play-calling
Wazzu keeps play-calling in one place: 3 stories so far. The section currently leads with “Why one Coug keeps catching passes through a 1-7 season”, “Eshelman's arm was fine, but the O-line left a hole WSU couldn't fill”, and “Kirby Moore gets the keys, we see if the offense moves”. Trey Leckner has 12 catches for 98 yards this season. You can point fingers a lot of directions after a loss like Saturday's. The unofficial read for people who left Pullman and stayed Cougs. The list below is every play-calling story on Wazzu, newest first.
Why one Coug keeps catching passes through a 1-7 season
Trey Leckner has 12 catches for 98 yards this season. That matters because he missed the first four games, and because the Cougs are 1-7. Most guys would check out. Leckner is not most guys. He redshirted in 2023, started climbing in 2024, and earned the starting tight end job in 2025. Then he got hurt. Now he's back, catching fourth-down conversions against Boise State, and talking about playing for the seniors. That's the part that hits. This team has 14 seniors. Keith Brown has played 482 snaps this season, 12th most among all linebackers in the country. He's playing his sixth year. Matyus McLain and Jamarey Smith both said the same thing Monday: they're playing for those guys. Not for a bowl game. Not for the noise outside the building. For each other. The Cougs have lost five straight since beating Duquesne. They've switched quarterbacks. They've switched play-callers. None of it has fixed the scoreboard. But Leckner says the will to win is still there, and that building momentum for next year matters. That's a hard thing to sell in a 1-7 season. But watching Leckner run routes like he's got something to prove, it's easier to believe. If you want the full picture of where this team's head is at, read our preview of the San Diego State trip: "Five-game skid meets the road: Cougs chase first FBS win at SDSU." It sets the table for what comes next. Go Cougs.
Eshelman's arm was fine, but the O-line left a hole WSU couldn't fill
You can point fingers a lot of directions after a loss like Saturday's. Eshelman's arm was fine. The pick wasn't great, but it wasn't the problem. The problem was in front of him. Boise State ran the same stunt three times, and the O-line couldn't stop it. Three times. That's not bad luck. That's a pattern. The numbers are ugly. Eshelman was pressured on 22 of his dropbacks. The running backs combined for 20 yards on 10 carries. Nationally, the run-blocking grade sits at 129 out of 138. Three of the five linemen were recruited for an Air Raid system that doesn't ask for this kind of work. It shows. Kirby Moore is calling plays now. Eshelman is in at QB. The results haven't changed. The common denominator is the guys up front, and it has been all season. The margin was already thin. This game, it was gone before halftime. If you want a moment of good news from the weekend, go check out the story on John Olerud getting his bronze spot outside the stadium. That one's worth your time. This one just hurts. Go Cougs.
Kirby Moore gets the keys, we see if the offense moves
Kirby Moore is calling plays now. That is the headline for anyone who watched Wazzu's offense stumble through the first half of the season and wondered if the Cougs had forgotten how to move the ball. The Hotline's weekly picks column lays it out: Moore gets the keys Friday night at Utah State, and we get to see if this thing shifts gears. The pick is Wazzu plus the points, and the reasoning is simple, the defense is solid, Utah State is flawed everywhere, and a new voice in the headset usually buys you a spark. That feels right. The numbers on 9 a.m. body-clock kickoffs are brutal for West Coast teams. The data says former Pac-12 schools cover the spread only a third of the time in those early Eastern games. Arizona is living that reality this week at West Virginia, and the trend says take the points. I buy it. That flight across three time zones is real, and the Wildcats have a banged-up receiver corps. If you want the deeper look at what Moore brings and the quiet work happening in Pullman, we published "Kirby Moore talks Utah State, and the quiet work that wins in Pullman" alongside this. It connects. The rest of the card has some strong leans. Oklahoma State off a bye against a UCF team playing back-to-back road games is a five-star special for a reason. Indiana at Nebraska feels like a mismatch the public hasn't caught yet.