WSU
WSU at Wazzu is a file of 226 stories. The newest of them: “Kirby Moore on Duquesne: What the OC Saw That You Didn't”, “WSU Takes Health Care to a Spokane Elementary School Hallway”, and “WSU study finds the right tone makes AI fact-checks actually stick”. Kirby Moore saw something on that Duquesne tape that most of us missed. A pediatrician's office inside an elementary school hallway. The unofficial read for people who left Pullman and stayed Cougs. The list below is every WSU story on Wazzu, newest first.
Kirby Moore on Duquesne: What the OC Saw That You Didn't
Kirby Moore saw something on that Duquesne tape that most of us missed. And in his breakdown of the Cougar win, he walked us through exactly what it was. You know how it goes. You watch the game, you see the scoreboard, you feel good about the result. But the guy calling the plays sees a whole different film. Moore gets into the details, the coverages Duquesne hid, the adjustments that made the difference, the little things that don't show up in a box score but win games in the fourth quarter. This is the kind of breakdown that makes you want to rewatch the game with a notebook. Because Moore isn't just telling you what happened. He's telling you why it happened, and what he saw that made him call what he called. We've got more on this Cougar team if you want to stay in the weeds. Our piece on the volleyball squad, "Five sets, no quit: Cougar volleyball leaves it all on the floor," shows the same kind of fight that Moore talks about from the sideline. Different sport, same damn grit. Point is, this win wasn't luck. It wasn't just Duquesne coming to Pullman and wilting. Moore and the staff saw things during the week, adjusted during the game, and put the Cougs in position to handle business. That's the part worth understanding. Go Cougs.
WSU Takes Health Care to a Spokane Elementary School Hallway
A pediatrician's office inside an elementary school hallway. That's what WSU just opened in Spokane, and it might be the most practical thing the university has done in a while. It's the first off-campus clinic WSU has ever run, and they put it where the kids already are. No extra drive. No missing class for a checkup. Just walk down the hall. This is the kind of work that doesn't make the highlight reel, but it matters more than most. Pullman and Spokane share a region where health care access is spotty, and WSU's medical school has been pushing into that gap for years. A clinic in an elementary school is exactly the sort of low-flash, high-impact move you'd expect from a land-grant university that still remembers what "service" means. It also fits with the way WSU has been showing up lately. Over at the State Fair, they spent a century's worth of Washington farm history telling people where their food comes from. That's the same instinct. Not just teaching or researching, but putting the work where people live. If you want to see the full picture of how WSU operates outside the classroom, check out our piece on the fair. It pairs well with this story. Both are about showing up, not just showing off. Go Cougs.
WSU study finds the right tone makes AI fact-checks actually stick
Not everyone wants a robot to talk to them like a robot. WSU just proved it with a study on AI fact-checks. Turns out, the tone matters as much as the truth. Some people want neutral, no-nonsense corrections. Others need a little empathy before they'll actually listen. That's not soft stuff, that's strategy. If you're trying to correct bad info, the delivery is half the battle. WSU researchers found that matching the tone to the person makes the fact-check stick. Neutral for the logic-first crowd. Empathetic for the folks who need to feel heard before they'll reconsider. It's obvious when you think about it, but it's the kind of obvious that nobody bothered to prove until now. This is classic WSU work. Practical. Grounded. Not chasing headlines, just solving real problems. It fits right alongside the kind of research we've been covering, like that study on Tanzanian dogs staying safer with a smarter shot schedule. Different subject, same ethos: test the assumption, prove what works, and put it to use. The takeaway here is simple. Facts alone don't change minds. The right tone does. Go Cougs.
