Cougars look to honor seniors with bowl berth in finale against Beavers

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Nov. 29—It's the end of a brief and odd era for Washington State and Oregon State — the last two standing traditional Pac-12 schools.

One school hired a new football coach on Friday meaning today's contest is a last hurrah for Oregon State interim coach Robb Akey and potentially a good portion of the current staff, too.

The other is at the end of its head coach's first year on the job with a bowl berth on the line.

Akey and OSU beat WSU coach Jimmy Rogers and the Cougars 10-7 on Nov. 1. Today is the "Pac-2 championship," a regular-season finale that essentially serves as a rematch for the conference title.

A WSU win would be the Cougars' sixth victory of the year, grant them bowl eligibility for the ninth time in the last 10 full seasons and serve as a proper celebration for WSU's 25 seniors playing for one final time in Pullman.

"We have an opportunity to be bowl eligible," Rogers said. "We've been competitive against a lot of really good teams. There is no out. We've lost and we got to find ways to win, and that's on me and the staff and the players buying into it, regardless of the record itself."

The Cougars (5-6) host the Beavers (2-9) at 3:30 p.m. today (The CW Network) at Gesa Field in Pullman.

Seeing a team twice

After their 10 previous conference partners left for greener pastures, WSU and OSU have navigated conference realignment over the past two years by reconstructing the Pac-12 with six new football-sponsoring members beginning in 2026.

With two football seasons spent in the conference wilderness, the two schools resorted to playing each other twice in 2025.

The Cougars dropped their first meeting against OSU by way of an anemic offense that was shut out in the second half, a lightning-in-a-bottle touchdown drive from the Beavers and a missed chip-shot field goal from WSU kicker Jack Stevens.

It was an avalanche of misfortunes, the likes of which have been far too common for the Cougars through their 5-6 season.

Rogers said the Cougars need to be ready for anything.

"They really have nothing to lose," Rogers said of OSU. "It could be a lot of trick plays. It could be a lot of nuances. It could be special teams things here and there. We need to make sure that we're focused and not just take for granted what is a talented team."

Scouting the Beavers

Oregon State started the season 0-7 and then fired its coach, Pullman native Trent Bray.

Robb Akey, a former Idaho head coach and WSU assistant to Mike Price and Bill Doba, was named interim head coach and has led the Beavers to a 2-2 record since he took over.

OSU hired Alabama co-offensive coordinator JaMarcus Shephard on Friday and will introduce him on Tuesday.

Today will mark Akey's final game leading the Beavers and his first time coaching in Pullman since the 2007 Battle of the Palouse, which Akey's Vandals lost to WSU 45-28.

Akey has not named a starting quarterback for the game. Both Malik Murphy and Gabarri Johnson played versus WSU last time, with the duo generating just 60 passing yards.

However, a new gunslinger, freshman Tristan Ti'a, could see the field for the Beavers. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound signal-caller completed 8-of-11 passes for 141 yards with two touchdowns in the Beavers' 31-14 loss to Tulsa on Nov. 15.

OSU took its second bye week last week. The Beavers also had a bye week immediately prior to facing WSU the first time.

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Oregon State running back Anthony Hankerson gashed the Cougars for 132 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries the last time around.

Hankerson broke out for a 37-yard run during the Beavers' lone touchdown drive. While the WSU offense has been the main culprit in not finishing games, the defense has given in to several weak moments, including Hankerson's heroics on Nov. 1 and two explosive touchdowns by James Madison last week in the Dukes' 24-20 win over Wazzu.

"Tackling in space, setting edges on the defense, making sure that we are physical up front and control the line of scrimmage (are) all things that I would say every week that (are) important to stop a great running back," Rogers said. "It takes one play for a great player to make a play. So it's the same thing this week.

"They have talent, they play hard, they do a good job up front and we got to make sure that we're not taking anybody for granted or checking out because we got a game to finish."

The Beaver defense has given up 379.5 yards and 29.2 points per game.

Honoring a unique senior class

Among the Cougars' 25-man senior class are career Cougs such as offensive linemen Brock Dieu and Christian Hilborn, wide receivers Josh Meredith and Leon Neal Jr. and defensive end Raam Stevenson, who have each worn the crimson and gray since 2021.

Also among the class is a core group that made the WSU defense as formidable as it has been in years this season, headlined by a slew of transfers from South Dakota State.

Safeties Tucker Large, Cale Reeder and Matt Durrance; linebacker Caleb Francl; cornerback Colby Humphrey and running back Angel Johnson were FCS national champions at South Dakota State and chose to follow their coaches to Pullman.

Linebacker Parker McKenna, cornerback Jamorri Colson and quarterback Zevi Eckhaus and others chose to remain Cougs through last season's coaching change.

It's a unique meld of men that form the Cougars' 2025 senior class and Rogers said he is thankful for their contributions.

"It's pretty cool to see a lot of guys come together, be different in their background of how they've gotten here and still find joy in each other, find a common bond of competing together and wanting to excel at a high level," Rogers said. "And I think it's a good sign as far as the culture of the program."

Rogers said he wants his team to practice and play with a level of gratitude this week and that's not just because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

"The personality of a team stems from the players who are going to be graduating," Rogers said. "We got a lot of players that are impact players for us in the starting rotation that are seniors, so we'll deal with what the team looks like in the offseason, but right now, the focus is on making sure that we finish the season."

The basics

What: WSU (5-6) at Oregon State (2-9)

Where: Gesa Field, Pullman

When: 3:30 p.m. today

TV: The CW Network

Radio: KHTR-FM (104.3), KCLX-AM (1450)

Spread: WSU -13.5 (FanDuel)

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com, or on X or Instagram @Sam_C_Taylor.

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