Frankly, I'm not sure what to think. For about six minutes of game time there I thought the Cougars were going to lose badly, if not worse.  Utah staked an early 21-0 lead and with the way the rain was pouring down, the wind was swirling and the obvious affects the weather was having on the passing game, it seemed difficult to imagine Washington State coming back against a team that was having success in all three phases.

But come back they did. The Cougars pulled out a 28-27 win on the road, despite the weather, against a physical and talented team. We have lots of coverage from the game, and we'll have a lot more in the days ahead, but for now here are some final thoughts bouncing around my head after that thrilling comeback.

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-- Washington State's young secondary, which I wrote about on Thursday, looks really good. Charleston White stopped the Utes on a couple key fourth down plays by himself by breaking up passes downfield. The WSU coaches think he will get much quicker in the coming years, so imagine for a moment what that looks like. Imagine an upperclassman Sulaiman Hameed, or Darius Lemora. Let's not forget that Daquawn Brown – the team's best tackler, in my opinion – is from the same recruiting class as Lemora and White. We knew this young crop of players was more athletic, but they also aren't making very many mistakes, and what was originally thought to be the weakness of this defense is arguably its strength.

-- Isn't football a funny sport? Last year the Cougars won thanks to a pair of early pick-sixes – Utah outscored WSU the rest of the way. This year's game seemed like it might play out the same way, with WSU being the better team but unable to catch up to some earlier mistakes. But the Cougars dug themselves out of the hole and picked up a very nice road win.

-- The fact that Connor Halliday finished with the stats he did is pretty remarkable. I know how bad the weather looked on TV – it was worse.  Walking down to the field for postgame interviews it seemed like the wind was going to knock me over and the field was practically a pond. Halliday obviously struggled with the weather early, as did Utes QB Travis Wilson, but one quarterback was able to adjust and that was arguably the difference in this game.

-- Dom Williams sure has a flare for the dramatic play, doesn't he?

-- It's already Sunday again? That means tomorrow is another Monday press conference …. This season sure is flying by.

-- The Cougars have played well enough in seven of the last eight quarters to  give themselves a shot against any remaining team on their schedule. A win against California next weekend would go a long way toward making sure the crowd is as good against Arizona and USC as it was against Oregon.

-- The WSU offensive line doesn’t really feel like a weakness anymore this year, does it? The guys up front followed up their sterling performance against Oregon with another solid once against Utah, which has one of the country's best pass rushes. There's still work to be done in the run game, but it seems like this unit has the size and athleticism to excel in that area.

-- Speaking of the run game, Jamal Morrow and Gerard Wicks are playing really, really well.

-- It sure didn't feel like field goals were ever an option, did it? A combination of the weather, the deficit and the fact that WSU's kickers haven't been very good made it seem like four-down territory stretched right up to the Utah goal line.

 

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