I walked into Snapdragon Stadium on Friday for the Holiday Bowl rooting for a somewhat competitive game. I had to remember the recent turmoil the program endured.
The Cougars entered San Diego after losing many contributing players to the transfer portal and coaches in the team’s three most important roles from the 2024 season.
Despite the question marks, the short-manned Cougs impressed against a No. 21 ranked Syracuse squad.
While Washington State fell 52-35, the team showed passion in all phases of the game, highlighted by a blocked punt by Leon Neal Jr. which Josh Meredith returned for a 12-yard score in the first quarter.
Zevi Eckhaus threw for 363 yards and three touchdowns, despite not starting a game for Wazzu all season.
Kyle Williams set a Holiday Bowl record in his final game with the Cougs, going for 172 receiving yards on ten catches.
Williams broke Dez Bryant’s previous record of 168 yards in the 2008 game.
The next day, the program received even more direction when the team announced the hiring of former South Dakota State head coach Jimmy Rogers via social media.
The 37-year-old Rogers enters Pullman with a 27-3 record as head coach and 2023 FCS national title.
Rogers and the Jackrabbits finished the 2024 season with an FCS semifinal appearance.
As I glance at the future of WSU football, it is so easy to be optimistic.
The fact this team put up the fight they did against a ranked program like Syracuse shows the stability that can be built on moving forward.
If you couple the existing stability with a proven winner at head coach like Rogers, the possibilities are endless.
The first opportunity Rogers has to build on this stability is to entice some of his former South Dakota State players to come to Pullman.
For example, Mark Gronowski, the former South Dakota State quarterback, announced that he intends to enter the transfer portal while weighing his NFL options.
Gronowski won the Walter Payton award for the top FCS offensive player in 2023 and led the Jackrabbits to back-to-back FCS national championships in 2022 and 2023.
If Rogers were to get Gronowski to come to WSU, the program could have another plug-and-play situation like they saw with Cam Ward and John Mateer.
A winner like Rogers could truly build something special with his proven track record, the question is if the success can carry over from the FCS level to the FBS.
Cougar fans should be cautiously optimistic as tales of Paul Wulff and Beau Baldwin play through my head.
Wulff and Baldwin had great success in the FCS with Eastern Washington but stalled out with FBS programs when they got an opportunity, (Wulff getting his with WSU in the 2008- 2011 seasons).
Despite those examples (especially Wulff), I am excited to see what this program will look like when it gets to spring ball as I feel Rogers can replicate his success here in Pullman.
Championship pedigree (although it is FCS), is incredibly hard to come by, and in the current landscape of college football, it could be huge for the program.
What’s next for Coug fans?
Be on the lookout for Rogers’ introductory press conference which WSU athletics announced will be held the week of Jan 6-10.
