COMMENTARY: Cougs got humbled. Can they respond?

Just like last year, the Washington State Cougars started the season 4-0. And just like last year, Wazzu is 4-1.

The 2023 Cougs suffered six straight losses and fell one win shy of a bowl game after starting the year 4-0. The 2024 Cougs, playing a remaining schedule consisting entirely of Mountain West teams and fellow Pac-12 survivor Oregon State, probably won’t suffer as extreme a fate. However, The issues that haunted Wazzu last year — namely a lack of physicality along the offensive line, and a bend, don’t break defense that deteriorated into a bend AND break defense too often — still haunt the team today.

What may hurt the team more than the problems themselves is an inability to fix them midseason.

Even before facing Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, who is averaging 10 yards per carry on the season, the Cougs were one of the worst tackling teams in the country.

Through four games, the Cougs had missed 60 tackles, according to Pro Football Focus — the second-most in college football. After five games, that number grew to about 84 with 26 missed tackles in Boise — the most in the country.

Facing Jeanty, a back whose explosive touchdown runs of 59 and 64 yards left multiple Cougs face down in the turf, grasping onto air or onto Jeanty himself as he took several defenders with him into the end zone, certainly did not help the Cougs’ cause in their 45-24 loss on Saturday.

“No. 2 (Jeanty) was the problem,” WSU linebacker Kyle Thornton said. “Getting him down was a major problem, and it was a problem at pretty much every level of our defense, and it’s hard to play good defense if we can’t get a guy on the ground.

Washington State coach Jake Dickert gave Jeanty a lot of credit, but also addressed the Cougars needs to get better and the difficulty of doing that midseason.

“I think anytime you’re in the middle of the season (and) you have a tackling issue. I mean, it’s hard to just, you know, remedy in the middle of the deal,” Dickert said. “You look back to the plan, how much you tackle in fall camp, what you do in practice.”

If the Cougs hope to have a chance at winning out and getting a shot at being in the College Football Playoff conversation, or just getting to and winning a decent bowl game in the first place, they need to get better at tackling during the season.

Football games consist of a slew of moments. No single game can be won or lost with a single play as it takes a collective effort.

However, the less time remaining and the closer a game is, the greater magnitude a single play can have.

So one play really can decide a game. One game can define a season. A team can make just enough plays to win, or fall one play short.

Such was the case for the Cougars versus Washington and San Jose State. Thornton’s game-sealing tackle of Husky running back Jonah Coleman, executing a perplexing speed-option play on the goal-line on fourth down, put the Cougs in a position to run out the clock up five. The next week, WSU edge Quinn Roff’s strip sack was the final play of the game, ensuring that San Jose State could not force triple overtime.

It punctuated an insane back-and-forth game in which quarterback John Mateer found senior wide receiver Kyle Williams for 38 yards up the left sideline with about 20 seconds left in regulation, Cougar kicker Dean Janikowski connected on the most intense field goal of his career and senior running back Dylan Paine gained 25 yards and a score in the second overtime period to put the Cougs up for good.

If any of those events don’t transpire, Wazzu could very easily be 2-3.

But the Cougs made the plays they needed to make and are 4-1 for the third straight year.

While it may be tempting to say that Jeanty — with his 259 yards on 26 carries and four touchdowns — put Saturday’s game more than one play away for the Cougs in their loss to the No. 25 Broncos, the game-shifting moment came in the third quarter with the Cougs trailing 17-10.

The Cougs had the ball on their own 27 and faced third-and-1. They gave it to true freshman running back Wayshawn Parker up the middle, who got stuffed.

On fourth-and-1, the Cougs opted to go for it. Mateer got the carry, needing just 2 feet, and could not overcome the sea of blue. Boise State used the short field to go up 14.

“On fourth-and-1 the last 2 1/2 years, we’ve gone for it every time,” Dickert said. “That’s what we’re gonna do. That’s how we’re gonna play.”

While fans are not insane to question the logic of WSU going for it on fourth down deep in its own territory and down by just 7, the larger problem is the Cougs failed two plays in a row to gain 1 yard. That is simply not a winning formula.

Mateer made it a one-score game early in the fourth quarter, finding Williams for a 33-yard touchdown. Wazzu could not hang around forever though, as Jeanty and the Broncos scored 21 straight points to ice the game.

Thornton, WSU’s sixth-year team captain and linebacker, said after the loss to BSU that the Cougs are “built different” and can avoid the mistakes which led last year’s team to a six-game losing streak and left them one win shy of a bowl for the first time in nearly a decade.

“The belief and then the belief in the response,” Thornton said of the two things that separate this year’s Cougs from last year. “As a team this year, everything’s been about belief. Obviously, you know, we showcased that last week, but this week it’s a whole different type of belief. It’s a type of belief that ... we’re gonna get better off of this.”

That was the message Dickert said he spread in the locker room after the loss.

“There’s a point in every season that you got to make a decision about what you want to do, and this is our point,” Dickert said. “We’re 4-1 after five games. We’re on our first bye week. We have a chance to still have a really, really special season. Okay, it’s one loss. That’s what it is, that’s what I told them.”

Whether the Cougs can truly look back on Saturday as one loss or the first in a series of failures is entirely dependent on the team’s commitment.

Can they tangibly improve their tackling, can the offensive line do everything within its power to improve and, in short, can the Cougs truly continue to believe?

No one likes to lose, but some allow it to affect their effort or focus. As Thortnon said, the Cougs did not allow their failures versus San Jose State to define their game, and made enough plays with enough effort to earn the 54-52 double overtime win.

Jeanty and the Boise State pass rush proved to be too much for the Cougs as they likely will be for the majority of the Broncos’ opponents for the rest of the season. Boise State should be a College Football Playoff team and its success was a solid benchmark of where Wazzu should be if it wants to earn a CFP berth this year (which is pretty much only possible by winning out to go 11-1), or at least contend long term with their future Pac-12 Conference rival.

Should fans believe that the Cougs will improve and not allow this loss to wreck what still could be a special season? Of course. Any defense that can stop Jeanty should probably be a front runner for the National Championship (even the No. 6 Oregon Ducks, who beat Boise State 37-34, allowed Jeanty to rush for 192 yards). The Cougs have every reason to hold their heads high and get back to work.

This has the makings of a special season for Wazzu. But if the Cougs are going to make that so, it will require the belief that Thornton speaks of to carry the team forward.

WSU will have two weeks to stew on the loss and prepare for Fresno State. Next play, next game, next opportunity.

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