SPOKANE, Wash. — Week five of the college football season is here and all three of our Division I programs have tests this weekend as we approach the midway point of the 2022 campaign.
Here's a preview on all three games.
Washington State
The Washington State Cougars will look to bounce back after a 44-41 collapse loss to No. 13 Oregon this past Saturday.
The Cougs will be hosting Cal in a game where WSU is a four point favorite to win.
This isn't the same Golden Bears team Washington State beat 21-6 last season. Cal is off to a hot start, sitting at 3-1 with their only loss coming to Notre Dame in a close 24-17 ballgame.
The key to Cal's success thus far has been running the football. The Golden Bears are averaging 176.3 yards on the ground per game.
The star of the Cal ground and pound has been freshman newcomer Jaydn Ott.
Ott torched Arizona last Saturday for 274 yards in Cal's 49-31 win over former WSU quarterback Jayden de Laura's Wildcats.
The key to winning this weekend for Washington State will be stopping Ott and Cal's run game.
"It's gonna be very important to contain him, not let him get in his stride early in the game, start getting some TFL's, get him kind of rattled as well," said redshirt junior edge Brennan Jackson. "With running backs like that who are building on confidence from last week it's going to be important to shut that down early in the game. We can't let him get comfortable."
"Stopping the run defensively is where it always starts with Cal," said head coach Jake Dickert. "I think that's what they want to do and that's what they want to establish and we need to get them behind the chains."
The Cougs will look to improve to 4-1 with kickoff against Cal set for 2:30 p.m.
Eastern Washington
Similar to WSU, Eastern Washington is coming off a hard to swallow loss to Montana State 38-35. Now, the Eags are set to play in one of the toughest places in the country as they head out to Gainesville, Florida to face the Gators in The Swamp.
This game was moved from Saturday to Sunday due to Hurricane Ian and thus far, the game is still on.
EWU is a massive underdog in this matchup, as ESPN's matchup predictor gave the Eagles just a 2% chance to win the game. One of the reasons for this is that the Gators have one of the most talented quarterbacks in the country in Anthony Richardson.
"He's one of the better playmakers in America, let alone his conference. He's scary and he's only gotten better since he's, you know, obviously gotten more reps under his belt. Not just this year, but in prior games," said EWU head coach Aaron Best.
"There's not a lot of good things that stack up good for us going into this one, but it is what it is and we can control what we can control," said Best. "If they allow us to play, we'll certainly play and give it our best opportunity because we prepare for every game as if we're going to win the game."
Kickoff for Eastern Washington at Florida is set for 9 a.m. on Sunday. This of course is weather pending.
Idaho
The Idaho Vandals are on a two-game winning streak after a win over a solid Northern Arizona. Now, it's time for Northern Colorado.
UNC has a former power five quarterback in transfer Dylan McCaffery. He transferred to Northern Colorado to play under his dad Ed McCaffery, who's the head coach. So, you know he has flashes of greatness.
But, right now, the Vandals are all about keeping things rolling. The team has turned things around and coach Eck wants a rockin' Kibbie Dome for Homecoming weekend.
"It's been since 2009 that the Vandals have started 2-0 in conference play. That's a long time. So, this is a great opportunity at home. To do that we gotta take advantage of it," said Idaho head coach Jason Eck. "Hopefully a great homecoming crowd. Remind you again, please come to the game. We need you there. Whether you're from Moscow, Lewiston, Coeur d'Alene, Spokane, Potlatch, Deary.. all points in-between."
The Vandals will look to improve to 2-0 in conference play this Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. in the Kibbie Dome.
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