Sep. 28—The vibes, they are better.
It is amazing how the light changes after a win. The brooks babble, the songbirds sing, even the crusty old newspaper columnists admit they were wrong.
Well, OK, sometimes we are too hyperbolic. No “my bads” will be forthcoming in this week’s WSU football screed.
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But four games into coach Jimmy Rogers’ tenure as Washington State’s head football coach I am willing to acknowledge a few errors in my initial evaluation. The first is that he has proven to be capable of reflection, correction, and adaption.
In the build-up to his first season at the FBS level, having achieved great success coaching small college football, he made a few moves that struck me as indicative of someone set in his approach who would find difficulty adjusting when his team ran into trouble against better athletes and better coaches than he was used to facing.
The first was the sheer number of players Rogers brought with him to WSU from South Dakota State (16), and 13 freshmen who were committed to the Jackrabbits but subsequently signed with the Cougars.
I acknowledge Rogers had to rebuild a roster in short order, that there is merit to having experienced players who know his system and are bought in, even at the expense of some athletic ability, and all of that. But it means that WSU is going into games, and will be for the near future, with a roster substantially composed of players who did not receive scholarship offers from WSU’s opponents.
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Unless Rogers runs off the guys he brought to Pullman that did not perform well this year, which is kind of how it goes these days, the Cougars are looking at a talent deficit compared to their FBS opponents.
My next concern was the very dubious call to have the quarterbacks go live in preseason practices — to let defenders hit them as if it was a game. The Cougars need to find an edge over their opponents, and want to emphasize toughness. Fine. But there is a reason nobody else does this, and if any conspiracy theorists want to posit that some of the quarterback juggling early in the season was due to unknown injuries at the position, well, I’ve heard dumber ideas.
Third is the insistence on running the ball. Coach, this ain’t that team. More on that later.
Finally, plenty has been written about the puzzling decision to start Jaxon Potter over Zevi Eckhaus. To supplant a player with a long track record of success, including against good teams in big games, the other player needed to be superlatively more talented. That does not seem to be the case.
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If the plan was to get young guy experience, sorry, this season is way too important for establishing the program, giving recruits a reason to come, using as a springboard for when new conference begins play next season.
But to Roger’s credit he changed course and made Eckhaus the starting quarterback, and just in time. In starts against Washington and Colorado State it is clear Eckhaus brings a dynamism and consistency to WSU’s offense that keeps the Cougars on track and makes them much harder to get off the field.
He is a quarterback reminiscent of the Mike Leach years, spreading the ball around to a high number of pass-catchers and taking the easy, available pass to a receiver in space. The next adjustment Rogers should make is to put the ball in his hands even more.
It is clear listening to Rogers describe his theory of football that the coach would prefer to establish a strong running game in order to set up the pass. Maybe Potter, with his stronger arm, was intended to take advantage of defenses that creep to close to the line of scrimmage in order to defend the run game.
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What run game? The Cougars are effectively giving away plays at this point every time they call a running back’s number. It is true Leo Pululasi had an exciting 45-yard scamper against Colorado State, but unfortunately it was an outlier. Otherwise the running backs are averaging just under 3.7 yards per carry.
The back with the most carries, Angel Johnson, is averaging a hard-to-believe 1.8 yards per rush. Coaches insist that he is a threat to take one to the house every time he touches the ball, but they can’t wait all season.
Even when things were not going well for the Cougars, they managed to avoid major consequences. Rogers’ team looks much better than it did against in the opener against Idaho. The team has the right quarterback, is getting the ball to its best playmakers, and with a 3-2 record it is tough to say any missteps cost the Cougars a game they should have won.
Upcoming games at No. 4 Ole Miss and No. 24 Virginia could go south literally and figuratively. But Rogers has proven that he and his staff can scout themselves and have a winning first year in Pullman.