WSU puts AI to work on human health, no hype required
WSU just dropped a new AI project, and for once, nobody is trying to sell you a flying car. The university is putting artificial intelligence to work on human health, and the pitch is refreshingly simple: make people better, not just buzzwords. True to the land-grant mission, they're also aiming this tech at health equity and outreach. That means the same algorithms that can spot a disease pattern might also help a rural clinic reach patients who don't have broadband. That's Pullman thinking, solve the problem where it lives. We've seen this kind of grounded innovation before. If you read our piece on the Cosmic Crisp® apple, you know how one crop changed the economy around here. That same no-nonsense, Coug-built approach is alive in the AgWeatherNet system, where AI turns farm data into real action without needing a postcard sunrise to make it work. Now it's health's turn. No hype. Just WSU doing what it does: take a tool, point it at a real need, and let the results speak. This is the kind of story you text a friend who still brags about the Cougs. It's not flashy. It's useful. And it's ours. Go Cougs.
BECU pod goes behind the scenes with two WSU athletics staffers
BECU's latest pod isn't another highlight reel. It takes you behind the desk with two WSU athletics staffers, the people who keep things running while the rest of us watch the scoreboard. That's the kind of content I actually want to hear. Pullman works because of the people who stay late, answer emails at odd hours, and figure out how to get 85 guys on a bus. This pod gives them the mic. We don't always get to see that side. Most of the coverage is about the players, the coaches, the final play. This one is about the operation. It's a reminder that Cougar athletics doesn't run on talent alone. It runs on people who treat it like a calling, not a job. I'm glad BECU is telling that story. If you want more from this week's Cougar coverage, check out "Kirby Moore breaks down Fresno State tape on this week's Cougar Football Hour." It pairs well with this pod. One looks at the game plan. The other looks at the people making the plan possible. Go Cougs.
WSU's old reactor know-how is writing the next chapter
The old WSU nuclear reactor in the basement of the Dodgen Research Facility hasn't been critical since the early 2000s, but its brain trust never really left the building. Now that brain trust is writing the next chapter. Washington State University is stepping back into the nuclear conversation, this time with the kind of know-how you only get from decades of hands-on work. The reactor may be shut down, but the expertise isn't. WSU will help shape what comes next for nuclear energy, building on a foundation most schools can't claim. This isn't a flashy pivot. It's a return to something Pullman has always done well: work that matters, quietly, and then suddenly everyone notices. It fits a pattern across this university. The WSU College of Nursing just reported that nearly half its students are first-generation, and they're built different. That's not a coincidence. WSU pulls from communities that show up ready to work, whether it's in a hospital or a research lab. The nuclear story deserves your attention. It's not about nostalgia for the old reactor. It's about what that experience makes possible now. When the country needs answers on clean energy, WSU already has the people who know the questions. 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.
New WSU study: Cannabis ads are shaping how young adults think about sex
A new WSU study found that cannabis ads are doing exactly what you'd expect: shaping how young adults think about sex. The research suggests these advertisements, which link weed with intimacy and romance, are influencing people's intentions to use the drug before sex. That has real implications for sexual decision-making and consent. It's not a shocker, but it's good to have the data. WSU researchers are asking the kind of questions that matter in the real world, not just in a lab. This isn't the only Coug research looking at how everyday stuff affects our bodies. Another recent WSU study found that the microscopic organisms on a baby's skin might tip off researchers to early allergies. Two different studies, same instinct: pay attention to what's really going on beneath the surface. As for the cannabis-and-sex study, we all know advertising works. That's why companies spend billions on it. But when the product being sold can mess with your judgment in intimate situations, the stakes get higher. The study doesn't tell you what to do. It just lays out what's happening. Read it, think about it, and maybe look twice at the next ad that makes a joint look like a love potion. Go Cougs.
WSU's vet hospital treats animals from emergency to rehab and home again
Your dog ate something it shouldn't have. Your cat took a bad fall. The horse colicked at midnight. Where do you go? For a lot of us, the answer has always been the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital. It's not just an emergency room for the Palouse's four-legged residents. It's the whole deal, from the moment an animal rolls in scared and hurting, through surgery and treatment, all the way to the day it goes home. That continuum of care matters. It means the same team that stabilized your pet knows what happened in the middle of the night, and they're the ones guiding the recovery. It's a level of trust you can't fake. This is the kind of work Washington State does quietly, year after year, without a lot of fanfare. The same place patching up a ranch dog is training the next generation of veterinarians. It's practical. It's necessary. And it's pure Pullman. If you want to see another side of that same WSU grit, we've got a story about our scientists digging in to save honey bees from the brink. Same university. Different species. Same stubborn refusal to let things die. Go Cougs.
