WSU has relied on a ‘bend but don’t break’ defense this season. Is it sustainable?

Sep. 18—PULLMAN — Early last year, when Washington State head coach Jake Dickert made Jeff Schmedding the Cougars’ new defensive coordinator, he did so understanding the two men shared a strategy on playing defense.

Bend but don’t break.

The Cougars broke plenty last season, Schmedding’s first at WSU. They allowed 28 points per game. In one stretch, in the middle of a six-game losing streak, WSU allowed 38-plus points in four of five games. They had plenty of talent, from edges RJ Stone and Brennan Jackson to safety Jaden Hicks to cornerback Chau Smith-Wade, but they could only turn it into five wins.

That much is changing this season, at least so far, as Washington State has raced to a 3-0 start.

The Cougars have still given up plenty of yardage. In their past two games, wins over Texas Tech and rival Washington, they have given up a combined 35 points. They have been far from perfect, but when it has mattered most, they’ve created turnovers and generated stops.

The story is in the numbers. In WSU’s win over Texas Tech earlier this month, it permitted 323 passing yards and 148 rushing yards. WSU yielded six plays of 20-plus yards, including passing plays of 42 yards and 37, plus rushing plays of 22 and 20 yards.

But the Cougars held the Red Raiders to 16 points — a week after they scored 52 and a week before they put up 66.

Last weekend, in WSU’s first Apple Cup win over Washington in three years, something similar unfolded. The Cougars let the Huskies register another six plays of 20-plus yards. Running back Jonah Coleman had a 29-yard rush. Quarterback Will Rogers completed passes of 20, 31, 39, 21 and 45 yards, the last of which moved UW deep into WSU territory in the final minutes of the game.

The Huskies, however, didn’t score. Cougars linebacker Kyle Thornton brought down Coleman short of the goal line on…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/wsu-relied-bend-dont-break-020200283.html

Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Publish date : 2024-09-19 02:02:00

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