WSU rewind: LB Kyle Thornton’s parents brought to tears by his Apple Cup-sealing play, plus other notes

PULLMAN – Steve Thornton breathed a sigh of relief when the camera panned away from him and his wife, Debbie.

The two found themselves near the end zone at Lumen Field, near the spot where their son Kyle had sealed Washington State’s Apple Cup win over Washington Saturday afternoon with a game-winning tackle, and a Seattle television reporter was interviewing Kyle. He pulled his family into the shot: mom, dad and younger brother, Cameron.

Steve was bawling. Debbie was teary-eyed. So eventually, the camera operator zoomed into Kyle’s face, leaving Steve and Debbie out of the shot.

“We looked like we were attending a funeral more than we were celebrating,” Steve said.

The emotions washed over Thornton’s parents because they knew how much this meant to their son, who will be remembered as the hero of the 2024 Apple Cup. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, WSU up five points with a shade over a minute left, UW quarterback Will Rogers ran a speed option to the right. Cougar edge Andrew Edson bullrushed his way into Rogers and forced him to pitch it to running back Jonah Coleman.

That’s about when Thornton, the Cougars’ sixth-year linebacker, surged toward Coleman, met him at the line of scrimmage and brought him to the ground. He held up his fist like fourth down was coming up. Instead, something even better was on the horizon for the Cougs: their first Apple Cup win in three years – and just their third in 15 seasons.

“I think I’ve only cried like that one other time at the end of a game,” Steve said, “and it was when they won the CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) in high school.”

Thornton, a class of 2019 linebacker, has been around WSU’s program for quite some time. A former walk-on, he was recruited by the late Mike Leach. He watched the Cougs’ 2020 season result in just four games thanks to the pandemic. He was put on scholarship ahead of the 2021 season, in time to play three snaps in WSU’s win in the Apple Cup that season.

Since then, he has appeared in every game the Cougs have played, the last 15 as a starter. He’s earned the respect of his teammates, earning captain honors this season. So far this fall, he’s made 10 tackles in three games, helping WSU race to a spotless 3-0 start to the season.

But he had never made a play of this magnitude. Nobody understood that better than his parents, who were sitting in Lumen Field’s section 131, row G – the perfect angle, right in line to watch Kyle’s game-winning tackle. When the Huskies marched inside the Cougs’ 10-yard line, Steve and Debbie started to feel the anxiety of the moment.

It only got worse moments later. Facing fourth-and-goal from the 1, the Huskies came to the line to snap the ball. But coach Jedd Fisch didn’t like what he saw. Timeout UW.

“I’m like, oh, shoot. Now we’ve got another minute and a half or two minutes,” Steve said. “We have to sit here and see what’s gonna happen, just knowing that (Kyle) was gonna have to make a play. I knew it was gonna come down to something like that. Especially as a parent, you just want the best outcome possible for your kids.”

“I’ve never been so nervous,” Debbie said. “Steve was clutched on to me so tight. He was hanging on to me like a weight. I was like, no, I need my space. I need room to breathe and jump and get excited and get nervous.”

Seconds later, though, mom and dad were trying to figure out how to reach the field and join all the other WSU fans. Steve was expecting security to be pretty stringent, but after one officer tackled a field-rusher, the rest of the security team realized there were too many fans to stop – so they let everyone else through.

So Steve and Debbie started to look for Kyle. They looked up to the video board, which showed their son holding the Apple Cup trophy, so they located him that way. Before they knew it, they were on TV, tears streaming down the parents of the Cougs’ hero.

“Having his brother there was a big deal too, because his brother hadn’t attended many games in the six years,” Steve said. “So it meant a lot to have him there with us, how excited he was. He was crying. It was a cool moment. It was obviously one we won’t ever forget.”

WSU CB Hall comes up clutch

In the moments before Thornton made that tackle, WSU’s defense made two plays that laid the foundation for it. Both came courtesy of junior cornerback Steve Hall, who finished with the Cougars’ best coverage grade from PFF, a mark of 70, well above average.

On second down, Rogers dropped back and lasered a pass into the end zone to receiver Denzel Boston, who got two hands on the ball. Hall got one, which was enough to smack it away, forcing a crucial incompletion in the final seconds.

Peacock

One play later, Rogers found Boston again, this time in the flat. Boston angled toward the end zone. He looked like he had a lane. He might have been able to force his way in, but Hall ushered him out of bounds, setting up the Cougs with the fourth-down play that Thornton supplied.

Hall has finished with a PFF coverage grade of 70 or better in each of the Cougs’ first three games of the season. In Week 1, he returned a gift of an interception 100 yards for a touchdown. Against Texas Tech, he allowed seven receptions on 12 targets, but he bounced back with the play of his life against Washington on Saturday.

But the Cougs’ defense was far from perfect. WSU’s other starting cornerback, redshirt freshman Ethan O’Connor, permitted five receptions on six targets, including a touchdown reception by UW receiver Giles Jackson, who beat him off the line for a wide-open score in the first quarter.

The Cougars also missed 17 tackles. They’ve hit that mark in all three games to open this season, including 19 whiffs last week against Texas Tech.

The leading culprit has been redshirt sophomore linebacker Buddah Al-Uqdah, who has missed nine tackles, including four against UW.

WSU has found a way to win all three games, so maybe it isn’t such a huge issue. But WSU coach Jake Dickert is a defensive guy at heart, and he’ll want better from his group on that front.

Kicker Janikowski’s struggles in focus

Washington State kicker Dean Janikowski, a sixth-year senior, has had better days. He converted on his first field goal try on Saturday, hitting from 44 yards out, but he later misfired on a 26-yard attempt.

He has now made just three of his last nine field -goal attempts dating back to last season. His 44-yarder on Saturday was his first make from 40-plus since WSU’s win over Oregon State last year, nearly a full calendar year ago.

So far, the Cougs have found ways to overcome this as well. But if Janikowski had made that 26-yarder, UW would have needed a touchdown and a two-point conversion just to tie the game, not win it.

Janikowski’s struggles haven’t cost WSU yet, but the Cougs might be playing with fire if this keeps up.