WSU digs into Alaska dirt and finds soil warming faster than we thought
Alaska is warming faster than most of the planet. That much we knew. But WSU researchers just dropped a number that should make you sit up straighter in your chair: the soil up there is heating up even quicker than we thought. That dirt isn't just frozen ground. It holds more carbon than all the trees on Earth combined. When it thaws, that carbon doesn't stay put. It becomes methane and CO2, which makes the planet warmer, which thaws more soil. You see the loop. This is the kind of work that doesn't make a highlight reel, but it matters more than most touchdowns. WSU has been digging into Alaska for years, and this latest research confirms what some of us feared: the permafrost timeline is tighter than we hoped. It's not a future problem. It's happening now. If you want to see how WSU scientists do this kind of gritty, ground-level work, check out our piece on how they're fighting to save honey bees from collapse. Same stubborn attention to detail. Same refusal to look away from a hard problem. Pullman is a long way from the Yukon, but the science coming out of this place reaches every frozen corner of the map. That's worth a pause. Go Cougs.
Four Cougs close out Cougar Classic with singles wins on home courts
The four Cougs who closed out the Cougar Classic with singles wins on home courts did exactly what you want to see from a team playing in front of its own crowd: they finished. Tennis is a grind, and winning the last match of a long weekend is harder than it looks. These four made it look straightforward. That matters for momentum, and it matters for the kind of confidence you carry into a road trip. Speaking of road trips: if you missed the earlier piece on the Cougs grinding out a 1-1 draw at Cal State Fullerton, go find it. That kind of gritty result on the road is the same stubbornness you saw on the home courts this weekend. Different sport, same mentality. Pullman is not an easy place to play for visitors. The altitude, the travel, the quiet. Our players know how to use that. The Cougar Classic is our tournament, and closing it out with singles wins sends a clear message: this is our house. It is not flashy. It is not a headline grabber. It is just good, solid Cougar tennis. The kind that stacks up over a season. Go Cougs.
Rural schools swap diesel for sun, and the whole town breathes easier
A school district in rural America looked at its diesel bill, looked at the sun, and made a choice. Now the whole town is breathing easier. A program is swapping diesel generators for solar panels in rural schools, cutting costs and keeping money in communities that cannot afford to lose a dime. It is not a pilot project or a grant that runs out in two years. It is a real shift in how these towns power the place where their kids learn. That matters more than most people realize. Pullman knows something about energy that does not come from a pipeline. Washington State University has been deep in nuclear research since before most of us were born, and that old know-how is writing the next chapter. If you want to see how that legacy connects to the work coming out of land-grant schools, we have a piece on WSU's reactor history that is worth your time. This is not a story about one school getting a grant. It is about a model that works. Fewer fumes. Lower bills. Stronger towns. That is the kind of win you do not need to spin. Go Cougs.
AI Scans the Wild in Days, Not Months, and Pullman Helped Build It
Wildlife cameras catch everything, a lynx slipping through a creek bed, a bear scratching a tree, a herd of elk moving at dusk. Then somebody has to sort through the thousands of photos. That used to take months. Now it takes days, and Pullman helped build the tool that made it happen. WSU researchers trained artificial intelligence to scan trail-camera images and identify species in a fraction of the time. That is not a small efficiency gain. It is the difference between a biologist getting a report before the snow melts or after the grant runs out. Faster data means faster decisions about habitat, migration, and fire recovery. The kind of work that actually keeps wild places wild. This is the same kind of applied thinking that shows up in our other coverage, like the Coug researchers betting AI can crack the snowpack riddle for Northwest farms. That story digs into how machine learning is taking on a multibillion-dollar question for agriculture. Same instinct. Different problem. Both built by people who know what happens when you wait too long for an answer. Pullman does not always get credit for the tech coming out of it. This one deserves some. A tool that speeds up conservation work by months? That is worth a text to a friend. Go Cougs.
