PULLMAN, Wash. — Saturday's game in Pullman between Oregon State and Washington State is expected to be a battle. Here are my keys for the Cougs to get a win:
1. THROW IT UP
The first key to the match up is something that shouldn't be pretty hard for the Cougs: They should pass, and pass often.
WSU's quarterbacks have absolutely obliterated the Beavs the last five seasons. In fact, in those last five games against OSU the Cougs' quarterbacks are averaging 423 passing yards per game and have accounted for at least five touchdowns in every contest.
Oh yeah, and the last time WSU threw an interception against Oregon State was in 2015.
This year OSU is averaging allowing 253 passing yards per game, but overall they're allowing 434 offensive yards per game, so it seems like a possibility for WSU to continue their dominate trend against the Beavs for a sixth straight year.
2. RED ZONE REVISITED
I sound like a broken record at this point because I feel like this comes up every week, but Oregon State really excels in the red zone. They score 91% of the time within their opponent's 20 yard line. WSU averages that percentage as well, but where they differ is that Oregon State is scoring touchdowns. The Beavers score touchdowns 85% of the time in the red zone. WSU is at 65%.
It's not going to work trading touchdowns for field goals in this game.
If the Cougs can keep the Beavers out of the end zone while in the red zone, the odds for OSU to leave the possession without any points in extremely high. OSU's kicker is only 2-for-7 in the red zone this season. Oregon State has kicked the least in the red zone of any Pac-12 team this year. There's probably a reason why.
3. EXPLOSIVE PROBLEMS
Stanford was the Coug's defense's worst Pac-12 game this season in the explosive plays category. The Cardinals had twelve plays of 20 or more yards against WSU.
You'd think UCLA would win in that category but nope, they *only* had ten.
In Pac-12 play, WSU is averaging allowing their opponents to have seven plays of 20 or more yards per game. That's pretty awful.
Oregon State's offense on the other hand is averaging having around four plays of 20 or more yards per game. The most explosive plays they had in a game this season came against Arizona, where they had ten against the Wildcats. They also only had three explosive plays against Arizona State and Cal. They still won both of those games.
This game could very well turn into a shootout if WSU's defense can't get it together, but the scary thing is is that Oregon State may not even need those type of plays to win.
GAME INFO
Washington State and Oregon State kick off at 6 PM on Saturday on Pac-12 Networks.