Following a 4-0 start and a No. 13 AP ranking, the Cougs electric offense ran into a buzz saw against UCLA Saturday. An offense that averaged 45.8 points per game was only able to rack up 10 and fell to the Bruins 25-17.

In the game, UCLA outgained WSU 482 to 216 and won the time of possession margin by over 17 minutes. The biggest takeaway from this game is that WSU needs to, and can respond, WSU head coach Jake Dickert said.

“We got great senior leaders and veteran leadership in there that are going to set the tone and realize that we’re going see a lot of things on this film that we’re not going to like. So how mature are we going to be to the work to come back and get those learns,” Dickert said.

WSU’s top-five offense was limited and quarterback Cam Ward, who came into the game as one of five QBs in Power Five football history to have 1,300 yards, 13 touchdowns and no interceptions through four games, had his first two interceptions in the game.

Ward also came into the game completing 74.7% of his passes completing just 19-of-39(49%) for 197 yards and one touchdown with an 89.4 quarterback rating. The game was Ward’s worst of the year, but he showed his true colors, placing the blame on himself.

“I didn’t put the offense in the best position to be successful today. I didn’t help out the o-line getting the ball out, I didn’t help out the receivers, you know, put the ball in their hands to make plays,” Ward said. “But you’ll see a different quarterback from this point forward, you’ll see a different offense.”

The run game also continues to struggle as only one ball carrier gained positive yardage for the Cougs with running back Nakia Watson gaining just 25 yards on 11 carries (2.3 yards per carry).

The biggest storyline however was WSU’s four turnovers. After 163 passes without an interception this season, Ward threw two interceptions, one on an underthrown corner route, and the other a forced throw underneath to a UCLA linebacker. The other two came on fumbles from Cameron Johnson in the red zone, and wide receiver Carlos Hernandez in Bruin territory.

WSU could not get it rolling all night long, all the way to a critical fourth and one from the UCLA 40 where Ward took a QB keeper to the right and was stonewalled by a Bruin front that was superior to the Cougs in the trenches all day long. 

The positive of the game was the defensive effort, as the Cougs racked up four sacks coming from edge Brennan Jackson (1.5), linebacker Devin Richardson (1), nickel corner Kapena Gushiken (1) and safety Sam Lockett III. Lockett III also had one of WSU’s two interceptions with the other coming from Gushiken.

It was an all-around spectacular day for Gushiken, who began his day single-handedly ruining a Bruins drive with a Kam Chancellor eske hit, followed by a drive-ending sack on a corner blitz. Then, ending the first half with a bang, he returned a pick-six 88 yards to give the Cougs a 10-9 halftime lead when it looked like UCLA could pull away.

It was a breakout performance for Gushiken who also recorded a pass deflection and broke up another pass attempt in the endzone. 

The WSU defense had no answers for UCLA running back Carson Steele who had 140 yards on 30 carries. The rushing defense has been an issue for the Cougs the past two games now as Wazzu allowed 242 rushing yards against Oregon State in week four.

The true turning point of the game however was on the last drive of the third quarter. True freshman quarterback Dante Moore led a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ended in the fourth quarter with a 13-yard rushing TD by utility man Keegan Jones. 

On the next drive, Ward immediately threw his second interception leading to another Jones rushing touchdown. The swing took it from a 17-12 Cougar lead to a 25-17 Bruin lead. 

Overall the WSU defense was simply worn down by an egregious time of possession margin in favor of UCLA. The margin was largely caused by the Cougar defense consistently being put in bad spots by the offense as well as battling over 90-degree weather throughout the game.

Despite that, the defense scored seven of the Coug’s 17 points and kept the team in the game til the last drive. Even the special teams stepped up with a blocked field goal by safety Jaden Hicks.

The lacking entity was the offense, but the fact of the matter is that WSU is 4-1, will still be ranked, and has Arizona at home to deal with next week. So it hurts, but there is another challenge next week, Dickert said.

“This sucks, it should hurt. We were in a dogfight of a football game on the road. But guess what, the next opponent isn’t gonna care. And that’s what we got to make sure we’re coming to work ready to do and having one heck of a practice Tuesday,” Dickert said.

It is a team game, and the offense has bailed the defense out this year as well. WSU will have to find some balance against Arizona next week to get themselves back on track before a huge ranked matchup against the Oregon Ducks in Eugene in two weeks.

While this will hurt all of Coug nation for now, the season is not over, and the Cougs can still accomplish historic feats this season. This was a humbling loss, but the time is now to show just how the Cougs punch back against everybody.