NCAA football

PULLMAN – An Outlook email notification saved Jonny Lester’s football life. It was last winter, and a few weeks after Washington State wrapped up the regular season, Lester felt a bit confused. He had been promised a scholarship by coach Jake Dickert, who said he would deliver it the following spring, when spots opened up.

MOSCOW, Idaho – When they meet Friday in Flagstaff in a nationally televised ESPN2 game, Idaho is a hurdle to clear for Northern Arizona in what has been a largely successful season marred only by a pair of recent losses. For the Vandals, the Lumberjacks are a rung to climb on a ladder leading out of a stretch of games that flirted perilously close to disaster.

When asked, Aaron Best had a lot to say about Sacramento State, a team that on Tuesday the Eastern Washington head football coach called “a juggernaut.”

PULLMAN – When he talks, Jack Janikowski comes across as thoughtful. He chooses his words carefully, like he is speaking in front of the United Nations, not like he is discussing his role on Washington State’s defensive line. He is articulate and intentional, eager to talk about the things that matter to him.

It is entirely accurate to say that at the core of Eastern Washington’s defensive resurgence is a nucleus of freshmen and sophomores who, transfer portal pending, could remain at their spots for a couple more seasons.

PULLMAN – Washington State isn’t slowing down on the recruiting trail.

PULLMAN – Exactly two weeks ago, Jimmy Rogers sat inside the Cougar Football Complex, offered a wry smile and acknowledged one of his Washington State team’s biggest weaknesses.

After shuffling out one program and replacing it with not one but two new members, the Big Sky Conference’s schedules for the 2026-27 season required significant overhauls.

Utah to Las Vegas as wobbly Arizona approaches the tipping point.

Luke Falk has always been the kind of athlete who prioritized having a mental edge.

PULLMAN – Washington State may be battling a bevy of injuries on defense, but the team is set to get one key player back this weekend.

PULLMAN – Here is a first look at Washington State’s road game against Oregon State on Saturday.

MOSCOW, Idaho – If resurrection is too strong a word, it doesn’t miss by much.

PULLMAN – As far as jobs on a football field go, offensive line ranks among the most thankless. When a quarterback has time to throw, he’s praised for making the right reads. When he doesn’t, the blame immediately goes to the offensive line, the mistakes the group is making, the ways it could be overmatched.

PULLMAN – From the very beginning, from the moment Jimmy Rogers posed for pictures with the No. 35 Washington State jersey a few days after he became the Cougars’ next head coach last winter, he established a vision for the type of football descending on the Palouse.

PULLMAN – Parker McKenna doesn’t say much. Not after practices, not in radio shows, especially not after Washington State games, not even when he makes plays that almost singularly turn the tide in favor of the Cougars.

PULLMAN — In his second and final season at Washington State, Parker McKenna has blossomed into one of the team’s hardest hitters. At the linebacker spot, he’s delivered a slew of vicious tackles, punishing opponents with crunches over the middle.

Parker McKenna

Washington State built a comfortable lead with a second-quarter onslaught, then its offense went quiet for most of the second half. But the Cougars’ defense kept Toledo at bay and WSU snapped a two-game losing streak, cruising to a 28-7 victory over the Rockets on Saturday at Gesa Field in Pullman. Now back at .500, the Cougs (4-4) have a couple of winnable games ahead of them – they face one-win Oregon State next weekend at Beaverton, Oregon, then host a middling Louisiana Tech team on Nov. 15.