Matchup Breakdown: Washington State vs Oregon State

With the help of our new partners at Pro Football Focus, we provide an in-depth look at how the Cougars and Beavers will match up on each side of the ball.

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Well, in looking at the PFF grades here, and you can view them below, the Cougars should have no problem pouring on points against the Beavers' defense.

Washington State QB Gardner Minshew has been incredible this season. He's thrown for nearly 2,000 yards through five games and has tossed 14 touchdowns. His overall grade of 86.3 is the second best of Pac-12 quarterbacks, behind only Oregon's Justin Herbert.

The Cougars have a couple of capable running backs who also excel in the pass catching games. James Williams, who is WSU's starting running back, has an outstanding receiving grade of 89.6 and catches 87.5% of his targets (28-of-32). True freshman running back Max Borghi is also a guy to keep an eye on.

At receiver, the Cougars have weapons. Easop Winston Jr., Dezmon Patmon, and Jamire Calvin (sorry to bring him up Beaver fans) all have receiving grades of over 70.

Washington State's offensive line blocks very well, as four of their five starters have pass block grades of 80+ on the season. This Washington State offense is lethal.

The Beavers' defense is allowing the most yards per game through the air in the conference. Washington State averages 410.4 yards per game, which is by far the best in the conference (by over 100 yards per game). This has all the making of a disaster of a game for Oregon State, unfortunately.

I won't rag on the Beavers' defense too much more. OSU has 11 defensive players who have played more than 200 snaps. Only ONE of those players has an overall defensive grade of 67+ (Kaleb Hayes, 75.1). The defensive grades for this unit are ugly.

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Understanding the grades

Elite - 99-95

High quality -- 94-90

Good -- 89-80

Above average – 79-70

Average – 69-60

Below average - 59-45

Poor – 44 and below

Being ranked in the average category is not necessarily bad. The Pro Football Focus grading scale has a very high standard. "Average" can basically be replaced with "expected."