Washington State ushered in the Jimmy Rogers era last week with a win, but it was not in the fashion Rogers would have hoped for. A 13-10 win over FCS Idaho in which they only ran for three yards and won in the final moments. While a win was a win, Rogers was far from satisfied, calling the trio of rushing yards “embarrassing” after the game.
This week was a much different story. WSU ran for over 110 yards in the first half alone and, after an early San Diego State touchdown, rattled off 29 unanswered
to seize control of the game and truly usher in the Jimmy Rogers era with authority. With an improved running game and a defense that—outside of one busted coverage for a touchdown—dominated. This was exactly the win WSU wanted. A 36-13 thumping of the San Diego State Aztecs.
“I thought we practiced better this past week. I think that they took the message they got on Monday personal, and they came out and practiced the right way throughout the week.” Rogers said.
Kirby Vorhees led the rushing attack with 13 carries for 67 yards, followed by Leo Pulalasi’s five carries for 30 yards and Angel Johnson’s eight carries for 28 yards. While it wasn’t exactly the dominant ground attack WSU is aiming for, it was 136 yards better than last week.
“I’m not one to ram a square peg down a round hole and wonder why it’s not working. Proud of the offensive staff putting together a game plan.” Rogers said.
But offensively, it was the arm of Jaxon Potter that did most of the work, throwing the ball 42 times for 28 completions, 257 yards, and three touchdowns.
After trading punts to open the game, the Aztecs opened up the scoring with a 35-yard pass from Jayden Denegal to a wide-open Jacob Bostick on a 4th and 5. That would be the end of really any offense for the Aztecs for the rest of the first half. The WSU tightened up and held the Aztecs to 33 yards on 17 plays—1.9 yards per play—over the last 25 minutes of the first half. This was the defense that we had seen flashes of over in the win over Idaho, played out over the span of yet another game. Rallying to the football, making sound tackles, and playing great coverage to allow the front to generate enough pressure.
“If you want to be the best in the country, you got to set the best in the country like standards. We hold the guys to that, they play like that. You can see how hard they run around, run to the ball and swarm together and it’s a product of togetherness and I think [Jesse] Bobbit and his staff have done an unbelievable job of hammering that home.” Rogers said.
Once the defense started to settle in by forcing a three-and-out on the Aztecs’ third drive, the offense started to groove. The run game still couldn’t find its rhythm early, but Potter and the passing game got going. The Cougs converted a 4th and 1 to keep the drive alive in Aztec territory and immediately struck with a beautiful pass from Potter to a deep crossing Carter Pabst to put WSU inside the five. On the next play, WSU tied the game up with a touchdown pass to Trey Leckner.
As the Cougar defense continued to suffocate the Aztec offense, WSU’s offense continued to chip away. While they couldn’t pay off a long drive with six points, Jack Stevens knocked home an impressive 49-yarder to put WSU up 10-7 early in the second quarter.
The game came to a stalemate for much of the second quarter as the teams traded punts and one WSU turnover on downs. On a fourth down at the Aztec 38, despite Stevens showcasing his leg earlier in the quarter, WSU opted to pin the Aztecs back with a punt that was fair caught at the Aztec 8-yard line. With 1:30 to go, the game seemed destined to go into the half at 10-7 with the way WSU’s defense had been shutting down the Aztec offense. But WSU’s defense flashed its brilliance one more time in the first half. On 2nd and 10, Isaac Terrell broke free and sacked Denegal in the end zone for a safety.
Not only did this give WSU two more points, but also an extra shot to extend the lead even more before half, getting the ball at the 38-yard line and 58 seconds to play. Potter immediately marched WSU right downfield with a great catch and run by Josh Meredith for 45 yards and a 20-yard run by Leo Pulalasi to put WSU inside the Aztec 10. Two plays later, Leckner reeled in his second touchdown of the game to swing the game from a narrow three-point halftime lead to a more commanding 12-point lead.
WSU didn’t take the foot off the gas to open the second half either. The Cougs took the opening possession of the second half right down the field, finding Leon Neal Jr. in the end zone for his first WSU touchdown after seven plays and 75 yards in just a little over four minutes of game time.
The Cougar defense continued to manhandle the Aztec offense. In five second-half drives, WSU’s defense forced three of them to result in turnover on downs either inside WSU territory or near midfield. The Aztecs did finally put something together on their second drive of the half, scoring a touchdown at the end of the third quarter to pull within two touchdowns at 29-13 after a 10-play drive.
Things did get a bit sketchy late in the fourth quarter as Stevens lined up for a 28-yard field goal that would put WSU up three possessions with 4:08 to play, essentially icing the game. On the attempt, Chris Johnson came flying off the end and blocked the attempt. The ball rolled downfield and popped perfectly up in the air for Bryce Phillips to take it in stride and return it all the way back for a touchdown. However, Johnson was flagged for being offsides, negating what could have been the touchdown and two-point attempt that would have allowed the Aztecs to stay in the game.
“That field goal miss scared the s*** out of me.” Rogers joked.
On the second try, Stevens nailed the field goal, but yet again, Johnson was deemed offsides, which this time gave WSU the first down. Two plays later, Julian Dugger subbed into the game at quarterback and took the keeper into the end zone from three yards out to officially ice the win away for WSU.
This is the style of win WSU needed to have. Despite not playing anywhere near a perfect game, they were still able to do enough for a resounding win. While the offense made strides, they are still a long way from being a well-oiled machine. On the defensive side, however, WSU held the Aztecs to 3.6 yards per play and 215 yards overall. 35 of those yards came on that first touchdown in which a defender fell down, allowing Bostick to spring wide open. The run stuff continues to be a strong suit for the defense, holding the Aztecs to 2.7 yards per rush.
WSU’s run game, while improved, still had a couple of drives where they just couldn’t get enough push up front to establish any type of ground game. 23.7% of their rushing attempts were stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage, which isn’t spectacular, but they did improve enough to gash the Aztecs for a couple long runs and allow the passing game to open up more.
“Proud of Jaxon Potter. 28 of 42, no sacks, no interceptions. Just throwing some legit passes like he did in fall camp.” Rogers said.
Last week, we left with more questions than answers about WSU football in 2025, which is an impressive feat considering the sheer amount of roster turnover. WSU leaves week two with plenty of positive answers to those questions but still has room to grow. A step in the right direction and one that will allow the players, coaching staff, and fans alike to sleep a little easier than they did a week ago.
It’s on to North Texas for a date with the Mean Green and their head coach, former WSU offensive coordinator Eric Morris, in Denton, Texas.
