Friday, March 29, 2024

CFB Sun Bowl Preview: Washington State Cougars at Central Michigan Chippewas

Sun Bowl Washington State Cougars at Central Michigan Chippewas

Friday December 31, 2021 CBS Network

Washington State Cougars Notes

COUGARS HEAD TO EL PASO FOR TONY THE TIGER SUN BOWL AGAINST CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Washington State is set to make its third appearance in the Sun Bowl and will face Central Michigan in the 2021 Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl. Kickoff is set for December 31 at 9 a.m. (PT) on CBS in El Paso, Texas. WSU was scheduled to face Miami before the Hurricanes cancelled their trip due to health and safety protocols within their program.

COUGAR BOWL HISTORY – TONY THE TIGER SUN BOWL
The Cougars are making their sixth bowl game appearance in the last seven seasons, their 17th overall bowl game appearance and own an 8-8 all-time record in bowl games. WSU is making their third Sun Bowl appearance and owns wins over Purdue (33-27, 2001) and Miami (20-14, 2015). WSU will be facing Central Michigan for the first time in program history and a team from the MAC for the second time in program history, def. Ball State 16-14 in 1984.

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE
Washington State enters the Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl with a 7-5 overall record including a 6-3 mark in Pac-12 Conference play andĀ  closed the regular season with a 40-13 win at Washington in the Apple Cup. The Cougar defense led the Pac-12 and was fourth in the country with 27 takeaways including 13 fumble recoveries, third-most in the country. Pac-12 Offensive Freshman Player of the Year and Polynesian College Player of the Year Finalist quarterback Jayden de Laura leads the Pac-12 with 23 passing touchdowns and 250.1 passing yards/g while receiver Travell Harris is second in the Pac-12 with nine touchdown catches and wideout Calvin Jackson Jr. is second in the league with 955 receiving yards. Linebacker Jahad Woodsā€™ 100 tackles are fourth in the Pac-12 and All-Pac-12 first-team selection EDGE Ron Stone Jr. is fifth in the league with 11.5 tackles-for-loss. All-Pac-12 first-team kicker Dean Janikowski is second in the league with 14 made field goals.

COLLEGE GAMEDAY RECORD
Dating back to the middle of the 2003 season, ESPNā€™s College GameDay has had the WSU flag appear throughout the show. The streak reached 273 after appearing at the Army-Navy game in New Jersey December 11. The first appearance came in Austin, Texas (10/4/03) and the streak began two weeks later in Madison, Wisc. (10/18/03). Two flags ā€“ Olā€™ Crimson and Gray ā€“ have been flown in the background of the GameDay set by dozens of friends and alumni. The Gray flag was added in 2014 after Whitey was retired in honor of Steve Gleasonā€™s ā€œNo White Flags.ā€ Appearance No. 217 was its first in Pullman (10/20/18), a 34-20 win over Oregon.

COUGAR QUICK GAME

TEAM
ā€¢ WSU leads the Pac-12 and is 4th in the country with 27 takeaways, 3rd nationally with 13 fumble recoveries
ā€¢ WSU is making their sixth bowl appearance in the last 7 years (did not go to a bowl in 2020)
ā€¢ WSU recorded its 1st four-game conference winning streak (at Cal, OSU, STAN, at ASU) since winning 7 straight in 2018
ā€¢ WSU recorded its 8th straight win over Oregon State and 5th straight win over Stanford
ā€¢ WSUā€™s 14 All-Pac-12 selections are most since 2003 (17), earned 3 All-Pac-12 First-Team selections for 1st time since 2015
ā€¢ WSU earned a program-record 10 Pac-12 Player of the Week awards in 2021

INDIVIDUAL (Player Notes Pages 10-20)
ā€¢ RB Max Borghi is 8th in WSU history in career rush yards (2,158), tied WSU record with 41 total TD (Steve Broussard)
ā€¢ LB Jahad Woods is 4th in Pac-12 in tackles (100), is Pac-12ā€™s active leading career tackler (419), 4th-most in WSU history
ā€¢ All-Pac-12 First Team EDGE Ron Stone Jr. is 5th in the Pac-12 in TFL (11.5) and tied for 8th in sacks (5), both are team-highs
ā€¢ Pac-12 Offensive Frosh of the Year QB Jayden de Laura leads Pac-12 in pass TD (23), pass yards (2,751) and passing/g (250.1)
ā€¢ All-Pac-12 Second Team WR Calvin Jackson Jr. is 2nd in Pac-12 in rec yards (955), 4th in rec (63), tied for 3rd in rec TD (7)
ā€¢ All-Pac-12 Second Team WR Travell Harris is 3rd in the Pac-12 in rec (73), 2nd in rec TD (9) and 3rd in rec yards/g (66.8)
ā€¢ OL Abraham Lucas was named to 2021 All-Pac-12 First Team, 1st Cougar OL in program history to be 4x all-conference
ā€¢ All-Pac-12 First Team Kicker Dean Janikowski leads the Pac-12 in FG pct. (82.4) and tied for 2nd in FG made (14)

