WSU rewind: An ode to Ansel Din-Mbuh and Keith Brown, plus, what’s going on with the Cougs’ offense?

PULLMAN – In the past few weeks, as Washington State pondered ways to get its pass rush going, coaches considered all manner of approaches. Maybe the Cougars should try to use their speed on the edges? Perhaps bring extra defenders from the secondary?

Head coach Jake Dickert liked the idea of using brute force from the interior, but for several games, that wasn’t going much of anywhere. He wanted to change things up, and defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding followed suit, mixing up blitzes and freeing up their most athletic edge rushers on the outside.

After WSU rallied to erase a two-score deficit in a 29-26 win over San Diego State on Saturday night, one thing about the Cougs’ pass rush became clear: There’s still room for their interior four to make noise.

The one with the megaphone is sophomore defensive tackle Ansel Din-Mbuh, who has supplied the best two games of his young career in back-to-back weeks. In WSU’s blowout over Hawaii, Din-Mbuh registered 1½ sacks, including 2½ tackles for loss. And in the Cougs’ rally over the Aztecs, Din-Mbuh supplied more of the same, totaling three sacks and three tackles for loss.

“Back-to-back games where I thought Ansel Din-Mbuh was unblockable,” Dickert said, “and I think that’s great to see. He’s really accelerated his game.”

Even better for WSU, Din-Mbuh broke free on particularly timely occasions. Late in the first quarter, SDSU seized some momentum by stonewalling WSU quarterback John Mateer on fourth down, taking over at its own 30. One play later, Din-Mbuh shed a block and flattened SDSU QB Danny O’Neil, knocking him out of the game until later in the second quarter.

Din-Mbuh pocketed his next sack of San Diego State’s backup quarterback, true freshman Javance Tupou’ata-Johnson, midway through the second frame, and three plays later the Aztecs turned it over on downs. Din-Mbuh took a bow with a sack on SDSU’s final drive of the third quarter, bringing down O’Neil for a short loss.

Din-Mbuh is changing games on the interior, using his 6-foot-3, 291-pound frame to bull rush opposing offensive linemen. He’s not meeting much resistance lately, which is a testament to the quick strides he’s shown this year. Last season, his freshman campaign, he played only 108 snaps, putting up only two assisted tackles.

This fall, he’s up to 4½ sacks and 5½ tackles for loss. He’s generated 12 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus data, nine in his last two outings.

He’s having his way with offensive linemen, and if he can attract double teams – same as defensive tackle David Gusta is doing – it figures to unlock some of the Cougs’ speedier pass-rushers, like Syrus Webster and Nusi Malani, the latter of whom carded one sack of his own on Saturday night.

Then there’s the emergence of linebacker Keith Brown, who found himself on the field in some of the game’s biggest moments on Saturday night. Brown, who started his career at Oregon before spending last year at Louisville, has seen his snap count increase gradually in recent weeks: Eight snaps against Washington, 12 against Boise State, then 19 against Fresno State, 18 against Hawaii and 18 more against San Diego State.

How has he earned the opportunity? Coaches have begun to realize he’s at his best rushing the passer, which he’s done well: He logged two pressures apiece against FSU and Hawaii, and while he didn’t pocket any pressures against SDSU, he did make a crucial stop. On fourth-and-2 near midfield late in the second frame, he met SDSU running back Marquez Cooper in the backfield, dropping him for a loss.

Give Gusta credit for winning his matchup and forcing Cooper to the outside, too. That’s where much of Gusta’s dirty work goes unnoticed, in the ways he forces plays away from him, to spots where his teammates can make plays. Those kinds of wins don’t show up in many statistical categories, but they make a real difference.

“And then obviously, Buddah with the big play,” Dickert said, referencing linebacker Buddah Al-Uqdah’s critical interception in the fourth quarter.

“If you need to make a big comeback, there’s gonna be those moments.”

WSU’s offense roared to life late in the fourth quarter, for which Mateer, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and the rest of the crew deserves credit. But what happened in the third quarter, in the lulls where the Cougs’ offense was calling the type of plays suited for a blowout, not a tight game?

In the third frame, WSU’s offense gained 21 total yards on 15 plays. The Cougs lost three rushing yards and secured 24 through the air. They converted 1 of 4 third-down chances, and that’s to say nothing of their luck on fourth down, where they moved the chains on just one of three total chances. More interesting might have been their fourth-down play-calling, which didn’t help things.

In the first quarter, WSU faced a fourth-and-3 from the SDSU 28, which would have been a 45-yard field goal try for kicker Dean Janikowski, who has nailed his last five field goals (no attempts the last two games). Instead, the Cougs dialed up a QB keeper for Mateer, who was short by a yard.

With a shade under two minutes until halftime, WSU was looking at fourth-and-2 from the SDSU 40, and the Cougs went for it again. Mateer’s slant pass to receiver Carlos Hernandez was a touch offline, and it fell incomplete.

The Cougs did convert on fourth down when it mattered most, Mateer surging in at the goal line for a touchdown. But their offense has left something to be desired for long stretches like Saturday’s third quarter, which is a key reason why WSU needed to make a comeback in the first place.

“We started off pretty good, just have some tons of lulls this season in the third quarter, especially offensively,” Dickert said, “and we did a lot of things that would have been would have led to losing.”

The good news for the Cougs is they’re off this week, perhaps giving them time to remedy some of these issues.