Sep. 6—PULLMAN — Here is what to watch for when Washington State hosts Texas Tech at 7 p.m. Saturday evening.
When Texas Tech has the ball…
The only question mark in the Red Raiders’ offense has to do with running back Tahj Brooks, who is quite literally questionable with an arm injury, according to the team’s injury report at the beginning of the week. If he’s unable to play, Texas Tech will operate without one of the best backs in the country, a guy who carded 153 rushing yards and three receptions last week.
Otherwise, there aren’t too many flaws in Texas Tech’s offense, which put up 52 points in an overtime win over FCS Abilene Christian last week. Quarterback Behren Morton connected on 30 of 42 passes for 378 passes and five touchdowns, including one to former WSU receiver Josh Kelly, who paced his team with 10 receptions for 156 yards and the one score.
What makes the Red Raiders’ offense so dangerous is their willingness to take deep shots, to push the ball down the field at any point. In that win over ACU, Morton hit on 3 of 7 passes that traveled 20-plus air yards, a percentage of 43%, and two scores. He was at his best in intermediate range, where he completed 6 of 7 passes for 124 yards and another two scores.
That might put a strain on WSU’s defense, which permitted 30 points in last week’s season-opening win over FCS Portland State, the most the Cougs have allowed to an FCS foe since Cooper Kupp led Eastern Washington to an upset in 2016. WSU’s secondary is almost entirely new, starting redshirt junior Steve Hall at one cornerback spot and redshirt freshman Ethan O’Connor at the other, plus new faces at the safety spots in Jackson Lataimua and Tyson Durant, the latter a transfer from Akron.
How can they slow down Texas Tech’s offense? It might start with the fundamentals. In their win over the Vikings, the Cougars missed 17 tackles, their most against an FCS opponent in five seasons. They also weren’t making a strong enough impact at the line of scrimmage, WSU coach Jake Dickert said after the game, which explains why PSU racked up 215 rushing yards.
For Dickert and defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding, it’s placed a higher priority on defense this week, slotting the Cougs’ first-team offense against their first-team defense more often than usual.
“They go against great receivers every day, and I think that’s a big emphasis,” Dickert said of his team’s secondary. We did a lot more good-on-good than we would normally, just because there’s so many similarities, and they gotta go make those plays.
“But part of accepting the responsibility of being a corner is that you give up some. So I just wanna see those guys constantly respond, because I know we got two playmakers out there at corner, and I think Warren (Smith) is gonna be ready when his number’s called.”
When Washington State has the ball…
It’s one thing that the Cougars are coming off a historic outing on offense, reaching the 70-point mark for the first time since 1997 in last week’s game. It’s another to consider the Texas Tech defense they’ll be facing.
WSU quarterback John Mateer, who piled up 352 yards on just 11 completions against Portland State, gets to face a Red Raider secondary that allowed Abilene Christian quarterback Maverick McIvor to register 506 yards passing and three touchdowns.
In that game, Texas Tech finished with a PFF coverage grade of 36.9, second-worst of 133 FBS teams in action last week. They also recorded a tackling grade of 33.8, also second-worst in the country, totaling 22 missed tackles. This came against an ACU team picked to finish sixth of nine teams in the newly-formed United Athletic Conference.
Does that guarantee Mateer and the Cougs’ offense another stellar night on offense this weekend? Hardly. Does it indicate promising first signs? Certainly.
“I’m looking forward to seeing a little bit more sustained drives,” said WSU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, whose team scored eight touchdowns on plays of 30-plus yards last week. “When adversity hits, how do we respond? Just ultimately controlling what we control, because the guys that we’re about to play are gonna be really, really well-coached. So just execute and do our job and control what you can control.”
WSU will also enter off an encouraging showing from its offensive line, which didn’t allow a sack last week, only two pressures. For a unit starting two new faces in left guard Rod Tialavea (who filled in at spots thanks to injuries last season) and center Devin Kylany, it can only mean good things, especially because Mateer will be playing on the biggest stage of his life on Saturday.
