Ethan O’Connor’s pick-6 helps WSU beat Fresno State in battle of errors

Washington State defensive back Ethan O’Connor caught two passes from Fresno State quarterback Mikey Keene. Because of a roughing the passer penalty called on WSU senior edge Quinn Roff, his first interception was nullified, but his second jolted the Cougs awake when it looked like Wazzu may have been falling asleep at the wheel on yet another West Coast road football trip.

WSU went on to win 25-17 in Saturday’s game against the Bulldogs in Fresno, Calif.

With the Cougs trailing 17-16 with just over six-and-a-half minutes remaining, O’Connor burst in front of a Bulldog receiver, bounded 60 yards for the end zone and resuscitated the Cougs with a 22-17 lead they would extend and engulf in bubble wrap.

The WSU Cougars (5-1) escaped another sold-out, future Pac-12 road matchup with a win over the Fresno State Bulldogs (3-3).

A fast start

The Washington State and Fresno State offenses scored on the first three drives of the game but were shut out in the second quarter and combined for just one more touchdown in the second half.

In the game’s first six minutes, the Cougs ran 13 plays and gained 75 yards. WSU quarterback John Mateer zipped through the Bulldogs for a 1-yard QB keeper for his sixth rushing touchdown of the year to cap the drive.

WSU attempted a 2-point conversion and came up empty-handed as Fresno State picked it off, and WSU led 6-0.

Fresno State’s Keene completed his first six passes and seven of his first eight, capped with a 34-yard strike to Fresno State wide receiver Josiah Freeman to give the Bulldogs an early 7-6 lead after the extra point.

The Cougs responded with an eight-play, 75-yard drive that included a 32-yard Mateer competition to wide receiver Tony Freeman on a scramble and a 13-yard Mateer run in which he went untouched for 8 of those yards in the red zone.

The Cougs ended their second drive of the day with a jet sweep touchdown. Senior receiver Kris Hutson slipped as he began to run behind the line before the snap, but got up, took the pitch from Mateer and pranced untouched into the end zone. WSU led 13-6.

In the first three drives combined, the Cougs and Bulldogs had tallied 31 total plays for 227 combined yards.

Cougars, Bulldogs trade mistakes

The second quarter featured zero points and three — nearly four — turnovers.

Early in the second quarter, Mateer had run seven plays for 38 yards on a promising drive when he lost the football and the Bulldogs jumped on the fumble.

Fresno State used this drive to attempt a field goal — which they would miss. It was Fresno State kicker Dylan Lynch’s second missed field goal, which kept the Cougs in front by six.

Later in the quarter, O’Connor picked off Keene and returned the ball to midfield. However, none of it would matter as the referees ruled that Roff had roughed the passer, as he tackled Keene after he had thrown the pass. As so many roughing-the-passer penalties entail, it was a move he committed to before the ball was thrown.

Later, with under two minutes left in the first half, Mateer made another costly mistake with the chance to extend WSU’s lead before the break.

He fired the ball to the left corner of the end zone toward Freeman but did not account for Fresno State safety Dean Clark lunging for the ball, grabbing it and doing a backflip with the ball in his hands.

“I just didn’t look off the safety,” Mateer said. “It was a good matchup. I just stared at him.”

Dickert said Mateer’s pre-halftime interception against Boise State and this week’s pre-halftime interception involve different issues.

“He’s gotta learn from it,” Dickert said. “In a tight ball game swinging one way or another, those are tough situations to handle.”

In the third quarter, the Cougs stopped the Bulldogs on third-and-short in the red zone before Kyle Thorton’s defensive pass interference penalty nullified the play and set Fresno State up inside the 5.

FSU running back Elijah Gilliam jettisoned into the end zone on the next play to give Fresno State the 14-13 lead.

Mateer’s mistakes nearly cost the Cougs the game

Mateer looked out of rhyme for most of the game, turning in the final stat line of 17-for-34 passing for 172 yards, one interception and no touchdowns.

