Cougar offense clicks to run away with first win of Kirby Moore era

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Sep. 20—PULLMAN — Washington State head football coach Kirby Moore's face lit up when he saw his preschool-aged son, Cohen Moore, gallop straight into his arms Saturday at Gesa Field following the Cougars' 48-7 nonconference win over Duquesne (Pa.).

With wide receiver routes perhaps in his future, Cohen swiftly raced away among the forest of football players, coaches and families as Kirby Moore's daughter, Sutton, and wife, Kayla Moore, were close behind with hugs of their own. Kirby's 1-year-old son Crew, sitting in a stroller and no doubt tired after a nearly four-hour game day, seemed disinterested in giving his father a high-five as his smiling extended family took in the moment, per a video posted by KREM-TV's Andrew Quinn.

For Moore, his family and all of Cougar nation, there was a lot to smile about as a warm Palouse afternoon washed into evening. Saturday was Moore's first win as WSU's head football coach. An accumulation of an over decade-long journey following his own playing career at Boise State.

"Super grateful for the family," Moore said. "I don't know if (Kayla Moore) knew what she signed up for 10 years ago. So just riding with me through everything, and obviously got her family, got my family (here). Awesome experience today."

It was an awesome experience all around for the WSU football team — eventually.

Early mistakes and a just seven-point halftime lead over a lower-level Football Championship Subdivision opponent may have prompted alarm bells on the heels of a pair of tough losses to Power Four teams to start the season.

Advertisement

Coming out of the locker room for the second half of their home opener, the Cougars seemingly flipped a switch, scoring three straight touchdowns from scrimmage, racking up 313 rushing yards — led by dual 100-yard games from running backs Kirby Vorhees and Maxwell Woods — and adding a pair of punt return TDs to send what remained of the announced crowd of 28,288 home happy.

"Super grateful. I mentioned the administration, just everyone working to create the environment that we wanted to. The fans, the students, the players doing an awesome job there, responding in the second half," Moore said. "Cool having a good amount of family here, and going to enjoy that, and then get right back to work and ready for Arizona."

A bounceback

It was far from a perfect game for sophomore quarterback Caden Pinnick and the Cougs.

The way it began, you might think it was among his worst.

An errant center Noah Dunham snap sailed past Pinnick's head on WSU's first play from scrimmage, prompting the UC Davis transfer to take an 11-yard sack.

Then, on the very next play, Pinnick forced a ball up the field intended for senior wide receiver Darrius Clemons, which Duquesne defensive back Dallas Harper corralled for an interception.

Two plays, one turnover.

While the Cougs found the end zone twice in the first half, holding penalties and other errors held them back.

Early in the second quarter, two straight penalties nullified touchdowns and backed Wazzu up from the 2-yard line to the 18. Settling for the field goal, kicker Jack Stevens' early-season troubles continued to haunt him as he missed from 30 yards out. After just three unsuccessful field goal attempts last year, Stevens has missed four through three games.

Moore said that he is confident in his kicker.

"He's done it throughout the offseason, and we've got to look at the whole operation," Moore said. "There's snap, there's hold, there's protection, there's a lot of pieces to that. Obviously, we've got to improve, and we're going to do that."

Moore's confidence in his play-caller, offensive coordinator Matt Miller, and playmaker Pinnick, were perhaps boosted Saturday.

Pinnick completed 17-of-22 passes for 196 yards with two touchdowns and one pick. He also ran 12 times for 76 yards with a 19-yard score.

His 77 completion percentage fed off a robust run game and he notched his first two passing touchdowns of his Cougar career. The first was to fifth-year tight end Jack Pedersen for an 11-yard catch-and-run TD that capped a second-half-opening six-play, 75-yard drive.

The second was a 10-yard dart to the back of the end zone and into the paws of junior wide receiver Branden Ganashamoorthy on a tardy throw that Pinnick admitted won't fly against FBS opponents like Arizona or WSU's Pac-12 foes.

With an up-tempo offense in the second half, WSU moved the ball with intention and precision. Miller called the plays, Moore and Pinnick said, with Moore playing a significant role in the game plan.