JAKE DICKERT NAMED 34TH HEAD FOOTBALL COACH
Washington State formally introduced Jake Dickert as the Cougarsā€™ 34th head football coach in program history December 2. On November 27, one day after the Apple Cup win, WSU Director of Athletics Pat Chun announced that Dickert had been named the Cougarsā€™ Head Football Coach. Dickert agreed in principle to a five-year contract. ā€œWe are thrilled to have Jake Dickert step into the head coaching role,ā€ said WSU President Kirk Schulz. ā€œCoach Dickert was able to bring together a team that has been through so much in the past two seasons and inspire them to not only keep going, but to fight harder. Coach Dickert loves Pullman, understands what it means to be a Coug, and most importantly, puts his players first. He is an asset to this program, and to WSU.ā€ Dickert spent the final six weeks of the regular season serving as the Cougarā€™s interim coach, leading WSU to a 3-2 record with wins over Arizona State, Arizona and most recently, a dominating 40-13 Apple Cup victory in Seattle. The win snapped a seven-game skid to Washington and ended as WSUā€™s largest margin of victory in series history. ā€œCoach Jake Dickert has proven to be an exceptional person, coach and leader,ā€ said Chun. ā€œHe has the character, vision and plan we need to lead Washington State Football through the next chapter of our storied history. Weā€™ve been able to witness the positive impact he has had on our student-athletes in a very short of period of time. We are thankful the best person to lead our program was already living in Pullman. We appreciate Jake, Candice, Rylee, Jett, and Jace for their commitment to WSU. Under Dickertā€™s leadership, the Cougars saw increases in scoring (+6.5 ppg), rushing yards (+44.7 ypg) and total offense (+36.4 ypg), while allowing fewer points (-3/5 ppg), passing yards (-46.0 ypg) and opponentsā€™ total offense (-30.7 ypg). ā€œI am extremely humbled and honored to be the next head coach at Washington State University,ā€ said Dickert. ā€œI want to thank President Schulz, Pat Chun and Bryan Blair for their leadership and trust in me and my vision for the future of WSU football. Pullman fits our family so well and we are so excited to be a part of this community for a long time to come. Go Cougs.ā€ The Cougar defense was a huge spark this season, leading the Pac-12 with 27 takeaways, which also ranks tied for third nationally, while also being second in the Pac-12 and tied for ninth nationally in turnover margin.

COUGAR WIDEOUTS LEAD THE WAY
Wide receivers Travell Harris and Calvin Jackson head into the Sun Bowl among the Pac-12 leading receivers after both earned All-Pac-12 second-team honors, the first set of Cougar wideouts to earn all-conference first or second team since Michael Bumpus (1st) and Jason Hill (2nd) in 2004 and both are the first WSU wide receivers to earn first or second-team honors since Gabe Marks was a first-team selection in 2015 and 2016. Harris earned his third career All-Pac-12 accolade after earning honorable mention in 2018 and 2020. The Tampa, Fla. native is third in the Pac-12 with 73 receptions, third with 801 receiving yards, second in the league with nine touchdown catches and sixth in the league with 105.4 all-purpose yards-per-game. Harris recorded a pair of 100-yard games (OregonĀ  State, at Oregon) in 2021 and enters the bowl game tenth in WSU history with 176 career catches. Jackson Jr. earned his first career All-Pac-12 accolade after finishing the regular season fourth in the league with 63 receptions, second with 955 receiving yards, first with 79.6 receiving yards-per-game and third with seven touchdown catches. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Native was added the Biletnikoff Award Watch List midway through season, recorded a pair of 100-yard games (at Arizona State, Arizona), was third in the league with 387 yards after the catch and third with 37 catches for a first down.

JAHAD WOODS CAPS RECORD-SETTING COUGAR CAREER
Linebacker Jahad Woods has produced another impressive year in his final season at WSU, earning his fourth-straight All-Pac-12Ā  honorable mention selection after starting all 12 games at WIL linebacker and tallied 100 tackles, good for fourth in the conference. The San Diego native was second on the team with six tackles-for-loss, picked off one pass and forced two fumbles. Woods enters the Sun Bowl fourth in WSU history with 419 career tackles along with a WSU-record 10 career forced fumbles, a WSU-record 50 career starts and sharing the WSU record for career games played (55) with fellow linebacker Justus Rogers.

