What's ailing the Washington State offense?

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Nov. 6—ANALYSIS

It's almost offensive how unsuccessful the Washington State offense has been this year.

While the WSU defense has amazed, with solid showings versus ranked foes on the road in back-to-back weeks and a high standard all season, the WSU offense has faltered.

There is no better exhibit of the Cougars' offensive shortcomings than Saturday's 10-7 loss to fellow Pac-12 holdover Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore.

The Cougars ran 11 full drives, punted seven times and turned the ball over three times (two interceptions and a turnover on downs) versus the Beavers.

WSU quarterback Zevi Eckhaus, playing behind a shaky, injury-riddled offensive line, threw two interceptions and the Cougars saw just two drives surpass 40 yards.

So, what exactly is ailing the WSU offense?

The issue is threefold: injuries, QB play/general execution and playcalling.

Injuries

WSU's offensive line was banged up at OSU, with four out of the five O-linemen playing their first or second game at their respective positions.

Right tackles Christian Hilborn and Jaylin Caldwell were hurt entering the game, so Jonny Lester played RT for just the second full game of his career. Noah Dunham filled in for Lester at left guard, center Brock Dieu got hurt in the second quarter and right guard AJ Vaipulu was benched in the second half.

Sophomore center Kyle Martin filled in for Dieu for the remainder of the game and true freshman Trevor Bindel came off the bench to replace Vaipulu.

WSU's offensive line was already in dire straits, but take away Hilborn, who has 45 games under his belt, and team captain Dieu, who coaches have lauded for his intelligence and leadership, and you already have a compromised O-line.

Left tackle Ashton Tripp is the only Week 1 starting offensive lineman who played the entirety of the Cougars' loss at OSU.

WSU's starting offensive line has held pretty steady, as most O-lines do. This made the snaps that Martin and Bindel took on Saturday the first meaningful snaps of their collegiate careers.

"At the end of the day, they're all in the same meeting room," WSU coach Jimmy Rogers said. "They're expected to go out and execute and we've got to put them in better situations to execute, but we can't kill ourselves with pre-snap penalties and holding penalties. And some of the sacks we gave up, the pocket was collapsing immediately. We've got to get better."

Poor QB play

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Eckhaus is not John Mateer or Cam Ward. After three years of pro-like QB play at WSU, Eckhaus is a sobering departure.

However, he is still the best QB on the Cougars' roster and the man capable of transforming the offense into keeping pace with now-No. 24 Washington for three quarters and nearly beating top 20 Ole Miss and Virginia earlier this season.

But against Oregon State, Eckhaus' second interception killed a promising Cougar drive at the 25-yard line in the second quarter.

Eckhaus stood in a relatively clean pocket and chucked the ball where he thought wide receiver Josh Meredith would be 20 yards down the field only for Oregon State's Jaheim Patterson to reel it in before Meredith could get there.

Rogers said in his postgame news conference Saturday that Eckhaus, who has thrown four of his eight interceptions during the past two games, "was a little banged up."

When asked if the team would consider switching back to Week 1 starter Jaxon Potter, Rogers said, "No."

Eckhaus' turnover tendencies cost him the job to Potter out of fall camp, with coaches praising Potter's ability to minimize negative plays. Then Potter threw three interceptions in the first half of WSU's 59-10 loss to North Texas in Week 3 and Eckhaus has held the job since.

Poor playcalls

There are three playcalls that stood out as puzzling from offensive coordinator Danny Freund on Saturday.

Attempting to protect a 7-3 lead in the fourth quarter, WSU took two deep shots — one which Eckhaus threw inches away from Meredith's hands and the other which bounced off Tony Freeman's hands. WSU punted and OSU put together a lightning-quick, four-play touchdown drive that spanned 64 yards to take the lead for good.

Why take two consecutive deep shots deep in OSU territory when all you need is 10 yards for a first down to sustain the drive and drain the clock?

Later, on fourth-and-7, Eckhaus found wide receiver Jeremiah Noga on a crossing route, but the former Beaver was tackled well behind the first down marker for just a 2-yard gain and a turnover on downs.

Why complete a pass to a receiver well short of the first down on a fourth-down attempt? Of course, Noga was likely the checkdown option, which rolls into the question of execution on the part of the rest of the offense.

Then, with the game on the line in the closing minutes, Eckhaus rolled out to his right and looked to throw on third-and-4 after WSU had run the ball to great success on that drive. He found no open targets and took an unadvisable sack out of bounds, setting up kicker Jack Stevens for a difficult right-hash 32-yard field goal, which he missed.

In three critical fourth-quarter drives, the Cougars failed to find offensive success. Part of that is on the players and the other part is on the coaches failing to put their players in a position to succeed.

WSU has three more chances to seek redemption. At 4-5, the Cougars need two more wins to earn bowl eligibility for the ninth time in the last 10 full seasons.

Anything less than a bowl game at this point after the team flashed its potential would be a failure.

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

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