WSU rewind: Dissecting the mistakes that led to the Cougars’ loss to Wyoming

PULLMAN – In hindsight, John Mateer’s fumble looms even larger than it did in the moment.

Toward the end of the second quarter in Washington State’s 15-14 loss to Wyoming on Saturday evening, the Cougars’ third-year sophomore quarterback cost his team a chance to score before halftime by reaching for a first down that wasn’t there. WSU had a chance to score before halftime, then get the ball back to start the second half with an opportunity to go up 28-3 with two touchdowns and PATs.

Instead, Mateer lost his second fumble of the season, and Wyoming turned it into a field goal, trimming WSU’s halftime lead to 14-6 – a one-score game.

Here’s the clip.

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It was part of one of Mateer’s worst games of the season. The stats might look decent – he completed 16 of 22 passes for 182 yards, one touchdown and one interception, a desperation heave on his team’s last offensive play – but from the early third quarter on, he didn’t connect on another pass. He also took a critical sack in the fourth quarter, and he was dragged down a yard shy of picking up a crucial first down.

All told, WSU totaled just 56 yards in the second half. In that stretch, the Cougars went 0-for-6 on third downs, and on top of generating only 1.9 yards per rush, Mateer was taken down for four sacks. That goes a long way in explaining why the Cougs’ offense struggled in a way it rarely has this season.

It also helps to point out that WSU’s offensive line had a similarly forgettable outing, which is uncharacteristic of a group that still ranks third nationally with a Pro Football Focus pass-blocking grade of 85.7. In Saturday’s game, the Cougs’ front five was dinged for eight pressures: Four from right tackle Fa’alili Fa’amoe, two from left guard Rod Tialavea and one apiece from left tackle Esa Pole and right guard Christian Hilborn, who gave up the only sack credited to WSU’s offensive line.

That kind of porous outing had an outsized impact on the Cougars’ inability to get anything going on offense in the second half. Late in the third quarter, WSU facing a third-and-20, Wyoming dropped eight defenders in coverage and rushed only three. The Cowboys were still able to get meaningful pressure on Mateer, who had to scramble and toss a sidearm pass to receiver Carlos Hernandez, who couldn’t haul it in on a dive.

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WSU’s failure to block on the perimeter, too, played into this loss. Earlier in the third frame, the Cougars connected on three straight passes, one for 15 yards, one for nine yards and one for four yards. WSU followed with a short rush by running back Wayshawn Parker, setting up a second-and-7, which is when offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle called a swing pass to Parker, and the Cowboys had no trouble snuffing it out.

After a loss of seven yards, and after Fa’amoe was flagged for a false start, WSU was looking at third-and-20 deep in its own territory. Seemingly conceding the series, the Cougs called a QB keeper for Mateer, who gained 10 yards. Punter Nick Haberer then came out to boot it away.

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But maybe the most curious part of all centered around senior wideout Kyle Williams, WSU’s leading receiver. In the first quarter, Williams took a screen pass 37 yards to the end zone, putting his speed and elusiveness on display. It was the second straight game he turned a bubble screen into a long touchdown.

For the rest of the game – the next three quarters combined – Williams saw only two more targets, not including Mateer’s heave at the end of the game. It registered as a surprise, considering how reliable Williams has been this season.

But that doesn’t mean Mateer didn’t have chances to connect with Williams. Early in the third quarter, facing a third-and-2, the Cougs called a rollout pass, which looked to be designed for Williams. Mateer executed the rollout well, and Williams sprung open near the first-down marker, but for some reason, Mateer didn’t throw his way.

Haberer punted it away one play later.

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It was hardly the only mistake Mateer made in the second half. Midway through the fourth quarter, after WSU receiver Kris Hutson dropped what would have been a catch for big yardage, the Cougs faced an important fourth-and-3 in Wyoming territory. Mateer took a shotgun snap and almost immediately felt pressure from linebacker Shae Suiaunoa on a blitz. Fa’amoe didn’t recognize it in time, forcing Mateer to scramble to his right.

That’s about when, not seeing any receivers open downfield, Mateer decided to run for it. When he approached the line of scrimmage, he appeared to have a lane to the first down by running straight ahead, but he juked to his right, allowing cornerback Tyrecus Davis to tackle him short of the first down.

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Later in the fourth quarter, on a third-and-3 near midfield, Mateer dropped back and looked to pass. The Cowboys deployed two QB spies around the line of scrimmage, but they only rushed three, giving Mateer lots of time to throw. Instead, he bailed from the pocket and went down for a sack, giving Wyoming possession and opening the door for the Cowboys’ game-winning touchdown drive.

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It’s also worth noting that on that series, the Cougars didn’t make great usage of the clock situation. After Parker opened it with a long rush, the next three plays Mateer snapped the ball with 16, 13 and 1 seconds left on the play clock. That’s about 27 seconds WSU handed to Wyoming, which scored the game-winning touchdown with 28 seconds to go.

But from that point, maybe the biggest mistake WSU made had nothing to do with Mateer. It happened with 29 seconds to play, Wyoming facing a fourth-and-14 from the WSU 18. On the game’s biggest play, the Cowboys were slow to come out of the huddle, only getting everyone set with about 4 seconds on the play clock. They looked discombobulated.

With 2 seconds on the play clock, WSU coach Jake Dickert called a timeout, potentially bailing the Cowboys out when they looked confused. Moments later, with time to reconvene and draw up a play, Wyoming scored the winning touchdown on a pass from quarterback Evan Svoboda to tight end John Michael Gyllenborg, who found himself open thanks to the way he crossed routes with a teammate.

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That type of mesh concept has given the Cougars trouble recently, including last week, when Oregon State ran that play several times to success. The Beavers secured the game-tying touchdown on that exact kind of play.

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