JAYDEN DE LAURA NAMED PAC-12 OFFENSIVE FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Quarterback Jayden de Laura, playing his first full season, was named the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and All-Pac-12 honorable mention after leading the Pac-12 with 2,751 passing yards, 23 passing touchdowns, 250.1 passing yards-per-game. The Honolulu, Hawaii native threw three-plus touchdowns five times this season and led the Cougars to seven wins, including a 40-13 Apple Cup win where he earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Week accolades after completing 27-of-32 passes for an 84.3 completion percentage, the best completion percentage by a Cougar quarterback in an Apple Cup. De Laura also rushed for three scores and owns five career games with a rushing TD and passing TD.

SUPERBACKS LEAD THE RUN-AND-SHOOT
Cougar running backs served all-purpose roles for the Air Raid and increased their production in the run-n-shoot offense ā€¢ last season, Deon McIntosh rushed for a career-high 147 yards in the win at Oregon State, the most by a Coug since Dwight Tardyā€™s 214 yards against UCLA in 2007 ā€¢ Borghi opened the 2021 season with 86 rushing yards including a 64-yard rushing touchdown against Utah State ā€¢ Borghi, McIntosh and Jayden de Laura each rushed for a touchdown against Portland State ā€¢ in the win at Cal, Borghi and McIntosh combined for 93 rush yards and 6.2 yards-per-carry ā€¢ in the win over Oregon State, the two combined for 98 rush yards and each scored a touchdown, Borghi (2-yard rush) and McIntosh (1-yard rec) ā€¢ in the win over Stanford, Borghi rushed for 89 yards and a pair of 2-yard TD runs ā€¢ against BYU, Borghi rushed for a career-high 3 TD (11,1,1) ā€¢ in the win at Arizona State, WSU carried 42 carries 166 yards and 2 TD, the most carries by a WSU team since 2010 ā€¢ in the win over Arizona, WSU rushed for a season-high 223 yards led by Borghiā€™s career-high 139 and a season-high 73 from McIntosh ā€¢ in the Apple Cup win, WSUā€™s 41 carries were the most in an Apple Cup since 2005 (47) and the 209 rush yards were the most in an Apple Cup since 2005 (224) ā€¢ in the Apple Cup, Borghi rushed a career-high 22 times for 129 yards and 2 TD (32, 1), WSUā€™s 1st 100-yard rusher in an Apple Cup since Chris Ivoryā€™s 114 in 2007 ā€¢ Deon McIntosh matched a season-high with 16 carries, rushed for 49 yards and a TD in the Apple Cup

COUGAR DEFENSE CONTINUES TO IMPROVE
ā€¢ Since 2015, the Cougars are 34-11 when forcing multiple turnovers ā€¢ WSU opened 2021 by forcing a pair of turnovers against UtahĀ  State, recorded two more against Portland State and added 3 more takeaways along with 9 TFL against USC ā€¢ WSU forced 6 fumbles and recovered 3 at Utah ā€¢ in the win at Cal, WSU allowed just 273 yards of total offense, the fewest yards allowed since San Jose State in 2018 (109) ā€¢ in the win over Oregon State, WSU picked off two passes and allowed just 158 pass yards ā€¢ in the win over Stanford, WSU recovered 2 more fumbles, tallied 8 TFL including 4 sacks ā€¢ in the win at Arizona State, WSU recorded 5 takeaways (3 FUM, 2 INT), the most since forcing 7 turnovers at Utah in 2017 ā€¢ WSU held Arizona State to 21 points, the fewest allowed at ASU since allowing 16 in 2001 (last 9 meetings), fewest allowed to ASU overall since allowing 19 in 2003, a 34-19 win in Pullman ā€¢ WSU tallied 2 more takeaways at No. 3 Oregon, recovering 2 fumbles ā€¢ in the Apple Cup win, WSU picked off 4 passes for the 1st time since 2017 at Utah and were the most interceptions in an Apple Cup since 1997 (5) ā€¢ WSU recorded its 1st interception return for a TD in an Apple Cup since Eric Frampton in 2006 ā€¢ Armani Marsh picked off two passes in the Apple Cup, was the 1st Coug with 2 INT in an Apple Cup since Lamont Thompson picked off 3 passes in the 1997 win ā€¢ WSUā€™s leads the Pac-12 in red zone defense (34-46) ā€¢ WSU enters the Sun Bowl third in the country with 13 fumble recoveries ā€¢ WSUā€™s 27 takeaways lead the Pac-12 and are fourth-most in the country

Central Michigan Chippewas Notes

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