Cougs drop 70, rout Portland State in season opener 70-30

The Washington State Cougars opened their 2024 campaign with an exclamation point, dropping 70 points on the Portland State Vikings in a 70-30 victory.

After a shaky opening possession on both sides of the ball, the Cougars rattled off eight straight touchdown drives — outside of a QB kneel to mercifully end the first half — to seize full control. True freshman running back Wayshawn Parker stole the show, breaking away for a trio of long runs for an eight-carry, 96-yard, and one touchdown performance while also dusting the defense as a receiver, hauling in a 52-yard catch and go touchdown.

“I thought Wayshawn was just phenomenal. You think you have this talent, and it’s good to see it get there, and he’s going to stay humble and hungry and keep working.” Jake Dickert said.

Despite a 70-point, 11.4 yards per play performance by the offense, the Cougars began the game with a -3-yard rush, leading to two incompletions and a punt. The Vikings wasted no time after forcing the three and out as Delon Thompson gashed the Cougar defense up the middle for a 53-yard run down to the WSU five-yard line. Two plays later, QB Dante Chachere took a keeper into the end zone to give the Vikings an early 7-0 lead.

Staring at a 3rd and 10 on the next possession, John Mateer put his mobility on display with a 15-yard keeper to keep the drive alive. On 2nd and 10 from the Viking 30, Mateer let it rip over the middle of the field to a streaking Kris Hutson, who made a phenomenal diving grab for the first touchdown of the 2024 season.

Just check out the angles on this one.

Jack Ellis/CougCenter

“You get the first three and out; it’s not the way you want to open the season, but I’m glad we had to respond to adversity, and I thought the offensive guys did a tremendous job. Everybody ate today.” Dickert said.

With momentum on their side, the defense rebounded with a three and out to give WSU the ball right back. On his first collegiate carry, Parker immediately showed off his incredible talent with a 20-yard rush. After a fourth-down conversion from Djouvensky Schlenbaker, Mateer hit Tre Shackelford on a slant route, and the junior did the rest, shaking off a tackle and burning the Viking defense for a touchdown.

This started to become the game’s rhythm—another three-and-out and another explosive play for a Cougar touchdown. Kyle Williams blew right past the corner in front, and Mateer hit him in stride. In just under nine minutes of game time, the Cougars took a 21-7 lead.

The Vikings finally figured some things out on the next drive, going eight plays for 49 yards but only resulting in a 43-yard field goal.

WSU’s offense still had plenty of fireworks left. On a 1st and 10 from near midfield, Parker put the moves on to escape the Vikings front, shook off a weak tackle from the final defender, and found pay dirt from 54 yards out.

The freshman wasn’t done there. After yet another three and out forced by the defense, Parker showed off his receiving ability. Parker snuck out of the backfield and right past the sleeping Vikings linebackers with only green grass in front of him. Back-to-back touches for 106 yards.

A 36-10 lead with still double-digit minutes remaining in the second quarter, if there was ever a time for the Cougs to finally drop 70, this had to be it.

The Vikings tried to take the air out of the ball on the next possession, methodically grinding their way down the field and inside the WSU five. Down four possessions, the Vikings decided to go for it on 4th down from four yards out. WSU brought pressure, and Chachere tried to find a receiver before he could be sacked but instead found an open Stephen Hall with an entire lane to run. The Memphis, Tennessee, native followed a wall of crimson jerseys from goal line to goal line for a program record 100-yard pick six.

The chase for 70 became very real after another Viking three and out and one last first half firework in the form of a Mateer QB keeper, making Viking tacklers look foolish on the way to a 40-yard rushing touchdown.

In the first half alone, WSU had 393 yards of total offense (159 rushing, 234 passing) on just 29 plays. Good for 13.6 yards/play. Outside of that first Viking possession, the defense bent at times but never really broke.

The second half opened to the same beat as the first half. A quick stop from the Cougar defense and an explosive play from the offense. On their first play of the second half, Mateer delivered a deep pass to Hutson for 59 yards. Schlenbaker polished off the quick strike with an 11-yard carry through the teeth of the defense.

With 70 points within reach, the first team offense capped off their impressive performance with the grand finale. Williams took a short pass, shook off a defender, flew past the secondary, and made the last man miss for his second touchdown of the day.

Comfortably up 46, the backups took the Cougs the rest of the way. The Vikings answered the Williams touchdown with a touchdown drive but couldn’t convert the two-point try to break within 40.

After trading punts, Parker looked to have scored his third touchdown of the game on a 37-yard carry but was called back on a holding penalty. On a 4th and 2, two plays later, the long 27-year quest to #Drop70 was finally complete. Trey Leckner took a short pass near the first down marker, broke through two tackles, and waltzed his way to the east end zone for his first career touchdown.

PSU tacked on one more touchdown in the final five minutes to break the 30 mark.

While it’s hard to evaluate just how good or bad a team truly is in a week-one game against an FCS opponent, dropping 70 points surely isn’t a bad thing by any means.

The offense proved it was full of explosive players that can go off at any given moment. It will be interesting to see if they can carry that explosiveness over to FBS defenses, but with this many weapons between Williams, Huston, Parker, and more, they gave us no reason to believe they can’t give opposing defenses nightmares all season long.

WSU will now turn their attention to a big game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders of the Big-12 on Saturday in Pullman.