WSU to try and spring upset of historic proportions on road against No. 4 Ole Miss

In the days that Washington State has spent preparing for a herculean task, the daunting challenge of taking down No. 4 Ole Miss on the road in what figures to be a boisterous and rowdy environment, Jimmy Rogers has seen all the noise around the game.

He has seen that WSU is a 321/2-point underdog, that nobody with a pulse is picking the Cougars to upset the Rebels, who have already made mincemeat of three SEC foes. He has seen how overmatched his group is being made out to be.

“I think the world talks about it,” Rogers said. “I think we talk about the things that truly matter.”

Whatever Rogers and the Cougs have been talking about, they will hope it is enough to help them spring what would be college football’s biggest upset in nearly two decades, at least by point spread. That is the kind of challenge WSU gets in squaring off with Ole Miss, set for 11:45 a.m. on the SEC Network.

This game, scheduled last fall in an effort to help WSU line up opponents in its second and final year adrift from a traditional conference, will be unlike any the Cougs have played recently. Washington State has not visited an SEC team in more than a decade, has not played Ole Miss ever. Toss in the circumstances – one of the last two Pac-12 holdovers taking on a traditional SEC power – and things get even weirder.

WSU may have to play a truly weird game to make it interesting on Saturday at Vaught Hemingway Stadium, capacity 64,038. The Cougars (3-2) are coming off a bye, which helped them recover from a 20-3 win over Colorado State the week prior. Same goes for the Rebels (5-0), who spent last week resting their legs after a narrow win over LSU, which was then No. 4.

The Cougs will have to tangle with the Rebels’ imposing weapons. The tip of the spear is quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, a Division II transfer who may be the surprise of the college football season. He didn’t transfer from Ferris State to Ole Miss with any playing time lined up – the starting duties belonged to quarterback Austin Simmons – but because of an injury to Simmons early in the season, Chambliss accepted the starting QB job, to fantastic results.

In five games, the last three as the Rebels’ starter, Chambliss has completed 65 of 101 passes (64%) for 1,033 yards, five touchdowns and one interception, plus 266 yards and two scores on the ground. He is a true dual-threat quarterback, exactly the type that the Cougs have struggled to slow down this season, which is what makes WSU’s ability to contain him – or lack thereof – a turning point in Saturday’s game.

But if the Cougars want to give themselves anything resembling a fighting chance, they will have to create a turnover or two against the Rebels’ offense, which also features running back Kewan Lacy, who has 445 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. Is it feasible? Ole Miss has lost two fumbles, and Chambliss has thrown one interception, but that came against an LSU defense that also profiles as one of the nation’s best.

The Cougs have yet to record an interception on defense – they are one of only a handful of teams across the country who have not done so – so their best chance might be forcing fumbles. Could they do so against Chambliss? WSU’s pass rush sizzled against Colorado State, generating five sacks on 33 pressures, and the unit has forced four fumbles total on the season.

But outside of the Cougars’ loss to Washington in last month’s Apple Cup, they have not squared off with an opponent like Ole Miss. With some of the strongest resources in the country, Ole Miss has signed a top-five transfer portal class in each of the past four cycles, which has been made possible by Ole Miss’ NIL collective, the Grove Collective, estimated to have shared $8.8 million with players – and that is on top of the roughly $15 million of institutional NIL shared by the athletic department.

As has been well-documented, WSU is operating in a much different orbit. The Cougars’ NIL budget for football is around $4.5 million, according to athletic director Anne McCoy, but that number does not account for factors like scholarships and stipends. That likely makes the true NIL number far lower, but the exact figure is unclear.

Whatever it is, it demonstrates the vast gulf separating WSU and Ole Miss, a key reason why the Rebels are such massive favorites. Perhaps another reason: The Cougs will be down two defensive linemen, including starter Max Baloun (out for the year) and backup Kaden Beatty, who is expected to miss “a couple weeks” with an injury he suffered against Colorado State, Rogers said.

Injuries are starting to catch up to WSU, which will also be without reserve tight end Hudson Cedarland, out with his own injury. The Cougars’ rushing offense has also left lots to be desired – their 77.8 yards per game is only four spots up from last nationwide, same as their 389 total yards – and it may be difficult for them to turn that around against Ole Miss’ defense, which held LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier to his season-low in passing totals two weeks ago.

Whatever happens, this much is clear: The Cougs want to win, but they also want to gain valuable experience. If they can do the latter while avoiding injuries, that might add up to its own kind of win.

“I think there’s always a buzz anytime you get an opportunity to just play great schools and to have the opportunity to play the No. 4 team in the country,” Rogers said. “I think everybody should be excited about that. I’m excited about it. You don’t get these opportunities often where you get to go into a full house, 66,000 and be cheered against. Those environments are fun, and the players should look forward to it.”