Football is back on the Palouse and the Cougs look to start 2024 strong as they have the past two seasons, and it begins at home against the Portland State Vikings.

A familiar foe, the Cougs and Vikings played in 2021 with the Cougs winning 44-21. Wazzu currently leads the all-time series 3-1.

The Cougs coaching staff is almost all still in place from a year ago, being led to battle by head coach Jake Dickert, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding. The big difference: redshirt sophomore John Mateer will be behind center Saturday for the first start of his career.

Mateer won the offseason position battle at quarterback and now gets the chance to keep it, looking to fill the shoes of Cam Ward, the now Miami (FL.) Hurricanes QB who led the Cougs the past two seasons. Despite backing Ward, Mateer got in the game as a runner often and showed his passing prowess in a week three blowout over FCS Northern Colorado.

Mateer threw for a career-high 148 yards and two touchdowns in the win over the Bears, who hail from the same conference (Big Sky) as the Vikings. He won’t have to lead the offense alone, however, with senior wide receiver Kyle Williams returning for year number two on the Palouse and stepping into the primary pass catcher role.

Williams, a former UNLV transfer, made his presence felt in 2023 recording 61 catches for 842 yards and six touchdowns. He may have a new quarterback in 2024, but Dickert is confident in the connection that has grown between the two from Spring camp til now.

“Those guys worked extremely hard together in the summer when it wasn’t structured practices to make sure they’re on a rhythm and on timing. We’ll use Kyle in a very different role than last year, he won’t just be at X [receiver], and that’s exciting for him and John,” Dickert said. “Kyle’s our greatest playmaker, we got to find ways to get him the ball.”

As the Cougs’ “greatest playmaker” and one of the leaders of the receiving room, the team looks to him in big moments. Coming into week one, Williams is confident in the team’s intentions going into Saturday.

“We coming in to whoop ass,” Williams said.

The offense will not look exactly the same as last year. With sophomore receiver Carlos Hernandez out to begin the year with an injury, and many receivers from last year gone, the Cougs have plenty of competition left to be had at receiver.

Names to look out for are sophomore Anthony Freeman, who transferred from the College of San Mateo, redshirt junior Josh Meredith, redshirt junior Tre Shackelford who transferred from Austin Peay, redshirt freshman Brandon Ganashamoorthy, senior Kris Hutson who transferred from the University of Oregon and redshirt senior Kyle Maxwell who transferred from Lousiana Tech. 

In the running back room, Nakia Watson may be gone, but many return including Dylan Paine, Djouvensky Schlenbaker and Leo Pulalasi, who all played and contributed in 2023. Another interesting piece to watch is true freshman Wayshawn Parker, who Dickert said would play along with the other three. The thing to watch for is who is out there last.

On the offensive line, redshirt junior Devin Kylany enters his first year as the Cougs starting center, with senior Esa Pole returning at left tackle and redshirt junior Brock Dieu back at right guard. 

Expected starting right tackle Fa’alili Fa’amoe is still recovering from knee surgery earlier this year, but has begun practicing with the team again with hopes of a return for the week three Apple Cup. In his place left guard and redshirt junior Christian Hilborn will start at right tackle with redshirt junior Rod Tialavea starting at left guard.

The offense looks to take advantage of a PSU defense that allowed 32.6 points per game a year ago, eighth in the FCS Big Sky conference. The Vikings, who went a meager 5-6, were stingy to the pass allowing just 226 yards per game, but were gashed by the run allowing 175.2 yards per game, second worst in the conference.

The lone Viking on the Big Sky preseason team is linebacker Michael Montgomery, who will be the main name to watch against the Cougar offense Saturday.

Offensively PSU is led by quarterback Dante Chachere, a senior from Fresno, Calif. In 2023 Chachere threw for 1,573 yards and 16 touchdowns with seven interceptions, completing 61.9% of his 231 attempts. What he lacks with his arm he makes up on the ground, however, as he ran for 629 yards and 10 touchdowns on 113 carries, averaging 5.6 yards per attempt.

Chachere is now in his third full season as the Vikings starter, and it will be all hands on deck for the Wazzu defense to try and stop him, a task Dickert is well aware of.

“I have some connections in the Big Sky. Called around about coach [Bruce] Barnum and his offensive prowess and it’s real. The way he utilizes personnel very uniquely,” Dickert said. “[Chachere] is a unique talent. You can see in the Oregon game [last year] how much he plays off-script. They really neutralized Oregon with the option, which can be a whole different deal.”

PSU’s offense in 2023 was electric, scoring 33.8 points per game, good for second in the Big Sky. They scored over 40 four times, including a 91-0 win over North American. They can be overpowered, however, like in their week one loss to Oregon 81-7. 

The Cougar defense may look different without pieces like Brennan Jackson, Chau Smith-Wade, Ron Stone Jr. and Jaden Hicks, but there is a lot of development the coaching staff is banking on.

On the edge redshirt junior Raam Stevenson, senior Nusi Malani, Utah Tech senior transfer Syrus Webster, senior Quinn Roff, senior Andrew Edson and sophomore Isaac Terrell will all get looks to try and fill the holes left by Jackson and Stone.

On the interior of the defensive line, two true freshmen who got extensive playing time in Ansel Din Mbuh and Khalil Luafau now enter their sophomore campaigns along with redshirt junior David Gusta and company looking to clog the middle.

With linebacker Devin Richardson graduating and getting looks in the pros, redshirt sophomore Buddah Al-Uqdah and redshirt senior Kyle Thornton take the reigns of the defensive unit.

Finally, in the secondary redshirt junior Stephen Hall and redshirt freshman Ethan O’Connor will start on the perimeter with redshirt senior Kapena Gushiken in the nickel. Behind them, redshirt senior Akron Tyson Durant who transferred from Akron and redshirt junior Jackson Lataimua man the safety spots.

There is still a lot of uncertainty at many positions breaking camp for week one. Jobs can still be won or lost on the field Saturday.

“This stuff has to be sorted out on gameday too,” Dickert said. “The guys that perform [or] have the hot hand will be in there. We’ll continue to adjust as we go, but there’s a starting point. Only 11 can break the huddle that first time. But the 11 guys that finish every week, that’s a big ass deal.”

All Dickert is looking for is his team to communicate, play fast and make correctable mistakes, he said. With the added pressure of attention following the drama of Pac-12’s unraveling, there is a new chapter to be written.

“People do wanna see what happens to the Cougs, what happens to the Pac-12,” Dickert said. “We can’t worry about all that. Everything since January one has been about us. Our preparation, mentality and the things we can control. Saturday is the first moment that our identity will be on display… that is still yet to be created, and that’s exciting.”

PSU is the first opponent of a new-look schedule and the first game in a new era of WSU football. Despite the change, Dickert’s message to Coug nation is clear.

“I expect a sellout,” Dickert said. “We get six games a year that our fans get to come out and celebrate this team… I’ve spent a year seeing people on Twitter complain, that does nothing. Showing up, investing, being in the seats, being there for four quarters, that’s how you show appreciation for our players… This is a new team, we need you. This is a challenge to everybody, we’ll find out a lot about our team and our fans this Saturday.“