As WSU looks to draw closer to bowl eligibility, Cougar pass rushers get big opportunity against Louisiana Tech
PULLMAN – In recent weeks, Isaac Terrell has been quieter with his play. He hasn’t looked the same as he did about a month ago, when he tied a Washington State record with four tackles for loss in one game, breaking out as perhaps the Cougars’ best player on either side of the ball.
Since then, the third-year pass rusher has posted only five pressures in his last two games, missing a third with an undisclosed injury. For WSU, it’s presented an interesting question: Is Terrell the same guy who torched Ole Miss’ offensive line? Or should his recent up-and-down streak be cause for concern?
Terrell will get a chance to return to form on Saturday evening, when WSU hosts Louisiana Tech in a 7 p.m. matchup on The CW. The Cougars won’t just be taking on a Bulldog team that has lost three of their last four. WSU will also face a team that lost its starting quarterback with a season-ending injury last week. Terrell and the WSU pass rushers will get a chance to attack a porous offensive line.
Louisiana Tech’s offensive line profiles as the most vulnerable the Cougars have faced yet, which is terrific news for Terrell, whose motor has laid the foundation for his best year so far. On the season, the Bulldogs’ front five have yielded 11 sacks. The weakest link is guard Roy Brackins III, who has permitted four sacks, while Louisiana Tech’s starting tackles are responsible for three sacks combined.
Could that be the trend that swings Saturday’s game? It’s certainly possible, especially considering how much the Cougars’ pass rushers have thrown opposing offenses into turmoil this fall. It hasn’t just been Terrell. Fellow starting defensive end Buddha Peleti has seven pressures in his last three games, giving him 20 on the season, per Pro Football Focus. Veteran end Raam Stevenson, who has not played since that Ole Miss game when he exited early with an injury, is probable to return in Saturday’s game.
It comes at a good time for the Cougs, who are two wins from bowl eligibility, which would make nine of the last 10 full seasons the program has made a bowl game. It’s a point of pride around the program. In head coach Jimmy Rogers’ first season – with 75 new players, and enough injuries to prompt Rogers to say he’s “never experienced this much in my life” – that would likely amount to a successful debut year.
The rest of WSU’s schedule looks like this: Nov. 22 at James Madison, which is 8-1 and squarely in the hunt for the College Football Playoff. Then the Cougars return home for their regular-season finale, hosting Oregon State, which won the teams’ first meeting of the season earlier this month. At best, the Cougs win out and go 7-5. At worst, they miss a bowl game altogether, which would probably resonate as a disappointment around the program, no matter how many injuries have come their way.
“The team is a little banged up, but overall, getting bodies back,” Rogers said. “I think this team has been resilient about how they’ve gone about their approach, because we don’t really talk about the record ever. We try to just focus on what we can control. And we got a tough game versus Louisiana Tech. That’s a really good football team that has a ton of weapons, a ton of speed on the perimeter, one of the best receiving tight ends that we’ve probably faced this year.”
For their parts, the Bulldogs are also pretty beat up. They’ll be without their starting quarterback, Blake Baker, who went down with a torn ACL in the Bulldog’s loss to Delaware last week. It’s a costly setback for Louisiana Tech and Baker, a mobile signal-caller who had thrown an accurate ball nearly all season. But the Bulldogs will have to move on to the next QB in line.
That will be either Trey Kukuk or Evan Bullock, both of whom split reps after Baker exited early last week. Kukuk is the more mobile of the two, rushing 9 times for 28 yards last week, while Bullock is more comfortable as a pocket passer. Whoever starts – or whoever plays most, considering the possibility that both play – the Cougars will have to tackle better. This story has been well-documented, but it remains relevant: WSU has missed 143 tackles this fall, second-most nationally.
In their loss to the Beavers two weeks ago, the Cougars whiffed 18 times, undoing the meaningful progress they seemed to have been making on that front recently. Five came from safety Cale Reeder, who has come on strong in recent weeks, but that number is still too high. But think about the big picture: WSU’s defense has looked stellar in recent weeks. Its offense has been lagging behind.
Much of that falls on the shoulders of quarterback Zevi Eckhaus, who has thrown six interceptions in his last three games. He was “banged up” against Oregon State, Rogers said, and he didn’t practice two days last week. He’s expected to play against Louisiana Tech, Rogers added, so he’ll have to be better. And with the possible return of two senior offensive linemen from injury, right tackle Christian Hilborn and center Brock Dieu, the Cougars’ offense could look more like the unit it has become known for across the last decade.
