To pull an upset on Kansas State, WSU's offense will have to improve in a big way

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Sep. 11—MANHATTAN, Kan. — Jack Pedersen likes to say he's an early riser anyway. In his fifth and final season of college football, which he's spending playing tight end for Washington State, he's usually up and at 'em by 7 or 7:30 a.m.

With that approach, Pedersen gets a head start on his days, which mostly center around classes and practice in Pullman. He's made the most of them, playing a shade over 50 snaps in WSU's season opener, a loss to rival Washington in last week's Apple Cup.

"We're playing football. Why not be excited to go play?" Pedersen said. "Another great opportunity to play in a great atmosphere as well."

But for Pedersen and the Cougars, this weekend's game is a bit different. WSU players and coaches will have to be up even earlier than that to prepare for a road test against Kansas State, which is set for 9 a.m. on TNT and HBO Max. In the programs' first meeting, the Wildcats are about 17.5-point favorites.

To avoid starting their season with two losses, the Cougs (0-1) won't just have to wake up a bit earlier than usual. They'll also have to play better than they did last week, in a 24-10 loss to Washington, which might start with their offense. In that one, WSU lost three turnovers, missed two field goals and didn't score until the fourth quarter, which robbed coach Kirby Moore's team of chances to climb back into the game.

For WSU, it's another Power 4 game in a lineup full of them to kick off the season. The Cougars took a loss to the No. 17 Huskies last weekend. On Saturday, they have the Big 12's Wildcats. Then on Sept. 26, they'll host Arizona to complete their nonconference slate. Their path to earning bowl eligibility, which they've secured in 10 of the last 11 full seasons, becomes much easier with a win in Saturday's game.

In perhaps the biggest news on that front, WSU will likely be without top receiver Tony Freeman, who went down with a knee injury just 10 snaps into last weekend's Apple Cup. He's also the team's best punt and kick returner, and without him, the Cougars couldn't field one punt and one kickoff cleanly. His absence looms large for Washington State.

Without Freeman, how can WSU QB Caden Pinnick and offensive coordinator Matt Miller facilitate a better outing? Against K-State (1-0), which opened its season with a 71-3 romp over FCS Nicholls last weekend, the Cougars will likely have to be quicker on the trigger to make adjustments. If they meet a similar fate as last week and can't run up the middle against the Wildcats' defense, which permitted just 102 yards against Nicholls, they'll have to design more packages for Pinnick to roll out and for the Cougars' running backs — Kirby Vorhees, Maxwell Woods and Leo Pulalasi — to hit the outsides.

However WSU's offense operates on Saturday, it'll have to be better against a K-State defense that includes several key playmakers. Defensive end Wendell Gregory, a transfer from Oklahoma State, registered four quarterback pressures last weekend. Linebacker Darien Whitaker, who registered a strip sack, could also line up on the edge. Linebacker Mekhi Mason is questionable with an injury, but two other defenders could make an impact this weekend: Linebacker Gabe Powers and safety Logan Bartley each tallied five tackles against Nicholls.

Mostly, though, the Cougars will need to keep the pressure off Pinnick. That's the responsibility of WSU's offensive line, which gave up three sacks last week. This weekend, that group gets the challenge of blocking edge rushers like Gregory, Whitaker and Jordan Allen, who combined for one sack on nine QB pressures last week. Can WSU tackles Ashton Tripp and Jonny Lester keep them at bay? What about interior pieces like center Noah Dunham and left guard Kyle Martin, the latter of whom registered a PFF pass-blocking grade of just 8.7 last weekend.

"After every drive, just looking forward to the next and what can we fix? Where can we be better?" Pedersen said of his team's offensive showing last weekend. "In my opinion, you don't want to dive too deep into the iPads and everything. You just wanna go play and be free. What's done is done in those plays. Let's move on to the next drive and get better."

If there's any way the Cougars can pull the upset, it might start their edge rushing duo of Matyus McLain and Linus Zunk. Against Washington, they combined for nine quarterback pressures. They'll have a similar opportunity against K-State, which suffered a setback before the season when John Pastore, a preseason all-Big 12 first team selection, went down with a season-ending injury. Junior Ryan Howard, who played his first snaps of college football last weekend, takes Pastore's spot.

If WSU's defensive front can get pressure on senior quarterback Avery Johnson, who exited midway through the third quarter of last weekend's blowout win, the Cougars' defense could give their team a chance to walk out with a win. WSU saw a quarterback of the same mold in the Apple Cup in Demond Williams Jr., who is a tad more accurate of a thrower than Johnson. Could that be good news for the Cougs and their defense?

That unit will also have to slow down K-State running backs Joe Jackson, Jay Harris and Rodney Fields Jr., the latter of whom earned a surprise start over the veteran Jackson last weekend. Against Nicholls, that trio combined for 192 rushing yards and three scores.

"I think just stopping the run would be the biggest thing, which I think we've found that we can do a good job at. They do a lot more gap schemes than UW did," WSU linebacker Keith Brown said. "They do a lot of pullers, counters, pin-pull, stuff like that. So just being physical at the point of attack and then stopping the run, because they have three really good running backs, kinda like a three-headed horse back there. So if we can stop that, then I think we'll be in a good spot."

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