5 lingering thoughts from Cougars' weekend loss to Arizona | WSU Rewind

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Sep. 27—PULLMAN — Not 10 seconds had passed after Kirby Moore sat down at the podium, ready to discuss his Washington State team's 34-24 loss to Arizona on Saturday evening, when he summed things up pretty succinctly.

"This should hurt," Moore said.

That it did for the Cougars, who took an early two-score lead only for it to evaporate in the second half, when the Wildcats outpaced the hosts to the tune of 20-7. Quarterback Caden Pinnick played an OK game, but he also lost two more turnovers, giving him five on the season. And if it weren't for an Arizona defender falling down in the fourth quarter, WSU would have netted just one offensive touchdown, which came on its opening series.

Here are five thoughts on this WSU loss, which dropped the group to 1-3 to open Moore's debut season.

1. DE Linus Zunk turns in sharp game

It had been a quiet two games for Vanderbilt transfer Linus Zunk, one half of the pass rush duo that figured to take WSU's defense from staunch to scary. After turning in four pressures in the season-opening Apple Cup, Zunk went on to have a muted impact in the Cougars' next three games, posting zero pressures against Kansas State and two against FCS Duquesne.

That changed on Saturday, when Zunk registered his first sack in a WSU uniform, finishing with two pressures total, according to Pro Football Focus. That may sound like a relatively unremarkable day, but think back to WSU safety Jackquintin Bal's pick-six in the first quarter. Part of the reason Arizona QB Noah Fifita threw such an errant pass, it seemed, was because Zunk produced enough penetration to get a hand in Fifita's face at the last second.

For the season, Zunk now has eight QB pressures, tied with his pass-rushing partner, Matyus McLain, for the team lead. Zunk has also earned a PFF defensive grade of 70.5, which ranks second among all Cougars playing meaningful snap counts. That's just about what WSU was looking for from Zunk when coaches recruited him out of the transfer portal.

2. WSU must improve end-of-half operations

For the second straight week, WSU coaches bungled an end-of-half opportunity, missing out on a chance to score a touchdown before halftime. In Saturday's game, a bevy of things went the Cougars' way: A late-hit penalty on Arizona, then a pass-interference penalty on Arizona and, three plays later, another 15-yard penalty against the Wildcats. Also sandwiched in there, Pinnick got away with a bad decision to loft the ball downfield — more on that later — because an Arizona defender bobbled an easy interception on his way out of bounds.

That set WSU up with this dream scenario: first-and-10 from the Arizona 12, the game clock at 1:18, which is tons of time. But after running their first play, a QB keeper for Pinnick, they let the clock run down, all the way from 1:15 to 33 seconds, before calling a timeout.

The reasoning remains unclear. The Cougars could have done all kinds of things with that time: run another play, called a quick timeout, you name it. Instead, they cost themselves 40 seconds doing nothing. They paid for it. One play later, Pinnick was sacked, and then on a screen play on third-and-12, Pinnick's pass was wide of receiver Tank Hawkins Jr., forcing him to retreat and take a loss.

WSU did get points out of that drive, a field goal from struggling kicker Jack Stevens, but the Cougars certainly left something to be desired. To their credit, they did make an effort to move the ball down the field in this 2-minute situation, which they didn't attempt last week against one of the FCS ranks' worst defenses.

But considering the array of plays that went WSU's way in this situation, it stands to reason the Cougars could have gotten a lot more out of that spot.

3. Cougars must clean up their special teams unit as a whole

In this game, Stevens will get dinged for a missed field goal, his fifth in four games. He has been far from perfect, but this one wasn't his fault. On the play, offensive lineman Jaylin Caldwell failed to really block anyone, letting Arizona defender Tre Smith come through mostly unblocked and get a hand on the ball, knocking it away.

That sowed another seed of doubt in this WSU special teams unit, even with Stevens back improving, which seems to be the case after he nailed a 33-yard field goal later in the game.

In the third quarter, after another forgettable series on offense, WSU punted it back to Arizona. Wildcat receiver Caleb Smith fielded it at his own 30, darted around defenders and scampered upfield, all the way to the Cougars 31, where he was dragged down. It was a 39-yard return, setting up the Wildcats deep in Cougar territory.

It's not the first time that's happened to WSU's punt coverage team. In a road game against Kansas State earlier this month, the Cougars gave up a 62-yard return, which the purple Wildcats turned into a touchdown two plays later. WSU special teams coordinator Derek Sage, who also coaches receivers, hasn't been able to get much consistency out of that group early in the season.

The only bright spot on WSU's special teams group has been punter Max Dean, who battled migraines in Saturday's game to record five punts for 200 total yards, an average of 40 yards. He's now averaging 45.2 yards per punt, which ranks No. 14 in the country.

4. Pinnick played a solid short game, but he's shown weaknesses trying to extend plays

In Saturday's game, Pinnick was at his best completing passes of short-to-intermediate length, tracking with patterns that have surfaced so far this fall. On passes between zero and 9 yards, Pinnick completed 18 of 21 throws, which is an elite percentage of 85%. Credit WSU coaches for putting him in those situations to make his best throws.

But Pinnick now has five turnovers, and many have come when he's tried to extend plays and do more. Early against Arizona, Pinnick scrambled out of the pocket and flung a pass downfield, where it was easily intercepted by a Wildcat defender. He might not have seen the double coverage in the sun.

Then, in the third quarter, he was facing heavy pressure when he tried to get the ball out. He tried to do so too late, and he lost the ball as he was throwing it, resulting in another turnover for WSU, which has committed seven total this fall. Toss in another iffy decision from Pinnick, on that near-interception in the second frame, and it could have grown to eight.

"We're all in this together," Moore said. "So it starts with me, obviously the offensive staff. Just having that dialogue with him, whether it's in practice on the headset, reminders, making sure he knows exactly the stipulations, or even there on the third down. We ran the quarterback, he slides. That's an unfortunate one. It's a QB designed run, and so we got to make sure he's on the same page with that."

5. WSU must get more from its running backs

Here are the numbers from Cougar running backs against FBS competition: 50 carries for 169 yards, which comes out to 3.38 yards per carry. Tailbacks Kirby Vorhees, Maxwell Woods and Leo Pulalasi were seen as a formidable trio headed into this season, but with the exception of a brilliant day against FCS Duquesne last weekend, they haven't generated the production to match.

Things figure to get a little easier for WSU next week, when Fresno State comes to town, kicking off Pac-12 play. Those are the games in which we can begin to judge this WSU team in earnest. But against FBS teams, the Cougars' ground game hasn't been compelling just yet.

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