PULLMAN, Wash. — Nick Rolovich held his weekly media zoom call on Monday. One of the biggest topics of conversation was his team's inability to hold off comebacks-- which we'll get to in just a second-- but the second biggest topic of conversation was the health of his quarterbacks group.
Rolovich said that Jayden De Laura is day to day and that it will be close to see if he plays against Utah this Saturday.
He also essentially confirmed that De Laura injured his knee on the final rushing play of the half. Some fans thought it happened on the punt that Jayden kicked on the previous series. Rolovich confirmed it was not then, so it almost assuredly happened on the rushing play as that was the only play that directly involved de Laura before the half that came after his punt.
Rolovich also said that Jarrett Guarantano, WSU’s original starting quarterback who injured his knee in the first game of the season, was only available in case of emergency on Saturday and that he had not taken any meaningful snaps in practice in the week leading up to the game. Rolovich noted that he believes Jarrett will be available this week.
It’s pretty rare though for there to be a bigger storyline than an injured quarterback’s health after a football game, but Rolovich and company managed to do that on Saturday.
After being up 14-0 over USC, the Cougs allowed 45 straight points to fall 45-14. This is the fourth time in Rolovich’s seven game WSU career that an opponent has come back against them.
"It really doesn’t matter who starts the fight, it all matters who finishes the fight, and we need to be better about finishing the fight," Rolovich said on Monday.
Nick Rolovich once again confirmed on Monday that he didn’t realize until the media made him aware on Saturday that there have been so many comebacks against WSU during his tenure.
"I didn’t quite think of it until after the game when it was brought up, but this is a trend we need to adjust what we’re doing and look at what we’re doing," said Rolovich.
However, Rolovich said on Monday that he had not watched all four comeback losses back since Saturday's loss.
"They all had a similar feeling, and that’s my job to stop that and get our energy turned the right way," said Rolovich when asked if he could identify something those four games all had in common.
The most egregious comeback loss the Cougs have suffered under Rolovich was last season when the Cougs led 28-7 at Utah and ultimately lost 45-28, with 38 of the Utes points coming in the second half. The Cougs return to Salt Lake City this Saturday.
"Oh yeah, that was something we talked about all offseason," said Rolovich of the Utah loss. "There was a time in that game according to ESPN that we were 94.6% to win that game, and we didn’t get it done."
The Cougs tried to turn that loss into a teaching moment throughout the spring and summer.
"Taking that last whatever percentage it was, finishing your reps, finishing your off season workouts, your running, that was kind of one of the focuses of the off season," said Rolovich.
He hopes that those teaching moments finally come to fruition on Saturday against the opponent who gave them the lesson in the first place.
"It’ll be good to get a chance to get back down there and flush that from the memory bank," said Rolovich.
WSU at Utah kicks off at 11:30 AM PT on Saturday on Pac-12 Network.
