Washington State senior receiver Dom Williams scored a thrilling one-handed touchdown grab early in the second quarter of Saturday night’s game versus Wyoming to tie the contest at 14.

It looked then as if the 31,100 fans packing Martin Stadium that night were set to witness an offensive shootout. What they witnessed instead for the remainder of the game was a defensive dismantling of the opposition.

Forcing Wyoming to go scoreless for the remaining full three quarters of the contest, WSU’s defense flexed its muscles, swarming to the ball and serving the crowd a steady number of big hits, whipping the stadium into a frenzy.

A few of those big hits were delivered by redshirt sophomore linebacker Peyton Pelluer. Pelluer was everywhere on the field Saturday night, including the kickoff after redshirt freshman running back Keith Harrington’s score to put the Cougars up 21-14 in the second quarter. Pelluer played gunner on that kickoff, firing down the field and crashing into Wyoming returner Brian Hill with the force of a wrecking ball.

WSU’s special teams’ struggles still reared their ugly head versus Wyoming as the Cougars continued to give up big kickoff returns, but Pelluer continued to set a defensive tone, letting Wyoming’s offense know it would be in for a long night.

Pelluer would notch a couple more huge hits, including one on a third down for a 3-yard loss later in the second quarter to set up an eventual blocked field goal.

At the beginning of the third quarter, Pelluer took the wind out of Wyoming’s sails on a long drive, denying a 4th-and-2 try for first down at WSU’s 31.

The Cougars retrieved the ball and the crowd was rocking once again. Head Coach Mike Leach praised the WSU crowd Saturday night, saying it was ‘great.’

“The crowd was awesome,” Leach said. “I think it was instrumental to our win.”

Wyoming suffered multiple false start penalties. It seemed as the motivated crowd started to sniff out its effect on the opposing offense, as it would only get louder as the game progressed.

WSU was also solid on the offensive side of the ball. Williams hauled in two touchdown receptions and Harrington also had a nice game, highlighted by the score that gave WSU the lead.

That drive would begin and end with Harrington. The running back started off the scoring effort by accounting for the first 18 yards of the drive, and ended with a blazing 36-yard beamline to the end zone.

“When I run, I kind of just run,” Harrington said. “I just black out and whatever happens, happens. I let my legs handle the rest.”

Leach said Harrington’s game could be indicative of greater things to come.

“He didn’t play at all last year, he’s kind of emerging,” Leach said. “I think he’s really developing into a weapon as far as making people miss.”

Senior linebacker Jeremiah Allison, who caught an interception late in the game, said the Cougars don’t have any room to ease off the gas pedal heading into Pac-12 Conference play after their upcoming bye week.

“Like (Defensive Coordinator Alex) Grinch says, we can be in the parking lot, at a party… if a little kid has the ball, we’re gonna get the ball and put the ball down,” Allison said. “Let’s play.”

The weekend’s primetime game was also Hall of Fame night for the Cougars. The induction of former WSU cornerback Marcus Trufant, among other WSU greats, lifted the stadium to its feet for an extensive standing ovation.