In home game against Utah State, WSU’s offense has a chance to break out in a big way

PULLMAN – During the last couple of seasons, Washington State coach Jake Dickert has talked about his club’s rushing attack in terms of desire.

The Cougars need to want to rush the football, Dickert says, indicating it’s more about mentality sometimes.

“We gotta be physical at the line of scrimmage,” Dickert said earlier this week, ahead of WSU’s home matchup with Utah State, a future Pac-12 foe. “We gotta have a want-to to go out and establish it, because when we do that, we’re a pretty dang good offense.”

To knock off the Aggies at 7:30 p.m. Saturday on the CW, the Cougars may not need to worry too much about wanting to run the ball. Against one of the country’s worst run defenses, No. 20 WSU can do it anyway and secure its fourth consecutive win.

Coming off their second and final bye week of the season, the Cougars (7-1) are primed to activate their rushing game, which has been all but invisible in recent weeks. In a 29-26 win over San Diego State, WSU’s running backs totaled 76 rushing yards; against Hawaii, they posted 95. About a month ago, in the Cougars’ 25-17 comeback win over Fresno State, their tailbacks went for just 66 rushing yards.

The issue may not always be that simple. WSU’s offensive line has been in flux most of the season, and Dickert has shared that he wants to run the ball more often.

But the truth is the Cougars’ ground game slowed when the leaves started to turn orange. Utah State, 2-6 on the season, is allowing an average of 244 rushing yards per game. If there were ever a chance for WSU running backs to get back on track, this would seem to be it.

For the Cougars, who are headed into their final four games of the regular season, they might benefit from a little more stability on their offensive line. The left guard spot is up for grabs between incumbent starter Christian Hilborn and backup Rod Tialavea, who subbed in for Hilborn for the second half of WSU’s win over SDSU. Hilborn is best at pass-blocking and Tialavea fares better in run-blocking, Dickert said this week, which makes deciding between the two a tricky task.

“I think both will play at some point,” Dickert said. “We just gotta keep proving it on Saturday. So those guys have been doing a good job. I like the way they’ve competed, supported each other, and we gotta have a dominant day at offensive line. I think those guys need to take the next step as a group.

“Just aggressively finishing. Sometimes we’re in position, we don’t drive and finish, or we’re looking around. … We’ve got a couple live wires back there. John (Mateer) can extend some 10-second plays. The whistle will release you from your block. So just going out there and just doing the little things, Coach (Jared) Kaster got here in the spring. We’re still working through some technique perfections and just taking the next step in mentality.”

The Cougars will also benefit from power back Djouvensky Schlenbaker getting a little more healthy. True freshman Wayshawn Parker may be WSU’s featured back, but in short-yardage situations, coaches like to go to Schlenbaker, who has been under the weather in recent games. He totaled just 15 yards on four carries in WSU’s win over San Diego State.

Mateer and WSU’s offense will also be in position to have their way. Utah State doesn’t just permit an average of 42 points per game, second to last in the nation. The Aggies are allowing 254 passing yards per game, No. 108 nationally. Their top three defensive backs – safeties Ike Larsen and Jordan Vincent and cornerback D.J. Graham III – have yielded a combined 11 touchdown receptions, giving opposing quarterbacks like Mateer chances to score nearly at will.

Whether WSU can capitalize may depend on how offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and Mateer approach this one. In WSU’s win over Hawaii last month, coaches simplified things for Mateer, who had struggled with longer routes the week prior.

The results spoke for themselves: Mateer finished with five touchdowns, three passing and two rushing, using shorter routes to let the Cougars’ receivers make plays in space.

A week later, against San Diego State, Arbuckle seemed to go away from those kinds of plays. Mateer was looking for longer routes on plays that took longer to develop.

While he did total four touchdowns in a comeback victory, the Cougars’ offense hit another long lull in the third quarter – largely because WSU’s offense didn’t seem to be working with the same menu of plays.

Mateer and WSU’s rushing game may not need to think too hard about things, based on Utah State’s season. Sometimes it’s less about want-to and more about just do.

“John’s a special, unique talent, and we’re gonna need him to play extremely well down the stretch to have success,” Dickert said.

“We’re a quarterback-driven offense, and he does everything that we need him to do to have success. So he just needs to be himself, keep getting better and keep growing and keep demanding excellence around him, because he can’t do it himself.”