A team’s identity is something everyone, from analysts to fans to the team itself, looks to define as early in the season as possible. Playing to your strengths while managing your weaknesses.
The WSU football team has yet to establish one solid identity through two weeks, having played two polar opposite games, but they might have found a worthy compromise.
“Really good teams can win in a lot of different ways,” WSU head coach Jake Dickert said. “First game [of the season] obviously the 70 points and everyone’s asking me about a struggling defense. Come out this week, just the opposite, offense had to grind one out.”
The Cougs won 70-30 week one over Portland State University, touching a point total not seen on the Palouse in 27 years, and everything was humming. The defense, however, allowed over 200 yards rushing and 30 points to an FCS opponent.
In Wazzu’s 37-16 week two win over a Power 5 opponent in Texas Tech University from the Big 12, the offense struggled to pull away early and the defense forced three turnovers, allowing just 16 points.
There was another change in the Cougs identity in week two. While they struggled to get the passing game going due to TTU’s defensive strategy, one that neutralized the WSU offense in 2024, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and company turned to the running game, and with great success.
In 2023, WSU averaged just three yards per carry as a team, but against the TTU Red Raiders, they racked up 301 rushing yards as a team, including 197 from quarterback John Mateer, a new WSU all-time record for the position. The identity that Mateer and the offense took on Saturday was far different from years past.
“Coach Leach would be really disappointed,” Dickert said. “He would be like ‘Why the hell are you running your starting quarterback, what are you doing?’ That’s a style Washington State football hasn’t seen; I don’t even know when the last time we saw that style of football was.”
The Cougs topped the 300-yard rushing mark for the first time since 2022 and for just the sixth time since 2000. Most of it came from the QB Mateer, and while such a strategy comes with the risk of injury to the signal caller, you cannot take away how a player plays the game, Dickert said.
“My number one philosophy in quarterback play is they have to play the way they’re programmed to play. As soon as you put fear, doubt and uncertainty into their mind, what are they thinking about? Fear, doubt and uncertainty,” Dickert said. “It’s such a difficult position to be thinking about anything else but your natural instinct, that God-given ability that you have.”
The main reason for the heavy use of the run was TTU’s rush three, drop-eight defensive strategy, Dickert said. Such strategy was what teams began using to combat the Coug’s dangerous passing attack in 2023 after a 4-0 start, leading to a 1-7 stretch.
Wazzu tried to add the run game to their offense last season as well with little to no success. But in the first test of 2024, the Cougars passed with flying colors. Now after a 2-0 start, it remains to be seen if the Cougs can continue such successes, especially with opponents who will not attack the same defensively every week.
“Washington is not going to sit back and rush three and drop eight,” Dickert said. “Very attacking, they blitz 50% of the time.”
The Cougs may end up adjusting as the game goes along as they did against TTU, but another competitive advantage they have added to their identity is special teams.
Kickoff man Ryan Harris opened the TTU game with a pooch kick resulting in a turnover getting WSU the ball, a kick which he utilized often in the game. He also kicked 10 out of 11 kickoffs through the endzone for touchbacks in week one. In an often overlooked area, the Cougs have weapons.
“Our specialists have always been weapons,” Dickert said. “Nick [Haberer] is a weapon as a punter. Ryan, now we can just kick it deep and let him roll it out of the endzone… Those guys are a big part of the team, so everything we do is designed for those guys to do their best.”
It is not reasonable to expect the Cougs to roll in every aspect of the game all the time, but through two weeks in 2024, they have showcased an ability to do things they could not a season ago. Now they head into a rivalry game looking to again showcase their versatility on the national stage in an NFL stadium.
No one aspect of the game has proven to be WSU football’s identity yet this season. Rather their identity through two weeks is the ability to do whatever it takes to win.
