When the meeting between Washington State and Boise State was announced, it was immediately circled by many to be one of the better games of the revamped Pac-12 slate. Especially in the timeslot it was put in. A late October matchup at 3pm in Pullman. College football is arguably at its peak around this time of the year. As the great Keith Jackson once said: “And in the fall, when the air turns crisp, the leaves turn gold, the sun shines bright on the Palouse hills, you get the spirit. This is Cougar country.”
It couldn’t be more true on this October 24th Homecoming weekend. The air was crisp at 54 degrees. The trees that align Glenn Terrell Mall and the south entrance of Martin Stadium had fully turned orange and gold and were falling onto the ground. The sun was shining on the rolling hills that overlook Pullman to the northeast through very little cloud coverage. And as Washington State was greeted by a fairly good crowd, that Cougar spirit was palpable.
Heading into the final 15 minutes of play, the newly installed LED lights were flashing crimson, and the new sound speakers were blaring music that almost everybody on the Cougar sideline was dancing along to. You could feel the energy radiating from the guys in crimson. They had the number 21 team in the country on the ropes, tied at 10 with a Homecoming crowd behind them.
About an hour later, that energy was long gone. The Cougars walked back onto that field from the south sideline, dejected with their heads low. They had just surrendered 21 unanswered to lose 31-10. On the north sideline, Fireball shooters laid on the field that reportedly students may have been throwing back and forth at the Boise State players on the sideline in frustration after the Broncos took a 17-10 lead and had just picked off Owen Eshelman. A student section that had largely begun to head for the exits, and bars, at halftime. It left a lot more empty seats as the great drone shots on the broadcast tried to paint this magnificent fall night in Pullman for WSU. When the clock officially hit zeros and head referee Gary Reed announced to the remaining Martin Stadium crowd, largely covered in Boise State blue now, the game was over. Washington State is officially 1-7. Their worst record since 2010. Officially eliminated from bowl eligibility before Halloween. This is not what anybody could have ever envisioned when that pen finished that circle on the calendar in May.
What could have been an early great memory for Washington State in this new Pac-12 was anything but that.
Back in 2010, while Washington State was nowhere near good enough to compete in the Pac-10, they could at least point to the level of competition they faced. A historic brand in No. 20 USC, fresh off winning multiple national championships under Pete Carroll. No.3 Oregon led by an electric offense engineered by Chip Kelly and executed by LaMichael James. No. 12 Stanford, who went on to go 12-1 under Jim Harbaugh.
This isn’t a knock to the new teams in the Pac-12 WSU is competing with; it’s a statement to the resource and historic success gap WSU faced against the nine other teams in the conference at the time, and later the 11.
When this new iteration of the Pac-12 was formed, WSU was expected to be at the top given their history and access to resources compared to their new peers. But in the first year, they sit at the bottom of the conference with just one lone win against a weak FCS opponent.
“Without being said, nobody’s quitting. We’re pissed off and disappointed. We need to play better. We can be a better football team.” Kirby Moore said in his postgame press conference.
When Moore, a Prosser, Washington native, took this job, he stepped into a situation that was just starting to level itself out with the Cougars now in a fully fleshed-out conference. He also understood the expectations and history of who Washington State was as a football brand. His frustration that he hasn’t been able to take off and run with this program in 2026 was noticeable as he spoke to the media.
His offense scored just 10 points, and his rushing attack ran for only 53 yards. The offensive line was getting mauled up front, making life hard for the redshirt freshman Eshelman in his second career start. On the other side, the defense did all it could against a good offense and even won the possession battle against the nation’s best team in controlling that element of the game. But after Boise State started that fourth quarter with a quick touchdown, then turned an Eshelman interception into another touchdown, it all came crumbling down.
“Obviously it’s frustrating, and it was especially in the home field. Just started the fourth quarter, tieball game. We just got to execute some stuff better.” Eshelman said.
Moore isn’t shying away from the blame either. Multiple times in his postgame press conference he took blame for things not going right in this game. On Eshelman’s interception, he stated that the play was a simple concept they developed early, but Eshelman and his intended target, Kirby Vorhees, weren’t on the same page as Vorhees broke right and the pass went left and into the arms of a Bronco. Moore said that he needed to make sure there was no gray area in the play as he talked about sitting next to his quarterback following the turnover.
“Obviously, it starts with me, and we got to do a better job from that standpoint.” Moore said.
As the Cougars now head into the final quarter of this 2026 season, there is no Pac-12 Championship they will be playing for or a trip to another bowl game. Instead, they will try to finish it out for their senior class. That was the consistent message among the three players, Eshelman, Daniel Blood and Isaiah Hung who spoke to the media, and Moore.
Perhaps expecting this Cougar team to turn their third head coach in three seasons into an instant conference title contender was a bit of a pipe dream. This is a program that has just been gutted by these coaching changes and getting left behind in conference realignment. It’s hard to build a program on top of a foundation that has been so shaky these past few years.
But expecting this team to still be fighting for a bowl game in October felt like the bare minimum given the history and resources.
“And I just want everyone to know we’re doing everything we can to improve the product on the field.” Moore said.
Moore and Washington State can turn this around. It won’t happen this year, but it can happen next year. And if it doesn’t, then perhaps we may be looking at a new reality for Washington State in this Pac-12.