WSU researchers take on the nightmares PTSD leaves behind
Nightmares from PTSD don't just mess with your sleep. They rewrite how you see the world when your eyes are open. WSU researchers are digging into that, trying to figure out how to treat the specific kind of terror that keeps replaying in someone's head long after the trauma is over. This isn't about bad dreams you shake off over coffee. This is the kind that leaves you afraid to close your eyes. The work matters because too many treatments treat PTSD like a single lump of symptoms. Nightmares are their own beast. They have their own triggers, their own damage, and they need their own solutions. WSU is stepping into that gap, and honestly, it's the kind of research that makes you proud to be a Coug. Not because of a scoreboard. Because somebody in Pullman is trying to give people their nights back. If this sounds like the same university that opened a clinic in a Spokane elementary school hallway, it is. That story ran here too, and it fits. WSU keeps finding ways to meet people where they actually live. That's the land-grant mission with its sleeves rolled up. So yeah, read up on the nightmare research. Then think about what it means to be a school that takes on both a proper tailgate and a proper medical problem. Go Cougs.
Kirby Moore Breaks Down the Offense After Arizona
Kirby Moore sat down after the Arizona game and didn't sugarcoat anything. He broke down the offense the way you'd expect from a guy who spent his Saturday watching his unit grind through a Pac-12 road game. No excuses. Just film, mechanics, and what needs to click. That's the kind of talk Pullman actually respects. Moore walked through the adjustments, the reads, and the moments where the Cougs either hit or missed. It wasn't a victory lap. It was a coach who knows the margin between a good drive and a stalled one is smaller than a play call sheet. If you watched that game and wondered why certain routes looked open but the ball didn't go there, Moore answers that. He doesn't hide behind jargon. This is the stuff that doesn't make the highlight reel but makes the difference in November. If you want the full picture from Tucson, we already had a piece on the things that won't show up in a box score. Moore's breakdown fits right next to it. Read them together. That's where the real story lives. The offense is still finding its rhythm. Moore knows it. The players know it. But hearing him talk through it, you get the sense he trusts what he sees. That matters more than a clean stat line. Go Cougs.
Cougs clean up the pitch in a Seattle U tune-up
Four goals. A clean sheet. And a crisp tune-up against Seattle U that felt more like a statement than a scrimmage. The Cougs handled business on the pitch, and they did it without a lot of drama. That's the kind of afternoon you want when the schedule starts stacking up. You come in, you do the work, you leave with a zero in the opponent's column. Nothing flashy. Just solid. And honestly? That's the kind of Cougar soccer that travels well. It's not always about the highlight reel. Sometimes it's about making the other team run out of answers before halftime. If you want to dig into how the coaching staff is seeing things beyond the scoreboard, we've got you covered. Our piece on **Kirby Moore breaking down the Cougar win and what it took to get there** gets into the kind of detail you don't catch from the bleachers. But for now, take the win. Take the shutout. And take a breath before the next one. Go Cougs.
Fresno State couldn't slow the Cougs in a clean road win
Fresno State came to Pullman and found out the hard way: this Cougar team is not messing around. The road win was clean, controlled, and exactly what you want to see when the lights are on and the other side is supposed to be a test. It wasn't flashy in a way that makes a highlight reel, but it was steady. That matters. The defense did its job. The offense did enough. And the whole operation looked like a group that has been through the grinder before and knows how to close. For a program that spent years trying to find its footing in the late hours of close games, this kind of win feels different. It feels like the Cougs are learning how to win, not just hoping to. If you want the deeper look at how the offensive mind is working right now, go read "Kirby Moore Breaks Down the Offense After Arizona." It fits right alongside this one. Moore has been quietly putting together a unit that doesn't panic, and that showed again on Saturday. This is the kind of Saturday that makes you glad you stayed up. Or got up early. Or checked your phone in the middle of something you should have been paying attention to. The Cougs took care of business on the road. That is all you can ask. Go Cougs.
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.
