QB Zevi Eckhaus, WSU offense snap out of early malaise in 28-7 win over Toledo

PULLMAN – From the very beginning, from the moment Jimmy Rogers posed for pictures with the No. 35 Washington State jersey a few days after he became the Cougars’ next head coach last winter, he established a vision for the type of football descending on the Palouse.

Gone were the days of the Air Raid. In their place wasn’t smash-mouth football, but something definitively closer to that: power football, a run-first approach, a we-will-run-the-ball-when-everyone-in-the-stadium-knows-we-are type of offense. It took some Cougar fans by surprise. Some of their best teams were synonymous with the pass. Could they succeed without it?

Rogers was likely grinning at the way his WSU team polished off a 28-7 win over Toledo on Saturday afternoon. In a fourth-quarter drive that ate up more than 6½ minutes of game time, the Cougars covered 65 yards in 12 plays, the last of which featured running back Kirby Vorhees plunging into the end zone from six yards out.

In Rogers’ first season, if the Cougars have run any drive that represented his vision for the type of offense he wants to operate, that one did as good a job as any. Of those 12 plays, 11 were rushes. Eight went to Vorhees, who made his second straight start, two were designed for quarterback Zevi Eckhaus and one was drawn up for scatback Maxwell Woods. The Rockets knew the Cougs were running. They just couldn’t stop it.

“That was a huge drive to kinda seal it and put it away,” Rogers said. “This team has been through a lot in the last couple of weeks, and I’m just proud of their effort and their commitment to continue to go out and play as hard as they play, because that just doesn’t happen. That’s a commitment to people. And our guys were locked in. Good week of prep.”

A sign that Rogers’ offensive scheme is beginning to arrive in earnest at WSU: The Cougars have now eclipsed 100 yards rushing in four straight games. That hardly seemed possible in their first few , when they looked stuck in mud on the ground, unable to move bodies up front, even more powerless to make defenders miss in space. Washington State registered a grand total of three rushing yards in a narrow season-opening win over Idaho.

The Cougs’ rushing attack is anything but a finished product – they still need to show they can impose their will for a full game, as opposed to just catching opponents with their guards down in the first half – but it’s coming together. Coaches may have been slow to do so, but they have identified Vorhees as the team’s best tailback. They’ve also recognized that Eckhaus is mobile enough to zip downfield, and offensive coordinator Danny Freund has called plays accordingly.

In fact, Eckhaus was the team’s leading rusher on Saturday. He picked up 74 yards on 15 carries. Vorhees tallied 62 yards on 15 of his own carries. Third-year sophomore Leo Pulalasi chimed in with 23 yards on five attempts. The only real exception was senior Angel Johnson, who started each of the team’s first six games. In Saturday’s, he rushed for negative-1 yards on four tries, taking a season-low nine snaps.

That trend aside, that type of rushing production helped WSU open up three scoring drives in the second quarter. Eckhaus ended one with a 5-yard scamper into the end zone. On the second, he lasered a pass into the end zone, where 5-foot-8 receiver Tony Freeman leapt high enough to make himself look 7-feet tall and haul it in. On the last, Eckhaus lobbed one up for true freshman Carter Pabst, who bobbled the ball, then secured it as he fell into the end zone, his first collegiate touchdown.

“He made an incredible play down there at the end of the half,” Eckhaus said.

Eckhaus was right about that. He was also right when he said “there are a lot of things that we can clean up.” He has now thrown four interceptions in two games. If not for his defense’s stellar showing, the type it can likely keep up the rest of this regular season, the Cougs might have been in trouble against the Rockets.

But remember this about the Cougs’ offense: That group is playing without starting right tackle Christian Hilborn, who missed his third straight game with a knee injury. It’s also playing without Hilborn’s backup, Division II transfer Jaylin Caldwell, who was on crutches after sustaining his own injury last week against Virginia. As a result, left guard Johnny Lester is playing right tackle and sophomore Noah Dunham is playing left guard.

That can soften the blow of Eckhaus’ turnovers – or at least make them look a little more understandable.

“He’s got the savviness, and he’s got the maturity to lead when he doesn’t always do the right thing,” Rogers said. “From a series to the next series, he kinda can reset himself, refocus and live in the moment. His legs are a big part of allowing us to have success, not just in the pass game, when things break down, but in the run game, and utilizing him as such.”