Washington State offense posts season lows in most lopsided loss of year, fall 29-6 to Fresno State in LA Bowl

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – In the days leading up to Washington State’s postseason game, it was tough to feel encouraged about the Cougars’ prospects on offense.

This version of the Air Raid system had been hit-and-miss all year, hampered by shaky offensive line play, lack of separation downfield from receivers and a ground game that had been unproductive for most of the schedule – but, to be fair, a rushing attack that started to function effectively down the stretch this season. The Cougars brought in a talented young quarterback, who spent the year finding his footing at the Power Five level.

WSU installed a new offense and needed time to develop it. Overall, there were flashes of promise from the “Coug Raid,” but not nearly enough to convince fans that WSU had figured it out at any point in the year.

After the regular season concluded, the Cougars’ offense went from questionable to downright concerning. Two starting receivers left the team, opting to enter the NCAA transfer portal.

But the most significant blow came less than a week before WSU met Fresno State in the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl. First-year offensive coordinator Eric Morris suddenly departed to North Texas to take the Mean Green’s head coaching job.

That left the Cougars with two assistants, offensive line coach Clay McGuire and receivers coach Joel Filani, in charge of the shorthanded group with less than a week of practice time remaining before the finale.

All that considered, the Cougars’ offense wasn’t exactly producing optimism among the WSU faithful.

In the LA Bowl, it went about as well as you might expect.

The Cougars were held to season lows in points and yards and suffered their most lopsided loss of the year, falling 29-6 to the Bulldogs at SoFi Stadium.

“There was a variety of different reasons,” Cougars coach Jake Dickert said when asked to identify the reasons behind WSU’s offensive stagnation. “I give credit to Fresno State, a team that came in giving up just 20 points per game. They are stout. They are physical.

“I think it was just a rhythm thing. I don’t think we ever got in a rhythm. We never established running the football, which is obviously a key piece to what we want to do.”

WSU’s first four possessions resulted in two punts, a turnover on downs and a safety.

The Cougars (7-6) mustered 19 yards in the first quarter. They had 59 yards by halftime (on an average of 1.84 yards per play) and didn’t get on the board until midway through the third quarter.

The Bulldogs (10-4), the Mountain West Conference champions, opened up a 16-0 lead in the second quarter, went quiet for a while, but responded after the Cougars’ lone score. Fresno State answered with a quick touchdown to all but seal the deal.

McGuire and Filani have plenty of experience in the Air Raid. Still, this was a tall order. Quarterback Cameron Ward also had a lot on his plate. He was asked to function as an on-field coach, but he couldn’t shake the Cougars out of a funk. Ward looked unsettled all afternoon.

He dealt with pressure throughout the game, absorbing six sacks – tied for a single-game season high in sacks surrendered for a WSU offense that gave up 43 this season.

Ward completed 22-of-32 passes for a season-low 137 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.

“(The Bulldogs) gave us some trouble with their blitz looks, but what it came down to was us not executing,” Ward said. “They made good plays, batted the ball down on fourth down (early in the fourth quarter), but we didn’t execute as an offense.

“It wasn’t even the play-calling. It was us, as players. We control everything on the field. We didn’t do that part and that (performance) is on us.”

The Cougars’ ground game was often stuffed at the line of scrimmage. The aerial game, leaning on receiver screens and short routes toward the sidelines, was bottled up.

“All the bubble screens outside and things like that, (the Cougars) make a lot of big plays by throwing those bubble screens and people miss tackles,” Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford said. “But I thought our whole defense tackled really well.”

WSU managed 45 rushing yards on 28 carries (1.6 yards per carry). The Cougars’ 182 total yards marked the team’s lowest output of the year, behind 253 in a Week 2 win at Wisconsin.

Dickert served as defensive coordinator in place of Brian Ward, who left the program earlier this month to take the same job at Arizona State. WSU’s defense played without several key pieces – All-Pac-12 linebacker Daiyan Henley (opt-out), linebackers Francisco Mauigoa and Travion Brown (transfers), lockdown cornerback Chau Smith-Wade (injury) and starting free safety Sam Lockett III (injury).

Asked how the team was affected by the absence of its coordinators, Dickert declined to use the recent coaching shakeup as an excuse.

“To be honest, my mind doesn’t even slip there,” he said. “I thought I chased the pass a little bit too much (early in the game), and we got gassed with the run game.

“I thought the effort level was there. I thought the (defensive) execution was pretty solid. They just had some things that got us. … We just needed to get into a little bit more of a rhythm (on offense) and establish some toughness in this game, which we weren’t able to do.”

The Bulldogs piled up 221 rushing yards on 32 attempts for an average of 6.9 yards per carry. Senior tailback Jordan Mims had 209 yards on 18 rushes, breaking into the open field on several occasions.

“They were using our aggressiveness against us,” WSU edge rusher Brennan Jackson said. “That really opened some holes in the run game.”

Fresno State quarterback Jake Haener, one of the nation’s most efficient QBs, didn’t make many mistakes. The senior completed 24-of-36 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers.

The Bulldogs used several big plays and scored quickly on the game’s opening possession. WSU’s offense faltered, but the Cougars’ defense smoothed out and made back-to-back stops, including a red-zone stand on the Bulldogs’ second series.

WSU made what turned out to be a poor decision late in the first quarter, electing to run the ball out of the wildcat on a fourth-and-1 from deep in its territory. Tailback Nakia Watson was met at the line of scrimmage, and Fresno State capitalized with a short Mims touchdown moments later.

WSU’s ensuing drive couldn’t have been much worse. The Cougars lost 5 yards on a screen and committed a false start before Ward stepped out of bounds in the end zone for a safety.

All seemed lost, yet the Cougars’ defense – as it had done for much of the season – gave the team a chance. The Bulldogs punted on three consecutive drives between the midway point of the second quarter and late in the third period.

The Cougars trimmed the deficit to 10 points when Watson powered past two tacklers at the goal line for a short TD late in the third quarter, capping a nine-play, 60-yard drive that was the Cougars’ most productive series.

But WSU couldn’t contain Mims and Fresno State answered with a quick TD. A 22-6 score at the end of the third quarter was insurmountable for WSU’s sluggish offense, which went four-and-out on the next drive.

Fresno State coasted to the finish and celebrated on the stage at midfield alongside Jimmy Kimmel, the longtime host of the late-night talk show on ABC.

The Bulldogs finished their season with nine consecutive victories. They are the first team in FBS history to achieve 10 wins after starting a season 1-4.

The Cougars, who finished 7-6 record for the second consecutive season, have appeared in a bowl game for seven consecutive full seasons but haven’t won one since 2018.

WSU turns its attention to finding new coordinators and putting the finishing touches on its first batch of 2023 recruits ahead of the NCAA’s early signing period, which opens Wednesday. Dickert told reporters earlier this week that he plans to have his 2023 staff finalized by Jan. 8.

“There’s benefits that can be had when you get some new people in here, new coaches and you kind of take forward advances in our schematics,” Dickert said . “They’re not going to be drastic changes. We’re going to find people that really operate in the framework of what we do.

“These guys need consistency. … I’m excited about what we’re building in the future. It’s recruiting. It’s staff. It’s everything as we continue to grow and grow in our program and refuse to take steps backward.”