Christian Caple’s Keys to the WSU-EWU Game

Washington State’s defense may have allowed too many big plays and a few too many yards, but the Cougars kept Eastern Washington from scoring for most of the second half. They sacked EWU’s Kyle Padron four times, hurried him several others and forced him to throw more incompletions than completions.

The big plays were almost killer. Nolan Washington lost a one-on-one matchup that allowed Brandon Kaufman to snag a 93-yard touchdown pass, and busted coverage on a play-action led to a 40-yard gain that set up Eastern’s second touchdown. WSU’s offense also failed to finish a number of promising drives, especially late.

Andrew Furney’s 60-yard field goal as time expired in the first half. It put WSU ahead by 10 points, a lead the Cougars maintained for nearly the rest of the game. And it injected some life into a sellout crowd that was growing restless as the Cougars struggled to gain separation.

Isiah Myers made a pair of nice catches to record the first two touchdowns of his career. In his first collegiate start, outside linebacker Cyrus Coen had an interception that led to a touchdown, recorded three tackles (all solo) and was a nuisance when rushing the passer. Jeff Tuel was sharper, too, completing 20 of 26 passes for 171 yards.