Theo Lawson

The town’s most coveted job was the one that eluded him – something Leach still laments this day even as the seventh-year coach of the Pac-12 Cougars is set to receive $3.5 million in 2018 after signing a five-year, $20 million contract extension in December.

Time consuming as this week might be for the Cougars and their defensive coaches, Mike Leach suggests a three-QB system could be equally challenging for the Spartans, who may not be able to establish a rhythm with one QB if they’re receiving passes from all three.

The concept that produced the 9 most interesting yards of Saturday’s game was not devised during one of Mike Leach’s long strolls to work – often used as brainstorm sessions – or conceived while the coach was scribbling out his thoughts late at night in the Cougar Football Complex.

Washington State (1-0) will face its second Mountain West team in as many weeks when the Cougars play host to San Jose State (0-1).

Due to graduation and one early defection to the NFL, the Cougars are forfeiting plenty of experience at a number of spots on defense this season – and some considerable talent, too – but Saturday’s game indicated they may not feel the effects of those losses quite as much as most anticipated.

One year after bursting for 211 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns in a 28-0 win over Montana State, the junior tailback once again found his groove in the first game of the season.

Nnamdi Oguayo’s mere presence seemed to uplift the Cougars, who’ve been confronted with adversity on the defensive line all preseason – first when highly-touted nose tackle Pono Lolohea left the program midway through camp, then when WSU learned junior college transfer Misiona Aiolupotea-Pei, who’d assumed Lolohea’s backup NT role, wouldn’t be eligible for the opener because of NCAA paperwork problems.

Max Borghi will make fewer of those “freshman mistakes” than the majority of his peers this season, and if the running back’s college debut was any indication, he doesn’t let them linger when they do happen.

The amount of confidence pollsters and prognosticators have in the 2018 Washington State Cougars was perhaps best illustrated in an early-August preseason ranking of all 129 FBS teams, courtesy of CBS Sports.

The junior running back finished with 135 total yards and two scores for the Cougars

Former cornerstones of Washington State’s Air Raid offense, quarterback Luke Falk and wide receiver River Cracraft weren’t able to hold onto jobs Saturday as NFL teams trimmed their rosters down to 53 players.

Wyoming could be better on the offensive line, but the Cougars have the more experienced at quarterback, are vastly more talented at wide receiver and probably have the slight edge at running back, too. The offense should be enough to pull the Cougars through a closely-contested opener.

In all likelihood, a football game played between Wyoming and Washington State in 2017 would’ve been more appealing from a promotional standpoint, would’ve come with a different level of fanfare and, no doubt, would’ve brought a larger crowd of NFL scouts to the press box at War Memorial Stadium.

Keys to a potential Washington State victory Saturday against Wyoming at War Memorial Stadium.

The 1976 Wyoming AA State high school football championship was played on a frosty Saturday in Cody, on Nov. 13, between Leach’s Cody Broncs and the Laramie Plainsmen.

Jim Walden, who plans to attend Saturday’s game with family members and former teammates, reflects on his time in Laramie and provides an early glimpse of Cougars vs. Cowboys.

As offseasons go, there isn’t a college football team that experienced a more turbulent one than Washington State – and thus you won’t find a group more eager to get into a real game setting than the Cougars.

A debilitating foot injury could’ve spelled the end of Peyton Pelluer’s career with the Cougars had it come exactly one week later. Instead, the hearbeat of Washington State’s defense is back for year No. 6 in Pullman, and he hopes to go out with a bang.

The Cougars are calling some dietary audibles, and drinking gallons of beet juice, ahead of Saturday’s season opener at War Memorial Stadium in Wyoming, which sits at an FBS-record elevation of 7,220 feet.

The Pac-12 Conference has College Football Playoff aspirations this year, and legitimate ones at that. But if No. 6 Washington can’t beat No. 9 Auburn at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta Saturday, who knows if they’ll be legitimate for long? That’s the marquee game in college football this weekend, and easily the most interesting one on the Pac-12 slate. We predict Huskies-Tigers and the 11 other Pac-12 games transpiring this first week of the 2018 college football season.

The Spokesman-Review's Washington State beat writer Theo Lawson chats about Washington State Cougars football.

Steve Spurrier Jr. spent an entire year at Duke in the mid-1990s trying to crack Craig Bohl’s defense, so if anyone knows what Washington State’s offense is up against this Saturday in the season opener at Wyoming, the Cougars’ outside receivers coach might be able lend a hint.

The weekly Pac-12 power rankings from Spokesman-Review Washington State beat writer Theo Lawson.

The Cougars will play eight true home games at Beasley Coliseum – including an exhibition –but 11 total in the state of Washington, with a road game against Seattle U at Key Arena on Nov. 14 and neutral-site games against Montana State at the Toyota Center in Kennewick on Dec. 9 and against Santa Clara at Spokane Arena on Dec. 29.