I had hoped to get the football portion of this newsletter out yesterday and get to a deep basketball preview in its own newsletter today, but alas. The process of moving into our house (still boxes around after two months) and shopping for food at Costco (three teenage boys to feed) conspired against me.

So, you’re going to get both today! The football portion will be long (man, I’ve got some THOUGHTS), and the basketball portion will be brief — hopefully enough to prepare you just a little for what you’re going to see as the teams tip off their seasons today. I got to the men, but I ran out of time this morning to write about the women before work. Sorry! I’ll make it up to you … somehow?

In today's newsletter ...

• Football: [loud, unintelligible swear words]

• Men’s hoops: Quick preview

Football: [loud, unintelligible swear words]

As the queue forms for folks to remind me that I said WSU should beat Oregon State handily, I’d like to address my analysis head on by simply saying:

I regret absolutely nothing, and I take none of it back. 

I have no issues owning it when I’ve been stupid. I did it when I compared Jimmy Rogers to Paul Wulff, so I will not be apologizing here because I wasn’t wrong. WSU should have beaten the Beavers, should have done so easily, and I will not pretend otherwise. If you watched that game and did not come to the conclusion that WSU was pretty clearly the superior team, well, I’m not sure if we were watching the same game. In addition to every piece of evidence we had coming in, the Cougars were far better by virtually every meaningful statistical measure.

The better team doesn’t always win. Of course they don’t. But we don’t need to pretend that it was somehow dumb to expect a win. 

We also don’t need elaborate, vibes-based explanations as to why the better team lost. 

The Cougars didn’t get beat because it was a trap. They didn’t get beat because they weren’t ready to play. And they didn’t get beat by Robb Akey voodoo² or any other weird make-believe shit that people tried to dream up to make this seem like it was a dangerous game.

WSU got beat simply because:

1. Their quarterback was horrible behind a depleted line that got even more depleted during the game, and

2. The offensive coordinator did very little to help any of them out.

I suppose you could try and pin some of this on the penalties, as Rogers did postgame. They certainly didn’t help. But if Zevi Eckhaus is 5% better, or if offensive coordinator Danny Freund simply calls for a handoff on 3rd and 3 from OSU’s 11 yard line in the 4th quarter, the Cougs very likely win, even in spite of themselves. I usually try to embrace the complexities of losses, but sometimes they actually are simple, and that’s the case today – which really, really sucks because there were a whole host of other guys who played their asses off who were undermined by two guys who couldn’t stop getting in their own way.

By now, it’s plainly clear why Eckhaus didn’t win the job out of camp. In the last three games alone, he has gift-wrapped six interceptions against just three touchdowns despite throwing the ball fewer than 25 times a game, and Saturday was the nadir, as he completed just 13 of 24 attempts for 146 yards, zero touchdowns, and two picks. His second half was incomprehensibly awful: 6 of 11 for 35 yards. Only one of those six completions picked up a first down, and he missed a wide-open deep ball to Josh Meredith on which a good throw would have led him right into the end zone.

But Jeff, didn’t you just say just last week that Zevi was still our best option QB despite his struggles with turnovers? I did. However, that was dependent on the assumption that both he and Freund would continue to try and use his skill set in a way that minimized his deficiencies. I did not expect that each of them would double down on madness, and I can’t imagine anyone else anticipated it, either.

In his career, Eckhaus has been a starter for 3 ½ years and attempted nearly 1,400 passes. He has always thrown interceptions, but what he’s doing now is off the charts, even for him. He had a brief mirage of good decision making against Colorado State and Mississippi, after which we talked ourselves into him being a changed man, but he is now back to the worst version of himself: A very average passer who can’t stop throwing the ball to the other team. 

What makes matters worse is that with each terribly stupid pass he throws, he looks more and more lost. He snowballs into second guessing his reads, passing up (or neglecting to see) wide open receivers. He also fails to trust his line, which – given all their injuries, including senior center Brock Dieu departing early in the game on Saturday – was having a tough enough time holding it together without Eckhaus running himself into pressure that wasn’t actually there.

This is where coaching comes in. A coordinator’s job is to put his players in the best position to succeed. Jesse Bobbitt has clearly done that with the defense, which continues to perform at a high level. I don’t think that side of the ball is particularly more talented than the offense, yet the offense continues to be extremely poor under Freund. It was frustrating enough when they were scoring 20 points a game, but it makes you want to scream when it’s seven. Seven! Against a team that had not given up fewer than 27 against an FBS opponent!

The offense often feels like it’s just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. There does not seem to be rhyme or reason to the sequencing of plays, particularly in the second halves, where the results have been horrendous: Since Eckhaus took over, the Cougars have scored have scored fewer than half as many points after halftime (38) than they have in the first two quarters (82). 

