WSU faces off against the Toledo Rockets (4-3, 2-2) at home at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Cougars come into this game coming off back-to-back losses against two top-25 schools. In those two games, they lost by a total of five points. They fell short two weeks ago to No. 4 Ole Miss Rebels, 24-21, despite taking a 14-10 lead early in the third quarter.
Last week, they lost to No. 18 Virginia Cavaliers, 22-20. Wazzu led 20-10 heading into the fourth quarter but collapsed. They gave up 12 unanswered points, including a game-losing safety with 2:41 remaining.
“We had an opportunity to win, but we didn’t…it’s on me,” WSU head coach Jimmy Rogers said.
Regardless, in the last two weeks, Wazzu’s defense has locked down its opponents, allowing 23 points on average to teams that had been averaging 41.9 before facing the Cougs. Their defense will need to do this again this week, as the Rockets are averaging 35.3 points a game.
Their quarterback, Tucker Gleason, is averaging 255.4 pass yards a game and has 12 touchdowns to four interceptions on the season. In their most recent game against Kent State, he threw four touchdowns for 294 yards — both season highs — with a 75% completion percentage.
The Cougs will need to prepare for the Rockets’ run game as well. They average 200.7 yards a game on the ground, 28th-best in all of college football.
So far, the Cougs have allowed 151.4 rushing yards a game and 4.3 yards a carry. This means the Rockets will likely have a run-heavy game plan, especially as the Cougs are only allowing 190.1 pass yards a game — the 35th out of 136 NCAA FBS schools.
Offensively, the Cougs are arguably going up against the best defense they have played all season. The Rockets rank third in the nation in total yards allowed per game at 224.1 and are only giving up 14.3 points a game. Meanwhile, the Cougs are only gaining 314.9 yards a game and scoring 20.6 points on average — both rank in the bottom 25 in the country.
WSU may look to run to set up the pass, as the Rockets are only giving up 140.4 passing yards a game. Zevi Eckhaus is also coming off a game where he threw two costly interceptions.
Although the Rockets have the No. 5-ranked rushing defense, giving up only 83.7 yards a game, the Cougars have averaged 142.7 rushing yards in their last three games. This is up from the 58.3 rushing yards average they had through their first four games.
The Cougs may also have a slight offensive advantage, as Rogers has experience with Toledo’s defense. He coached with one of Toledo’s co-defensive coordinators, Ross Watson, at Florida Atlantic University in 2012.
“I know how good [Ross Watson] is and how knowledgeable he is,” Rogers said. “And we gotta come out and execute because that’s what it’ll come down to.”
In WSU’s first home game since the Apple Cup and first Family Weekend of the school year, the Cougs aim to get their first win since Sept. 27 as 1.5-point favorites.
