Off to best start since 2018, Wazzu welcomes Hawaii for homecoming

After nearly a month without a home game, the Washington State Cougars welcome alumni back home for homecoming when they meet the Mountain West’s Hawaii at 12:30 p.m. today for what will be a rather warm October Saturday on the Palouse.

The CW will broadcast the game.

The best start since 2018

WSU is off to its best start since 2018 with a 5-1 record. The 2018 season was a magical time for Wazzu as the late Mike Leach and quarterback Gardner Minshew led the Cougs into uncharted AP top-10 territory. This year’s Cougs have already done something that year’s team couldn’t: beat the Washington Huskies.

The Cougs are favored in each of their remaining games against Mountain West opponents and fellow Pac-12 school Oregon State with an outside chance at making the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff if they can win out.

Wazzu has won three of six games by one one score with the lone loss being a 45-24 defeat to now-No. 15 Boise State and Heisman Trophy frontrunner Ashton Jeanty.

WSU beat Texas Tech 37-16 on Sept. 7, took the Apple Cup home with a 24-19 win over Washington and won a 54-52 double overtime thriller over San Jose State on Sept. 20.

The Cougs are fresh off a 25-17 road win over Fresno State, a game in which the WSU offense failed to find the end zone after the first quarter and needed redshirt freshman Ethan O’Connor’s go-ahead pick-6 to win.

Can Mateer get his swagger back?

Cougar quarterback John Mateer has struggled to throw the ball, especially in the last two contests when Boise State and Fresno State sacked him 11 total times.

It will be the second game at full strength for a revamped WSU offensive line, which includes Fa’alili Fa’amoe back at right tackle and Christian Hilborn back at left guard joining left tackle Esa Pole, center Devin Kylany and right guard Brock Dieu.

Offensive line coach Jared Kaster said that the five who start each week will be the five who earned it that week in practice. Left guard Rod Tialavea started the Cougars’ first five games.

Pole has emerged as one of the Cougars’ better linemen with five pressures and no sacks allowed through six games and Kylany has provided steady leadership and protection along the line.

Mateer has primarily targeted senior wide receivers Kyle Williams and Kris Hutson, with guys like Josh Meredith and tight end Cooper Mathers getting the ball from time to time. WSU wideouts Tony Freeman and Tre Shackelford have seven and six catches respectively to their names this year and Williams has just 28 catches.

The key to Mateer gaining confidence in the pocket will be if the Cougs can properly utilize true freshman running back Wayshawn Parker and the run game.

Parker got five of his 12 touches at Fresno State in Wazzu’s final drive. He used his first three carries of that drive to gain 34 yards and put WSU in field-goal range. If Parker can be used more similar to how he was when WSU was trying to drain the clock, the Cougs could see Mateer open the play-action portion of the playbook and run the plays that offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle has drawn up for him more effectively.

Scouting Hawaii

Hawaii’s defense is its team strength. That Rainbow Warriors’ unit has allowed 20.9 points per game, the 29th-best mark in college football.

The Cougars’ defense on the other hand has allowed 29.8 points per game as it failed to stop San Jose State’s prolific passing attack and had the pleasure of facing Jeanty and the Broncos.

Hawaii and WSU have faced Boise State and lost by an identical margin of 21 points. Jeanty ran for over 200 yards in Hawaii, while the Rainbow Warriors did contain Boise State to 28 points and were within a manageable deficit entering the fourth quarter, just as WSU was.

Sophomore linebacker Jamih Otis leads Hawaii with 28 tackles (20 solo) and two sacks, defensive lineman Elijah Robinson has 27 tackles (21 solo) and 1.5 sacks and defensive lineman Jackie Johnson III has 13 tackles and three sacks.

Hawaii has allowed 332.8 yards per game, with teams gaining an average of 193.5 yards through the air and 139.3 yards on the ground.

The Rainbow Warriors have beaten Delaware State and Northern Iowa and lost by three points each to UCLA (16-13) and San Diego State (27-24). They lost to Sam Houston State by 18 and Boise State by 21 points.

In a dual of Texas-born quarterbacks, Hawaii signal-caller Brayden Schager of Dallas will face Mateer of Little Elm. Schager has completed 145 of his 242 passes (59.9%) for 1,592 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions.

His top target is another Texas player in Pofele Ashlock, who has 470 yards four touchdowns on 43 catches.

His season-best is 112 yards on nine catches with a touchdown in Hawaii’s three-point home loss to former Pac-12 school UCLA.

Hawaii has two 200-yard receivers and seven total receivers with at least 10 catches for at least 103 yards.

The Rainbow Warriors prefer to toss rainbows through the air rather than run for the pot of gold.

Their leading running back is junior Landon Sims, who has just 160 yards on the year on 39 touches.

Schager has totaled 101 yards on 67 attempts while no other Rainbow Warrior has more than 16 touches.

Cougar D making progress

Just because Hawaii has little success on the ground does not mean it won’t try to run it against Wazzu.

The Cougs allowed Fresno State tailback Elijah Gilliam to achieve his first 100-yard game last week and even excluding Jeanty, have not proven they are capable of stopping the run.

Hawaii provides a chance for WSU to prove its run defense has an average floor and should provide ample opportunity for WSU’s secondary to step up in defending a whole offense’s worth of tenable threats.

Cornerback Steve Hall has proven to be the next in a decent line of Dickert-coached defensive backs. He is joined by O’Connor and his three interceptions; safety Tyson Durant, who also snagged a takeaway in Fresno; and nickel Kapena Gushiken, who is from Hawaii and will have several family members making the trip to Pullman.

WSU’s pass rush has just seven sacks on the year, with four of them coming in two games (at the Apple Cup, Sept. 14 and at Fresno State, Oct. 12).

Defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding got creative versus Fresno State in trying to manufacture pressure on the quarterback and will need to do that again to dial back a Rainbow Warriors’ air game with a lot of options.

Extra points

Saturday will be the sixth all-time meeting between Hawaii and WSU. Hawaii leads the all-time series 3-2 after beating WSU two years in a row in 2008 and 2009. The Rainbow Warriors’ 38-20 win over WSU in 2009 happened at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field, now Lumen Field.

Dickert said he is hopeful that safety Jackson Lataimua will be back. With cornerback Jamori Colson back in the lineup, it gives WSU’s secondary some flexibility, but Tanner Moku has held his own with Lataimua out.

Punter Nick Haberer remains a game-time decision. Kicker Ryan Harris is also expected to be out. Saturday could mark game No. 4 of WSU kicker Dean Janikowksi fulfilling all three kicking-related duties as the placekicker, punter and kickoff guy for the Cougs.

The basics

What: WSU (5-1) vs. Hawaii (2-4)

Where: Gesa Field in Pullman

When:12:30 p.m. today

TV: The CW

Radio: Radio: KHTR-FM (104.3/103.9), KCLX-AM (1450)

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