Cougar offense looks to improve against Oregon State
Washington State quarterback Cameron Ward drops back to pass against Wisconsin on Sept. 10. Ward was sacked three times in the loss to USC last week.
Courtesy photo/WSU
WSU receiver Robert Ferrel said that the team has to make better third-down opportunities, staying “in front of the chains.”
PULLMAN – The Cougars scored 14 points in the first half against the University of Southern California Trojans, but failed to add on in the second half. A concoction of dropped passes, penalties and lost yardage played a significant role in the 30-14 loss to the Trojans.
“Way too many negative plays last game, and that’s a bunch of different situations,” WSU offensive coordinator Eric Morris said of the offense against USC in a press conference on Wednesday. “Tackles for losses, sacks, penalties at key situations, dropped footballs in key situations. Collectively, we just need to be more consistent.”
WSU was called for 11 penalties totaling in 106 yards and quarterback Cameron Ward was sacked three times by the USC defense. The 14 points scored was the fewest since a Week 4 matchup against Utah last season (13).
“We just got to stay in front of the chains, because it’s hard to call plays when you’re behind the chains,” receiver Robert Ferrel said of the team’s third-down offense. “You’d much rather have a third-and-three rather than third-and-10. There’s a lot more play options for that.”
Through the first six games of 2022, the Cougars have the third-fewest yards per game average in the Pac-12 (370) and the fewer rushing yards per game total (100-5) in the conference. Ward’s arm flashed in games against Oregon and California, where he threw for 375 and 343 yards respectively but took a downturn against USC where he threw for 172 yards on Saturday.
“I feel like we’re getting better in the playbook, and knowing where Cam wants us to be,” Ferrel said of the wide receiver group’s improvements through six weeks. “Just being more fluid as an offense. Running the ball, passing the ball, RPOs. All of that all helps the receivers, line, running backs and quarterback together.”
After having scoring drives of 92 and 75 yards in the first half, the Cougar offense managed to cross the 50-yard line three times in the second half but failed to convert those drives into points. Late in the third quarter, the Cougars had the ball on the USC 38-yard line but were pushed back into their own territory after a targeting penalty.
“We’ve seemed to be able to get the ball moving, and then we sputter at times off negative plays,” Morris said. “It’s been a huge emphasis this week, is to eliminate those negative plays, collectively.”
Head coach Jake Dickert said in a press conference on Monday that the Cougs will be without receiver Renard Bell and running back Nakia Watson “for some time” after they suffered injuries on Saturday, requiring players in their respective position groups to step up and fill the void. Running back Jaylen Jenkins rushed for 130 yards on 13 carries against the Trojans, filling in for Watson who left in the second quarter.
Backing up Jenkins will be redshirt freshmen Dylan Paine and Kannon Katzer, the latter of which has six carries for 54 yards on the season.
“Those are the three other guys that we have right now up, and so you’ll see kind of a mixture of those three guys rolling into the game,” Morris said.
Now, WSU prepares to travel to Corvallis, Oregon for a matchup with the Oregon State Beavers, who are coming off a wild 28-27 win over Stanford after a 56-yard touchdown pass to take the lead with 13 seconds left. The Beaver defensive unit is something Morris said the Cougs would have to deal with.
“We’re going to take what the defense gives us, but with that being said I think this might be the best defense, holistically, that we’ve played so far,” Morris said. “There’s guys that have played a lot of games, I think they play extremely fast, I think they’re well coached and they’re physical – all good traits that you want to have on defense.”.
Ferrel and company will need to step up a Beaver defense that has nine takeaways this season, including seven interceptions.
“They’re really fast and physical,” Ferrel said of the Oregon State defensive backs. “They’re really long … they like to use their hands, so we gotta be real physical on the perimeter, getting their hands off and trying to separate.”
Saturday’s game between WSU and Oregon State kicks off at 6 p.m.
Ian Bivona may be reached at Ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.
