Key Players
If you had asked the fans and media going into the season who Washington State’s starting QB would be, most would say QB Zevi Eckhaus. He played three years at FCS Bryant and threw for over 350 yards and 3 touchdowns against Syracuse in the Holiday Bowl last season. But, he entered the transfer portal when Jake Dickert took the Wake Forest job, only for the new WSU staff, lead by head coach Jimmy Rogers, to re-recruit him out of the portal.
There was buzz around Eckhaus, but in the end the 6-5 Jaxon Potter was named starer. The strong armed sophomore from Southern California is an accurate thrower on short and intermediate routes, though he lacks some mobility. He started the season strong with four touchdowns and 465 yards in his first two games, only to throw three bad interceptions last week against North Texas where the offense only managed 3 points in the first three quarters. It’s unclear who will be facing Washington in the Apple Cup, but many expect Eckhaus to get his shot. Coaches have also thrown in QB Julian Dugger, an athletic option who provides some running threat, to provide an offensive spark.
This offense spreads the ball around and has five receivers with at least seven receptions, but it’s WRs Tony Freeman and Joshua Meredith who are the top targets, with 16 and 12 receptions a piece. True freshman WR Carter Pabst is a 6-1 target hadn’t done much in WSU’s first two games, but showed some big play ability and great hands against North Texas with a 43 yard reception.
WSU’s run game has been abysmal this season, but Kirby Vorhees has been the most effective player with 25 carries for 119 yards.
The Scheme
Jimmy Rogers wants WSU to be a run first team, similar to his two years coaching the South Dakota State program. Unfortunately, the Cougars have been completely unable to run the ball through three games against FCS Idaho, San Diego State, and North Texas. Their best game was 3.9 yards per carry against SDSU. To counter this, they’ve leaned hard into a quick passing game. Currently, Jaxon Potter is bottom 10 in the country in both time to throw and average depth of target. Put simply, he gets rid of the ball immediately on lots of short throws. Due to the nature of the offense, through three games, Potter has not been sacked. We’ll see how much that changes if indeed Ekchaus is the starter.
Final Thoughts
This WSU offense is a question mark. Are they the team that easily put away San Diego State, or the turnover prone disaster (five total turnovers in the first half) they were against North Texas? Then there’s the Idaho game, where the anemic run game held them back entirely and they mustered just 13 points. Ultimately, this is an offense that hasn’t gotten off the ground with two terrible performances in their first three games and an 81st SP+ rating.
When they don’t turn the ball over, they have a solid quick passing game, but that’s just about all they have offensively at the moment. If Eckhaus is indeed named the starter, he provides a bit more with his legs than Potter, which could open up the WSU run game a bit more, but it’s hard to imagine it taking too much of a step forward. The key for WSU, of course, will be to avoid turnovers. Beyond that, they’ll need to keep the offense on the field for long stretches with their short and intermediate passing game, which might be made easier if CB Tacario Davis can’t play for the Huskies. If they do that, they’ll be in this game.