Oregon State Football Opponent Preview: Washington State

With the start of the 2024 season just around the corner, BeaversEdge kicks off the first in an opponent preview series diving into all 12 of Oregon State's opponents in 2024...

Next up on the schedule is a home matchup against the Washington State Cougars...

THE GAME

Date: Saturday, November 23rd

Time: 4 p.m. PT

Location: Reser Stadium - Corvallis, Ore.

TV: The CW

Oregon State 2023 record: 8-5 (5-4 Pac-12)

Washington State 2023 record: 5-7 (2-7)

Washington State Head Coach: Jake Dickert, 4th season (15-16, 9-13 Pac-12)

Washington State 2023 Recap

It was a tale of two seasons for the Washington State Cougars in 2024...

On one hand, the Cougars were one of the hottest teams out of the gate as quarterback Cam Ward was putting himself into Heisman consideration, throwing for 1,393 yards and 13 touchdowns in WSU's four straight wins to open the campaign.

En route to wins over Colorado State, Wisconsin, Northern Colorado, and Oregon State, the Cougars raced out the gates to a 4-0 campaign and looked like a real threat to make some noise in the Pac-12.

However, the bottom essentially fell out for the Cougars following the win over OSU and the following bye week, as they suffered through a six-game losing streak and lost seven of their final eight contests.

It wasn't that the Cougars were playing insanely bad football, it just became a mental deal for the Cougars as the losses began to pile up. They began the streak with a narrow loss to UCLA, before being crushed by Arizona. They were semi-competitive against Oregon and Arizona State but ultimately fell.

Their toughest loss of the season is a three-point loss to Stanford, as the Cardinal weren't very good this season. They dropped a three-point loss to Cal the following week, before finally finding some positives in a 56-14 blowout of Colorado.

The Cougars left it all on the field in the rivalry game against Washington, making the Huskies earn everything before they reached the Pac-12 Championship. You've got to credit the Cougs who had a bad season, yet still managed to give UW a strong scare.

It was a disappointing season for WSU and Dickert in the sense that you 100% absolutely should have made a bowl game. It was almost as if the game against OSU was the Cougars' Super Bowl and they just didn't show that ability in any of the remaining games.

Best Win: vs Oregon State (38-35)

Worst Loss: vs Stanford (10-7)

2023 Schedule

Washington State 2024 Outlook

Entering the 2024 campaign, which will be Dickert's fourth as the full-time head coach, the Cougars will be looking to replace Ward, who hit the transfer portal and went to Miami.

Mateer appears to be the Cougars' top option at QB after serving as Ward's backup for the past two seasons, but his playing experience is very limited. After finding success with Ward, the Cougars once again dipped into the FCS ranks to add Eckhaus, who threw 28 touchdowns at Bryant a season ago.

At running back, the Cougars will have Dylan Paine and Djouvensky Schlenbaker to take over for Nakia Watson, as the duo combined for nearly 300 yards and a touchdown a year ago.

Wide receiver will also be a strength, as Kyle Williams leads a strong group that also includes several transfers, including Oregon's Kris Hutson.

The offensive line is a bit of a question mark after being inconsistent in protecting Ward and opening up running lanes, but they return the crux of that group.

Defensively, the biggest challenge for the Cougs will be replacing key veteran pieces from last season's defense. Brennan Jackson and Roger Stone were two of the best edge rushers on the west coast last season and are now in the NFL, along with defensive backs Jaden Hicks and Chau Smith-Wade.

Diving into the schedule, the Cougars seem to be in a good position to reach a bowl game, despite having some unproven pieces. Like OSU, they play a Mountain West-heavy schedule, with some winnable matchups.

Portland State should be a comfortable win out the gate, before a tough but pick-em game against Tech on the road in week two. The Apple Cup will be a tough matchup, but the Huskies are in a transition at QB and very well could be vulnerable early in the Jedd Fisch era.

San Jose State is another winnable game, before facing a tough Boise State team on the road. Fresno State, Hawaii, and San Diego State are another stretch of very winnable games, with Fresno being the toughest in that stretch.

They close with winnable games against Utah State and New Mexico before facing Oregon State and Wyoming in the final two weeks on the road. Going to Corvallis will be tough for the Cougars, but getting Wyoming at home is big after they were a nine-win team a year ago.

I see the Cougars flirting with the 6-7-8 win mark depending on how the QB position and the defense ultimately shake out. There are some intriguing pieces, and Dickert is an underrated defensive mind, but we need to see the Cougars prove some things this year after being a very inconsistent team last year.

Season Projection: 7-5

Key Players: QB John Mateer, QB Zevi Eckhaus, WR Kyle Williams, DB Kapena Gushiken, DB Tyson Durant

Early Prediction

I've gone back and forth with this prediction, and it certainly gets more difficult to predict a game in late November when we haven't seen anyone play, but I like the Beavs here.

While there aren't a ton of holdovers from last season, both player and coach-wise, those who were on the team last year and played last year certainly remember the Washington State game very well.

Outside of the Sun Bowl and Civil War, which were blowouts for their respective reasons, the Washington State game was the worst the Beavers played all season. They spotted the Cougs a 14-point lead at the break, and despite a fourth-quarter rally were a little too late because of their inability to contain Ward and the receivers.

Head coach Trent Bray and guys like Jaden Robinson and Joshua Gray remember that result all too well and I think this is a circled "revenge" game for the Beavers.

It'll be a great battle at Reser, but the home crowd is enough to push the Beavers over the top...

PREDICTION - Oregon State 31, Washington State 28