Opponent Offense Preview: Washington State Cougars

The Gamers

In 2021, Washington State had their man in QB Jayden de Laura. That lasted barely one entire season, and he was off to Arizona. They ended up taking QB Cam Ward from College of Incarnate Phrase, an FCS program in San Antonio. His head coach Eric Morris joined him as effectively, to hitch the employees as OC. Collectively, that they had put up prolific numbers within the FCS ranks, culminating in a 2021 season that noticed Ward throw for greater than 4,600 yards and 47 touchdowns. This season he’s collected 2,772 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, and eight interceptions, finishing 64% of his passes.

At 6-2 and 220 kilos, he pairs measurement with nimble motion and pocket consciousness. He does a very good job preserving his eyes downfield and has all of the arm expertise on this planet. He’s the kind of quarterback who will both hit his first learn in rhythm, or have to make use of some off script creativity to beat the protection. Fortunately, he could make the the off platform throws from varied arm angles or launch a rocket downfield with the flick of his wrist. The draw back of his sport is that he can have some “WTF” moments and be fairly unpredictable. He’s an thrilling playmaker, however the consistency is just not there.

After enduring a 3 sport October dropping streak during which the Cougars scored 14, 10, and 17 factors, they’ve roared again to win three in a row, scoring 52, 28, and 31 factors. A big a part of this has been RB Nakia Waton’s return from harm to spark the offense. He’s piled up 51 rushes for 338 yards and 5 touchdowns, plus 101 receiving yards and a landing in that streak. This offense appears to be like to the Wisconsin switch each operating and throwing.

When Ward throws, he’s on the lookout for WR De’Zhaun Stribling, WR Donovan Ollie, and WR Robert Ferrel. Stribling and Ollie are each massive targets at 6-3, and Ferrel is 5-8 and primarily traces up within the slot. Stribling leads the group in catches (44), yards (544), and touchdowns (5) and can get the ball in a wide range of methods, and averages about 6.6 yards after the catch. Ollie is focused the deepest of the three and is extra of a possession receiver in comparison with Ferrel and Stribling.

The Scheme

Underneath OC Eric Morris, Washington State needs to move and have completed so on the identical price as Washington this season – 59% of the time. Not like Washington, they don’t push the ball downfield fairly as aggressively, and their yards per try numbers rank close to Cal within the effectively beneath common territory. A key weak spot for this offense has been in move safety. Ward has been sacked on almost 7% of his drop backs, regardless of his capacity to purchase time together with his legs.

The Finish

This could possibly be a difficult offense for Washington to decelerate with out forcing Cam Ward into some errors. Nakia Watson has been enjoying rather well – although it’s been towards Stanford, Arizona, and ASU – and Washington’s tackling has been inconsistent this 12 months, suffice it to say. That could be a match as much as keep watch over.

Regardless of the tantalizing prospect that’s Cam Ward, that is an offense nonetheless scoring simply 27 factors per sport, and you must squint at some superior stats for that to look a lot better. The Huskies had been embarrassed final season after 7 years of shutting down WSU offenses. The secondary this 12 months has been an journey to say the least, so it’s up the entrance seven to drive Ward into drive killing errors. Go Dawgs.