Nov. 16—PULLMAN — Somewhere along the line, sometime around when Washington State’s defense began to make these scintillating showings look normal, a certain feeling hung over the entire operation.
Isn’t this all a bit routine?
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The Cougars’ defense held San Diego State to 13 points. Limited Colorado State to just three. Gave up 20 to Virginia, seven to Toledo, 10 to Oregon State and now only three to Louisiana Tech, kickstarting a compelling trend: In their last four games, WSU defenders are yielding an average of 10 points per game.
It’s a long season, so maybe it’s easy to get used to these Cougars stifling anybody and everybody, defanging robust offenses and tormenting opposing quarterbacks. Perhaps you’ve even grown to expect that to unfold when WSU takes the field now. But after the past couple seasons of ramshackle Cougar defenses, which played a key role in those teams falling apart later in seasons, don’t take this unit for granted.
Don’t get used to this WSU defense doing what it did Saturday night in a 28-3 win over Louisiana Tech. In that one, the Cougars came one offside penalty away from pitching a shutout. Instead, they had to settle for holding the opponent without a touchdown, the second time they’ve done so this season. WSU generated three sacks and four tackles for loss, and even though Louisiana Tech was playing without its starting quarterback, it’s not easy to do that to any team, regardless of personnel.
To wit: The Bulldogs managed only 167 total yards of offense — the fewest the Cougars have allowed in a single game in seven years — including only 60 through the air. The visitors picked up only 48 yards in the second half entirely, which included 9 passing yards. Veteran cornerback Colby Humphrey picked off a pass, only the second interception of the season for this WSU defense, which got 11/2 sacks from Malaki Ta’ase, one from Buddha Peleti and a half sack from Isaac Terrell.
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“I think it’s a culture thing,” WSU coach Jimmy Rogers said after the game. “I think it’s wrapping your team’s mind around, your defense’s mind around playing with a certain level of grit and toughness and effort, and expecting to hold people.”
The Cougs’ defense has been so good that it’s almost made you forget about the barrage of injuries that have come its way. Veteran defensive tackle Max Baloun, perhaps the team’s best player at that position, has been out for almost two months with a season-ending injury. His backup, sophomore Kaden Beatty, has been out for roughly the same amount of time. Same for fellow key lineman Mike Sandjo, who has played in only four games. Even senior defensive end Raam Stevenson returned on Saturday after missing the past three-plus games with his own injury.
In the face of all that, WSU’s defense has only looked stellar. Credit players like Darrion Dalton and Bryson Lamb up front, freshman linebacker Sullivan Schlimgen in the middle of the field, safeties like Tucker Large and Matt Durrance, the latter of whom took on an expanded role in the absence of Cale Reeder, a surprise scratch with an undisclosed injury. And senior linebacker Parker McKenna continues to play a steady hand, totaling a team-best six tackles in 50 snaps.
At some point, it feels fair to ask this question: How? How do these Cougar defenders keep churning out such consistently sizzling showings?
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“Just knowing each other’s why,” Humphrey said. “Knowing what other guys are going through, day in and day out, knowing the seniors having two guaranteed games left. So when you know that, it just makes you wanna go harder.”
“Everybody’s doing their job and buying into it,” Rogers added, indicating his defense isn’t doing anything new or surprising to him. “We rotate a lot. We rotate a linebacker. We rotate on the back end. Some young guys are getting reps. The defensive line will switch in and out. We’re able to stay fresh. Coach (Jesse) Bobbitt, the defensive staff have done an unbelievable job. That was a good offense.”
All of which is to say this: WSU defenders have played so well that they tempt you to forget about the caliber of opponents they’ve shined against, about a flood of injuries unlike any that Rogers has experienced in his coaching career.
But no matter the results of these games, no matter how WSU quarterback Zevi Eckhaus is faring, don’t take this Cougar defense for granted. It’s been a while since this program rolled out a defense this good.
