WSU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle quickly gained the infatuation of Cougar fans for the fantastic play of quarterback Cam Ward and the entire offensive unit in the first four weeks of the season. But that team and that play calling from Arbuckle seemed lost in the bye week following the Cougs’ 25-17 loss to the Bruins.
Despite consistent fantastic play from the defensive unit, the offensive continually failed to get things going and seemed to be locked in on a clearly failing game plan.
Ward finished 19–39 for 197 yards, throwing one TD and two interceptions, going from a Heisman Trophy dark horse to just another above-average college QB. His 49% completion rate was by far his worst of the season and after coming into the game with over 100 straight attempts without an interception, he made several of the same mistakes he struggled with in 2022.
The worst of the worst came in the final offensive play from the Cougs, as on 4th-and-1, the Cougs lined up in shotgun formation and Arbuckle drew up a QB draw. Forcing yourself to gain an extra few yards agianst a defensive line that proved time and time again to have ease getting in the backfield fails to make sense from a fan perspective.
While not the only mistake, it felt like it gave the Cougs no hope after drive after drive of failure to move the ball. In a nightmarish reminder of the 2022 offense, the Cougs kept attempting screen passes that got incredibly short gains.
Of the 39 attempts from Ward, 11 were screen passes and seven more were 1–5 yards from the line of scrimmage.
Despite throwing two picks, that number could have been four with Cam Ward, one pick hit the defender in the hand and the chest and he still dropped it, while another attempt looked exactly like the pick-six that sealed the loss against Oregon last season. On a screen pass, a defender got his hands on a Ward pass and the game flashed before the eyes of Cougs fans everywhere.
From the first play to the very bitter end, WSU kept trying to get things going with the same plays, and despite it continuing to fail, no adjustment was made. While not taking a deep shot made sense, the depth of targets barely ever reached beyond the first down marker.
Not just in the passing game, the offense as a whole struggled. WSU managed just 12 rushing yards. The worst came from a drive where the play call went as follows: Nakia Watson rush, Watson rush, Watson rush, punt.
Arbuckle perfectly fit the definition of insanity. He kept trying the same things despite time and time again it proving to fail.
WSU managed just 59 plays on the offensive, while UCLA had 97. In the 90° weather of Pasadena, California, the otherwise fantastic Cougar defensive unit was looking worse for wear by the end of the game.
Looking at their conversion rates, succeeding on just 2-of-13 third down plays, 2-of-3 red zone trips and generally failing to get it done when it matters most is just further proof that it was not the Cougs’ day.
Blame is not just on Arbuckle and Ward, as the receivers seemed to lace their gloves with butter before the game. A red zone fumble, another lost fumble after a reception and yet another near-lost fumble killed all of the early success of the offense.
While Ward certainly did not look his sharpest, time and time again, his receiving core failed to bring the ball in when it hit their hands, a drastic difference from the team that was making multiple miraculous catches against Oregon State.
It seems as if the WSU offense underestimated the pressure that the UCLA defensive line was going to put on Ward and that led to a continued lapse in what fans perceived as a complete inability to make the proper adjustments to find an offensive rhythm that could get a good drive.
