs too. Against a Wildcats team that just flipped the script on them, special teams can't be a question mark. Go Cougs.
Duquesne came to Pullman. The Cougs handled business. Go Cougs
Duquesne came to Pullman, and the Cougs took care of what was in front of them. That is the kind of weekend you want. No drama. No letting a non-conference opponent hang around long enough to get ideas. The Dukes left town with an L, and the Cougs left the weekend with a clean sheet and a little more belief in what they are building. It is early, sure. But there is something to be said for handling business the way you are supposed to. You do not get style points for beating a team you should beat, but you can lose a lot of ground by tripping over one. The Cougs did not trip. They showed up, did the work, and moved on. For a deeper look at how it all came together, go check out "Chris King called it and the Cougs made it happen twice." The kind of execution that turns a routine win into a statement is walked through in "Chris King called it and the Cougs made it happen twice." And if you want the finer details from the scout's notebook, "A few things stood out in the notes from Duquesne" is worth your time. The Barb Chandler Classic is in the books. The Cougs closed it out. Now you know what to tell your friend when they ask how the weekend went: the Cougs handled business. Go Cougs.
Chris King called it and the Cougs made it happen twice
Chris King saw it before the rest of us did. He called his shot, and then the Cougs went out and made it happen. Not once. Twice. That's the kind of thing that makes you sit up a little straighter in your seat, whether you're watching from the stands in Pullman or squinting at a stream in an apartment in Seattle. This isn't a story about luck. It's about a team that heard the prediction, believed it, and backed it up on the field. Twice. That's hard to do. Most teams get one. The Cougs got two, and King gets the credit for seeing what was coming before the rest of us caught on. We've got more on the Cougs' recent work if you want to dig in. Our piece on the Barb Chandler Classic breaks down how the weekend went, and it pairs nicely with what King and the offense are building. You can find that one on the site. But for now, let's just sit with this: King called it, the Cougs delivered, and they did it twice. That's not a fluke. That's a team that knows what it is. Go Cougs.
The film room breakdown from the Duquesne game is worth your six seconds
The Duquesne film breakdown clocks in at six seconds. That's not a typo. Somebody clipped the one play that tells you everything about how the Cougs handled that game, and they were right to do it. You don't need a feature-length cut to see why Washington State rolled. One look, and you get it: clean execution, no wasted motion, the kind of football that makes you nod at your phone and keep scrolling because you already know the story. If you've already read "Fresno State couldn't slow the Cougs in a clean road win," you know this team has been stacking those kinds of afternoons. The Duquesne tape just confirms what that trip to Fresno showed, this group is playing sharp, and the details are getting handled before the ball is snapped. That's not nothing in September. The film room stuff is the sort of thing you send to the group chat when somebody asks why the Cougs looked so smooth. Six seconds. Watch it. Then go read the Arizona week coverage, because Kirby Moore was on the mic and there's no reason to overthink what he said. Go Cougs.
Second-half avalanche buries Duquesne as Cougs roll 48-7
That first half felt like a team still shaking off the bus. The Cougs looked tight, a little sloppy, and Duquesne hung around long enough to make you wonder. Then the second half started and the avalanche buried them. 48-7 is the kind of score that looks routine on paper but was earned in a flood of explosive plays and defensive pressure that simply would not let up. The Dukes came to Pullman ready to scrap. The Cougs took their best shot, adjusted at the break, and then just steamrolled. This is the kind of win that tells you more about the second half than the first. When a team can flip a switch that cleanly, it means the coaching staff found the right words and the players locked in. If you want to hear how that adjustment happened straight from the guy calling the plays, our piece with Kirby Moore breaks down exactly what it took to get there. It pairs well with this one. The Cougs handled business. No drama, no excuses, just a second-half beatdown that left no doubt. That is the standard in Pullman. Go Cougs.
Duquesne rolls into Pullman for Wazzu's first home test
Duquesne rolls into Pullman this weekend, and for the first time this season, Wazzu gets a real gut-check at home. The Dukes aren't here to sightsee the Palouse. They're coming off a solid nonconference run of their own, and they'll test whether this Coug squad can handle pressure when the other side has a pulse. We saw the boys clean up through the early slate, but let's be honest, Seattle U and Long Beach State aren't exactly the gauntlet. That loss to the Beach stung, and you could feel the absence of any home-court voodoo that afternoon. Now, with real fans in the stands and the familiar chill of a Pullman evening, we get to see what this team is made of. Duquesne plays tough, they're disciplined, and they won't fold if the Cougs get hot early. This is the kind of test that tells you if the nonconference record is real or just a padded stat sheet. For a deeper look at how the Cougs got here, check out our piece on how they finished nonconference clean against Seattle U. That one showed the grit. This one shows the ceiling. Go Cougs.
Kirby Moore breaks down the Cougar win and what it took to get there
Kirby Moore doesn't just call plays. He explains them. And after the Cougs handled Duquesne, he sat down and walked through exactly what it took to get that win. No coachspeak. No hiding behind "we just need to execute better." Moore got specific. He talked about the rhythm of the game, what the offense was seeing, and how they adjusted when things got sticky. That's the stuff you don't get from the box score. If you want the full breakdown, go read "Chris King called it and the Cougs made it happen twice", it pairs well with what Moore laid out here. Moore's takeaway is simple: this wasn't pretty, but it was real. The Cougs had to earn it. Duquesne came ready, and Washington State had to answer. They did. Moore credits the preparation during the week and the trust between the coaches and the players on game day. That's not fluff. That's how you build a team that can handle a trap game and keep moving. This is the kind of insight that makes you feel like you were in the room. No hype. Just football. Go Cougs.
A few things stood out in the notes from Duquesne
The notes from the Duquesne game are out, and a few things jumped off the page. Not everything that matters shows up in a highlight reel, and this batch of observations proves it. The coaching staff saw some specific tendencies in how Duquesne lined up, and the adjustments they made in the second half tell you more about this Cougar team than any final score ever could. There's a reason the film room breakdown from the Duquesne game is worth your six seconds, because the details win in November, not September. This group is learning how to read what a defense gives them and then take it. That is not a given for a roster still finding its rhythm. The notes show a team that trusts what it sees, and that trust is built in practice, not on Saturdays. If you want the full picture, pull up the breakdown we already posted. It connects the dots between the whiteboard and the field. The rest of this season will come down to whether the Cougs keep seeing the game the same way the coaches do. So far, the signs are good. Go Cougs.