PULLMAN – With its offense sputtering and in danger of losing an 11th consecutive game — to a FCS team, no less — Washington State found magic in the unlikeliest of places.
The Cougars’ defense saved the day.
Two interceptions and a fourth-down stop led to Washington State’s 16 fourth-quarter points, and Nico Grasu booted a game-winning 18-yard field goal with 2:13 remaining to lift the Cougars past Montana State 23-22 on Saturday.
Washington State (1-1) was almost the third FBS school to lose at home to an FCS team on Saturday. Virginia Tech and Minnesota were beaten by lower-division foes.
The Cougars’ defense, which has ranked among the worst in the nation the last two seasons, bailed out an at-times anemic offense to prevent the Bobcats (1-1) from stealing what many considered to be the most winnable game on the Washington State’s schedule.
“If the offense was not functioning as well as it should, it’s our job to go out and have their backs,” linebacker Alex Hoffman-Ellis said. “I feel like we did a good job of that, as well as fighting through.”
Hoffman-Ellis had a hand — literally — in two of Montana State’s three second-half turnovers. The linebacker deflected a pass in the third quarter that was intercepted by Myron Beck, leading to Jeff Tuel’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Andrei Lintz.
The second big play Hoffman-Ellis made was what turned the game, though. With the Cougars trailing 22-20 after Tuel’s second TD pass, a 19-yarder to Jared Karstetter, Montana State quarterback Denarius McGhee fired a pass that appeared to bounce off one of his linemen.
Hoffman-Ellis snagged it out of the air at the Bobcats’ 15-yard line and returned it to the 2. That set up Grasu’s go-ahead field goal.
Montana State drove to the Cougars’ 26 in the final two minutes, but linebacker C.J. Mizell made a game-sealing interception.
“I just tried to make something happen when there was nothing there,” said McGhee, a redshirt freshman. “I have to know to throw it away when nothing is there.”
McGhee was 24 of 37 for 266 yards and two touchdowns.
He was the catalyst for a third-quarter sequence that almost buried the Cougars. McGhee threw a 45-yard, flea-flicker touchdown pass to Julius Lloyd, and after Washington State running back Chantz Staden fumbled on the ensuing kickoff return, the Bobcats added a field goal to go ahead 22-7 with 6:26 to play in the third quarter.
“Our guys just picked up the momentum, and all of a sudden started believing a little bit,” Cougars coach Paul Wulff said. “Their intensity level picked up, and they started playing harder.”
Tuel was 18 of 29 for 204 yards for Washington State, and James Montgomery had 116 yards on 20 carries.
But the offense’s struggles included turnovers on its first two possessions of the game, which led to two Montana State field goals. The Cougars were forced to punt on their first three series of the second half.
“It makes a huge difference,” Tuel said of the defense’s big plays. “It gets the ball back, gets the crowd going, gets everybody fired up. When you get a turnover, it’s a big deal. We knew if we win the turnover battle, we’re going to be in a great position to win the ballgame.”
That they finally did is all Wulff wanted to think about.
“No,” Wulff said tersely when asked if the win had a bittersweet feel to it. “We’re rebuilding, and we’ll take a win.”