Aug. 31—It’s still 90 degrees in Pullman, but students have returned to campus and Cougs near and far are making their way to the wheatfields to see the 2024 Washington State football team with their own eyes.
The Cougars begin their season in this new world of college football against the Portland State Vikings at noon today at Gesa Field. The game will be televised on The CW.
Fans have heard plenty of speculation about the state of the sport. They’ve heard that it’s a new era with room at the top only for certain schools in the “Power Four” conferences and that more schools may soon join WSU and Oregon State on the outside looking in as college football realigns between the haves and the have-nots.
Big picture
The 10 schools that left the Pac-12 kick off this season as members of the Big Ten, Big 12 or ACC while the Cougs and Beavs repaint the Pac-12 Conference logo on their fields and wear it proudly on their chests as the only two schools remaining in the over century-old conference.
Cougar fans have heard a lot over the past 10 months since Washington kicker Grady Gross’ kick sailed squarely through the Husky Stadium uprights, securing the Huskies an undefeated regular season and all but ending the Cougars’ campaign four points shy of a bowl game.
Today will be the first chance to see what the 2024 Cougs are made of and to get an idea of how far coach Jake Dickert’s team can go in his third full year at the helm.
“We’re not licking our wounds, we’re licking our chops,” Dickert said in July at the Pac-12’s media cocktail hour in Las Vegas — a modest event in a hotel conference room, blocks away from the Big 12’s 16-school extravaganza at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.
While no power conference appeared eager to add WSU and OSU, the two schools in the northwest corner of the country have secured themselves a national audience thanks to a television deal that features most home games nationally broadcast on The CW.
WSU’s Week 2 game versus Texas Tech will be on Fox, the 2024 Apple Cup live from Lumen Field in Seattle will be on the NBC Universal streaming service Peacock and Mountain West road games will wind up on FS1 or CBSSN.
With eyes on the Cougs and Beavs, the question is: How good will they be?
“People do wanna see what happens to the Cougs, what happens to the Pac-12,” Dickert said. “We can’t worry about all that. Everything since January 1 has been about us. Our preparation, mentality and the things we can control. Saturday is the first moment that our identity will be on display. … That (identity) is still yet to be created, and that’s exciting.”
Mateer leads the charge
When the Cougs run out of the Gesa Field tunnel shortly before noon today, they will be led by sophomore quarterback John Mateer, the two-year back-up to former Cougar QB Cam Ward who transferred to Miami (Fla.) in the offseason.
Mateer won the starting job over senior Bryant (R.I.) transfer Zevi Eckhaus and will make his first career start versus Portland State.
Much of Mateer’s in-game experience came against PSU’s Big Sky Conference foe Northern Colorado about a year ago in Pullman. The then-redshirt freshman threw for 148 yards and two touchdowns, one of which went to wide receiver Josh Meredith, who figures to log significant minutes as one of the veteran receivers most familiar with Mateer.
Any time Mateer feels uneasy in his first career start, he will have a reliable target in senior receiver Kyle Williams, who enters 2024 with the fourth-most career receiving yards (2,411) among active Football Bowl Subdivision players.
“Those guys worked extremely hard together in the summer when it wasn’t structured practices to make sure they’re on a rhythm and on timing,” Dickert said. “We’ll use Kyle in a very different role than last year, he won’t just be at X (receiver), and that’s exciting for him and John (Mateer),” Dickert said. “Kyle’s our greatest playmaker; we got to find ways to get him the ball.”
The Cougs lost about half of their starters from the final game of last season, most to graduation. Only a handful of guys chose to transfer, most notably Ward to the Hurricanes and receiver Josh Kelly to Texas Tech.
Dickert said he expects the retention of the majority of the roster and coaching staff to help his team reach a higher level.
Scouting Portland State
The Vikings finished last season with a 5-6 overall record and 4-4 mark in the Big Sky, good for eighth in the conference.
Dante Chachere quarterbacks the Vikings, a ship he has sailed for two seasons.
Chachere completed 143-of-231 (nearly 62%) of his passes for 1,573 yards, 16 touchdowns and seven interceptions last season.
The game will be a match of mobile QBs as Chachere generated 629 yards and 10 TDs on 113 rushing attempts in 2023. Mateer was brought in often last season on QB runs and flashed his off-script skills throughout camp — an asset Dickert found immensely valuable in his QB and respectable in his opponent.
