Monday Musings: Washington State Handles San Diego State to Improve to 2-0
The Washington State Cougars improved from a shaky showing against Idaho in the opener to beat San Diego State handily in a 36-13 blowout. It was an impressive performance in all phases compared to the previous week as the Cougars combined for 396 total yards and scored 29 unanswered points to move to 2-0 on the young season.
What stood out from Wazzu’s second victory? Here are several Monday musings, starting with a major jump from the offensive line:
The offensive line answers Jimmy Rogers’ call
After Rogers expressed frustration over the group’s performance against Idaho, the Cougars’ offensive line had a considerably better outing in game two of the season. After really struggling with their run blocking against Idaho with Washington State rushing for just three yards as a team, they had a much better rushing performance against San Diego State, exploding with 145 yards and averaging 3.9 yards per carry. Kirby Vorhees led the team in rushing with 13 carries for 67 yards. It was a massive step up after the lack of a run game emerged as a huge concern following the opener.
Offering a far different tone than one week earlier, Rogers praised the offensive line by saying, “ We practiced better this week and we took the message personally.”
The offensive line was also good in pass protection, not allowing a sack on starter Jaxon Potter. There are still things to clean up, however, with a couple of holding calls that stopped promising drives. A big issue in Week 1 was the communication and with 70 new players, you can expect that to be an ongoing issue early on and hopefully improve week over week.
Jaxon Potter another solid performance
In his second career start, Potter had a pretty good showing, going 28-42 with 257 yards and three touchdowns. With 42 pass attempts dialed up, it showed Rogers and his staff are willing to throw the ball more than expected as a means for setting up the run. The quarterback did a great job managing the game, connecting on a couple of deep balls and working through his progressions.
Potter won the quarterback competition in fall camp due to his ability to make catchable throws, good decisions, and accurate deep balls. He seemed much more comfortable in the offense Saturday. Josh Meredith was the Cougs leading receiver with eight catches for 88 yards and Trey Leckner had six catches along with two touchdowns, with both showing improving chemistry snagging passes from the first-year starter.
Hat trick for Potter with his 3rd TD 🎯
📺 @TheCW_Sports #BackThePac x #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/95ZQIgOVEu— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) September 7, 2025
The Cougs’ defense stout once again
On the heels of holding Idaho to 10 points, Washington State put together another stellar defensive performance against San Diego State. They held Jayden Denegal to 15-30 for 133 yards passing and only 215 total yards. Nearly matching the week prior, they surrendered a paltry 3.6 yards per play to the Aztecs. In the 2025 season, they have already recorded a lower output in both games so far based on yards per play than any game in the 2024 season. The defense not only seems to have more depth then years past but does a great job swarming to the ball and keeping containment. Parker McKenna led the team with seven tackles, Colby Humphrey was tied with five for second on the team in tackles, as both thrived coming up and stopping the run. Bobby Terrell also had 1.5 sacks to pace the pass rush.
Despite that success, with tougher opponents coming up in the near future starting with a road game against North Texas before the annual Apple Cup against Washington, Rogers isn’t resting on his laurels and knows the team must continue to get better on the defensive side of the ball.
”We're moving in the right direction but we have a lot of work to do.”
