5 Takeaways from Washington State Cougars 21-17 loss to Utah

Washington State Cougars
Gesa Area at Martin Stadium.

The Washington Point out Cougars went head-to-head with 14th-ranked Utah at Martin Stadium on Thursday night time. In the end they fell small 21-17.

It was Thursday Evening Lights in Pullman as the Washington Point out Cougars hosted #14 Utah. The Cougs hung challenging with a great group but dropped 21-17.

WSU had lots of opportunities to pull off an upset. Errors and penalties cost them in the finish. In this article are our five takeaways.

Ward up

Searching at the stat sheet, Cougars’ quarterback Cameron Ward experienced a good game. He was an productive 27 of 31 for 222 yards and a touchdown. That Contains 12 straight completions to commence the sport.

He continues to spread the ball all around proficiently. This 7 days 9 distinctive receivers caught passes. Fans are remaining to wonder what could have been if Renard Bell ended up healthful.

Ward down

The Washington State Cougars signal caller has to do a much better position of holding on to the ball. For the next sport in a row, Ward coughed up the pigskin twice.

Unlike very last 7 days, the opponent recovered one particular of the loose balls. Granted, it was on a fourth down when Van Fillinger strip-sacked Ward.

Utah bought the ball on their personal 44-garden line. That play was element of an unfortunate series of events (we will go into later on) that led to a Utes touchdown.

Excellent and Bad at Martin Stadium

The Washington State Cougars devoted at Martin Stadium had been wonderful and a credit score to faculty spirit. There just weren’t adequate of them. Only 21,179 attended the recreation, the cheapest turnout of the year.

Men and women had lots of excuses it was a weeknight, it was chilly in Pullman on Thursday, etc. The base line is that WSU is in a precarious place as university football re-aligns.

This sport was an possibility in opposition to a rated opponent, in primetime, on countrywide television for Cougs enthusiasts to present they belong with the huge boys. Sad to say, there were being too several vacant seats.

Grounded

The moment once more, the Washington Condition Cougars’ working match unsuccessful them. Two weeks in the past, they managed a scant 23 yards on 20 carries.

It did not get much superior this week. Jaylen Jenkins had 4 carries for 7 yards and was typically absent for the duration of the activity.

From Utah, WSU picked up 42 dashing yards on 19 attempts. Performances like that will not get it done in the Pac-12.

An Unfortunate Series of Situations

In the second quarter, with the activity tied 7-7, Ward linked on a 20-lawn move engage in to huge-open up De’Zhaun Stribling on Utah’s 13-garden-line for a initial down deep in Utes’ territory.

What supporters did not see until the replay was that Stribling stepped out of bounds on his route and was an ineligible receiver. Rather of 1st down at the 13, It was 2nd-and-10 from the 33. That psychological mistake started an avalanche.

3 plays afterwards arrived Ward’s fumble. And it went downhill from there.

Washington State’s defense admirably stepped up, forcing Utah into a three-and-out. They punted, the ball hit returner Robert Ferrel‘s leg, and the Utes recovered on Wazzu’s 25-property line.

Utah took 2:20 off the remaining 2:45 of the 2nd quarter to punch it in and take a 14-7 lead.

On that generate, Washington State stopped Utah on 3rd down-and-2 from the 3 lawn line. Cougs’ defensive conclusion Brennan Jackson broke through the line practically untouched, nailing running again Jaylon Glover for a two-garden loss and forcing Utah to try a subject goal.

Not so rapidly. The refs named concentrating on on Jackson. It was a football enjoy, but by the letter of the rule, this simply call was suitable.

Not only did Utah get a new established of downs and score a touchdown two plays later on, but Jackson was also ejected for the remainder of the sport.

Following week, the Washington Point out Cougars glance to snap their three-recreation getting rid of streak at Stanford.