What do you do when you’re only one of two PAC-12 teams left in the conference without a home—you win of course. Cougar QB Cameron Ward, who has thrown for just under 8,000 yards and 70 TD’s over the past two seasons, was on top of his game on the road against Colorado State connecting on 75% of his passes for a huge 451 yards, 3 TD’s and no interceptions along with another score while rushing for 40 yards on 13 carries. Ward spread out the wealth to seven receivers who caught multiple passes with Lincoln Victor collecting the most yards, 168 on just 11 receptions—an average of over 15 yards per catch—while Jr WR’s Josh Kelley and Kyle Williams and Sr. RB Nakia Watson picked up a TD each. The Cougar running game was productive as far as the scoreboard goes. In addition to Ward’s, Freshman QB John Mather picked up two more to give Washington State three on the ground but except for the QB’s the run game was non-existent with the RB’s picking up less than half of the 90 yard total for the game on 37 attempts—an average of just over 2 yards per run.
For Colorado State the two QB’s who split duties, Brayden Fowler Nicolosi and Clay Miller, connected on a combined 28-of-44 for 320 yards, 2 TD’s by Nicolosi and 1 interception each. The Rams running game was even more underwhelming than the Cougar’s, as they rushed 20 times for a mere 37 yards and no TD’s—an average of less than 2 yards per carry. After holding the Rams to a field goal in their first possession of the game Washington State took the lead seven plays and 75 yards later on a combination of Cameron Ward passing and running plays which resulted in a 7-3 lead half-way through the 1st Qtr. The Cougars would add another TD and field goal to go up 17-3 at the break.
The 3rd Qtr was all Cougars with lots of help from Colorado State who threw up an interception that was picked off and ran back to the house for a score as well as another interception that led to a Washington State TD. By the end of the 3rd Qtr Washington State was up 29-3 and extended the lead at the beginning of the fourth after holding the Rams to a three-and-out on a six play 70 yard drive highlighted by four Cameron Ward completions and a 3 yard TD by RB John Mateer. But in spite of that the Rams decided that they were not giving up which led to a highlight reel 4th Qtr and three consecutive scoring drives which included a Kobe Johnson 98 yards kickoff return for TD for Colorado State. Unfortunately for them the Cougars matched them point-for-point in the 4th and easily won the game 50-24. We’ll find out a lot about the Cougars this coming Saturday as they host No. 19 Wisconsin.