Washington State Welcomes Louisiana Tech (GAME THREAD)

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Throw out the records when WSU and Louisiana Tech play.

Wait, that’s not right. These two have never played, but they will tonight when the Bulldogs visit Martin Stadium for a 7 p.m. PST battle.

Both teams are itching to get to bowl eligibility. LaTech needs one more win to qualify, while WSU needs to win two of its final three to get to a bowl game. The Cougs face the Bulldogs today, travel to James Madison next week, and host the Oregon State Beavers to end the season.

We don’t know a whole lot about the Bulldogs, but after reading some previews, it seems like the WSU defense could be set up for a big day. The Bulldogs are without their starting quarterback, who tore his ACL in a loss to Delaware last week. The LaTech offensive line is adept at giving up sacks, and that would be key for the WSU defense getting off the field. WSU’s woes in recent weeks hasn’t been all on defense, to be clear, though that unit still needs to tackle better.

On offense, quarterback Zevi Eckhaus will need to keep the ball away from the other team. He’s thrown two interceptions in each of his last three games after throwing just two interceptions all season. Those picks have been extremely costly and they absolutely cannot happen with the margins seemingly so thin right now.

Head coach Jimmy Rogers indicated that Eckhaus has been a bit banged up recently, and even missed some practice time. Let’s hope the bye week helped him heal, because he’s still clearly WSU’s best option behind center.

We won’t know what the WSU offensive line will look like, and getting guys back will be key, as that group has had first class seats on the struggle bus recently.

There are lots of questions heading into this one. Will Eckhaus take care of the ball? Will the defense take advantage of a wobbly LaTech offensive line? Will there be more fans in the stadium than last night’s basketball game (I kid)?

We’ll find out!

When

7 p.m. PST, so get your chores done during the day.

Where

Gesa Field at Martin Stadium, where the temp will be in the 40’s. Could be a heck of a lot worse!

How to Watch

We’re back on The CW, with Ted Robinson, Ryan Leaf and Nigel Burton on the call. I’m wondering if these three will join the USA Network next season. Time will tell.

The Line

The Cougs are 8.5-point favorites, and the over/under is 43.5. That’s points, not total rushing yards for WSU, to be clear.

Familiar Faces

You would assume that there’d be no current connection between WSU and LaTech. And you’d be correct. The only tie between the two schools is LaTech head coach Sonny Cumbie played for Mike Leach at Texas Tech and was later on the Tech coaching staff with Leach. How soon until the broadcast mentions that tonight?

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