PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State football looks to bounce back this Saturday as they hit the road to take on 19th ranked Utah.
The Cougs are coming off a shocking loss to UCLA after holding a 32 point lead in the second half.
COUGS MUST HAVE BALL SECURITY
If Washington State wants to get back on track, they can't turn the ball over against a good Utah defense.
The Cougs had six turnovers against UCLA, which were four fumbles and two interceptions. This team was tied for the top spot in turnover margin heading into that game, they aren't anymore.
Head coach Mike Leach hinted the team would change stuff up when it comes to ball security in practice, but would not say how they would.
"We gave them 29 points off of turnovers," Leach said. "We're extremely explosive, but sloppy. We can do anything when we set our mind to it, but we have to be a team that can do it for 60 minutes and we haven't proven to be a team that can do it for 60 minutes."
WSU SHOULD HAVE OPPORTUNITIES IN PASSING GAME
You would think when a team has that many turnovers they wouldn't score a lot of points.
However, Washington State still scored 63 points and got it done in the passing game. Those opportunities will be there against Utah.
USC, Utah's opponent this past Saturday, was able to throw some long balls against the Utah defense that resulted in big plays and touchdowns. Washington State has shown they are capable of that too and will have opportunities for big plays even against a talented Utah secondary.
WSU DEFENSE MUST STEP UP
The Cougs defense was a big liability in that game against UCLA in the second half.
Washington State let up a lot of big plays and had many missed tackles. They can't afford to do that against Utah.
The Utes have some really good players on offense and it starts with quarterback Tyler Huntley. He has the ability to move around in the pocket to cause havoc and he has a high completion percentage of 76 percent. Utah has a solid running back in Zack Moss too.
Washington State must contain both of those players and it starts with tackling better.
"We got to do our job and we need to attack like we did in spurts this season, but we haven't consistently," Leach said. "That's the biggest thing. Collectively doing your job and enjoy doing it for an hour. The message is you better improve otherwise things are going to change around here. You'll be replaced. We may need to shuffle things around roster wise. because we need guys out there that can tackle,"