Highs and lows

High point

It’s tough to be better off than the Cougars were just 69 seconds into Thursday night’s game. That’s when WSU scored its second touchdown of the night – also just before Idaho took its first offensive snap of the contest.

Low point

While the Cougars struggled for the entire second quarter, things looked even shakier in the third, when Idaho answered WSU’s first score after halftime with a touchdown of its own. Vandals quarterback coach Jonathan Smith made it to the 15-yard line trying to call for a timeout, but didn’t get it. Instead, Idaho ended up throwing a touchdown pass to make the score 24-19 in favor of the Cougars. It also meant WSU wouldn’t put the game away until well into the fourth quarter.

Key play

With the Cougars still up just 24-19 in the third quarter, sophomore quarterback Alex Brink made the perfect check and found Jason Hill in single coverage for a 72-yard touchdown pass down the right side. Brink properly read the safety going in the opposite direction, leaving his best deep threat one-on-one and providing easy points for WSU. The Vandals, right in the thick of things up to that point, never had much of a chance thereafter and that score ended up being the game-winner.

Key player

Hill made the game’s big play, but fellow wide receiver Michael Bumpus was solid throughout, offering a dependable option for Brink much of the night. The sophomore caught a team-high eight passes for 88 yards and a touchdown. Bumpus took bubble screens and turned them into decent gains, and also made a nifty catch on his touchdown grab in the third quarter, set up by his own punt return deep into Vandals territory.

Stat of the game

Three of the Cougars’ six scoring drives took 50 seconds or less and a fourth gobbled up just a minute and 33 seconds.

Glenn Kasses