Washington State Cougars.
After a tough loss to Oregon last week, the Washington State Cougars rebounded nicely with a 28-9 win over Cal. Both teams went scoreless in the first quarter before running back Jaylen Jenkins ran it in from the two-yard line to give Washington State a 7-0 lead.
The Cougars took a 7-3 lead into halftime. In their first drive of the second half, quarterback Cameron Ward connected with former Incarnate Word teammate Robert Ferrel for a 17-yard touchdown pass to give WSU a 14-3 lead.
Washington State went on to score two more touchdowns and won comfortably.
Ward completed 27 of 40 passes for 343 yards and three touchdowns while connecting with ten different receiving targets. Generally, he was efficient and did a great job spreading the ball around.
One of the most impressive things he did on Saturday was to roll out of the pocket. Ward looked equally comfortable moving in either direction to find an open receiver.
However, in the future, Ward must do a better job of taking care of the ball. The QB was picked off twice in the end zone on balls he didn’t need to throw.
Ward needs to accept that sometimes the best option is to throw the ball away instead of unnecessarily forcing it. He can’t afford to waste opportunities like that and expect to win games.
Washington State’s running game continues to be a weak spot. Lead back Nakia Watson had 52 yards on 14 carries, which was a little better than he did last week.
As a team, the Cougars averaged 2.9 YPC, which also includes a few kneel downs. If the Washington State Cougars can improve the rushing attack, they could take their offense to the next level and open up more passing lanes. As it stands now, defenses don’t have to honor the Cougs run game.
Some might say that a 5’8″, sub-180-pound player is too small for major college football. I that’s true, they forgot to send Cougs running back Jaylen Jenkins and receiver Robert Ferrel.
As mentioned earlier, Ferrel caught one of Ward’s three touchdown passes on Saturday. That was part of the receivers’ 6-catch, 79-yard day. In addition, Ferrel returned 4 punts for 60 yards, giving him 139 all-purpose yards.
Meanwhile, Jenkins made the most of his limited opportunities. The diminutive back from Allen, Texas, carried 5 times for 41 yards (8.2 YPC), including the Cougs’ first score of the day.
The Washington State Cougars Sports Information Department should start calling Renard Bell 7-11 because he’s always open. After missing last season with a knee injury, Bell is back and playing like he did before tearing his ACL.
Against California, Bell caught eight passes for 115 yards and one touchdown. Bell has 20 catches so far this season and is becoming one of Washington State’s most reliable receiving targets.
Of course, the Cougars have many receiving threats, and several of them can beat an opponent on any given day. But it is good to see Bell back and playing at a high level. He’s certainly making his case to play on Sundays next year.
Last week, Cal running back Jaydn Ott torched Colorado for 274 yards and 3 touchdowns. Washington State was ready for him on Saturday.
The freshman rushed for 69 yards on 16 carries and one touchdown for Cal, but three of those runs totaled 41 yards, so he averaged 2.15 yards per carry on the other 13 attempts.
Despite Ott’s total, the Washington State Cougars held Cal to 31 yards rushing. Bears quarterback Jack Plummer carried the ball seven times for -28 yards, and only one of those was a sack.
The Washington State Cougars’ secondary had an up-and-down day. They allowed more long gains than they would have liked. Five pass plays went for 20 yards or more. That included back-to-back completions from Jack Plummer to Robert Hunter for 30 and 49 yards, respectively, to open the fourth quarter.
On the other hand, four Cougs defensive backs were among the team’s top 5 tacklers. Time and again, they came up to the line to close Ott’s rushing lanes.
Late in the game, the unit helped to shut down Cal late in the game, holding Golden Bears quarterbacks to 4 of 7 for 30 yards in the visitor’s final three possessions.
Saturday’s victory moved the Cougs to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the Pac-12. They are also 30th in the latest Coaches Poll.