The Washington State Cougars picked up a much-needed win at home over the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 28-3 to get back to a .500 record and pull within a win of bowl eligibility.
Coming out of their final bye week of the season, WSU (5-5) scored 14 points in both halves and got a brilliant performance out of their defense that nearly shut out LA Tech (5-5). Both of WSU’s second-half scoring drives were the results of long, sustained touchdown drives that took up a combined 15:53 of game time.
Advertisement
LA Tech had a total of 10 possessions. They only crossed midfield on three of them and came away with points once, thanks in part to a WSU penalty. The average drive for the Bulldogs lasted only five plays and went 17 yards. While WSU may not have gotten the turnovers or racked up the tackle for loss or sack numbers, they flat out suffocated the Bulldog offense. The longest play of the day for the Bulldogs was a 17-yard run and they only had one pass go for 15+ yards.
WSU had to sit on their disappointing loss to the Oregon State Beavers for two weeks. A game in which their defense dominated for nearly the entire game and gave their offense ample opportunities to separate from a one-win Beaver team. Instead, the offense fluttered, and the defense could only be heroic for so long before eventually letting one through and losing 10-7. This week, the defense was even more dominant, and the offense was able to put together long scoring drives in the second half that allowed them to get that separation they had been searching for.
The Bulldogs opened the game with the ball, converted their first third-down attempt, but failed on the second try from their own 48. LA Tech sent out the punt team but nearly caught the Cougs by surprise as their punter attempted a pass to a seemingly open Marlion Jackson. However, Kayo Patu made an incredible leaping deflection in coverage to force an incompletion and a turnover on downs.
With the gift of a short field for their opening drive, WSU slowly marched their way down with a combined five rushing attempts from Zevi Eckhaus and Kirby Vorhees. On 3rd and 10, from the Bulldog 26, Eckhaus feathered in a perfect ball between the second and third level defenders to a crossing Josh Meredith for a 26-yard touchdown pass.
After the teams traded punts, WSU’s defense again kept the Bulldogs from crossing midfield and forced their second punt of the game. With Freeman back to return, he watched the ball take a hop in the air before hauling it in. As he looked up the field, he saw the seas part in front of him, and he used his elite speed to take off. Dashing his way through an open field and past Bulldog defenders, Freeman took the return all the way to the Bulldog 17 before finally being caught. WSU again took advantage of the short field — though it did take a 4th and 1 conversion to keep it alive — going up 14-0 with a seven-yard keeper from Eckhaus.
The 17 yards gained on the drive, however, would account for more than half of the 32 yards WSU’s offense got in the second quarter on three possessions. With 1:32 remaining in the first half, the Bulldogs tried to put together a last-minute drive to get some points before the half. An 11-yard catch and run by Clay Thevenin pushed the Bulldogs across midfield to the WSU 38. After a spike and an incompletion, with no timeouts and nine seconds on the clock, LA Tech decided to try their luck with a 56-yard field goal attempt, despite missing from 47 yards out earlier in the game. Before long-distance kicker John Hoyet could see the ball set for him to kick, WSU’s Kenny Worthy mistimed the snap trying to get around to block the kick and was offsides. Hoyet’s very wide missed field goal was waved off, and LA Tech would get another try at it. Drew Henderson came on in relief and kicked the ball pure through the middle of the uprights from 51 yards out to make the score 14-3 at half.
Advertisement
WSU’s offensive woes continued into the second half as they could only muster 28 yards on 11 plays, resulting in back-to-back punts to open the final 30 minutes. Thankfully for the Cougar offense, their defense continued to dominate. The defense held LA Tech to six yards on their first six plays of the half for two punts of their own. It’s what WSU’s defense had been able to do all night, really. The Bulldogs were limited to 3.4 yards per play in the first half.
Throughout the season, WSU’s offense has been incredibly stagnant at times when leading. It was evident last week when they took an early lead against Oregon State but failed to produce offensively after that. It’s been a struggle to find that fine line between not putting the ball in harm’s way to protect their lead while still remaining aggressive enough to extend their lead. What they have been desperately searching for is that long, meticulous drive that ended in extending their lead.
With the ball back in their hands and 6:49 remaining in the third quarter, it was finally time for WSU’s offense to reward their hard-working defense. Play by play, inch by inch, WSU grinded their way forward. Facing a 4th and 1 from the Bulldog 28-yard line, Eckhaus kept the ball on a keeper out of shotgun, found a lane, and hit a nice spin move to break free for a 16-yard rush. Another keeper from Eckahus and an offsides penalty on LA Tech sent WSU into the final frame with the ball at the six-yard line. After back-to-back carries from Angel Johnson to get WSU to the one-yard line, Eckhaus punctuated the drive with an assist from Leckner on the tush push touchdown. In total, a 14-play, 66-yard drive that ate up a big 8:19 of the game clock.
Even with a now three-possession lead in the fourth quarter, this one was still far from over. Entering tonight’s contest, LA Tech had a +40 point differential in the fourth quarter. A defensive pass interference on WSU, followed up by two big runs from Andrew Burnette quickly had the Bulldogs in Cougar territory. But a chop block on 1st and 10 from the WSU 12 put the reverse lights on for the Bulldogs best drive of the game. Two plays later, facing 3rd and 25, Trey Kukuk threw the ball right into the waiting arms of WSU’s Colby Humphrey for the Cougars second interception of the season.
Advertisement
With a chance to ice the game away, the Cougars used a perfect balance of run and pass to again grind their way down the field and take the game into the two-minute timeout. Smelling blood in the water, Vorhees delivered the dagger with a 19-yard run straight up the middle to run the Cougars back into the win column.
The defense absolutely shut down the Bulldog offense. If it wasn’t for an offsides penalty trying to block a 56-yard field goal, they very well could have shut them out. The Bulldogs finished with just 3.3 yards per play and 167 total yards of offense, only 48 of those yards in the second half. WSU’s defense finished with a trio of sacks, 1.5 coming from big Malaki Ta’ase.
A much-needed win out of the bye for WSU to get the stench of the loss to OSU that had lingered for two weeks off of them. It sets them up one win away from bowl eligibility with two to play. Their first opportunity to clinch a bowl game in the Jimmy Rogers won’t come easy as they travel to Harrisonburg, Virginia to play the ranked James Madison Dukes, who are rumored to be welcoming in College Gameday for the game.
