Jayden de Laura went 32 for 46 with 3 touchdowns and led the Cougs to a big win over northwest rivals Oregon State, 31-24 win in Pullman.
The Beavers came into Saturday’s game with a 2-0 record and first place in the Pac-12 north. The Cougs had won 7 straight against the Beavers coming in.
WSU has been good against the run in the previous 5 games and since the beavers are a run heavy team, that boded well for the Cougs defense. Unfortunately for the Cougs, Beavers racked up 309 yards on the ground and marched down the field in the second half consistently behind Deshaun Fenwick and B.J. Baylor.
Both teams took a while to get into their rhythm. Jack Colletto put the beavers up early in the 2nd quarter from two yards out 7-0. The Beavers and Cougs matched field goals before de Laura led the Cougs down to the red zone. The Cougs red zone troubles have plagued them for most of the season. Jayden drove the Cougs down to the 7 yard line. On 4th and 3, the de Laura’s pass went incomplete to Harris. On the Beavers next possession, Chance Nolan’s pass was intercepted by George Hicks III at the Oregon State 23 yard line and the Cougs were back in business. Jayden saw himself in a familiar position and on 3rd and goal from the 4, de Laura had an option to run but threw an interception in the end zone and the Beavers went into the half up 10-3.
This then began a wild half of football where we saw no punts and a lot of scoring. On the Cougs first drive of the 2nd half, Max Borghi picked up a 3 yard touchdown run to tie the game at 10. Beavers returned that score, with a drive down to the red-zone and Nolan’s pass was deflected 3 times off of the OSU receiver to the hands of WSU’s Brennan Jackson. That turned out to be the difference in the game with both offenses moving the ball at will in the 2nd half. The following drive, de Laura found Joey Hobert for a 55-yard touchdown pass which is his longest pass of the season to give the Cougs their first lead of the game 17-10. Beavers and Cougs traded touchdowns throughout the 2nd half. With 5 minutes to go in the 4th, de Laura hit Deon McIntosh on a screen pass on 3rd and goal for a 1-yard TD pass and the game winner. In the final seconds of the game, Chance Nolan’s pass to Trey Lowe on 4th and 19 came up 1-yard short and the Cougs escaped and pulled off the upset on the 1st place Beavers. “When we get the chance, we gotta punch it in and we did that in the 2nd half,” de Laura said.
“Jayden does a really good job of getting the ball out, he played tremendous,” coach Nick Rolovich said following the game. The Cougs host Stanford next weekend followed by BYU. WSU pulls back to .500 with and 3-3 record and hopes to improve that the next couple weeks to become bowl eligible.
