Oregon State at Washington State
It took all twelve games, but their 32-8 win over the Beavers gives Washington State just enough wins to make them bowl eligible. Feeling more like a mercy killing against a team that is averaging just 18 points a game and giving up 29, the Cougars led 25-0 going into the fourth after shutting Oregon State out through three quarters. Half-way through the final period the Beavers would finally get on the scoreboard via back-to-back chunk passes gaining over 40 yards, a pass interference penalty by the Cougars, and a 12 yard TD pass from Freshman QB Tristan Ti’a to Senior WR Trent Walter. A successful two-point conversion would make it a 25-8 game with almost six minutes left to play. Oregon State’s onside kick failed and the Cougars got it back at the Beaver’s 44 yard line. Just three plays later, they were back in the end zone on a drive that included a 50 yard run by Senior RB Angel Johnson before he ran it two more yards to give us our 32-8 final score. Oregon State got the ball back with five minutes to play but with less than a minute left and sitting 4th and 12 at the Cougar 40 yard line Ti’a would fumble the ball back to Washington State to end it.
For the Cougars, Senior QB Zevi Eckhaus completed 17-of-28 for 197 yards, 1 TD to Sophomore TE Trey Leckner, and no interceptions while also rushing 9 times for 63 yards and one of three rushing TD’s for Washington State. Senior RB Angel Johnson and Sophomore Kirby Vorhees added a TD each to that total while combining for 106 of the team’s 186 yard total on 18 carries. For Oregon State, Freshman QB Tristan Ti’a was 28-of-41 for 240 yards, 1 TD to Senior WR Tent Walker. Dealing with Washington State’s six sacks, seven tackles-for-loss and five pass disruptions he also threw two interceptions and lost 39 yards on the ground. Senior RB Anthony Hankerson picked up 71 yards on 16 carries but once all the negative yardage was added in, Oregon State rushed 29 times for a mere 40 yards and never got any points on the board that way.
The Cougars led in first downs, 22-to-17; total yards of offense, 383-280; were twice as successful on third down conversions as Oregon State and had few penalties and turnovers, although both teams combined for 22 penalties and just four yards shy of 200 penalty yards. Jimmy Rogers is finishing up his first year as head coach of Washington State. Previously he had that position at South Dakota State where he led his team to a NCAA Division 1 Championship and won the Eddie Robinson Award given to college football’s top head coach in Division 1 of the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision. Not planning to go through another year of misery like this Scott Barnes, Vice President and Director of Athletics for Oregon State, recently announced a new coach of their own. JaMarcus Shephard, who has been working as Alabama’s assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator, has agreed to a five year contract. Shepard followed Kalen DeBoer from Washington where he was associate head coach, passing game coordinator, and wide receivers coach during 2022 and 2023—helping to win the Alamo Bowl against Texas and finishing 8th in the final AP Poll in 2022 and finish 2nd in the country in 2023 after winning the PAC-12 Championship and beating Texas in the Sugar Bowl to advance to the CFP National Championship Game.