Washington State Cougars
Washington State Cougars at Wazzu is a file of 109 stories. The newest of them: “For the Leaupepetele brothers, Sunday dinner looks a lot different now”, “How Wazzu Alumni Turn a Pullman Return Into a Proper Tailgate”, and “Dean Khosla Makes the Case That Land-Grant Still Means Something”. Jirah Leaupepetele called his brother Jonah this week, not to talk trash for once, but to fish for intel. You roll into Pullman for a game, and within an hour you've seen three people you haven't talked to since graduation. The unofficial read for people who left Pullman and stayed Cougs. The list below is every Washington State Cougars story on Wazzu, newest first.
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.
Dean Khosla Makes the Case That Land-Grant Still Means Something
Dean Khosla says the land-grant mission still means something. Not as a dusty plaque on a wall. As a real, working promise. The Cashup Davis Family Endowed Dean of WSU's College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences wrote an essay making that case, and it lands hard because he's not selling nostalgia. He's talking about what a university owes the place it sits in. That matters here. Pullman isn't a backdrop. It's the point. When a dean of a college with "Agricultural" in its name says land-grant still counts, he's not defending history. He's drawing a line from the research plots to the dinner table to the rural clinic. We see that same thread in our piece on WSU taking health care into a Spokane elementary school hallway. It's not a theory. It's a hallway. Khosla's essay is worth your time because it doesn't pretend the work is easy or that the mission is finished. It just says it's still ours. That's a take you can text a friend in Seattle, Spokane, or wherever the Palouse wind blew you. Go Cougs.