The pick: Why Washington State will beat Portland State in season-opener

PULLMAN – There is a reason why Washington State is projected to top FCS Portland State by multiple scores in Saturday’s game.

To open the season, the Cougars are hosting a Vikings team that was picked to finish 10th of 12 teams in this year’s Big Sky Conference. A season ago, PSU won five games, and the Vikings lost their first two games against FBS competition by a combined score of 112-24.

If WSU has any trouble dispatching this Portland State team, something has gone awfully wrong for the Cougars.

“Any time you have a veteran quarterback, you have the opportunity to win a bunch of football games, and that’s what they have,” WSU coach Jake Dickert said. “They have a lot of pride. They have great schematics, and they play really, really hard. So that’s our focus.”

The Vikings have a veteran quarterback in senior Dante Chachere, in his third season as PSU’s starter.

The Vikings also return running back Quincy Craig, whose knee injury ended his season prematurely last year. By pairing Craig with former UCLA running back Christian Grubb, Portland State might have some real success in the Big Sky this season.

But it’s hard to imagine the Vikings doing much of anything consequential against WSU, whose athletes are just bigger, stronger and faster .

The Cougs will use this as a tuneup before their showdowns with the Big 12’s Texas Tech and a nonconference Apple Cup in the following two weeks.

“They’re a good team,” WSU receiver Kyle Williams said of PSU. “I don’t wanna take them for anything granted. The person across me is going to get all 110%, and I feel like we’re gonna do that for every team on the schedule.”

The pick: WSU 55, Portland State 10