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# 3 Burning Questions as Washington State Takes On Colorado State
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/burning-questions-washington-state-cougars-colorado-state-rams/
- Published: 2025-09-27T18:08:27.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:36:25.000Z
- Author: Jacob Stevenson
- Tags: Analysis, Zevi Eckhaus, Cougars

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With Washington State facing an early must win in their fifth game of the season, the Cougars travel to play the Colorado State Rams, another team in the midst of a quarterback change heading into Saturday's matchup in Fort Collins.

Here are three questions that will determine if Washington State snaps a two-game losing streak on the road or continues their slide with a third straight defeat:

**Will the Cougs take better care of the football?**

The Wazzu offense did show some positive signs in the Apple Cup, in large part due to quarterback Zevi Eckhaus making a handful of impressive throws, as he finished 25-36 with 277 yards and three total touchdowns. But there were three costly turnovers as well, including an interception that wasn’t Eckhaus’ fault. But regardless, with five turnovers against North Texas one week earlier, they have lost the turnover battle 8-0 in the last two games. Good luck being competitive with such a differential. They are facing a Colorado State team that just lost at home to UTSA and is 1-2 of the year, so this should be an opponent where Washington State can right the ship a bit and protect the football better.

**Will Washington State have any semblance of balance on offense?**

To say the Cougs haven’t been able to run the ball effectively is a tremendous understatement. So far, a third of the way through the season, Washington State’s running backs have carried the ball 85 times for 231 yards, which comes out to a dismal 2.7 yards per carry. Washington State has the 12th fewest rushing yards per game in the FBS Division, which frankly is unacceptable given the emphasis coach Jimmy Rogers put on implementing a run game to complement the passing attack this offseason. Outside of the game against San Diego State in Week 2, the Cougs haven’t been able to run the ball much at all, which has put their quarterbacks in a bad spot with opponents pinning their ears back rushing the passer. If Washington State can find any balance whatsoever in this game, it would be a huge development that would not only improve their odds of winning Saturday, but getting on track to make a bowl game.

**Will the defense round back into form?**

The Cougars defense gave up 59 points in back to back weeks. There is some context with the turnovers by the offense in the North Texas game that led to short fields for Washington State to try and defend, but they didn’t force a punt against Washington and even with the top end level talent the Huskies have, you can not give up 59 points and it shouldn’t be that easy for Washington to score. For as good as the defense played the first two weeks the true defensive level is somewhere between what we saw against Idaho and San Diego State and Washington. Against Colorado State which is much closer to San Diego State and Idaho then UW you can expect the defense to make necessary adjustments and be a lot better on that end.