SPOKANE, Wash. — Week three of the college football season is upon us.
Washington State and Idaho will both be at home this Saturday with games where the Cougars and Vandals are favorites to win.
Eastern Washington will have a week of rest with a bye week after a 70-14 loss to Oregon on the road.
Here is a look at WSU and Idaho's upcoming games.
Washington State
Washington State finds itself receiving 30 votes in the latest AP Top 25 poll.
That's what happens when you beat a top 25 team in the country.
The Cougs are coming off an upset victory over then 19th ranked Wisconsin 17-14 to improve to 2-0 this season.
Now, the attention is on Colorado State. Unlike WSU, the Rams are off to a poor start this season. A 51-7 loss to Michigan in week one and a 34-19 loss to Middle Tennessee last week.
To say the Rams have struggled up front would be putting it nicely.
CSU has given up the most sacks in the entire country, 16 through two weeks! That's five more than any other program.
With All-Pac-12 first teamer Ron Stone Jr. and All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention Brennan Jackson on the edges, the Cougs will look to capitalize on the advantage they have in the trenches.
"Yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where if that's a weakness of the team you gotta attack it," said Jackson. "I think going into this game, they're going to see our pass rush and they're going to scheme around it. That's what any good coach would do is make sure they can eliminate that. But, for us, we see that as a weakness and we need to make sure we go out there with our best stuff and really attack this team."
"These guys specialize in passing and I think that we have to take advantage of our defensive line," said WSU head coach Jake Dickert. "They'll get the ball out fast at times, but they'll also sit back and try to take shots down the field, so we gotta find ways to be aggressive and we have to disrupt the quarterback who to his credit has taken shots this year and kept going. I've got a lot of respect for this guy."
The big fellas on the d-line will look to eat this Saturday with kickoff against CSU set for 2 PM at Gesa Field.
Idaho
Has there ever been a time to be more excited about an 0-2 start to the season!?
Sure, there is still a zero in the win column. But, Jason Eck's Vandals have played two power five teams down to the wire.
Idaho lost to WSU 24-17 in the Battle of the Palouse in week one after leading 10-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Last week, Idaho led Indiana 10-0 on the road at halftime. A rough 23-0 third quarter for Indiana was the decision maker in a 35-22 Hoosiers win, but a few plays go in favor of the Vandals and they could have pulled of a pair of upsets.
While life has been inserted into the program, coach Eck has one thing on his mind. Getting that first win.
"I'd say the one positive thing is I've been around some teams where you play these games (FBS opponents) and you destroy the confidence of your team if you get blown out by a couple of those teams," said Eck. "So, I think that is a positive. I don't think were going to be an unconfident team going through the rest. I think we believe in what we're capable of, but we got to get victories, man. We got to get victory number one. We got to be 1-0 this week and start getting those on the board to get where we want to go."
This week, the Vandals will have a fellow FCS opponent rather than an FBS power five team, welcoming a winless Drake Bulldogs team into the Kibbie Dome for the first home game this season.
Drake is a team that likes to run the football. The linebacking core will be busy. The Bulldogs have yet to throw for over 180 yards this season. In last week's 17-14 loss to Missouri S&T, Drake ran for 145 yards on 45 carries. The Bulldogs use a backfield by committee, so expect to see multiple running backs make an appearance in this matchup.
Kickoff for Idaho vs. drake is set for Noon in the Kibbie Dome.
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