Cougar football will take on North Texas University this Saturday for the first time in school history. Wazzu makes its first road appearance of the Jimmy Rogers era, coming off a home win against the San Diego State Aztecs, 36-13.
They were able to get the offense rolling with Jaxon Potter throwing three touchdown passes and an improved run game. Wazzu rushed for 136 more yards than in their opener against Idaho. Wazzu will look to get the run game going with their committee of running backs that consists of Angel Johnson, Kirby Vorhees and Leo Pulalasi. Since the loss, head coach Jimmy Rogers has hammered home the need for offensive consistency.
“We have to be able to move the ball, regardless if we’re scoring or not, to flip fields to make them move it on us, rather than giving it to them at the 50 every single drive,” Rogers said. “We should be able to kick field goals and score. Every play ends in a good kick, PAT, field goal or a punt. And we need to execute that way to do it.”
Although the Cougs are not familiar with the Mean Green, they are familiar with their coach, Eric Morris, who coached at Wazzu in 2022 as the offensive coordinator. Morris has led the Mean Green to a 2-0 start.
NTU’s quarterback, Drew Mestemaker, has 553 passing yards, 54 rushing yards and five touchdowns in two games this season. In his short time with North Texas, he has proved he is a dangerous playmaker and could be a problem for the Cougs’ defense. Rogers is very aware of Mestemaker’s game style.
“I think the quarterback does a really good job for them,” Rogers said. “He can see coverage and gets the ball out of his hands quick, and then he can make things happen with his legs.”
The Cougs’ defense will look to step up once again to keep control of the game. South Dakota State transfer safety Cale Reeder will make his WSU debut after missing the first two games due to injury. Reeder, a sixth-year senior, reeled in 168 tackles and four interceptions for the Jackrabbits. Wazzu has three sacks, two forced fumbles and held opponents to 31.03% on third down. Rogers noted that turnovers will make or break the team.
“We got to get some turnovers. I thought we were able to have a three-and-out there, a fourth-down stop,” Rogers said. “We were able to get a safety like those. Those are turnovers. To me, anytime you can hold an offense to three points, that’s a huge win for us.”
On the offensive side of the ball, three-star transfer wide receiver Devin Ellision is still out for an undisclosed amount of time with a leg injury.
The Cougs will look to keep the mentality up and avoid breaking down with stalling plays like penalties or tackles for loss. Brock Dieu leads the offensive line as captain and will continue to grow as a communicator. Rogers talked about Dieu’s improvement from the Idaho game to the SDSU game.
“Brock did a much better job, just overall with communication,” Rogers said. “And it’s not that it wasn’t good in the first game, he’s playing the game, as far as the bigs were concerned. It’s not always just about you and succeeding. It’s about trying to get everyone else’s game to spike with you and make sure they are on the same page and that’s done with communication inside a play.”
This will be the first road game for the team under Rogers. Rogers said the team needs to practice the right way to get a win on the road, just like they did last week at home. He also noted that the team must not get caught up in what people think of them.
The Cougs will look to get the best of the Mean Green at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at DATCU Stadium.