“I have some connections in the Big Sky. Called around about coach (Bruce) Barnum and his offensive prowess and it’s real. The way he utilizes personnel very uniquely,” Dickert said. “(Chachere) is a unique talent. You can see in the Oregon game (last year) how much he plays off script.”
The Vikings defense allowed 32.6 points per game last season (an average slightly ballooned by their 81-7 opening season loss to Oregon) and allowed 226 passing yards and 175 rushing yards per game.
The Vikings defense is led by their lone preseason All-Big Sky honoree: Michael Montgomery. The sophomore linebacker burst onto the scene last season as a true freshman, making 14 tackles versus Oregon. Montgomery racked up 69 tackles on the year.
WSU is 3-1 all-time versus Portland State, most recently beating the Vikings 44-24 in 2021, when Dickert was the Cougars’ defensive coordinator.
However, PSU fans may remember a more favorable trip to the Palouse in 2015, in Barnum’s first year at the helm.
Portland State walked into Pullman and beat the late Mike Leach’s Cougars 24-17 in the season opener.
“People have asked me this week, ‘Gosh, do you remember, you know whatever year that was, right’ and I’m like ‘No, I don’t remember that, like I don’t remember that at all.’ I don’t relive that, I don’t talk about that,” Dickert said during his weekly radio coach’s show Thursday. “I don’t even put that in (the team’s) mind at all. It’s not even registering on the radar. New team, new time. You dwell on it, what does it cost? Fear and hesitation.”
Portland State is a team the Cougs, on paper, should beat. And if Wazzu wants to prove it belongs in a power conference, that exam begins today by starting the semester and season with an A+ performance.
“We’ll find out a lot about our team and our fans this Saturday”
Fans will certainly find out a lot about the Cougs on Saturday and the Cougar football team will find out a lot about their fans as well.
First impressions are already there of course.
“Cool stadium, just kinda playing for a city that loves football which is awesome,” said WSU linebacker Parker McKenna, a Portland State transfer who played WSU in Pullman the last time the Vikings came to town in 2021.
Linebacker Keith Brown has also played in Pullman with his old team, in 2022 as an Oregon Duck. WSU lost a 12-point lead in the final 6:42 to lose a heartbreaker 44-41, but Brown was impressed.
“It was probably like, the most hostile, crazy, loudest, rowdiest stadium I’ve played in in my entire life,” Brown said. “So coming in I knew the people who live in Pullman attend the games (because) they love WSU.”
With the rest of the nation wondering how WSU and OSU will handle their unique situation, Dickert and his program are eager to give college football fans (and TV executives) a reason not to change the channel — and the fans are a part of that.
“I expect a sellout,” Dickert said. “We get six games a year that our fans get to come out and celebrate this team. … I’ve spent a year seeing people on Twitter complain. That does nothing. Showing up, investing, being in the seats, being there for four quarters, that’s how you show appreciation for our players. … This is a challenge to everybody. We’ll find out a lot about our team and our fans this Saturday.”
Extra points
WSU will be without three starters, each in various stages of recovery from injury.
Junior right tackle Fa’alili Fa’amoe is approximately two weeks out from return and will sit out the Portland State and Texas Tech games.
Sophomore receiver Carlos Hernandez is out with a foot injury he suffered during camp. Dickert said he is making great progress, but is week-to-week and will not play today.
Junior cornerback Jamorri Colson suffered an undisclosed injury last week and is out “for an extended period of time,” Dickert said. Stepping into a starting role in Colson’s place is redshirt freshman Ethan O’Connor, who impressed with multiple plays and an inherent understanding of the defense in fall camp.
“Ethan O’Connor is ready,” Dickert said.
WSU listed four potential starters at running back and tight end.
Sophomore Djouvensky Schlenbaker, junior Dylan Paine, redshirt freshman Leo Pulalasi and true freshman Wayshawn Parker were each listed at RB and each bring a different dimension to the Cougars’ offense.
“I think those guys have done really well. I think all four of them will factor into something during the season,” Dickert said.
The basics
What: WSU vs. Portland State
Time: Noon
Location: Gesa Field, Pullman
TV: The CW
Radio: KHTR-FM (104.3), KCLX-AM (1450)
