PULLMAN – By now, you have probably read the statistic that might color Washington State’s Pac-12 opener, a home matchup with Fresno State set for Saturday evening.
Fresno State ranks No. 6 nationally with a turnover margin of plus-seven, while WSU ranks No. 119 with a minus-four.
That paints a fairly accurate picture of the struggles of the Cougars’ offense, which has committed seven turnovers on the season, including five from quarterback Caden Pinnick. They’ve had trouble holding onto the ball, which figures to become even harder to do against a defense that has shown to be one of the country’s finest at jarring it loose.
So while WSU will get what figures to be a more even matchup against Fresno State, making a Cougar win possible, Pinnick has shown that the opponent is not what has prompted some of the bad decisions that have led to his turnovers. He’s made regrettable decisions against the likes of Washington and FCS Duquesne, which is why we’re picking the Bulldogs to walk out of Pullman with a win.
In his first four games at the FBS level, Pinnick has shown to be sharp up to 19 yards out, hitting 49 of 69 of passes (71%) at that depth. And not only has he been less effective at distance, hitting on just 2 of 13 passes on throws of 20-plus yards with two interceptions . It’s becoming clear that when he tries to stretch the field, he’s vulnerable to making mistakes.
For WSU, there’s a way to counter that, which is to generate a credible ground attack. The Cougars are more than capable of doing that, but running back Kirby Vorhees is questionable to play due to an upper-body injury, which would remove one of offensive coordinator Matt Miller’s unit’s best weapons.
Final score: Fresno State 24, WSU 20