Washington State vs. Utah State
After the first round of the College Football Playoff and a full Sunday dedicated to the NFL, the bowl season resumes with Washington State vs. Utah State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Our own VSiN Primetime host Tim Murray will be on the sidelines for Bowl Season Radio, as he heads to the smurf turf to watch this battle between the orphaned Cougars and the Aggies, a Mountain West member who plays in Boise pretty much every other year.
This season, Utah State hosted Boise State and fell 25-24 in the regular season finale, while Wazzu got revenge against Oregon State with a 32-8 win to become bowl-eligible. This is a Cougars club that played CFP qualifier James Madison to a 24-20 decision late in the regular season and also only lost by a field goal to Ole Miss and by a deuce to ACC Championship Game loser Virginia in Charlottesville. Are those close calls a good sign in this game?
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Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Washington State vs. Utah State (-1.5, 49.5)
Monday, Dec. 22, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN)
A lot has been happening with the Washington State program over the last few seasons. They were left in the dust when the Pac-12 dissolved into the ACC, Big Ten, and Big 12 and have played basically as an Independent/Pac-12/kind-of-Mountain-West program. Head coach Jake Dickert left for the same gig at Wake Forest. Recruits left with no conference to play for and the athletic department wasn’t too interested in investing in the roster until things were more stable.
Through it all, the Cougars have been a competent program and the coaching job that Jimmy Rogers did this season was enough for him to get hired at Iowa State. The 38-year-old had two successful seasons as the head coach at South Dakota State and used Wazzu to springboard into a very good job. DC Jesse Bobbit will join Rogers in Ames, but he’ll coach the Cougs here first.
To the players’ credit, a lot of them will play in the bowl game and even most of those who have announced their intentions to enter the transfer portal are allowed to play in the game. Some notable defensive players and backup QB Jaxon Potter are among those looking at next steps, but QB Zevi Eckhaus and the other leaders at the offensive positions are in. Eckhaus had 1,760 yards passing and was the team’s second-leading rusher with 337 yards. Of course, that was just 3.4 yards per carry and leading rusher Kirby Vorhees only had 4.2. Eckhaus had just a 12/9 TD/INT ratio, but did complete 63.5% of his passes.
This was a poor offensive team, but Rogers was the DC at SDSU before he was the HC, so it’s no surprise that the defense was very good, allowing a subpar offense the chance to compete in games. The Cougars only gained 4.96 yards per play and ranked 119th in the nation, but only allowed 5.00 yards per play and ranked 30th. For a team that was -7 in turnover margin to make a bowl game is a pretty impressive accomplishment.
Utah State was the polar opposite. They racked up 6.34 yards per play and allowed 5.79 YPP. The Aggies will be without a leader on offense, as top WR Braden Pegan (60 rec, 926 yds) has opted out of the game. There’s a big gap after him, but this is a run-first offense anyway, as QB Bryson Barnes led the team with 176 carries and 733 yards. Top RB Miles Davis had 5.7 yards per pop on 126 carries.
That said, Barnes still generated a lot of big plays in the passing game with 2,687 yards on just 202 completions. His 18/4 TD/INT ratio is far more impressive than what we saw from Wazzu’s two QBs. The loss of Pegan, who averaged 15.4 yards per catch, is worrisome, as depth at the position is quite limited.
From an advanced metrics standpoint, Utah State, even with all the big plays on offense and the poor per-play defensive numbers, sits 63rd in EPA/play on offense and 64th in EPA/play on defense per CFB Graphs. Washington State actually grades out as 43rd in EPA/play on defense and 68th in EPA/play on offense, even though the per-play metrics are very underwhelming.
Washington State vs. Utah State Potato Bowl Prediction
One thing you don’t see much of on Washington State’s schedule is a mobile QB. Their schedule was composed of teams willing to put non-conference games on the schedule at various points, leading to some wild travel spots and situations. With Rogers gone, Bobbit halfway out the door, some defensive opt-outs, and a player in Barnes with a skill that they haven’t seen much, it’s hard to like Washington State here.
There’s just far more continuity with Utah State and this is the 15th career bowl game for Bronco Mendenhall, so he knows how to handle the prep period and keep his team engaged.
Pick: Utah State -1.5
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