Cougs fall on the road to North Texas
Cougars kicker, Jack Stevens, kicks off the ball to North Texas during the game on Saturday. WSU head coach Jimmy Rogers said the team is going to regroup and reflect on where they can do better as they prepare for their game against UW in the Apple Cup this Saturday.
COURTESY PHOTO/WSU ATHLETICS
DENTON, Texas — The Washington State Cougars fell to the North Texas Mean Green 59-10 over the weekend at DATCU Stadium. This was the first meeting between the two teams, and the loss dropped the Cougars to 2-1 while the Mean Green improved to 3-0.
“We knew going into this that they’re a really good offense, their tempo was really good, they had some good plays, so just have to be ready for that next time,” said Cougars defensive tackle Max Baloun.
The Cougars experienced five turnovers in the first half of the game, which led to 28 Mean Green points and built a 42-3 halftime lead over WSU. The points given off turnovers would be something they could not overcome in the second half as the Cougars only scored one touchdown in the fourth quarter and the Mean Green would add 10 in the third and seven in the fourth.
“We threw three interceptions, we had two fumbles with seven tackles for loss against us and three sacks,” said the Cougars’ head coach Jimmy Rogers. “It’s unacceptable and we need to clean it up.”
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Jaxon Potter made his third start of the season for the Cougars, throwing for 139 yards, connecting on 16-of-23 passes, but had three costly interceptions. Redshirt senior quarterback Zevi Eckhaus saw his first action of the season for the Cougars in the second half, completing 7-of-10 passes for 72 yards and adding a
Running back Maxwell Woods had five receptions for 42 yards and freshman Carter Pabst added three catches for a game-high 65 yards.
Rogers said the Cougars will need to improve on both sides of the ball with better play on defense and moving the ball better and putting the defense in better positions on the offensive side. The team has to respond following their loss and will prepare themselves accordingly for their next game.
“Our players just need to keep fighting and keep responding,” said the coach. “I think they heard the message in the second half, it’s just hard to respond in those situations and we’ve got to grow from that, from how this feels and how it stings and move forward.”
The Cougars return home this Saturday for the Boeing Apple Cup against the University of Washington. Kickoff is at 4:30 p.m. on CBS from Gesa Field.
BOX SCORE:
WSU: 3-0-0-7: 10
UNT: 14-28-10-7: 59