WSU rallies and escapes San Diego State with 29-26 win

It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win.

The weekend before Halloween is typically the time people begin to gear up for the spookiest holiday of the year. For the Washington State Cougars, they got the full experience on Saturday as they survived a scare from San Diego State.

Trailing by 12 in the final quarter, WSU (7-1) stormed all the way back with back-to-back touchdown drives and stole a win right out the hands of SDSU (3-4) in front of large contingent of Cougar faithful in San Diego.

After forcing a San Diego State punt to open the game, WSU’s offense went into its bag of tricks on their first drive with a 22-yard reverse for Kyle Williams to put WSU inside the SDSU 30. Two plays later, Ben Arbuckle and co. pulled out a flea flicker that left Cooper Mathers wide open for an easy touchdown pass from John Mateer.

On WSU’s second go around on defense, it was a story of what we’ve been seeing all season. Bend, but don’t break. The Aztecs put together a solid drive but never broke within the WSU 25, resulting in a 46-yard field goal to make it a 7-3 game.

Josh Meredith got things rolling for the Cougar offense on the next drive with a catch and run of 25 yards out to the SDSU 35. With how efficient the WSU offense looked on the first drive and now again on the second, it felt like the Cougar offense was going to be able to run up and down the field at will all game long. Looking at a 4th and short of their own at the SDSU 29, Mateer’s keeper was stopped a yard shy of the marker, turning the ball over on downs.

After taking over on downs, quarterback Danny O’Neil took a hard hit on a sack from Ansel Din-Mbuh and appeared to injure his non-throwing shoulder, forcing him to temporarily leave the game and backup QB Javance Tupou’ata-Johnson to enter. SDSU got a chunk play with running back Cam Davis finding an open lane and sprinting up the field out to the WSU 27 before being brought down from behind by Buddah Al-Uqdah. Despite the big play, once again WSU’s defense bent but didn’t break, holding the Aztecs to another field goal.

WSU answered with a long 16 play, that lasted over seven minutes and was kept alive by a pass interference on third down in Aztec territory. Mateer capped off the grinding drive with a QB sneak at the goal-line to put WSU up 14-6.

On the ensuing Aztec drive, they again drove into WSU territory, but WSU’s defense held strong, forcing a turnover on downs after a failed read option. The game was now firmly in control of a WSU team that already scored touchdowns on two of their three drives and now had a short field with a chance to go up two scores. You have to capitalize. Instead, WSU couldn’t convert a 4th and 2 at the SDSU 40, handing the ball right back to the Aztecs and failing to capitalize on a key drive that could have put a weaker Aztec in a deep hole.

Instead, it was SDSU who capitalized in the final two minutes. The Aztecs marched right down the field and scoring a touchdown, but didn’t convert the point after attempt after sending the snap about 15 yards backwards trying to run a tricky two-point try.

The teams traded a pair of punts to open the second half, but on SDSU’s second punt, Tony Freeman couldn’t corral the return, fumbling the ball right to the Aztecs. It only took three plays for SDSU to find the end-zone on a reverse into a pass to give the Aztecs their first lead of the game.

Yet again, WSU’s offense sputtered and stalled into another punt that the Aztecs again took down the field and scored to go up two possessions.

Disaster wasn’t on the horizon, it now covered the late night San Diego sky around WSU. Offensive sacks, penalties and miscues continued to hold WSU back from not just taking control of the game earlier, but keeping themselves in a competitive position.

In the darkness of their disastrous situation, Williams became that initial light to help guide WSU into the light with a spectacular 33-yard reception, reaching out with one arm to pry it away from a potential interception and reeling it in with the other. Two plays later, Carlos Hernandez snuck behind the defenses, getting open in the soft spot of the zone defense and hauled in a 34-yard touchdown. Light breaking through the clouds of disastrous darkness.

Now with a chance to keep momentum rolling on a 3rd and 9, WSU’s defense almost got off the field if it weren’t for the efforts of Jordan Napier who somehow hauled in a juggling catch with Adrian Wilson draped all over him to the WSU 31. Yet through all the shenanigans of this game, all the trials and tribulations WSU had put themselves through in this game, one constant remained and shined brightest when needed most. WSU’s defense bent, but not only didn’t break, it snapped back.

On 3rd and 14 from the WSU 22, O’Neil facing a blitz never saw Al-Uqdah waiting right in front of a slant on the left side, intercepting the pass for a monster takeaway.

Mateer has had quite a number of highlight reel plays so far in his first year starting at QB for WSU. But he may not have had one bigger than what he pulled off on 2nd and 12 following the interception. The Aztecs rushed four and got home to Mateer who had two Aztecs grabbing hold of him for what looked to be a brutal 12-yard sack. Mateer, however, muscled his way out of the sack attempts, broke free and dusted past the defense for a first down. He may have only needed 12 yards when he snapped the ball, but he ended up making it a 24-yard and chain moving escape act that likely kept WSU alive. Mateer’s efforts would be rewarded five plays as he took a QB power into the end-zone to retake the lead with 5:03 remaining.

The Cougars got their two-point conversion to go to push the lead out to three, but it wasn’t quite how they drew it up. A double reverse with Mateer leaking out to catch the ball, but on the pitch back to the throwing receiver, Kris Hutson, he fumbled the ball. Luckily, the Aztecs never even saw Mateer standing all alone in the end zone, which gave Hutson plenty of time to recover the ball and fire a pass to his quarterback for the two points.

Looking to answer back, SDSU put together a promising drive getting into WSU territory in just four plays, but an illegal blindside block on the Aztecs made things much tougher. On 3rd and 22, the Aztecs tried a deep shot intended for Michael Harrison but great coverage from Kyle Thornton broke up the pass and forced an Aztec punt.

With the ball and the clock on their side, Mateer worked his magic once again on 3rd and 4, finding a lane and just getting enough for a first down after a replay review with under two minutes to go. The Aztecs still had two timeouts and enough time to force one last stop, preventing WSU from draining the clock all the way down to zero. After the Aztecs got the stop they needed to keep the game alive, it forced Dean Janikowski out to punt the ball back to SDSU, which would give them about 20 seconds to try and get in field goal range. On the punt, the Aztecs crashed hard towards Janikowski, who punted the ball quickly and safely out of harm’s way but also drew a roughing the kicker call as they ran into Janikowski after he got the ball away. Despite another personal foul after the fact on Janikowski for going at the Aztec who ran into him, the roughing the kicker call resulted in an automatic first down which ended the game.

Winning is hard, winning on the road is even harder. In this sport, you take a road win any way you can get it. Never take a road win for granted.

WSU will get another bye before closing out the final four games of the regular season.