Sep. 1—PULLMAN — Whenever Jake Dickert sat down to watch the replay of his Washington State team’s 70-30 win over Portland State on Saturday, a blowout win for the Cougars to kick off the new season, he probably liked most of what he saw.
His new starting quarterback, redshirt sophomore John Mateer, totaled six touchdowns on 352 passing yards. His leading rusher was a true freshman, Wayshawn Parker, who used a 96-yard outing to log the most rushing yards by a WSU running back in two years. Plus, the Cougs’ offensive line kept Mateer upright all game, allowing just two pressures.
All those things matter. They’re awfully encouraging for 1-0 Washington State, which will need those trends to keep up in its next two games against Texas Tech and Washington. They shouldn’t be discounted in any way.
“That’s John Mateer football,” Dickert said. “I think you saw it on full display, what he’s capable of doing. He’ll probably be nitpicky about his performance and wanna be better, and that’s what I love about John. Credit to the offense. Credit to John. Credit to coach (Ben) Arbuckle and our staff.”
But Dickert is a defensive guy, and his defense gave up 30 points to an FCS school picked to finish 10th in its conference this season. Vikings starting quarterback Dante Chachere totaled three touchdowns. Backup William Haskell added one. Portland State logged 215 rushing yards, including runs of 54 yards and 27 yards, helping the visitors churn out an average of 4.5 yards per rush.
If those are the only two big plays the Cougs give up next week when Texas Tech comes to town, they might like their chances. But WSU permitted those numbers to Portland State, which hadn’t scored that many points against an FBS foe since a 2021 loss to Hawaii. It might get lost in the shuffle of the WSU offense’s 70-point outing, but its defense showed…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/wsu-rewind-season-opening-rout-035900346.html
Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
Publish date : 2024-09-02 03:59:00
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