Nowhere was all of this all more obvious – and more ridiculous – than on the final drive of the game. Down by a field goal with 3:59 remaining and sitting in fabulous field position thanks to a great Tony Freeman, Freund wisely leaned into his running game. Maxwell Woods started the party with a 12-yard rush. Kirby Voorhees followed it up with a 13-yard carry, and suddenly WSU was in the red zone at the OSU 18 with under three minutes to play in the game. The next rush to Woods went for no gain, but then Woods came back with a 7-yard carry to bring up 3rd and 3 from the OSU 11.

After picking up 32 yards on the ground in four plays with his running backs, Freund decided the best play – needing just three yards for a first and 11 yards for a go-ahead TD – was … this?? 

The more times you watch it, the more you notice all the problems.

Empty backfield, which means no threat of handing it off? Trips to one half of the field with … just a pair of in-line tight ends and no wide receivers to the other? Rolling out to eliminate half the field? Asking your makeshift offensive line to get out and block in space? Relying on a tight end to make the key block? With just one receiver in the pattern? 

What, exactly, is all of this supposed to do?

I thiiiiiink this was supposed to be a run/pass option. But it only maybe works if you catch OSU in man coverage rather than zone, and there was no pre-snap motion to help Eckhaus identify whether the coverage was zone or man. Oops! Beyond that, there was no second option – like, say, tight end Ademola Faleye chipping his defender and leaking out to the back side as all the zone action floated toward Eckhaus. Oops again! (Maybe that was intentional — “hey Zevi, here is ONE OPTION and if it’s not there, DO NOT THROW IT” — but that raises its own set of questions about the QB, doesn’t it?) It all had the feel of “we practiced this as our third and short red zone play all week so we’re going to use it.”

The result was an absolute predictable clusterfuck. Thanks to the play design, there was no viable option for Eckhaus to pass or run after Faleye couldn’t make a reach block to keep a defender out of Eckhaus’ face on the roll out.³ Then, rather than just throw the ball away, Eckhaus took a sack to make it a longer field goal attempt from the right hash instead of down the middle.

Terrible play call, with awful execution, when all you had to do was … hand it off to Voorhees or Woods! The level of incompetence on this singular play is simply staggering and a damning indictment of Freund.

That kind of garbage – which is a continuation of this entire season and was littered all over the field throughout all four quarters – is why WSU lost this game. If the Cougars were unprepared or looking ahead or taking OSU lightly or whatever, they’d sure as shit have given up a lot more than 10 points. But not only did the defense only give up 10, they damn near held the Beavers to three, undone only by a ridiculous catch and one blown run fit. Unfortunately, both came on the same, late drive.

But when you fuck around on offense like we did, sometimes you find out that all it takes is a couple of well-sequenced big plays, and you’re on the wrong side of a loss.

This is the danger of how Rogers chooses to play games, and it leaves WSU with some real big questions heading into the bye and carrying an L that they have no business carrying. Rogers said he never considered going away from Eckhaus, which is kind of insane considering (A) we are now a month removed from Eckhaus’ last good game, and (B) He was actively hurting their chances to win, and (C) Jaxon Potter got benched for less than what we watched Zevi do over the last two games. 

I understand why Rogers was reluctant to make a change. I understand why all coaches are reluctant to make that change. I do think there is a danger in yo-yoing quarterbacks, and Rogers has gone out of his way to praise Eckhaus’ leadership. But it’s far worse to lose a game than it is to damage someone’s confidence or whatever – especially when it’s clear that their confidence is already gone. It’s not like we were begging for a change in a blowout, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. This game was right there, asking to be won by a QB with just a modicum of competence. 

I’m going to assume that’s precisely why Rogers never considered making a change, because they just needed a tiny little bit from Eckhaus to get the game over the finish line. But it was so plainly obvious that the team needed to be saved from Zevi – heck, Zevi needed to be saved from himself – and Rogers didn’t have the guts to bench him and turn to a QB that we know is at least competent. This isn’t imaginary stuff. We’ve seen that Potter can play. He was the starting QB and won you a pair of games!! 

Potter can play, just as we knew Tyler Hilinski could play. And when Luke Falk was holding the team back against Boise State and Arizona, even Mike Leach – one of the most ardent starting QB defenders out there – knew that a change has to be made when it’s the QB hamstringing your odds of winning. That was a four-year, record-setting starter that Leach benched! What on earth does Rogers think he’s accomplishing with the rest of the team by leaving a QB with six starts – who couldn’t win the job out of camp – out there to doom everyone else’s efforts?

