WSU wins Battle of the Palouse

Coming into Saturday at Gesa Field in Pullman, The most optimistic Vandal fans or pessimistic Cougar fans couldn’t have predicted the game that would ensue.

Washington State ended up winning the game 24-17. But the game being competitive was the story of the night for many fans. Despite the result, Cougars’ head coach Jake Dickert was adamant that his team is not hitting the panic button after the near-loss.

“There’s positives,” Dickert said. “I’m not freaking out, no one’s freaking out. This team will come prepared and ready to work because there’s a lot of things to learn from this film.”

The Vandals haven’t beat the Cougars since Sept. 23, 2000, also the last time the game has been within a single possession between the two teams.

The cross-state rivalry has become less frequent in football since Idaho’s move from the FBS to the FCS, but that hasn’t stopped WSU from dominating the Vandals, winning the last two games in 2016 and 2013 by a combined 98-6.

And despite both teams having new head coaches and quarterbacks, Dickert and Cameron Ward for WSU and Jason Eck and Gevani McCoy for Idaho, there was no reason to think that this game would be any different.

The Cougars have two preseason first-team All-Pac-12 selections in defensive lineman Ron Stone Jr. and kicker Dean Janikowski and more All-Pac-12 honorable mention honorees in wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling, defensive lineman Brennan Jackson, linebacker Daiyan Henley, punter Nick Haberer and defensive backs Armani Marsh and Derrick Langford.

The talent and depth advantage on WSU compared to Idaho was not a question, which made the result even more of a surprise.

The Cougars went into halftime tied with the Vandals 10-10 after being down 10-0 early in the game. WSU went on to score 14 points in the second half to take a 24-10 lead before Idaho responded with a touchdown pass with 6:05 left in the game.

The Cougars brought the ball down to Idaho’s six-yard line, but missed a chip-shot field goal to give Idaho one final possession to tie (or win) the game with 53 seconds left and no timeouts.

The WSU defense held, with Henley intercepting a pass from new Vandals starter McCoy in the endzone to end the game.

“Just bad play all-around,” Ward said on the offense’s early performance. “From myself, to the receivers, to the o-line. I feel like we need to take ownership in that. We can’t have turnovers on offense. That’s what holds this offense back, and just negative plays and turnovers. Once we get that corrected, you’ll see a new offense for sure.”

Ward finished the game with 25 completions on 40 attempts for 215 yards and three touchdowns and was sacked three times in the game, finishing with five rushes for 18 yards.

The offense fumbled the ball three times to Idaho, with one being recovered and returned for a touchdown by Idaho cornerback Marcus Harris.

There was much offseason hype around the return of the Air Raid offense for the Cougars. But the running game was the most impressive part of the offense.

Running back Nakia Watson finished the game with 117 rushing yards on 18 carries.

The defense was what ultimately gave Washington State the win, keeping the Vandals off the scoreboard in the second and third quarters and intercepting McCoy twice.

“That’s always the expectation of the defense: keep points off the board,” WSU defensive back Chau Smith-Wade said. “That’s what we expect. Just go out and play, really.”

The Cougars will have a chance to put the offense and the defense together against the Wisconsin Badgers at 12:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 10 in Madison, Wisc.