Oct. 31—PORTLAND, Ore. — Jimmy Rogers shook his head and raised his eyebrows, his competitive nature bubbling to the surface. Washington State’s head man was only a couple minutes into his weekly news conference Monday, and he was talking about his group’s road test against Oregon State this weekend.
The question: What’s the challenge of getting your team ready to play an OSU team that’s 1-7?
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Rogers’ response: “Well, we’re 4-4. I don’t know who would be satisfied with 4-4.”
So it goes with Rogers and the Cougars, who are trying their best not to overlook the Beavers, who are slogging through a rotten season. Outside of their seven straight losses to open the season, the only other Pac-12 holdover has fired their head coach, ejected themselves from an agreement with a wonky NIL firm and had to bench their $1.5 million quarterback.
WSU and Oregon State will square off at 4:30 p.m. Saturday on CBS, the second time the Cougars will be playing on that national network this season. This game also comes under exceedingly rare circumstances: WSU and OSU will meet once more this season, on Nov. 30 in Pullman, a measure the teams took to fill out their schedules in their second and final seasons operating outside the confines of a traditional conference setup.
Other than that, it’s just another matchup between the Cougs and Beavs, who have established something of an alliance. They represent the last vestiges of the traditional Pac-12, which collapsed two years ago with the departure of the other 10 schools. To replace them, conference brass have pulled up five Mountain West schools, one Sun Belt team and one WCC school, Gonzaga, for basketball.
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That conference launches next fall. Until then, WSU and OSU will battle only each other for Pac-12 supremacy.
This Saturday, the Cougs will look to slow down what figures to be an unpredictable Beaver offense. In the team’s first win two weeks ago, coaches benched starting quarterback Maalik Murphy, who earned a reported $1.5 million in NIL money to transfer from Duke over the offseason. He didn’t look the part through eight games: He threw only one more touchdown (9) than interceptions (8), and his lack of mobility meant he wasn’t adding much to the Beavers’ offense.
So midway through OSU’s win over FCS Lafayette, coaches swapped Murphy for sophomore Gabarri Johnson, a 5-foot-11 speedster who burned WSU last season. In this win, Johnson completed 7 of 9 passes for 79 yards, one touchdown and one interception, adding six rushes for 82 yards and another score. With his speed and elusiveness, it’s possible he’s more dangerous on the ground. At least he was against WSU last season, when he piled up nearly 50 rushing yards and one touchdown.
Can the Cougars slow Johnson down? It may not be so simple. It’s possible OSU plays Murphy as well in an effort to keep WSU’s defense guessing. Maybe that’s not such a bad approach against the Cougs, whose defense has allowed only 13.5 points in their last four outings. And with breakout star defensive end Isaac Terrell back after missing last week’s game with an undisclosed injury, the group figures to become even sturdier.
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Terrell and WSU’s defense, which has remained staunch up front despite a barrage of injuries, would also do well to disrupt OSU’s ground game. Against Lafayette, running back Anthony Hankerson registered 204 yards rushing and four touchdowns on 25 carries. Add in Johnson’s rushing and 63 yards from freshman running back Cornell Hatcher Jr., the Beavers totaled 365 yards on the ground.
“I think their running back’s really talented,” Rogers said. “They made a change at quarterback that kinda maybe sparked them, as much as there was a lot of attention around Malik Murphy, and I think he’s a good player. I just think as of lately, Anthony Hankerson has stood out. He’s a really good player. And (wide receiver) David Wells is doing a good job, too. They’ve kinda mixed and matched O-linemen. But yeah, they’re big up front, they’re physical, they try to play hard and finish you through the whistle.”
Things may come easier to WSU’s offense, which will go up against an OSU defense that has languished for much of this season. The Beavers are allowing nearly 33 points per game, which ranks No. 119 of 134 FBS teams nationwide. They’re yielding 153 rushing yards per game and nearly 260 passing yards a pop, the latter of which ranks also No. 119 nationally.
Maybe the most important part for the Cougs: Can they avoid turnovers? Quarterback Zevi Eckhaus has racked up five total touchdowns in his last two games, but he’s also tossed four interceptions in that span, one of which really cost his group in a close loss to ACC power Virginia. If not for his team’s defense, his two picks against Toledo could have had the same effect.
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If there’s a way for the Cougars to avoid turnovers, it may be to avoid putting themselves in obvious passing downs. They’ve done a fantastic job of that recently: After a sluggish start on the ground early in the season, they’ve now cleared 100 yards rushing in each of their last four games. Running back Kirby Vorhees has revitalized his team’s rushing attack as the starter, and WSU’s offensive line — shorthanded and playing guys out of position — has laid the foundation.
With a win, the Cougars can draw one victory away from bowl eligibility, which would make the program’s ninth time in the last 10 full seasons making a bowl. After Saturday’s game, here is WSU’s schedule: Home against Louisiana Tech, at James Madison, home against Oregon State. Is there one win in there? The Cougs will try for more — but first is trying to make a 1-7 team 1-8.