Your smartphone pics just helped WSU track grass genetics
You took a picture of a pretty field on a hike, and somewhere in a lab on the Palouse, a scientist just used it to map grass genes. That is not a joke. WSU researchers took genetic data from switchgrass fields and cross-referenced it with photos posted by nature lovers, your smartphone pics, essentially, to track how flowering times change with the seasons. It is the kind of work that sounds too simple to be real science, but it is real, and it is clever. Switchgrass matters for bioenergy, but tracking its bloom across the country takes boots on the ground or, in this case, cameras in pockets. The researchers figured out that the public already had the data they needed. They just had to ask. This is the kind of story that makes you proud to be a Coug. It is not flashy. It is not a football highlight. It is a bunch of people looking at the world differently and sharing what they find. WSU does that a lot. If you want to see more of that same stubborn, practical problem-solving, check out our piece on how rural schools are swapping diesel for sun, the whole town breathes easier when the bus fleet goes solar. Same spirit, different field. Go Cougs.
Riley's Third Year Brings 11 Road Games and a Jan. 3 Tip in Fresno
David Riley's third season is here, and the schedule is a doozy. Eleven nonconference games away from Pullman. That's the most since 1973-74, and it tells you exactly what athletic directors and coaches are dealing with in this new Pac-12. Money matters. You don't stack that many road games unless you have to. The conference slate starts Jan. 3 in Fresno. That feels weird, but it's real. And for the first time since 1917, there is no regular-season game against Washington. None. They'll play an exhibition in Seattle on Oct. 25, which is better than nothing, but it's not the same. There are bright spots. Gonzaga comes to Beasley on Jan. 6, a Wednesday during winter break. That's a weird time for a game, but it's still Gonzaga in Pullman. And the Cougs host Kirkland on Nov. 14, their first non-D-I opponent at home since 2015. That's a rarity worth noting. The middle of the schedule is a grind. Three of four on the road, including trips to Boise State, Colorado State, and Utah State. Then a brutal February stretch with Gonzaga and San Diego State on the road in the same week. That's a gut check. If you want a different kind of Cougar story, check out "For the Leaupepetele brothers, Sunday dinner looks a lot different now." It's a good reminder that the people around this program are as interesting as the scores. 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.
WSU study: hedgehog virus jumps to cats but spares humans
A hedgehog sneezes in a Pullman lab, and a cat somewhere else catches something. That is not a joke. That is a new WSU study tracking how a virus common in hedgehogs made the jump into domestic cats. The good news for us two-legged types: it does not appear to pose much of a threat to humans. The research team figured out the mechanism of the crossover, which is the kind of science that sounds dry until you realize it means we understand a little better how diseases move between species. Hedgehogs are not exactly rare around here, and cats are everywhere. So knowing this one is not coming for us is a relief. But it is also a reminder that the animal world is always talking to itself, and sometimes we are just eavesdropping. If you want to see where else WSU researchers are poking at real-world problems, check out the piece on the Pullman lab aiming a nanoparticle at endometriosis. That one is closer to human trials. Different disease, same stubborn refusal to let a hard problem sit. 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.
Cantwell on AI: WSU's job is making it useful, not just flashy
Betsy Cantwell walked into the AI conversation and did what a Coug president should do: she asked what it's actually for. While the rest of the world chases the flashiest demo or the biggest headline, Cantwell says WSU's job is making artificial intelligence useful. Not impressive. Useful. That distinction matters, and it sounds like Pullman. She's talking about AI that serves the people who grow our food, treat our patients, and teach our kids. Not another chatbot that writes poetry. This is the kind of thinking that keeps a land-grant university honest. You don't need a billion-dollar lab to ask the right question: does this thing work for the people who need it most? Cantwell seems to think the answer starts with application, not hype. It fits neatly alongside the kind of work we see around here. Take the new WSU study on cannabis ads and how they shape what young adults think about sex. That's not flashy either. It's a researcher looking at a real thing in the real world and telling us what it means. That's the same muscle Cantwell is flexing. We don't need to pretend WSU is Stanford. We never have. What we need is a president who knows the difference between a demo and a difference. Go Cougs.