Washington State's offense finally finds rhythm against overmatched FCS visitor | Instant reactions

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Sep. 19—The first half was troubling — Washington State couldn't pull away from a winless FCS team. But the Cougars came out of the locker room with a reinvigorated offense and scored touchdowns on their first three possessions of the second half, and their defense blanked visiting Duquesne from there.

It wasn't as clean — complete control from start to finish — as the Cougars fanbase would have liked, but WSU eventually overpowered the Dukes and picked up its first victory under coach Kirby Moore, winning its home opener 48-7 on Saturday afternoon at Gesa Field.

Skill players find rhythm

WSU quarterback Caden Pinnick settled in after a nightmarish first two plays — a botched snap resulting in an 11-yard loss and an errant pass that was intercepted.

But the sophomore showed progress later in the first half. An up-tempo passing attack led to Pinnick's 19-yard scoring run late in the second quarter. Pinnick then led WSU's best drive of the year to open the second half, firing accurate passes toward the sidelines before tossing his first TD pass in a Cougar uniform.

On WSU's second series of the third quarter, Pinnick completed passes of 19 and 23 yards before a nice throw to the back of the end zone to Branden Ganashamoorthy, who made a leaping grab for a 10-yard TD. Pinnick wound up completing 17 of 22 passes for 196 yards. He distributed passes to seven different receivers. Ganashamoorthy showed big-play potential. Newcomers Darrius Clemons and Daniel Blood weren't incredibly productive, but both made some good snags on out routes.

A dominant rushing game helped open things up in the passing game. Maxwell Woods and Kirby Vorhees were excellent, albeit against an overmatched Dukes defense. They combined for 225 yards on 20 carries, ripping off a handful of chunk gains as WSU's maligned offensive line outmuscled a Duquesne defense that entered the game ranked in the bottom 10 of the FCS in total defense.

The Cougars piled up 316 rushing yards on 40 carries, averaging 7.9 yards per attempt during their most productive game on the ground in 20 years.

Finally, big plays

The Cougs entered the game ranked last in the FBS in total offense and scoring offense. Yes, Duquesne's is the worst defense WSU will play and it's tough to gain much intel from a game like this, but it should provide some confidence and function as a learning experience for the Cougars' new staff. Perhaps they'll lean more on the ground game and mix up plays with an up-tempo attack.

WSU's offense was stagnant in its first two games, and for much of the first half in this one. The offense was tagged with back-to-back penalties in the red zone during its third drive, resulting in a missed field goal, and couldn't string anything together on its next possession, then went conservative on its final first-half series and settled for a 14-7 halftime lead.

But the Cougars came out of the break rejuvenated with a quick pace in their offense. The running game took over. Pinnick had more time. Receivers got more separation, and for the first time this season, the Cougars showed positive flashes offensively, finally giving their fans a number of highlight-reel plays.

WSU finished with five passing plays that gained 15 or more yards, and 12 rushes that gained more than 10 yards, including carries of 58, 45 and 26 yards.

The second-half performance should boost the Cougs' offensive spirits, but they have to prove they can sustain it against a competitive opponent. They'll have a chance next weekend when former Pac-12 foe Arizona comes to town.

Defense, returners add highlights

After a miserable first two weeks of the season, WSU fans were treated with a fun finish, a rare occurrence in football — back-to-back punts returned for touchdowns.

Reigning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week Jaylen Thomas, a Cougar safety, weaved through traffic for a 47-yard punt return touchdown with 5:32 left to play.

About two minutes later, WSU receiver Tank Hawkins found a wide lane and raced past everyone for another punt return TD, this one a 65-yarder. WSU hadn't returned two punts for TDs in a game since 1973.

WSU got those chances because its defense didn't allow much of anything to the Dukes in the second half. Duquesne went three-and-out on four of its six second-half possessions, managing just 40 yards on 23 plays.

The Cougs' defense only really had one major lapse, giving up a 54-yard run that set up a Dukes touchdown in the first quarter. After that, Duquesne's best drive gained 29 yards, and the visitors finished with 180 total yards.

WSU tallied seven tackles for loss and its first two sacks of the year.

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