What started with a 13-10 victory over Idaho on Aug. 30 ends today as our Washington State Cougars put a bow on their season with a matchup with future Pac-12 roommate Utah State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
Win, and the Cougs finish with a 7-6 record after 70+ players joined the team along with a new coaching staff. That coaching staff, as you know, is now mostly (entirely?) departing, but that’s been talked about enough. Today, it’s all about the potatoes. And the football.
We don’t know who
exactly will and will not be playing, except for Kirby Vorhees. It does seem like the opt outs haven’t been as prevalent as the past, at least publicly. That’s a good thing for the Cougs, as this team has one final ride until the great (mostly) unknown begins again.
Washington State hasn’t won a bowl game since the 2018 Alamo Bowl, despite playing in nine bowl games in the last 10 full seasons.
Utah State comes in averaging 31.8 points a game, good enough for 35th nationally. They balance the pass and the rush pretty evenly and average about eight yards per pass attempt. The Aggies’ defense gives up about what its offense gains, which may explain its 6-6 record.
Quarterback Bryson Barnes* is the team’s leading rusher, so the WSU defense needs to be ready for his dual threat ability. He also completes 60% of his passes. Miles Davis is the team’s leading running back with 751 yards gained this season. Braden Pegan is the go-to receiver with 60 receptions and 926 yards. Brady Boyd leads the team in TD receptions with seven on 42 catches.
The Aggies have the better stats on paper, but as they say, they don’t play these games on paper.
As always, Zevi Eckhaus needs to take care of the ball. The defense needs to keep an eye on Barnes, who has big game experience (he had a brief moment in the Rose Bowl once upon a time). Nobody knows what the roster will look like, so who the heck nows what’s going to happen? But it’s the last scheduled Cougar football game until Sept. 6, 2026, when WSU will face…..the Washington Huskies? Weird!
Go Cougs. Talk about it here.
*If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Barnes was the quarterback at Utah who was the surprise starter against WSU in Pullman in 2022 when Cam Rising was injured. You may recall Rising warmed up and seemed fine, but it was Barnes who trotted out. Fox was airing the game and was upset that Rising’s status wasn’t provided ahead of time. Barnes and the Utes won that game 21-17.
When
Kickoff is at noon Boise time, which means 11 a.m. PST. It’s the only bowl game of the day and I hope none of you have to work.
Where
The blue turf of Albertsons Stadium in Boise, where the temperature should be in the 40’s at kickoff. The Cougs are 2-2 on the blue turf with the last win coming in 2001.
How to Watch
This one’s on ESPN with Chuckie Kempf and Darius Walker on the call.
The Line
Utah State is a 1.5-point favorite per Draft Kings. The o/u is 49.5.
Familiar Faces
No former Cougs that I could find. Much of the Utah State roster already lost to WSU last year in Pullman, and Barnes has a victory over WSU under his belt.
There are six Washington natives on the Utah State roster that may be familiar names for some readers, including two from the Spokane area, and both are BYU transfers: Landon Rehkow of the renowned Rehkow family is, naturally, a punter. He hails from Central Valley High School, while Jonathan Baird is a junior safety and a Mead High School graduate.
Other Washington natives include Nehemiah Washington of Federal Way, Gio Kafentzis of Puyallup, Owen Edwards of Washougal, and Kone Aumua-Uiagalelei of Auburn.
