PULLMAN — The quarterback carousel spun by first-year Washington State coach Jimmy Rogers landed on this obvious realization Saturday night.
Zevi Eckhaus should have been under center as the Cougars starting quarterback weeks ago and not for the first time in the Apple Cup against Washington.
At least he will now be going forward.
“He’ll be the starter,” Rogers said.
On a night the Cougars defense was unable to force a stop, the play of Eckhaus was the primary reason Washington State hung around as long as it did before a fourth quarter meltdown allowed Washington to pull away for a 59-24 victory to reclaim the Apple Cup.
“I think that was the biggest thing for me, just trying to be a leader to those guys and motivate them as much as I could, and just keep reminding them that, like, ‘we’re in this, we can win this game,’” Eckhaus said. “That was the biggest piece for me. I just wanted to go out there and lead a team. I’ve never started a game … in Gesa Field. So to be able to do that, I just wanted to show those guys that I can run the ship, and as long as they’re with me, we can do whatever we want.”
Making the first home start in his two seasons since transferring, Eckhaus completed 25 of 36 passes for 292 yards and a pair of touchdowns, along with another 1-yard TD plunge in the third quarter that pulled the Cougars within 31-24.
He played with poise. He showed off his athleticism. He had fun, whether it was frantically backpedaling and flipping a 20-yard completion or occasionally saying a few words in the direction of the Washington defenders trying to chase him down.
His legs made him a threat to run and kept plays alive. His arm was on point making a number of deft throws in traffic or when he was allowed the time to push the ball downfield on a handful of deep shots, including a 48-yarder to Josh Meredith in the second half to set up a touchdown.
For most of the offseason, this was the type of play Washington State fans expected to see from their quarterback. And they expected it to be Eckhaus after he stayed with the plan of being the heir apparent following John Mateer’s decision to transfer to Oklahoma.
So based on how he played against the Huskies, why wasn’t Eckhaus the starter on Aug. 30 for the opener against Idaho and why did it take three games before he was inserted in that role?
“It’s a great question,” Rogers said afterward. “It goes back to just the quarterback competition that we had and I think if you ask him, he’ll tell you that he didn’t play his best throughout fall camp. But he’s a competitor and he stepped into the lights tonight and made the most of it. It was the decision that I made, but I do believe he’s going to continue to make plays and grow from the mistakes that he made tonight.”
The Cougars leaned mostly on Jaxon Potter with a little sprinkling of Julian Dugger as the quarterbacks through the first 2 ½ games with mixed results. Potter was pretty good in the win over San Diego State and pretty awful last week in the loss to North Texas. It took that embarrassing blowout against North Texas for Rogers to finally give Eckhaus his first chance this season and while it came in the second half of a 49-point loss, the 10 passes over four possessions and one TD drive led were enough to finally convince Rogers to go with the guy everyone expected to be the starter from the beginning.
“I felt like last game, Zevi’s leadership kind of felt it spark. I think everybody saw that today,” Rogers said.
There was some gamesmanship that went with Eckhaus getting the start in the Apple Cup. Rogers said there was going to be an open competition for the starting spot, but he actually made his decision to go with Eckhaus last Sunday. He wanted the Washington coaches to have to spend a little time watching all the QB options the Cougars could throw at them.
Ultimately, the ruse didn’t matter. What did matter was how Eckhaus played, which he said was an improvement over what he showed in fall camp.
“Whatever it was in fall camp, maybe I was pushing too hard or pressing too hard, or, you know, just trying to do too much. Or maybe I wasn’t doing enough. I don’t know. It was probably a culmination of things,” Eckhaus said. “But I think the biggest thing for me is just trying to find ways to grow within this offense and be the best player that I can be for this offense. I think that obviously I’ve been able to do that. That’s why coach Rogers trusted me with going out and starting this week.”
It wasn’t an entirely clean game for Eckhaus as he threw a pair of interceptions and coughed up a fumble. His second interception and the fumble came on consecutive plays in the fourth quarter and put a damper on three quarters where he was largely responsible for keeping the Cougars close.
Eckhaus’ second pick came with 11:34 remaining on a fourth-and-five where he forced a throw and saw Alex McLaughlin pull it out of the air and race 47 yards for a touchdown that gave the Huskies a 45-24 lead.
On Washington State’s next offensive snap, Eckhaus was sandwiched and fumbled deep in Wazzu territory and four plays later Jonah Coleman took a screen pass 34 yards for a touchdown and a 52-24 UW lead.
“It just sucks because he put on a good show but the stats aren’t really going to show that to the complete truth,” Meredith said. “There’s not another QB I’d rather go into the game and have war with. So people need to believe in him because I know the team does.”