With the Monday After behind us, let’s take a closer look at some things that caught our eye in WSU’s 28-7 victory over Toledo on Saturday …

1. Some Thoughts on QB

2. What We Liked: Closing Strong

3. What Else We Liked: Defensive Dominance

4. Who Impressed: Tucker Large

5. What Needs Work: Angel Johnson’s Usage

6. Up Next: Oregon State

Some Thoughts on QB

Quarterbacks will always get an outsized amount of scrutiny because of how many decisions are made with the ball in their hands and the cameras focused squarely on them, and a new round of consternation has popped up after Zevi Eckhaus threw another pair of head-scratching interceptions — his third and fourth in the last two games.

We have had a bunch of really, really good quarterbacks come through Pullman over the years, and I would hope it’s not considered a hot take at this point to say that Eckhaus not one of them. He just doesn’t measure up statistically or via the eye test.

But two things can be true at the same time:

1. Eckhaus is not a great quarterback.

2. Eckhaus is still the best quarterback on the roster for this team.

As a thrower, he’s streaky and prone to awful decisions, which undermines his ceiling. He’s also a pretty good runner, and that’s an excellent asset that raises his floor, particularly when playing in an offense that that wants to move the ball on the ground.

I don’t think that having a mobile quarterback is a requirement for Jimmy Rogers. If it was, we wouldn’t have seen Jaxon Potter at the beginning of the year. But with where this team is at right now — struggling to move the ball on the ground consistently with running backs, struggling to pass protect — Eckhaus’ particular skill set is what is needed, even with the interceptions.

On Saturday, Eckhaus was just 10-of-22 for 159 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs. That’s a bad passing day. But he also picked up a team-high 79 yards on 14 carries, including a rushing TD. That’s a really good running day! For as much as the ineffective passing was driving me nuts, the reality is that his legs were a major driving force behind putting up 28 points. And while it felt like there was (once again) still plenty of meat on the bone because of the interceptions, it should be noted that 28 points is the most the offense has scored since putting up 34 against San Diego State in week two; it also tied the most points Toledo has allowed all season.

What will never stop baffling me, though, is the fact that the interceptions are of the “just don’t make that unbelievably stupid throw” variety. It’s one thing if a passer is just not great at throwing the ball and they sometimes miss the mark, but that’s not Zevi. For a fifth-year senior who has as many dropbacks as he does (he was a three-year starter at FCS Bryant), he takes far too many risks with passes where he ought to be either throwing it away or simply turtling on the turf to minimize damage.

The second interception exemplifies all this: Facing an unaccounted for blitzer, he very easily could have simply stepped up in the pocket and just taken a 3-yard loss and lived to fight another day.¹ Instead, he flips a no-chance ball into double coverage and Toledo is set up in great field position heading into the fourth quarter and down by two TDs. And if we’re being truly honest, it’s not like the two INTs were his only risky throws of the day.

I want more than anything for Eckhaus to eliminate these colossally dumb throws. But he probably won’t. And he’ll still be our best option for the remainder of this year.

What We Liked: Closing Strong

That second interception came in the final minute of the third quarter, and I didn’t realize it until today, but he only threw one pass for the remainder of the game. That surely was at least partially because WSU didn’t want to take any risks, but it also was because WSU went on such an epic march to close out the game in the fourth that they simply didn’t need him to put the ball in the air.

The contrast of the fourth quarter this week vs. the last two weeks is staggering. The stats here don’t jump out at you … except for two very important ones:

Getting the ball with 8:55 remaining and then running 6:34 off the clock over the course of 12 plays is excellent enough. Capping it with a TD to create a three-TD margin with the two minute timeout looming is exactly the kind of stuff that might as well be drugs to college coaches like Rogers.

What Else We Liked: Defensive Dominance

There is an excellent case to be made that this was Toledo’s worst offensive performance of the year, as WSU allowed the Rockets’ least amount of points and second-lowest total yards and yards per play. The defense was stout from start to finish, and they did it once again while not always being put in advantageous positions by their counterparts on offense.

