A (Slightly) Too Early Opponent Preview: Washington State Cougars
Say what you will about Mike Leach — and you can say quite a bit about him and his personal life — he has flipped Washington State in his seven seasons in Pullman. It took a few years to clean up the mess Paul Wulff left when he was fired in 2011. And after going 12-25 combined his first three seasons, Leach and the Cougars have combined for 37-15 over the past four seasons, highlighted by two Pac-12 COY awards for Leach and a school-record 11-win season last year.
After four years of improved play, it looks like Wazzu is set for a down year compared to last year, as they are projected favorites in seven games in ESPN’s Football Power Index, and favorites in nine games in the S&P+ projections.
It’s hard to know if there has been a better grad transfer QB-coach marriage before. Gardner Minshew — in style and football prowess — was a perfect match for Leach and vice versa. Throwing to a relatively green group of receivers — out of the Cougs top ten pass catchers, only one was a senior — Minshew was able to huck it for damn-near 5,000 yards at a 71% completion clip. In an offensive scheme known for its high volume of passing, even those are some video game-esque numbers.
And in 2019, Leach will try to perform an encore with Gage Gubrud, the Cougs’ graduate transfer QB for this season. But first, Gubrud will have to earn his spot in a crowded QB1 competition that also includes seniors Anthony Gordon and Trey Tinsley as well as former four-star redshirt freshman Cammon Cooper.
Regardless of who gets the job, defenses will have their work cut out for them against a very experienced and talented receiving crew. Leading pass catcher and scorer, Jay Williams is gone, but besides that, pretty much everyone returns. Tay Martin, who caught 69 passes for 685 yards last season is back. As is Dezmon Patmon, who had a team-high 816 yards on 61 catches. Max Borghi and Easop Winston also both caught more than 50 passes last season. Along with Patmon, Winston is the other big-play receiver who has scorched defenses in the past. Winston and Martin each had eight TDs to lead all receivers last year.
Besides torching defenses with the Air Raid, the Cougs defense was also supremely deft at protecting the QB. The Cougs sack rate was best in the nation last year and return four out of five members of their offensive line.
Leading rusher James Williams left early for the NFL, but this is Wazzu and Leach we’re talking about. There’s not going to be a lot of rushing.
On defense, it was Tracy Claey’s first year as lead coordinator for the Cougars. After about three years of consistent improvement, last year’s Wazzu defense was thoroughly inconsistent. They were pretty solid at defending the pass and putting pressure on QBs, but pretty horrible defending the run, and awful once opponents made it to the Red Zone.
Leading tackler, Peyton Pelluer graduated last year and is gone. But All-Pac-12 Conference Honorable Mention inside linebacker, Jahad Woods returns, who recorded 82 tackles and three sacks last season returns. Also returning are Willie Taylor III, Dominic Silvels, and Will Rodgers III, each of which recorded at least four sacks last season.
It seems like the defense could flip-flop strengths this year. They have an experienced and proven group of ends and linebackers, but the DB crew is comparatively unproven. An already thin returning cast took a major hit about a month ago when All-Conference safety Jalen Thompson lost his final year of eligibility for an NCAA violation. A lot will now fall on the shoulders of Skyler Thompson, who as a safety recorded 76 tackles last season.
Projection: Cal Bears 30, Wazzu Cougars 10
The Cougs got super lucky against the Bears last season. It was their worst offensive performance of the year and that could be the same this year. Despite this being projected as a bit of a tossup game, look for the Bears — with a chip on their shoulder from last season — to make quick work of the Cougs in Berkeley.