Nov. 2—PULLMAN — There are teams affected by injuries, and then there is whatever in the world has befallen Washington State.
After the Cougars’ 10-7 loss to Oregon State this weekend, it was probably fair to ask all kinds of questions: What happened to WSU’s offense? What was up with Zevi Eckhaus? Why go away from an effective running game on a key third down and land the ball at the right hash, introducing another layer of difficulty for Jack Stevens, who missed a game-tying field goal?
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All of that feels valid to wonder, and much was addressed in this newspaper after the game. But what should not get lost in the mix is this: The Cougars haven’t just been affected by injuries. They have been decimated.
WSU has been able to get by on defense, which should not go understated, but the Cougs’ rough bill of health reared its head on the offensive side of the ball, particularly along their offensive line on Saturday. Let’s list the ailments and adjustments in bullet point form to make things easier to understand.
—Starting right tackle Christian Hilborn has now missed four straight games with an injury.
—His backup, Division II transfer Jaylin Caldwell, has been out since Oct. 18 with his own injury.
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—That prompted left guard Jonny Lester to move to right tackle, his first time playing the position.
—Third-year sophomore Noah Dunham is now playing left guard.
Then, early in Saturday’s game, veteran center Brock Dieu exited with what coach Jimmy Rogers called a foot injury. That led coaches to sub in third-year sophomore Kyle Martin, who was taking his first collegiate snaps. True freshman Trevor Bindel also came off the bench for his collegiate debut, playing 12 snaps in relief of veteran right guard AJ Vaipulu, who was benched for a spell.
All told, this truth emerged from this WSU loss: With those injuries and benching, the Cougars’ offensive line comprised five players who are playing meaningful snaps for the first time at the college level. That includes left tackle Ashton Tripp, a third-year sophomore; Dunham, Martin, Bindel and Lester. The most playing time any of those guys got in previous years came in mop-up duties when games were out of reach.
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That had an outsize effect on the Cougs’ offense, which generated only 96 yards in Saturday’s second half, including going 0 for 7 on third down. Eckhaus, who tossed two interceptions while playing “banged up,” also took six sacks. That was reflected in the grades from Pro Football Focus, which handed WSU a pass-blocking grade of 25.7, and it doesn’t get much worse than that. Lester was dinged for two sacks on five pressures, leading to a pass-blocking grade of 0.0, the lowest possible figure.
Tripp permitted a sack, per PFF, which assigned him a pass-blocking grade of just 53.8. In this vein, if there was anything resembling a silver lining for WSU, it was in Vaipulu, who graded out well with a pass-blocking grade of 70.8. His bigger issue: penalties. He now has seven this fall. Those have cost WSU in big ways.
In all, WSU was called for 10 penalties for 90 yards in Saturday’s game. Slice it however you want, the truth is very few teams are winning games with those numbers.
“Can’t false start, can’t be holding,” Rogers said. “We gotta grow and we gotta get better. That’s a lot of hidden yards there. I think we had more yards than them significantly, and we’re still shooting ourselves in the foot.”
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But just as it’s true that not many teams can win games committing 90 yards’ worth of penalties, it’s also true that not many teams can generate consistent offense with an offensive line plagued by injuries. It was one thing for the Cougs to lose Hilborn, a trusted veteran. It was another to lose Dieu, another seasoned vet who has played a sturdy center all year. Those are WSU’s two best offensive linemen. The rest were inexperienced anyway.
Consider this, too: Wide receiver Devin Ellison has vanished from the Cougars’ rotation entirely. He has played just 19 snaps in two games. Rogers has chalked some of the games Ellison has missed to injury — a heel contusion held him out of the first three, Rogers said, while a gimpy ankle prevented him from playing in another — but now it appears coaches have simply pivoted away from him. He was not seen at Reser Stadium on Saturday.
Ellison was expected to play a key role for the Cougs. A breakout star in the junior college ranks last fall, Ellison turned down offers from finalists Boise State and UCF to commit to WSU last winter. He made a giant splash with that decision. It was viewed as a key acquisition for the Cougs, whose offense would be adding an explosive playmaker with the ability to take the top off a defense.
None of that has panned out for Ellison, whose absence has forced the Cougars to turn to veteran Josh Meredith and junior Tony Freeman at the receiver spots. Those two have acquitted themselves well — they’ve combined for 73 catches for 877 yards and four touchdowns — but they aren’t getting much help. WSU’s next leading receiver is Jeremiah Noga, who has three catches in his last three games, all coming on Saturday.
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Which leads us back to the bigger point: There may be few excuses for scoring just seven points against an OSU defense that entered allowing nearly 33 points per game, but the reality is the Cougars have been hit with devastating injuries at one of football’s most pivotal position groups. When we talk about the Cougs’ offensive struggles, that much is important to note, too.
