Ward then capped the next two drives with TD passes to De’Zhaun Stribling. He went back to Ollie for his fourth and final TD pass of the day. As a result, the Cougs held a 28-0 lead heading into halftime. Running back Kannonkatzer would score a touchdown and Dean Janikowski added a field goal in the second half in route the 38-7 win.
Coming into the contest, there was some concern about the Cougs’ offense over the first two weeks of the season. However, this offensive outburst likely alleviated some, if not all, of those concerns.
Ward finished the game completing 25 of 35 passes for 292 passing yards, four touchdowns and an interception. It was easily his best individual performance in his short Washington State career. Meanwhile, running backs Nakia Watson, Jaylen Jenkins, andkatzer combined for 135 rushing yards and a TD. Head Coach Jake Dickert knew his offense was highly motivated to get the offense going.
On the flip side, the Washington State defense was stout once again. It did not allow the Rams to score a single point until the fourth quarter of the game. It held Colorado State to 249 total yards with only 37 of it coming on the ground.
The Cougars’ defense also did a wonderful job getting the CSU offense of the field on key downs. The Rams only converted two out of 13 third down opportunities into first downs. They were also one for five on fourth down opportunities.
Washington State’s 3-0 start to the season is surprising. A 2-1 start was the expectation, but the win over Wisconsin recalibrated some people’s opinions of the team. It’s still unknown how legitimate WSU is a Pac-12 title contender. Everyone will have a better sense of that when Top 25 ranked Oregon comes to Pullman next week.
