The Cougar football team has lost their last five games, leaving them at 4-5 (1-5 Pac-12), tied for last in the Pac-12 standings and in danger of breaking a seven-year bowl game streak that is second to only Utah in the conference.
Now the Cougs make their second trip of the season to the sunshine state where they will take on the California Golden Bears (3-6, 1-5 Pac-12), whom they defeated 28-9 in Pullman last season. Looking at the game during the bye week most would say it’s a lock, but going into the week there is a newfound appreciation for even the lower-level competition of the Pac-12.
“Whether we came into this game 9-0 or 0-9, you’re on the same mission to try to win the football game,” head coach Jake Dickert said. “The game is loyal to nobody. You got to go out there and get it in this league and everybody’s coming in 0-0 that week and one team is leaving with the win.”
To be eligible for a bowl game WSU will need to win at least two of their next three games, and with the last five resulting in losses and the final of the next three being No. 5 ranked Washington, it has to start now. Each game is critical, but the meaning of making a bowl game around here is substantial, Dickert said.
“To be frank, a bowl game at WSU should be celebrated greatly. That is absolutely a successful season. I mean that, regardless of the record when you get out there and make a bowl game at our place, I think that’s really big time,” Dickert said.
To do so WSU will need a complete team effort against Cal to jump-start a late-season run, as the offense began to heat up against Oregon and Arizona State while the defense struggled before the offense was more to blame in a defensive battle with Stanford.
The WSU defense had multiple big turnovers and left Stanford quarterback Ashton Daniels with no room to breathe last week after shutting the running game down. They will need to do the same this week but face a taller task taking on one the best running backs in the conference in Jaydn Ott.
Ott this season is second in the Pac-12 in rushing yards with 847 but leads the conference averaging 105.9 per game on an elite 5.8 yards per carry clip. Furthermore, he is tied for second in the league with nine rushing touchdowns operating as the bell-cow in a new-look Cal offense.
“[Fernando Mendoza] has kind of been established in the last four games and completely changed their offense. Now they can really throw the RPO (run-pass option) game like they want to,” Dickert said. “This is a different Cal team. They’re using extreme tempo, they’re going spread, this is their first year doing that. From the pro-style that they’ve done in the past. [Ott] is amazing, one of the best in the league.”
WSU will need to find a way to stop the run once again and should be getting reinforcements to help, with both edge rusher Quinn Roff and defensive tackle David Gusta back on the practice field Wednesday. Corners Chau-Smith Wade and Javan Robinson were both practicing again as well, Dickert said.
On the offensive side, they will be getting some help back as well with starting running back Nakia Watson and backup Dylan Paine both back on the practice field Wednesday. Hopefully, the added depth at the position can help fuel a rushing attack that gained just four net yards against Stanford.
“We’re not where we need to be to even be effective to where people have to really respect [the running game] and it’s been a combination of guys missing holes and missing blocks or ID’ing things wrong,” Dickert said. “There’s a toughness aspect to play in this game and running the ball that is missing and we physically have to get our pads down, run our feet on contact and we gotta want to move people.”
WSU QB Cam Ward will need to be able to step up once again and carry the offense after what was one of his most frustrating games in terms of reading the field, Dickert said. While the stats were not bad, there were plenty of missed opportunities leading to lost momentum.
The good news for Ward and the offense is Cal’s defense is allowing 281.7 passing yards per game, good for third worst in the Pac-12. They also allow 145.7 rushing yards per game, perhaps opening a few gaps for the Coug’s struggling rushing attack.
Regardless of the stats, Wazzu has been putting in the effort, now they need to go out on Saturday and execute, Dickert said. While the fans may feel it, the team is not desperate for a win at this point, but rather have an urgency.
“Desperation is like a last cleaning thing that you do because you have no other resources. There is definitely an urgency. I like living to a standard and preparing a certain way a little bit better,” Dickert said. “It’s proven that we’re probably not the 90’s ranked team in the country and we had a really, really good win against Oregon State. But every week we got to play to a certain standard of planning and preparing and in our effort, energy and execution on game day.”
The Cougs will hit the road and face Cal at 1 p.m. Saturday at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California. Where the Cougs will need to create their own energy, edge rusher Ron Stone Jr. said.
“We know that Cal itself, the stadium’s not usually too much of an atmosphere, so it’s a bring your own juice type of game. It’s a good homecoming for a few of us,” Stone Jr. said.
With the impending arrival of Coach Prime in Pullman and what could be the last Apple Cup, the Cougs have no time to be messing around with Cal. The time is now to prove that the team that showed up the first four weeks of the season is still there.
