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Analysis: The story of WSU’s loss to Wyoming is the story of coach Jake Dickert’s recent teams

PULLMAN – Jake Dickert took a moment to scratch his nose, adjust the microphone and listen to the question.

It was about his Washington State team’s latest result, a baffling 15-14 loss to Wyoming on Saturday evening, and the way it fits into recent trends around this program. It asked why the Cougars have tended to look worse as the season has unfolded.

“We’ll evaluate it as the season goes,” Dickert said.

Dickert went on to elaborate, explaining some opponents are tougher than others, but there is no more evaluation to do. WSU’s regular season is over, ending with three straight losses. The truth is that this latest loss is reminiscent of Dickert’s last two teams: They have regressed as the season has unfolded, as teams get the scout on them, and they are too one-dimensional to adjust.

The story of WSU’s loss, to a Wyoming team that entered this game with two wins, is the story of the last two Cougars teams. They got out to blazing starts, this season taking down Texas Tech and rival Washington in September, only to sputter out once opponents understand their tendencies. On Saturday evening, after the Cougars scored two early touchdowns, their offense produced just 57 yards and no points in the second half – the way Dickert’s last two teams have ended their seasons.

WSU is just 2-6 in its past two Novembers. Last season, amid a six-game losing streak, the Cougars also went 0-4 in October, dropping only one game to a ranked foe.

Dickert said those opponents were tough, and he was right. They were traditional Pac-12 opponents, and as perplexing as WSU’s losing streak was, at least it came against Power Five competition.

But there is no precedent for this. WSU was beaten on its home field by a Wyoming team that entered the game in last place in the Mountain West.

Dickert’s recent teams have struggled as the season unfolds, and apparently, the level of competition doesn’t matter too much.

The story was in the beginning of Saturday’s game. After WSU quarterback John Mateer accounted for two touchdowns against Wyoming, one a screen pass to senior wideout Kyle Williams and one a short scoring plunge, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and the Cougars didn’t crack a Cowboys defense that let FCS Idaho’s backup quarterback lead the Vandals to victory. Also on the Wyoming defense’s ledger this season is giving up 45 points while defeating New Mexico earlier this month.

It made no difference to WSU’s offense, which looked stubborn and unimaginative in the second half. In the third quarter, the Cougars opened a drive with three straight completions, the first for 15 yards. Their next three plays: rush for 3 yards, pass for loss of 7 yards, false start, QB draw on third-and-20.

Why the Cougars find themselves abandoning what’s working on offense, particularly right after seeing the positive results, is a question yet to be solved. It is equal parts puzzling and disastrous, the latter because it has a ripple effect on WSU’s offensive rhythm, which was in short supply. It’s been difficult for the Cougs to find energy when they’re immediately going away from what’s been working well.

Perhaps the best way to capture that centers around senior wideout Kyle Williams. In the first quarter, Mateer connected on a screen pass to Williams, who took it 37 yards for a score, the second straight game Williams had turned a screen into a touchdown. For the rest of the game, Williams saw just two more targets, not including the Cougars’ desperation drive in the final seconds of the fourth quarter.

It adds up to more of the same confusing trends around WSU’s offense. Why go away from Williams? Why not get your best receiver, one of the program’s best in about a decade, more involved in the offense?

It made no sense, but then again, nothing about the Cougars’ offense in this game did.

“A little bit of drop-eight. They weren’t going to play a ton of man coverage,” Dickert said of Wyoming’s defense. “Analytically, they weren’t a very good defense coming in, but they were extremely good on third down, like top five in the country. I don’t know about our third-down conversions – 1 for 10 and 0 for 2 on fourth down. Says the story right there. We couldn’t keep momentum. We couldn’t keep series and drives going. Never established a run game, and that’s a recipe for disaster offensively.”

Opponents were always going to adjust their defense against Mateer once he piled up film for them to watch.

“I think you have to,” Dickert said after WSU’s win over Fresno State. They were always going to deploy spies, sometimes multiple, to slow him down on the ground. All the trends around opponents’ defense against Mateer, who threw a game-ending interception and lost a fumble against Wyoming, were mostly predictable.

Good teams understand that, and good teams adjust. Instead, the Cougars have not found a way to keep Mateer’s designed QB run game a consistent part of the offense.

Many of Mateer’s best running plays recently have come on scrambles, which was hardly the case earlier in the season, when he frustrated Texas Tech’s defense for 197 rushing yards and one touchdown on 21 carries, when he had 111 yards and a score on 18 attempts against San Jose State.

It’s no fault of his own – the blame here falls at the feet of the Cougars’ coaches – but he hasn’t beaten teams on the ground when they’re ready for it. It’s a sign opponents are making adjustments, sure, but it’s also a sign WSU coaches aren’t adjusting back. That’s their job, and when you have a quarterback with Mateer’s capabilities, this program’s first dual-threat quarterback in a long time, you have to find a way to make sure to use his most talented player on a consistent basis.

The same goes for true freshman running back Wayshawn Parker, who kicked off the season with a 96-yard game against FCS Portland State, a 69-yard showing against Texas Tech, a 76-yard outing against San Jose State and a 63-yarder against Fresno State when coaches realized at the end of the game they had something going in Parker. But now Parker has only hit 50 rushing yards once in his past five games, a direct result of WSU’s inability to plan around adjustments opponents are making.

“We just didn’t start drives and sustain drives, and that’s tough,” Mateer said, “to start moving the ball and getting things going. If we get one first down there in the third quarter, I think it starts to roll. And I didn’t do that. I didn’t put us in a good enough situation do that.”

WSU’s defense finally recorded a solid outing, holding Wyoming to one touchdown. Of course, that was the winner – but it came after the Cougars permitted 38 points to New Mexico and 41 to Oregon State, which at the time was fresh off getting blanked by Air Force. Against Wyoming, the Cougars recorded three takeaways, an interception and two forced fumbles.

It seemed like WSU defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding had figured some things out, making an opposing offense look mortal. Except on the last drive, when Wyoming QB Evan Svoboda laced the winning touchdown pass to tight end John Michael Gyllenbord, the Cougars’ defense made the Cowboys’ offense look ironclad.

If you want to understand these last two Washington State teams, look no further than the loss to Wyoming.

The Cougars looked worse as the game went. It’s how each of their past two teams have operated.

Some blame goes to the players, sure, but the majority goes to the coaches, who have not been able to fend off adjustments made by the Mountain West’s most middling teams.