WSU Cougars football gets in the win column against Portland State

Who was your player of the game for the Cougars? What were the key stats and plays that defined the game?

Patrick Flower (follow on Twitter): Halliday - despite the 2 INTs he played well (544 pass yards, 6 TDs, 66% comp rate). No shock but he's leading CFB in passing yards.

Josh Estes (follow on Twitter): Halliday - Nothing out of the ordinary here. Did what he was supposed to do. Someone could argue that he threw two INTs, but he also put the ball in the air 62 times....pretty standard Halliday performance.

Trace Travers (follow on Twitter): Connor Halliday. He makes the offense go for Mike Leach and having 544 passing yards definitely means something, even against Portland State.

Zach Pugh (follow on Twitter): Knowing Connor Halliday is going to throw the ball over 50 times (which he does well), it make sense to credit one of the guys catching his plethora of passes. Isiah Myers had 11 catches for 227 yards and three TDs against Portland State. Big deal, right? Well, he took care of business as expected, and he flourished doing it. That warrants credit.

Chris Turner (follow on Twitter): Well, let's see here.

[looks at Box Score]

Yeah, I think I'll go with Connor Halliday here. It was a typical chuck it deep and repeat day for Wazzu, with over 600 yards through air, Halliday accumulated 544 of those on his own. He's already racked up ~1500 yards this year, and I'm sure there will be a lot of more this year.

What was the most impressive part of today's performance for WSU and why?

Patrick Flower: Nothing overly impressive, just that the Cougs finally won a game they were supposed to win.

Josh Estes: 50 YARDS OF RUSHING! Every week the Cougs rush a little bit more. Maybe by the end of the year they'll rush for 100 yards as a team in one game....OH! also, they won a game.

Trace Travers: They got their first rushing touchdown today. That's worth something.

Zach Pugh: The Cougars' defense kept the Vikings out of the end zone until late in the third quarter and looked dominant doing it. Portland state only managed a couple yards a carry on 33 attempts. While we won't mistake the victory over Portland State as a defining win in the Mike Leach era, it could help get the WSU on track.

Chris Turner: It was we expected the Cougs to do. Let Halliday throw it whenever he pleases and see how the offense looked, and it was adequate.

What was the most concerning part of today's performance for WSU and why?

Patrick Flower: We still don't know how good or bad the Cougs are due to the level of competition.

Josh Estes: None that really stood out.

Trace Travers: Washington State did what they were supposed to against an FCS team, but everyone remaining on the schedule is a lot more threatening than Portland State. They need to improve fast.

Zach Pugh: The WSU secondary hasn't given a whole lot of reason for optimism moving forward into conference play. Don't mistake me, they haven't been horrible, nor were they against the Vikings, however, there were times were the Cougars gave up too many yards in the air. That's not a big deal when playing Portland State, but a very big deal in the quarterback haven Pac-12.

Chris Turner: It was a step down in competition, so after two close loses to Rutgers and Nevada, we don't really know how good or bad Wazzu may be this year. We'll have more of an idea next week when they play Oregon.

Or, you know, when they go to Utah after that.

The song that best describes WSU's performance is _____________ because ____________.

Trace Travers: Run Around by Blues Traveler. Because like the lyrics say, beating up an FCS team is a cliche, and is expected.

Zach Pugh: Taking Care of Business--Bachman Turner Overdrive....Any questions?

Chris Turner:​ Sail by Awolnation because AIR RAID.