Washington State Football Preview 2026: Total Rebuild, New Pac-12, Same Expectations
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Record-wise, it’s as if nothing changed for Washington State over the last two seasons.
The Pac-12 turned into the Pac-2, with Wazzu and Oregon State getting left without a chair when the music stopped before 2024 – and it wasn’t a lot of fun.
– 2026 Washington State Schedule Analysis
However, the Cougars went 8-5 in 2024 and 7-6 last season to make it four seasons with seven or more wins in the last five years.
And now the program is rebooting. New and improved league, new coach, and new energy with the program a part of something big again.
Washington State is back in the college football world again.
Washington State Quick Hits
- Head Coach: Kirby Moore (1st season)
- Best Case / Worst Case: Win the Pac-12 title/Go 5-7
- Key Player: Caden Pinnick, QB Soph.
- 2025 Record: 7-6
- Biggest Question: How quickly can a team full of all new parts come together?
Washington State Key 2025 Stats
- Time of Possession: Washington State 32:24, Opponents 27:36
- 2nd Quarter Scoring: Washington State 121, Opponents 68
- 4th Down Conversions: Washington State 71.43%, Opponents 33.33%
Offense
New head coach Kirby Moore fits.
The former Missouri offensive coordinator went to Boise State, cut his coaching teeth at Fresno State, and now he’s stepping in at Wazzu with a passing attack that should crank it up fast.
There’s returning talent, a few upgrades, and get ready for the production.
What’s Working
The passing game will be better. It wasn’t miserable last season, but this is Washington State. It’s supposed to have a high-octane air show, and it starts with new starting quarterback Caden Pinnick.
He might not be all that big, but the UC Davis transfer is a baller who should quickly be a Pac-12 star.
But the offense under coordinator Matt Miller will run, too. Moore’s Missouri attack was eighth in the nation in rushing, and the Cougars get back leading rusher Kirby Voorhees behind a veteran line. Pinnick can run, too.
Former head coach Jimmy Rogers took a slew of players with him to Iowa State, but the Cougars didn’t lose enough on the line to matter.
Ashton Tripp is a veteran left tackle, and Jaylin Caldwell should be ready to take over the job on the other side. The interior should be a rock, and the front five will be a plus.
What Needs Work
The receiver transfers need to shine right away. Tony Freeman is a good veteran who can make the midrange play in the slot, but the offense needs Tank Hawkins (Florida) and Darrius Clemons (Oregon State) to add more explosion than the O showed last year.
The picks have to stop. It wasn’t a minor issue for Pinnick at UCD – he gave it away ten times – but with all the new parts across the board, any improvement in the Cougar offense has to start with stopping the mistakes.
Wazzu went 2-4 when turning it over multiple times, giving up 20 turnovers and 15 picks on the season.
Considering all the midrange throws, the third downs should’ve been more automatic. The Cougars struggled to move the ball, converting fewer than 30% of their third down tries five times in the first nine games.
Things improved a bit, but in this year’s Pac-12, keeping the attack moving is a must.
Player to Watch
Caden Pinnick, QB Soph.
It’s not a total guarantee that he has the job, but he’s too good not to take over right away.
He’s not huge at only 6-0 and 186 pounds, but in his freshman season at UC Davis he threw for over 3,200 yards with 32 touchdowns, and ran for 437 yards.
Defense
There’s more work to do on the defensive side than the offense. There are plenty of positives, and lots to look forward to, but it’ll take a little tweaking and some patching to make this all work.
It starts with the terrific hire of former Oregon State head coach Trent Bray as the defensive coordinator.
He knows how to crank up the intensity and get big plays out of the linebacking corps, and a loaded haul from the transfer portal should help.
What’s Working
Bray has a clean slate to work with. This is trying to spin this – the Cougars aren’t totally starting over, but they’re not far off. The coaching staff gets to put together the defense with the exact types of players it wants.
If the talent evaluation is good, with at least eight transfers likely to start, the defense should be able to attack.
The pass rushing ends will get in the backfield right away. Linus Zunk was a wonderful get from Vanderbilt, and Matyus McLain comes in from Idaho after coming up with 4.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss. They’re not alone – there will be a good rotation.
The secondary will be an early strength. Again, it’s almost all transfers, but the staff loaded up here. Bray knows how Oregon State transfer Jalil Tucker works – there’s one starting corner. Jeremiah Bernard was a terrific all-around playmaker at Cal Poly.
Jaylen Thomas can play just about anywhere, making 59 tackles with six broken up passes last year for San Jose State.
