CORVALLIS, Ore. — It’s been a long wait, but WSU football finally kicks off their season on Saturday.
You may think previewing their game against Oregon State might be difficult considering that WSU has a completely different staff from last season, therefore, anything that happened in the past between these two teams doesn’t really apply.
However, Rolovich and Hawaii played Oregon State last year and won, 31-28. I dug in to that game to see how they won, and what the Cougs need to do tomorrow to have a similar result.
RUN AND SHOOT AND SHOOT AND SHOOT
Oh boy, did Oregon State struggle in defending the run and shoot last year.
Hawaii quarterback Cole McDonald put up some stellar numbers. He went 30-of-52 for 421 yards and four touchdowns. He also had one interception and one fumble. Receiver Jojo Ward caught 10 of McDonald’s passes for 189 yards, and he caught all four touchdowns. There wasn’t a lot of running in this game, as Hawaii only put up 67 yards rushing, but obviously they didn’t need it. Overall, the Bows had eight explosive plays, aka plays of 20 or more yards. Three of those explosive plays resulted in touchdowns.
To put it simply, Rolovich needs to hope that his offense shows up in a similar way as last year. He needs to hope that Jayden de Laura’s arm is as good as McDonald’s. If that happens, especially with de Laura’s strong receiver corps, Oregon State is toast. This is an offense that saw great success against the Beavers defense, and that should put WSU fans at ease.
ATTENTION TO DISCIPLINE
I did mention those turnovers. McDonald's interception resulted in a touchdown drive for the Beavs, while the fumble didn’t hurt Hawaii at all. Obviously, two turnovers are not ideal, so how did the Bows make up for it?
My goodness. were they disciplined on offense. They only had two offensive penalties the entire game. One was a false start and the other was holding. Two penalties for 20 yards for an offense is excellent. They only had four penalties for forty yards overall.
It honestly seems like a bit of an anomaly, as Hawaii averaged 61 yards of penalties per game last year, which was the second worst in the Mountain West. Only Colorado State averaged more yards of penalties per game at 65.
This would concern me a little bit as a WSU fan, as Hawaii had to play nearly flawless to win that game.
KICKIN' IT
This next point would make me more optimistic though: Hawaii should have won their game against Oregon State by a whole lot more.
Their kicker won the game for them with a 28-yard field goal 2:17 left. However, before that, he missed two 48-yard field goals and one 27-yard field goal.
Translation: The Run and Shoot had even more success going down the field against Oregon State than the score indicated.
I guarantee Blake Mazza makes the 27-yard field goal and at least one of those 48-yard field goals. His foot could be a huge key come Saturday if their offense is once again able to do what it did last year to the Beavs.
Rolovich and the Cougs kick off at 7:30 on FS1 Saturday night.
