Cougars welcome Pac-12 play with whimper in pulseless loss to Fresno State

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Oct. 4—PULLMAN — The boos were quiet at first.

But as the Washington State offense trotted off the field following the Cougars' seventh series of five-or-fewer plays, the disappointment and anger, which can most accurately be expressed with the most disheartening of jeers, washed over a thinning-out Gesa Field crowd, which once stood 26,471 strong.

In a much anticipated Pac-12 football opener against new conference foe Fresno State, the Cougars whimpered to a 26-6 loss on Saturday at Gesa Field.

The boos greeted the Cougars off the field for the remainder of the evening, and the product only began to deteriorate. They grew louder as Cougar quarterback Caden Pinnick's pass bounced off senior wide receiver Daniel Blood's hands for a turnover on downs at the WSU 8-yard line with four minutes left in the fourth quarter and they stuck around on the next drive when, down by 17, Pinnick rushed a pass into harm's way for his fifth interception through as many games.

Fans' boos seemed to follow the sophomore signal-caller off the field.

"They deserve better," WSU coach Kirby Moore said of the fans. "There's Cougs who travel and alums and people in the Northwest who travel from all over to get here, and they deserve a better product on the field."

Pinnick passed for just over 150 yards and turned the ball over twice and WSU ran 10 drives with fewer than five plays. The Cougs (1-4 for the first time since 2010) converted just 3-of-14 third downs into first downs to start new Pac-12 play 0-1.

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While the offense floundered, the WSU defense appeared up to the task against their first Pac-12 opponent. Junior defensive tackle Jirah Leaupepetele forced a fumble to set up Jack Stevens' first field goal in the second quarter and the unit kept Fresno State out of the end zone until the second half.

However, the Bulldogs scraped out 375 total yards of offense with quarterback Jayden Mandal accounting for 246 of that through the air, completing 24-of-33 passes.

Fresno State made its money on a series of trick plays, with three different Bulldogs flicking around the rock in the backfield to set up a 38-yard pass, soon followed by their second field goal and a 6-3 lead at the 6:06 mark of the second quarter.

Fresno State used a 27-yard flea flicker to set up its first touchdown in the third quarter and scored said TD on an end-around run by senior wide receiver Josiah Freeman that put Fresno State up 13-6 at the 9:41 mark of the third quarter.

A whimper of a finish

It was a poor outing by any stretch of the imagination, but it only got worse in the fourth quarter.

An interception sandwiched between a pair of turnovers on downs ended this one for the Cougs. Pinnick remained in the game as to not break-up the offenses' "rhythm," Moore said.

Pinnick completed just four passes for double-digit yardage, with a long of 18 yards coming when he rolled out to his right and found junior wide receiver Branden Ganashamoorthy as part of a seven-play, 36-yard series that set up kicker Stevens' 32-yard field goal in the second quarter.

The Cougar offense once again was slow on the draw, only mustering 65 total yards through five drives by the 2-minute mark of the first half. It did not get much better from there with WSU shut out in the second half after going into the locker room tied 6-6.

"I think everything we've got to reevaluate," Moore said. "And obviously it starts with me as the head coach. On offense, we've got to find ways to score more than six points. I think that's the most important thing — we got to score. Tuesday in the staff meeting, we said we needed to score 27 (points) to win this game. If we score 27, we win this game, and we didn't do that."

No offensive players, including Pinnick, were made available to the media postgame.

Redemption for Stevens

After starting the year 2-for-7 on field goal attempts, Stevens nailed each of his two tries Saturday, including a career-best 50-yard field goal to end the first half.

It's been a tough start to the season for Stevens, with the field goal operation featuring any manner of issues on any given play, from bad snaps to poor protection to inaccurate kicks. Everyone involved has been at fault to some extent.

So, imagine the relief when Stevens booted a dead-on 50-yarder that could have been good from even longer to raise his season total to 4-for-9 — including three of his last three.

What's next?

As the sun set on the Palouse, the Cougars had a blank slate. The start of Pac-12 play brought a new opportunity and a new challenge.

WSU is one of four Pac-12 teams to start conference play 0-1. Four have started 1-0, including Oregon State and Boise State, which WSU will meet before the end of the month.

The season is far from over, but as the boos represented the game Saturday. Something has got to change if the Cougs are going to make something of this season.

"Yeah, I heard the boos. Everyone did. This isn't Cougar football," junior defensive tackle Kaden Beatty said. "This is not the standard that we want to give, and we're gonna clean it up. We're gonna fix it, and I don't fault those fans at all. I love them, but that's still crimson and gray. It comes through our blood, and so we're gonna clean it up, fix it up for them, and give them something to cheer about, not boo."

On a short week, WSU plays at Utah State (1-4, 0-1) on Friday night.

With the Cougs 1-4, how can Moore keep his team together?

"We've got to come together and work," Moore said. "We've got a short week. That's the only way I know how to improve the product on the field, and that starts tomorrow, and quick turnaround on Friday."

Fresno State 26, Washington State 6

First Quarter

FRES — FG Watanabe 27, 7:01.

Second Quarter

WSU — FG Stevens 32, 9:27.

FRES — FG Watanabe 22, 6:06.

WSU — FG Stevens 50, :00.

Third Quarter

FRES — J.Freeman 3 run (Watanabe kick), 9:41.

Fourth Quarter

FRES — FG Watanabe 31, 11:00.

FRES — Gillick 8 run (Watanabe kick), 3:54.

FRES — FG Watanabe 33, 3:15.

A — 26,471.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Fresno St., Luke 6-46, Mandal 9-27, Gillick 4-21, Freeman 2-17, Donelson 11-13, Chavez 1-5, Malau'ulu 1-2, (Team) 1-(minus 1). Washington St., Vorhees 6-25, Woods 5-15, Hawkins 1-8, Pulalasi 1-5, Pinnick 11-(minus 23).

PASSING — Fresno St., Mandal 24-33-0-245. Washington St., Pinnick 21-34-1-152.

RECEIVING — Fresno St., Freeman 7-61, Avit 5-60, Farrar 5-25, McClain 3-37, Gaius-Anyaegbu 1-36, Donelson 1-12, Correia 1-8, Gillick 1-6. Washington St., Pulalasi 4-16, Clemons 3-33, Blood 3-29, Ganashamoorthy 3-28, Pedersen 3-21, Vorhees 2-10, Hawkins 2-7, Leckner 1-8.

MISSED FIELD GOALS — Fresno St., Watanabe 33.

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2260, staylor@lmtribune.com, or on X or Instagram @Sam_C_Taylor.

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