The third-year sophomore, making his sixth-career college start, was more mobile than he was in WSU’s lone loss to now-No. 17 Boise State two weeks ago. He found the end zone on WSU’s opening drive and racked up 46 yards on 18 carries.

WSU’s new-look offensive line allowed Mateer to be sacked four times, two weeks after the Broncos sacked him seven times.

Team captain Fa’alili Fa’amoe started at right tackle for the first time this season following an injury and limited action in the previous two games and WSU’s third-year starter Christian Hilborn returned to left guard after filling in for Fa’amoe at right tackle.

Dickert said he thought Hilborn played his role well.

Fresno State outgained WSU 338-295, but O’Connor’s 60-yard pick-6 and true freshman running back Wayshawn Parker’s 63 yards on 12 carries, including 34 yards on three carries in the Cougars’ final drive to extend their lead to eight, led the Cougs to victory.

“It wasn’t our most productive day and I’ll take that on me,” Mateer said. “But we won the game, so that’s all that matters.”

WSU defense steps up

It was not perfect, but the Cougar defense secured two turnovers — one a Tyson Durant diving interception late in the second quarter following Mateer’s pick and the other O’Connor’s rejuvenating pick-6 to give the Cougs the lead with six-and-a-half minutes left.

Fresno State’s Gilliam racked up 120 yards on 20 carries with a touchdown, but the Cougs limited the Bulldogs’ passing game and held them to a season-low 220 yards as the Cougars’ front seven collected two sacks to raise their season total to seven.

Cougar linebacker Keith Brown and defensive tackle Khalil Laufau tallied Wazzu’s two sacks — just the second time that WSU had multiple sacks in a game this season with the last time being WSU’s 24-19 Apple Cup win on Sept. 14.

Laufau’s sack early in the third quarter killed a Fresno State drive that was extended because of a WSU-committed facemask penalty.

“I thought our defense responded every time they had an opportunity to come back out on the field,” Dickert said. “That’s team football sometimes. You got to pick each other up and credit to the defense to go out and do that after some of those takeaways.”

Next for WSU

WSU returns home for homecoming, hosting the Mountain West’s Hawaii at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Gesa Field in Pullman.

The win was WSU’s first true road victory since a 50-24 win over Colorado State to open the 2023 season and was the second time a Dickert-coached Cougar squad won after trailing in the fourth quarter, joining WSU’s 54-52 double-overtime win over San Jose State on Sept. 20.

WSU moves to 5-1, its best start since the 2018 season when Wazzu won a school-record 11 games and the Alamo Bowl.

Washington State 13 0 3 9—25

Fresno State 7 0 7 3—17

First Quarter

WSU: Mateer 1 run (return failed), 9:13.

FRES: J.Freeman 34 pass from Keene (Lynch kick), 4:23.

WSU: Hutson 2 run (D.Janikowski kick), :34.

Third Quarter

FRES: Gilliam 6 run (Lynch kick), 7:26.

WSU: FG D.Janikowski 34, 2:00.

Fourth Quarter

FRES: FG Lynch 27, 10:13.

WSU: O’Connor 61 interception return (run failed), 6:52.

WSU: FG D.Janikowski 23, 1:46.

A: 41,031.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Washington St., Parker 12-63, Mateer 18-46, Ky.Williams 1-11, Schlenbaker 1-3, Hutson 1-2, Pulalasi 1-(minus 2). Fresno St., Gilliam 20-120, Donelson 2-15, Wood 1-5, Keene 4-(minus 22).

PASSING: Washington St., Mateer 17-35-1-172. Fresno St., Keene 24-36-2-220.

RECEIVING: Washington St., Hutson 6-45, Ky.Williams 3-34, Meredith 3-25, Freeman 1-32, Leckner 1-16, Pulalasi 1-13, Hernandez 1-9, Parker 1-(minus 2). Fresno St., Sharpe 6-60, M.Dalena 4-61, Gilliam 4-8, Moss 3-20, Freeman 2-39, Grear 2-14, Beachem 2-4, Donelson 1-14.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: Fresno St., Lynch 52, Lynch 36.

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.