WSU’s OL still shuffling personnel ahead of OSU matchup, and coach Jake Dickert to involve himself more on defense

PULLMAN – Not long after Washington State’s winning streak came to an end, after New Mexico upset the Cougars last weekend, Jared Kaster gathered his offensive linemen for what he called a “heart to heart.”

All in all, WSU’s front five had acquitted itself well, earning a Pro Football Focus pass-blocking grade of 89.8, the program’s best single-game grade in five full seasons. Quarterback John Mateer took only one sack, partially a product of the Lobos’ coverage-heavy scheme, but it didn’t go against the Cougars’ offensive line. It was their best outing of the season.

“As an offensive line, anytime you lose a ball game, we’re always going to put it on us,” said Kaster, WSU’s first-year offensive line coach. “We could have done better up front.”

That much is debatable. What’s for certain is that the Cougars have become creative up front. As they prepare for a road test against Oregon State this weekend, they’re rotating personnel left and right in an effort to find the best combination.

By all indications, they haven’t done so, prompting WSU to keep rotating personnel for their last two regular-season games.

Perhaps most important, WSU center Devin Kylany’s status is uncertain for Saturday’s game as he works through a foot/ankle injury that “limited” him in the first couple of days of this week’s practice, head coach Jake Dickert said.

Kylany been the heart of the group, providing stability for a unit that has not enjoyed much of it this fall.

Below Kylany on the depth chart is 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman Noah Dunham, but the Cougars will be looking elsewhere if Kylany can’t play against Oregon State.

If that’s the case, WSU will move right guard Brock Dieu to center, Dickert said.

The Cougars will also move left guard Christian Hilborn to right guard and install Rod Tialavea at left guard, leaving left tackle Esa Pole and right tackle Fa’alili Fa’amoe at their usual stations. It would be Hilborn’s first time playing right guard since the 2021 Sun Bowl, his freshman season, and it would be Dieu’s first time playing center in his college career.

WSU would be asking two of its best offensive linemen to be flexible in ways they haven’t been, at least not in their collegiate careers. It’s up to Hilborn and Dieu to manage those roles, especially protecting against an OSU pass rush that produced two sacks last week in a loss to Air Force,

“That’s the trust level that we have with Hilborn,” Kaster said. “Credit to him. That’s his doing, his preparation, his work ethic, him being able to be able to be flexible like that and go out there and play that. So all the credit goes to those kids. It has nothing to do with me.”

Dieu was recruited as a center.

“Brock has done an unbelievable job playing wherever he’s at,” Kaster said. “I probably wouldn’t too much play him at tackle, but he’s a kid that’s smart, that can bump in. He’s done it in spring, done it in fall camp.

“He’s a guy that’s been able to rotate wherever, because that just goes to show you about who Brock is. He’s a kid that wherever we want him to play, wherever we need him to play, he’s there for the team.”

Under different circumstances, if Kylany had played this weekend, the Cougars were planning on operating like they did last week against New Mexico.

Dickert and Kaster agree they can’t decide who’s a better fit at left guard, Hilborn or Tialavea, so they rotated them against the Lobos – one series for Hilborn, one for Tialavea. They followed that script until the fourth quarter, when Pole left with a minor injury, moving Hilborn to left tackle and Tialavea to left guard.

Against New Mexico, Hilborn had 40 snaps and didn’t allow a pressure, according to PFF, which assigned him a pass-blocking grade of 91.0 – a career high. He also had a run blocking grade of 58.1, his fourth-best mark of the season.

In 45 snaps against UNM, Tialavea permitted one hurry, earning a PFF pass-blocking grade of 71.2. Coaches like him better as a run-blocker, where he picked up a grade of 53.1, a below-average figure. That made him the Cougars’ third-worst graded run-blocker in the game, above tackles Pole and Fa’amoe.

“No one has really just established themselves,” Dickert said of Hilborn and Tialavea at left guard. “I thought both of them played way more the way they’re capable of last week. So we’re happy with both of them, but we’ll kind of flip-flop by series probably going forward.”

Key linebacker to play against OSU

Third-year linebacker Buddah Al-Uqdah is expected to be in action against Oregon State, Dickert said. Al-Uqdah came off the field late in the game against New Mexico with a shoulder injury, and he’s practiced with a yellow no-contact jersey this week, Dickert added.

He’s an invaluable presence in the middle of the field for the Cougars, leading the team in takeaways with five, two interceptions and three forced fumbles.

Dickert to take a bit more control over defense this weekend

As WSU’s defense struggles, permitting 28 points to Utah State in a Nov. 9 win and 38 to New Mexico in a loss last weekend, Dickert is ready to insert himself more in the team’s defensive game-planning for the Cougars’ final two regular-season games, he said.

He’s staying mindful of his role as head coach and letting defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding call the defense, but Dickert said he’s “taking a little bit of a different approach” to end the regular season.

“I’ll probably watch a few more of the iPads on the sideline so I can see exactly what’s happening,” Dickert said, “so I can give my input, ideas, all that type of stuff.”

Dickert, who came to WSU as the team’s defensive coordinator in 2020, is a defensive-minded coach. He coached the 2020 and 2021 seasons as defensive coordinator until taking over as interim head coach in 2021, then accepting the full-time job after the season.

Late last season, as the Cougars’ defense struggled under Schmedding, Dickert said he was asserting himself more on that side of the ball.

This year, as WSU tries to find ways to limit point production and slow mobile quarterbacks like UNM’s Devon Dampier, Dickert is doing something similar.