Rogers’ unwillingness to make a bold change on Saturday was coaching malpractice. Period. Which is something that I have found myself saying a lot this season, unfortunately. Whether it’s simply a function of inexperience remains to be seen.

WSU now must win two of the final three to gain bowl eligibility. Rogers has done a good job all year of preparing his team after losses, but it’s worth asking: What good will that do if your quarterback won’t let you win and your offensive coordinator is awful? We are nine games in, and we know who all these folks are: Zevi is a turnover machine without the arm strength to threaten much of the field, and Freund can’t decide if he’s basic or too cute by half. What kind of change can be made to that during a bye, presuming Rogers isn’t benching or firing anyone?

At this point, I’m just hoping the bye gets enough people healthy that it doesn’t really matter what those two do, rendering Rogers’ game management inconsequential.

Men’s hoops: Quick preview

Both teams get their seasons going today by hosting Idaho — first the women at 11 a.m. and then the men at 6:30 p.m. You can watch each of them on ESPN+.

As you know, they are slated to compete in the WCC for the second and final time, but that doesn’t get going until the end of December. In the meantime, each team will have a dozen or so non-conference games to integrate all the new faces in this free movement transfer portal era.

David Riley embarks on his second season in Pullman with just a few holdovers from last season, which doesn’t include any of the guys who came with him from Eastern Washington — Cedric Coward is playing for the Memphis Grizzlies, LeJuan Watts is now at Texas Tech, and Ethan Price and Dane Erikstrup each graduated. Also gone are Nate Calmese (Wake Forest), Isaiah Watts (Maryland, where he reunites with Myles Rice), and Marcus Wilson (UC Davis).

That leaves these guys:

• Tomas Thrastarson

• Rihards Vavers

• ND Okafor

• Kase Wynott

• Parker Gerrits

Of those, it looks like Thrastarson (sophomore) and Okafor (fourth-year junior) are in line to start at wing and center, respectively. The other three starters in the exhibition were point guard Adria Rodriguez (senior, Spain), combo guard Jerone Morton (junior, Morehead State), and wing/forward Eemeli Yalaho (junior, Texas Tech). Primary bench options in the frontcourt will be Emmanuel Ugbo (senior, Boise State) and Simon Hildebrandt (senior, High Point), while Gerrits (junior) and Wynott (sophomore) will help shore up the backcourt and wing spots, with freshman guard Ace Glass perhaps playing a role as well.

Vavers, unfortunately, is hurt again. It doesn’t seem long term, but we’ll see.

That’s a lot of upperclassmen. Riley has talked a lot about wanting to reign in the turnovers that plagued the team last season, as well as increase consistency on defense. Adding all those experienced guys should help do that: Rodriguez, in particular, should bring a much steadier hand than Calmese after all of his years playing professionally in Spain.¹ He did have four turnovers in 30 minutes in the exhibition, but I’m willing to overlook that, given his track record.

Unsurprisingly, the bigs Riley brought in can shoot. But that’s not where the team needed help from its bigs: They simply must rebound better than they did last season. One of the disappointments on that front was Okafor, who, despite being strong and athletic, was a particularly poor rebounder.

Maybe that’s going to change: He grabbed 14 — yes, FOURTEEN — rebounds in the exhibition in just 25 minutes. That’s absurd, and if he can produce even half that rate when the real games start, his rebounding will be an asset rather than liability and make a huge difference on defense, considering his shot-blocking ability. It’s also worth noting that the team did a great job on the boards all around in the exhibition: Five other players had at least four rebounds.

As for the season projections for the Cougs:

• barttorvik.com: No. 152, 13-16 overall, 7-11 WCC (9th place)

• kenpom.com: No. 137, 14-15 overall, 8-10 WCC (7th place)

Fifteen spots difference might seem like a lot, but at that part of the rankings, it’s actually a pretty small amount. The disparity in projections likely comes from methodology: Torvik uses individual player projections (which doesn’t include Rodriguez) and Pomeroy relies more on historical performance and coach factors (where Riley comes off a little more favorably).

Both, however, see the Cougs finishing with a victory tonight, projecting a margin of between 6 and 8 points at around 70%-80% confidence.

That’s it for today. GFC. Here’s to hoping the basketball teams can make us forget about Saturday for a few hours.

1  You might not have realized that NCAA teams can now sign professionals from overseas! There’s a weird calculus they do to determine eligibility, so even though Rodriguez has never played college ball in the states, he’s a “senior.” Don’t ask me to explain how it works, though.

2  You’re really going to give Akey credit for this one, when the one TD they scored came from a miraculous throw and catch with a QB that he benched who wasn’t even going to play until the starter got hurt? Really??

3  I have no idea why you’d put a tight end in that position. Again … coaching.