"Our goal is to create a simple offensive plan. That way, guys can just go out and execute. No crazy block schemes or pass concepts," Pinnick said. "That's what can happen if we're playing just simple football."

Defensive dominance

Reduced to a footnote simply because of how night-and-day the offense was, the Cougar defense only allowed its standard to slip once — permitting a 54-yard run followed by Duquesne's lone touchdown on a quarterback keeper in the first quarter.

WSU defensive end Matyus McLain, who last year was a part of FCS Idaho's near upset of WSU in the same stadium, said that conceding that touchdown refocused the D.

"Realized, 'oh s—, this can happen,'" said McLain, who co-led the Cougs with six tackles. "I've been on the other end of it. It can happen, and I mean, guys just need to realize FCS teams have some s— to them."

From there, the Cougs forced nine straight punts, including five of their seven total three-and-outs.

Making history

He usually just screams. Washington State running back Kirby Vorhees has been working on his celebrations.

He's done the screaming — which he did on a 58-yard barnburner of a touchdown run in the fourth quarter to extend WSU's lead to 35-7, but on his first TD of 8 yards, Vorhees did a little dance.

It hasn't been the easiest start to the season for Vorhees either. He lost a fumble in each of WSU's first two games and had gained fewer than 60 yards. It's the first time since 2005 that WSU has had two 100-yard rushers in the same game.

"I kind of let the team down in my perspective. So really, that's just me getting back to the basics, talking to the Lord, focusing on ball security when I don't really need to," Vorhees said. "Just really doing the little things over and over and over again to where it becomes second nature."

Vorhees and Woods broke loose for multiple chunk yards behind a reimagined offensive line that featured junior Jonny Lester at left guard in place of junior Kyle Martin and senior right tackle Jaylin Caldwell starting where Lester had spent much of the last two games.

To put a bow on the afternoon, WSU punt returners Jaylin Thomas and Tank Hawkins made house calls — tacking on punt return touchdowns of 47 and 65 yards, respectively.

It's the first time since 1973 that WSU has recorded two punt-return touchdowns — that instance also included two different players.

"Seeing JT return one, and then Tank Hawkins, man, he's been itching to get it, man," Pinnick said. "I remember talking to him. I'm like, 'Hey, bro, you just might have to take this,' and he did. And we were all excited on the sideline. So seeing that, man, and having the plays jump was great."

FIRST QUARTER

WSU — Vorhees 8 run (Stevens kick), 8:06.

DUQ — Camp 1 run (Clark kick), 4:12.

SECOND QUARTER

WSU — Pinnick 19 run (Stevens kick), 4:30.

THIRD QUARTER

WSU — Pedersen 11 pass from Pinnick (Stevens kick), 12:01.

WSU — Ganashamoorthy 10 pass from Pinnick (Stevens kick), 2:27.

WSU — Vorhees 58 run (Stevens kick), :00.

FOURTH QUARTER

WSU — J.Thomas 47 punt return (kick failed), 5:32.

WSU — Hawkins 65 punt return (Stevens kick), 3:05.

A — 28,288.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Duquesne, Hopkins 7-60, Davis 8-27, Solomon 7-17, Oliver 2-4, Kushner 3-3, Latouf 1-(minus 3), Camp 5-(minus 3). Washington St., Woods 11-116, Vorhees 9-109, Pinnick 13-81, Pulalasi 6-23, Hawkins 2-(minus 8).

PASSING — Duquesne, Camp 9-18-0-69, Kushner 1-2-0-6. Washington St., Pinnick 17-22-1-196.

RECEIVING — Duquesne, Petras 4-56, N.Canty 3-6, T.Graham 1-6, Davis 1-4, Solomon 1-3. Washington St., Ganashamoorthy 4-67, Clemons 4-33, Blood 3-33, Woods 3-20, Hawkins 1-30, Pedersen 1-11, Vorhees 1-2.

MISSED FIELD GOALS — Washington St., Stevens 30.

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

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos