It’s not that unusual for a team, after losing an important game that they desperately wanted to win, to struggle the next week—sometimes longer. After an ugly loss on the road to Boise State in Week-6 the Cougars stayed on the road to take on Fresno State. And after being down to the Bulldogs 7-6 in the 1st Qtr, 14-13 in the 3rd, and 17-16 in the 4th one had to wonder if they had it in them to get ahead and stay ahead in this one. But that thought disappeared when Cougar red-shirt Freshman DB Ethan O’Connor stepped in front of a pass by Fresno State Junior QB Mikey Keene and ran it back 60 yards to give Washington State a five point lead, 22-17, with a little less than seven minutes left to play after a failed 2-point conversion. But that single play fired up the defense who held the Bulldogs to their only three-and-out of the game and led to a Cougar drive all the way down to the Fresno State 6 yard line where Dean Janikowski would connect on a 23 yard field goal with less than two minutes left to put the Cougars up by eight, 25-17, and not enough time for the Bulldogs to pull it out.
The very aggressive Fresno State defense, who forced two turnovers, were in the face of Cougar QB John Mateer all night. With 4 sacks, 10 tackles for loss, and 3 pass disruptions Mateer connected on less than 50% of his passes, threw a pick, and never found the end zone. But him and Freshman RB Wayshawn Parker combined on the ground for 30 rushing attempts and 109 of the Bulldogs total 123 yards with Mateer himself running one in along with Senior WR Kris Hutson. For Fresno State their Junior QB Mikey Keene was 24-of-36 for 220 yards, 1 TD, and 2 picks. Senior RB Elijah Williams led the Bulldogs on the ground carrying the ball 20 times for 120 yards and their only rushing TD. The Cougars, now 5-1, go back to the Palouse to host Hawaii this coming Saturday.