The Cougs were at home this week following an embarrassing loss on the road to the two-win conference rival Beavers 10-7, and there is no doubt this team needed to blow off some steam. As a result, the Cougars rolled the L.A. Tech Bulldogs 28-3 in a perfect redemption game to bring some life back into WSU football. 

The Cougs came out to play in the first quarter and it felt like the game was over before it had even truly begun. After a quick stop on defense, quarterback Zevi Ekhaus and WSU’s offensive unit came to play, driving down field quickly with a few explosive rushes from Ekhaus and running back Kirby Vorhees. The offensive rushing attack then set up the passing attack in the perfect position for a Eckhaus touchdown pass to Joshua Meredith over the middle of the field, allowing the Cougars to get points on the board quickly in the first quarter.

The second quarter remained all action for the Cougars, as receiver Tony Freeman got the Cougs kicked off with a big time punt return to get them into the red zone early into the second. The big time play by Freeman put the Cougs in touchdown position once again as Ekhaus was able to snag his first rushing touchdown of the night and set up a 14-0 lead. 

The Bulldogs, on the other hand, had a less-than impressive first half. L.A. Tech went scoreless until the final seconds of the first half with a field goal, yet that was about all the action they would get. Outside of a few first downs, this offense was able to get nothing going. To be fair it was hard to get anything going without their starting quarterback Blake Baker, who announced before this game he would be out the rest of season with a torn ACL, a huge blow to this teams momentum and gameplan. 

Entering the second half, this looked to have true blowout potential for Cougar football, yet neither team was able to really get much going in the third quarter. Outside of a flashy spin move from Zevi to set up the Cougs in the red zone in the final seconds of the third, it was a rather uneventful defensive showdown that led to a scoreless third.

Zevi’s elite scramble ability in the third set the Cougs up in prime position to score early in the fourth. The offense harnessed its inner Philly impression with their own version of the tush push, which led to Eckhaus’ second rushing touchdown of the night. After going up 21-3, it was smooth sailing for the Cougs. Star corner Colby Humphrey managed to snag a pick, which eventually led to a rushing touchdown from Vorhees, effectively ending the game 28-3, late in the fourth. 

The second half was nothing better than the first for Louisiana Tech, which went scoreless in the second half. Although this team was not able to get anything going, they did manage to lock the highlight of the game as running back Andrew Burnette leaped over a WSU defender late in the fourth to effectively silence the crowd. Excluding an impressive hurdle, this team went nowhere all night, and it could not have gone any worse for the Bulldogs. 

What really excelled for this Wazzu was the defensive unit. The defense was lights out all night, and all the offense needed to do was bank off of their success, and it showed in a statement game for this defense. 

The pass game was a struggle for L.A. Tech, as they only had a combined 60 passing yards on 18 attempts between both Evan Bullock and Trey Kukuk. Wazzu’s pass rush made these quarterbacks uncomfortable in the pocket all night, racking up three sacks. Although it is hard to blame the passing game for struggling without their starting quarterback, 60 pass yards on 18 attempts through a whole game is less than ideal for any football team, injuries or not. The receivers were also unable to get into the endzone tonight, with zero passing scores and an interceptions in the fourth from Trey Kukuk, adding on to a rough night for their pass game.

The Cougars front seven eliminated the Bulldogs run game from any productivity all night in easily this unit’s best tackling night all season. The Cougs were able to hold the Bulldogs to only 107 rush yards and no touchdowns on 30 carries, a less than eventful night for a run game that needed to step up big. It is no wonder this run game struggled so much, as the Cougs managed to rack up 58 tackles and four tackles for loss, giving the Bulldogs no breathing room all night to get any momentum on offense. 

Ultimately, the Cougs were able to come away with a solid win 28-3 in a big time redemption game following their tough loss to Oregon State 10-7. Wazzu was able to dominate on both sides of the ball in one of their best overall team performances this season as they get back in the win column at 5-5. 

WSU looks to win out the rest of the season as they hit the road this week with a cross country showdown at 10 a.m this Saturday Nov. 22 against James Madison University, and later finish out the season in the Pac-12 championship in a revenge game on Nov. 29 at home against the Beavers. Looking to finish 7-5 and successfully ticket themselves into a bowl game, this looks to be an important stretch for the Cougars, and this big win against the Bulldogs is a great way to start this key stretch.