Analysis: Why Washington State was no match for North Texas on Saturday
Jaxon Potter has been far from perfect, but Cougars are asking too much of young QB
DENTON, Texas – Whenever he gets home after this mess of a game, Jaxon Potter will turn on the tape and rue the mistakes he made. He’ll regret his first interception, his second, his third, all of which played the biggest role in Washington State’s 59-10 loss to North Texas.
He’ll watch himself lead tight end Ademola Faleye over the middle too much. He’ll see himself fail to recognize a UNT linebacker who roved over to the middle to make an easy interception. He might cringe when he watches the replay of the interception in between, when he sailed one over a tight end and into the hands of another Mean Green defender.
In the first road start of his career, Potter looked a little uncomfortable. Like he was trying to force WSU to make up a giant deficit. He was anything but perfect. But because of his group’s rushing attack, which has now slogged through two nearly nonexistent showings, a bigger problem has emerged: He almost has to be.
For a team coached by Jimmy Rogers, whose identity on offense revolves around the run, the Cougars’ rushing game has looked anemic more than it has looked robust. In their season-opener, they rushed for three yards. On Saturday, they generated only 64, a chunk of those coming in the second half – after they already faced a 42-3 hole.
WSU churned out 139 rushing yards in a runaway win over San Diego State, a promising sign in the eyes of Rogers and coaches. But after that game, Rogers made one thing clear: His team had used the pass to set up the run, an adjustment he showed deft touch in making, but he didn’t view that as a viable long-term fix.
In this bludgeoning of a loss to North Texas, those chickens came home to roost. When it became clear the Cougars’ rushing game wasn’t operating well, WSU went to the air with Potter, who threw the first three interceptions of his career. All three were pretty bad throws and worse decisions.
But a team with a sturdy rushing attack wouldn’t have to ask Potter, a third-year sophomore playing in his first road environment since he was a high schooler, to make such high-level throws just to keep his offense afloat. If North Texas felt more compelled to commit more defenders to the box to stop the run, Potter probably has an easier time making those passes.
Are these problems beginning to sound familiar yet?
Jake Dickert may not be WSU’s coach anymore, but some of the problems his teams faced are hanging over these Cougars like a storm cloud. On Potter’s second interception, North Texas rushed three and dropped eight. On his second, the Mean Green rushed only four. That planted more UNT defenders in coverage, and what do you know? One of them was in the area to make a play.
“We’ll watch the film and make critiques,” Rogers said, “of what he was thinking and where he was throwing the ball. He missed several open throws. He’s a young quarterback that we have to learn and grow and develop, but at the same time, we’ve gotta continuously improve.”
We also need to talk about running back Angel Johnson. When he committed to follow Rogers from South Dakota State to WSU, it was considered a compelling get for the Cougars. He was a speedy back. He was built like one who had strength to get tough yards, break tackles, to bulldoze through others.
On Saturday, he was the one getting bulldozed. On Potter’s first interception, he did well to pick up the blitz from safety Evan Jackson. But Jackson leveled Johnson and hit Potter, who had to rush his throw, resulting in a pick.
In his first three games as a Cougar, Johnson has had even bigger problems. His totals through three games: 23 carries for 32 yards. It isn’t all his fault, though. WSU’s offensive line has struggled to run block, and last week, one of Johnson’s chunk runs was wiped out by a holding penalty – but the sample size isn’t so small anymore. He’s been outplayed by fellow running back Kirby Vorhees, who has 19 carries for 86 yards, slim as those numbers may be.
“We gotta figure out some different runs if they’re not working,” Rogers said. “We gotta get off the typical script that we’re on if it’s not working. We tried to spread them out a little bit. They’re a great defense. They’ve got great team speed. I talked about it all week. We just couldn’t get anything going.”
On some level, this problem also looms large: Coaches might have miscast some players. They’re asking Johnson, who has looked more like a scatback through three games, to be a brick wall in blitz pickups. They’re asking backup QB Julian Dugger, who has yet to complete a pass in three games, to revive his team’s offense with his legs. They’re asking their offensive linemen, who have looked more adept as pass-blockers, to be bulldogs and clear running lanes. And they’re asking Potter, a plenty talented quarterback, to put all those problems on his back and march the Cougars down the field.
This is not letting Potter off the hook, nor the coaches. A key reason why they named him starter, Rogers has said, revolved around his reliable deep ball and ability to avoid turnovers. He did complete two pretty deep passes, but for the most part, he floundered on both fronts on Saturday – a failure both in performance and maybe even in decision-making from coaches.
But earlier this week, Rogers indicated a willingness to give and take playing time depending on players’ production. Maybe that is now in order: Not only for performance, but to put players in better roles, where their skillsets are maximized.
Still, Potter and the Cougars are (probably) not as bad as they played in this loss. Potter may have looked shaky, but he is also a week removed from looking tremendous, tossing a trio of touchdowns and avoiding negative plays. He’s a first-year starter, and no matter the opponent, earning a win in your first road start is no easy task. Those who succeed in situations like that are exceptions to the rule.
The problem for the Cougars is they don’t exactly get any respite soon. Their next game is a home matchup against rival Washington in the Apple Cup. After that, WSU hits the road again for three straight games: At Colorado State, at No. 17 Ole Miss, at Virginia, with a bye week before the game against the Rebels.
Can WSU win a number of those games? Certainly. But coaches should hope their decision to start Potter and throw him in those environments pays off, at the very least in the form of respectable defeats. If not, fans might keep clamoring for Zevi Eckhaus and the Cougars could take more losses that look like this collapse in Texas, where their inexperience reared its ugly head for the first time this fall.