Eckhaus’ first interception — on the second play of the third quarter, when we were really hoping the Cougs would step on their throats — set up Toledo in WSU territory at the 43. What ensued is one of the more hilarious drives you’ll ever see, and I can only really do it justice by posting the whole thing here:

Toledo ran 10 plays that took more than five minutes and covered … 10 yards. And it ended with a punt from the WSU 33.

The tempo-free metrics are starting to take notice. The Cougs are up to No. 36 on defense by ESPN’s FPI and No. 45 by FEI. Other metrics have been a bit more stubborn — SP+, for example, still has the Cougs ranked 70th, probably because of UNT and UW — but everything continues to trend toward this being a damn good defense.

Who Impressed: Tucker Large

WSU’s safeties have a pretty outsized role on the defense. They need to be as good in run support as they are in pass coverage, and both the safeties that came from South Dakota State — Tucker Large and Cale Reader — have been really damn good.

Large, in particular, had an excellent game on Saturday with probably the toughest assignment on the defense. In addition to his run responsibilities, he was often tasked with covering Toledo’s best receiver, Junior Vandeross III, out of the slot. Large racked up a team-high 13 tackles (8 solo) while holding his own against Vandeross.

The Rockets’ go-to receiver did collect 7 receptions for 52 yards and a TD — by far the most production of any Toledo skill player — so Large didn’t exactly lock him down. But Vandeross sure had to work for it, as evidenced by the fact that he needed a whopping 14 targets to get those 7 catches; he normally catches about 70% of the throws that come his way.

What Needs Work: Angel Johnson’s Usage

Of all the South Dakota State transfers, running back Angel Johnson was probably the most hyped. He was reported to have spurned offers from Power 4 schools to follow Rogers to Pullman, which raised the expectation level of what he might be able to do for the offense.

To say he has disappointed is an insult to disappointments: 56 carries, 126 yards — 2.3 yards per carry. Saturday was the dénouement: 4 carries, minus-1 yard.

To be fair, we all know the line hasn’t been spectacular. But Kirby Voorhees and Leo Pulalasi are each running behind the same five guys, and their results have vastly exceeded Johnson’s. If you’re into stats that try and capture actual value contributed, here’s a chart that demonstrates just how far Johnson has lagged behind the other two running backs:

It’s easy to see why they keep feeding Johnson the ball — he’s a house call waiting to happen on a team that doesn’t necessarily have a lot of game breakers. But we’re still waiting.

I can’t help but wonder if the offensive coordinator is doing everything he can to put Johnson in positions where he can succeed. I won’t go so far as to call Danny Freund’s offense basic … but it’s also not exactly exotic. Which means that Johnson keeps getting carries in the same spots that are clearly better suited to Voorhees and Pulalasi. And it’s pretty clear that his biggest weakness is seeing holes develop, as evidenced both by the chart above (his yards before contact lags WAY behind) and the play on Saturday where he got pasted by the linebacker filling the hole, whom he apparently never saw.

Is it too much to ask to give him a toss sweep? A running back screen? An end-around out of the slot? If he’s a good enough weapon that you feel compelled to keep giving him the ball, do a better job of helping him succeed.

Up Next: Oregon State

As we talked about yesterday, the Beavers are down bad. They finally got their first win of the year, against Lafayette — not Louisiana Lafayette, but Lafayette College, the tiny FCS school in Easton, PA, with an enrollment of 2,700. Which is a good excuse to use this:

Anyway, this Lafayette stinks at football, and OSU treated the Leopards accordingly.

Well, eventually: OSU trailed 13-10 at halftime before ripping off a 35-0 run after the break.

The Beavers are coached by a familiar face. Special teams coordinator Robb Akey was tapped to fill in as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Akey, of course, coached at WSU for many years, serving as the defensive coordinator from 2003-2007 before getting the head job at Idaho.

OSU is ranked in the 100s in whatever advance metric you want to look at; an aggregation of predictive metrics says WSU should win by 8 or 9, even though they’re playing on the road.

Kickoff is at 4:30 p.m. PT on CBS. (The actual over the air network!)

1  It also appeared that there was a hot read behind the blitzer he could have hit on what I think is a little angle route, but he doesn’t seem to have ever looked that way.