Jackquintin Bal
5 stories filed under Jackquintin Bal on Wazzu. The newest of them: “Cougs jump Arizona early, then watch a 14-point lead dissolve”, “Fifita shakes off the rust, hits Smith twice to flip the script on Arizona”, and “Arizona lands a punch Wazzu never quite answers”. That first drive was a thing of beauty. Jackquintin Bal saw it coming before Noah Fifita let it go. The unofficial read for people who left Pullman and stayed Cougs. The list below is every Jackquintin Bal story on Wazzu, newest first.
Cougs jump Arizona early, then watch a 14-point lead dissolve
That first drive was a thing of beauty. Ten plays, 71 yards, Caden Pinnick walking in from 11 yards out. Then Jackquintin Bal picks one off and takes it to the house. 14-0 against a former Pac-12 bully, and Gesa Field was rocking. Felt like the old days. Then the engine stalled. The Cougs' offense went quiet for three quarters. Twenty-two net yards on 20 plays in the second half before a prayer answered on fourth-and-10. Branden Ganashamoorthy hauled in a 46-yard touchdown to make it 31-24, and for a second, you thought maybe. Credit the defense. They held Noah Fifita to a season-low completion rate. They stuffed runs, blocked a field goal, kept the game close while the offense was in a coma. But you can only ask a defense to hold for so long. Arizona scored on its last four drives. The Cougs ran out of gas. It's frustrating because the potential is there. You saw it on that first drive. The question is whether this offense can sustain it. Kirby Moore has some work to do. For deeper thoughts on where the offense is at, check out *"Moore's offense showed some pulse, but the Cougs still left plays on the field."* But here's the thing: we need more of these games. Arizona coming to Pullman, a real fight, a crowd that cared. It felt like a game that mattered. The Cougs are still competing with the big boys. They just need to learn how to finish.
Fifita shakes off the rust, hits Smith twice to flip the script on Arizona
Jackquintin Bal saw it coming before Noah Fifita let it go. The Washington State safety jumped the route, snatched the ball, and ran 25 yards untouched into the end zone. That pick-six put the Cougs up 14-0 early. It felt like one of those nights in Pullman where the old magic shows up. Then the second quarter happened. Fifita shook off the rust. Arizona's veteran quarterback started slow, but he found Caleb Smith for a 41-yard bomb, then hit him again for a 38-yard touchdown on the very next play. By the fourth quarter, Fifita was dropping a pinpoint over-the-shoulder pass to Isaiah Mizell for an 11-yard score. He finished 22 of 36, 297 yards, four touchdowns. The Wildcats erased that 14-point deficit and never looked back. Bal still had a night. The Arizona State transfer led the team with nine tackles, nearly grabbed a second pick in the end zone, and made open-field stops all over the field. But one great individual performance doesn't win a game when the other side's quarterback finds his rhythm. For the full story on how that early lead slipped away, check out "Cougs jump Arizona early, then watch a 14-point lead dissolve." The script flipped. Fifita improved to 2-0 in Pullman. That one stings. Go Cougs.
Arizona lands a punch Wazzu never quite answers
The Cougars did the rope-a-dope thing Saturday, and it turns out Homer Simpson was right: at some point you have to punch back. Wazzu brought Arizona back to Pullman for a messy, physical grudge match, and for one glorious stretch it looked like the old magic might hold. Safety Jackquintin Bal, an Arizona kid, no less, broke on a Noah Fifita pass, put the receiver on his back, and danced into the end zone for a 14-0 lead. The defense was suffocating. Sacks on each of the first two drives. Arms in passing lanes. Chaos for the Wildcats' quarterback. Then Arizona scored 31 of the next 34 points. The pattern is getting hard to ignore. The Cougars have great defensive players, but not enough depth to sustain that level through four quarters, especially when the offense can't give them a breather. Caden Pinnick was miles from good, though he bounced back from mistakes the way you'd expect from a former Big Sky Freshman of the Year. The offense is still finding its way, and it's costing this defense. The solace? No more Power Four teams on the schedule. WSU should have one of the better defenses in the Pac-12. But as we saw Saturday, that doesn't matter much if the offense can't land a single counterpunch. For more on the special teams situation that didn't help matters, check out our piece on Max Dean's migraines making punting a game-time call. Go Cougs.
Trey Leckner's return is suddenly a Saturday question for Cougs
Trey Leckner's foot healed faster than the schedule said it would, and that's a small win in a 1-3 start that's felt heavier than the record. The Cougars' best pass-catching tight end is a game-time decision Saturday against Fresno State, per Kirby Moore, who's been cautious with him all month. Leckner was supposed to miss the first half of the season. Instead, he's back at practice, full-go, and ready to give an offense that's turned the ball over seven times a much-needed safety valve. That's the thing about this group: they've got backs, they've got receivers, but they haven't had a reliable middle-of-the-field target since Leckner went down. Jack Pedersen has filled in admirably, five catches, one score, mostly against Duquesne, but he's not the same mismatch. Moore said it himself: they want both guys on the field, and that's a problem for Fresno State's defense if Leckner's actually healthy. Elsewhere, Jalil Tucker's status remains a shrug emoji. He's dressed and warmed up the last two weeks but hasn't played since the Apple Cup. The silver lining? Jack Bal made the most of his shot against Arizona, picking off a pass and taking it back 25 yards for a score while logging a career-high 67 snaps. If Tucker can't go, you ride Bal again and hope the secondary doesn't bend too far. Moore also defended his clock management before halftime last week, and honestly, he's got a point. You don't give Noah Fifita extra chances.
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.