Man, the Cougars didn’t waste any time making a point in this one. After being held to a three-and-out on their first possession of the game they scored TD’s on each of their next five to go into the locker room at the half up 49-to-17. After scoring two more TD’s on their first two possessions after the break to go up 63-to-17 they finally slowed it down, scoring just one more the rest of the way in a 70-30 demolition of the Portland State Vikings. With an early Apple Cup just two weeks away the Huskies better get their shit together because as one of only two teams that the other conferences didn’t seem to have interest in Washington State looks to be playing with a chip on their shoulder. As the AP wrote in their recap for ESPN; “Left behind with Oregon State amid the ruins of the Pac-12 collapse, the Cougars are playing an independent schedule, facing mostly Mountain West schools. But Saturday they created 637 yards [of total] offense [including] eight offensive scoring plays of 30 yards or more against the FCS Vikings. It was the first time WSU reached 70 points since 1997 when it scored 77 against Southwestern Louisiana.” I’m sure the pirate coach Mike Leach was looking down and smiling at this one.
As previously published in the Washington Post in a story about his influence on the Washington State Cougars they wrote: “Sitting on the mirrored glass shelf inside the office of the head football coach at Washington State is a small reminder of what the late Mike Leach meant to the school. Prominently displayed in the workplace of current head coach Jake Dickert is a crimson Washington State helmet, emblazoned with the famous Cougar head logo in metallic gray and a pair of swashbuckling pirate swords underneath. ‘I truly believe coach Leach taught everyone around here that they can believe again and he did it in his own unique way that is Washington State,’ Dickert said.”
One big plus for the Cougars is the offensive line who all returned from last year minus one and it showed in Week-1 as Sophomore QB John Mateer, who was never sacked in this game, connected on 11-of-17 for 352 yards and 5 TD’s without an interception while also rushing twice for 55 yards and another score on a 40 yard TD run. They tore it up on the ground as well rushing 27 times for 224 yards and 3 TD’s including Mateers, an average of 8.3 yards per carry. Regarding the huge 637 yards of total offense head coach Jake Dickert said there was one reason: “We ran the ball, and when you can run the ball, it’s going to open up lanes for the RPO [run-pass-option] game. We didn’t even get much to the play action pass game today. Everyone ate today.” As noted by Jamey Vinnick in CougFan; “The offensive trenches were owned by the Cougars, allowing the running backs to run freely and giving Mateer time to sit back in the pocket and deliver at will.” But in a word of caution he wrote; “Yet, the defense allowed 450 yards to Portland State, including 215 on the ground.” It sounds horrible but in many ways, minus the extra ground game, it was typical of many Mike Leach wins as he basically dared teams to score more than him. But, that said—those defensive numbers might not bode well for them the next two weeks as they take on another Mike Leach led team for many years, Texas Tech of the Big-12 and the Washington Huskies of the Big Ten. With no expectations for my Huskies this year I’m going to find it hard not cheering on the Cougars the next couple of weeks.