What Needs Work
The Cougars didn’t lose a ton of talent to Iowa State from the offensive side. The defense, though – ugh. At the moment, 12 former defenders are now Cyclones, with the biggest hits coming up front.
The defensive line should be okay fast, but it still hurts to lose a backfield terror like Isaac Terrell, along with Jack Jainkowski on the other side.
It helped to play a slew of mediocre offenses last year, but there’s a lot to live up to. The Cougars were great in tough losses to Ole Miss and Virginia, but they got rocked by Washington and North Texas.
Overall, last year’s defense finished 15th in the nation in total defense, allowed just over 20 points per game, and as good as this year’s defense might be, with the talent overhaul and a real conference schedule, at least statistically, things won’t be the same.
Forgetting the lost transfers, Washington State was going to lose great linebackers no matter what. Parker McKenna and Caleb Francl combined for 165 tackles last year.
They graduated, and it also didn’t help that rising star Sullivan Schlimgen took off for Ames, and Anthony Palano left for Boston College – those two combined for 114 stops.
Player to Watch
Nylan Brown, LB, Jr.
The former Kent State linebacker wasn’t the most heralded pickup in the portal, and he’s a bit undersized at 5-11 and 225 pounds, but he has range, experience, and he can hit.
Don’t be shocked if he’s the team’s leading tackler from his spot in the middle.
Keys to the Season
Be dangerous right away on both sides of the ball – even if the overall results are a little ragged.
With so many transfers and a total overhaul of talent, the new coaching staff has to find ways to get everything in place to build on over the course of the season.
The nice part about the transfers coming in is the youth – this likely won’t be a one-off with most of these guys. The Pac-12 season is winnable. Use the first month to build towards what matters.
Player Who Needs To Shine
Jirah Leaupepetele, DT Jr.
There isn’t a ton of size on the defensive side of the ball, and the line needs a tough guy anchor to build the defense around.
The 6-3, 344-pound Leaupepetele was a factor for Eastern Washington over the last few years, and now he’ll combine with Balaam Miller (Saint Francis) on the nose.
Biggest Concern
The offensive line.
It’ll be good. It’s full of veterans, there’s depth, and there’s a lot to like, but it has to deal with some fantastic defensive fronts over the first month.
Last year’s team was okay in pass protection, but didn’t do much for the ground game. The faster the front five is polished and good, the quicker the rebuilding will happen.
Biggest Game
Boise State, October 24
The Broncos should be the main competition for the Pac-12 Championship, and it’s a home game oasis in the mindset of a slew of three October road games.
It’s not the end of the world if the Cougars lose this, but they’ll have to rebound fast with a trip to San Diego State to follow.
Transfer Portal
The coaching staff loaded up through the transfer portal out of necessity.
Not only did the team lose a ton of talent in the exodus to Iowa State, but around 35 players in all are gone. For the most part, though, the team held serve.
Best Signing
Linus Zunk, EDGE (Vanderbilt)
A nice part of the Vanderbilt defensive rotation over the last few years, he left with 38 tackles and five sacks – now he’ll get a far bigger role. The pass rush will revolve around him because of the loss of …
Biggest Loss
Isaac Terrell, EDGE (Iowa State)
It took a few years to get up to speed, and then … boom. The new Cyclone edge rusher came up with seven sacks and 12 tackles for loss last year for the Cougars.
Other Names to Know
- Jack Pedersen, TE (UCLA)
- Jalil Tucker, CB (Oregon State)
- Darrius Clemons, WR (Oregon State)
CFN Season Prediction
BE PATIENT.
Cougar fans are used to starting the season off right. Last year, their team started 2-0, the 2024 version went 8-1, the 2023 version went 4-0, 4-1 in 2022, and …
At Washington, at Kansas State, and Arizona are all within the first four games.
This will be more of a marathon of a season, not a sprint, and the new staff is all but starting from scratch.
CFN Prediction: 6-6
The schedule is more intense because of the expanded Pac-12 thing, but last year’s team won six regular season games with Washington, Ole Miss, Virginia, and James Madison on the schedule.
The Cougars lost all four games, but this year, the big dates with the Power Four programs are done after September.
This might still take a little bit. Fresno State, San Diego State, Boise State, Colorado State, Utah State – all five are good former Mountain West teams to deal with. But the Cougars can hang with – or beat – all of them.
The prediction is a little loose right now – it might be a tad off because everything changed.
But it should end up being a winning season, and business as usual in Pullman.
This story was originally published by College Football News on May 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add College Football News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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