Century man: Max Borghi rushes for more than 100 yards in Washington State’s rout of New Mexico State

PULLMAN – Running back Max Borghi began his sophomore season on Saturday by doing something rather rare in the Air Raid era of the Washington State football program: He ran for more than 100 yards.

Borghi finished the game against New Mexico State with 128 yards on 10 carries, the first time a Cougars player had eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark since Gerard Wicks did so three years ago, in 2016. Against Cal that year, Wicks also ran for 128 yards – but on nine carries, with a long of 59.

That total is the most by a Cougars player since 2007, when Dwight Tardy had 214 rushing yards in a 27-7 victory over UCLA.

In 2018, James Williams set the team’s season-high rushing total with 82 in the opener against Wyoming, but then neither he nor Borghi got more than 65 in a single game the rest of the way. They did, however, have games will more than 100 yards from scrimmage: Williams had four, while Borghi had one (115 against Arizona).

The season before, in 2017, Jamal Morrow set the season-high single-game rushing total with 91 yards on six carries against USC.