WSU has produced some of the fewest rushing yards nationwide. What’s holding the Cougars back?

PULLMAN – As Washington State’s season grew closer, coaches made a few things clear about their offense and what they hoped it would become: They wanted to involve their tight ends. They wanted to be balanced. They wanted a reliable deep passing game.

But what the Cougars desired most, and what they figured would anchor their offense best, was an effective running game.

Instead, what WSU has produced in its first three games of the year is one of the worst rushing attacks in all of college football. The Cougars have totaled 206 rushing yards, the sixth fewest in the country. Their rushing grade on Pro Football Focus is 56.2, third-worst nationwide. They’re averaging 2.4 yards per rush, good for fourth-worst in the nation – and their company includes teams from Conference USA and the MAC.

It’s something of an unexpected development from the Cougars, whose coaches, including head coach Jimmy Rogers, offensive coordinator Danny Freund, and offensive line coach Taylor Lucas, share a run-first mentality. They hoped to bring their physical style with them from South Dakota to WSU.

But as the Cougars make changes ahead of this weekend’s Apple Cup – namely at the QB spot, where Jaxon Potter, Zevi Eckhaus and Julian Dugger will compete for the starting role – they might try to find a fix to their rushing attack, which has largely been absent so far .

In a season-opening win over Idaho, WSU generated just 3 rushing yards. The Cougars boosted that number to 139 one week later to beat San Diego State. But a week after that, they produced only 64 rushing yards in a blowout loss to North Texas. Their starting running back, Angel Johnson, has posted just 32 yards on 23 carries. Their No. 2 back, Kirby Vorhees, has been a little better with 119 yards on 25 carries.

Not all the struggles facing WSU running backs have been their fault – the Cougs’ offensive line has languished in the run-blocking department, underscoring the reality that many of those players were recruited to play in the Air Raid system – but they haven’t been perfect either. They’ve missed holes, dropped passes and, perhaps costliest of all, lost fumbles.

Against Idaho, Johnson coughed up a fourth-quarter fumble that nearly cost the Cougs the game. Against North Texas, Vorhees also fumbled, one of WSU’s five turnovers . Maybe coaches could live with those if their running backs were producing larger chunks of yardage. But that hasn’t come to fruition either.

“At times, when you don’t have that success, the running backs don’t trust their track because it didn’t work one play or two plays,” Rogers said, “and then when it is there, they don’t hit it because they’re expecting it not to be there. And I wouldn’t just say that from the offensive line standpoint and the running backs. I would say that collectively throughout the second half there. That’s what happens when you start to play from behind – you feel like you gotta make every play.”

In Saturday’s game, Cougar running backs churned out some solid gains. Vorhees, who totaled six carries for 33 yards, logged one rush of 12 yards and one of 7. Leo Pulalasi carded a trio of 4-yard rushes. For WSU, there were some positives and encouraging runs that the team can build on.

But that was about it for the Cougs, who received 8 rushing yards on five attempts from Johnson, whose longest run went for 4. He posted four carries of 2 or fewer yards. It begs what feels like a prevalent question: What isn’t working for him on the ground?

Two clips from WSU’s loss to North Texas stand out. In one, left guard Johnny Lester is beaten at the line of scrimmage, allowing his man to burst through and drag down Johnson for a minimal gain. In another, backup tight end Luke Leighton misses a key block. That’s another issue facing these Cougars: Their PFF run-blocking grade is just 56.2, highlighting the struggles they’ve faced moving men up front.

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But other WSU running backs have had a little more luck. The Cougs’ top back through three games has been Vorhees, who has logged 81 offensive snaps, edging out Johnson, who has 74. Vorhees, another transfer from SDSU, has shown a tad more burst at the line of scrimmage, which he’s used to find creases down the field.

What stands out about Vorhees, at least in the following two runs: He’s displayed his vision and smart decision-making – when to change directions and using a jump cut at the line of scrimmage to surge into openings.

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“I would say Leo and Kirby have played probably more decisive,” Rogers said. “They’ve made a decision, and they’ve lived with it, and they hit it downhill, and what they get is what they get.”

Vorhees may have recorded the most promising outing of WSU’s running backs in this setback, but his totals reached only 33 yards.

Maybe WSU wouldn’t be facing such issues on offense if coaches didn’t expect to use the run so much. Perhaps the Cougars would be in a better spot if their issues on the ground were just that: issues on the ground. The problem for WSU is that these problems compound: Because the Mean Green didn’t feel compelled to defend the run, they felt more comfortable dropping more defenders in coverage, which is how linebacker Shane Whitter picked off QB Jaxon Potter – who tossed a trio of interceptions.

On Saturday, that forced Potter to make some higher-level reads, the kind he might not have to make if his team enjoyed a more credible rushing attack. Instead, he was benched for the second half, and now Rogers is holding a QB competition, three weeks into the season, and ahead of Pullman’s first Apple Cup in three years.

For Washington State, the other dimension of this issue revolves around Potter’s ability to run, or lack thereof. Because he isn’t much of a threat to use his legs.

“Potter doesn’t have active legs,” Rogers acknowledged.

The Cougs’ RPO loses a threat. Defenses don’t have to worry about Potter pulling the ball and running with it.

It’s forced WSU to rethink things on offense, at least at the quarterback position. Will that help the Cougars upset the Huskies, who are about 20.5-point favorites?

Maybe .

But what would help Washington State most is a running game that forces defenses to respect it.