Oct. 16—PORTLAND — When he thinks back, Keith Brown can still remember the first time he started a game at the college level. This was five years ago, Washington State's veteran linebacker recalls, back when he was playing for Oregon and the Ducks walked into Columbus to take on a top-five Ohio State club.
A true freshman, Brown made two tackles in that game, helping his Ducks upset the third-ranked Buckeyes.
"You're just kinda excited when it happens," Brown said earlier this week. "At least for me, when it happened for me, I felt like I was so prepared for the game that I wasn't nervous. Owen's a true competitor. He's very locked in, so I'm sure it's the same for him."
That would be redshirt freshman Owen Eshelman, who is taking over at quarterback for WSU, which is set to take on Oregon State at 3 p.m. Saturday on USA Network in Corvallis, where the Beavers opened as 17.5-point favorites. It'll be the first-ever start for Eshelman, who is taking over for signal-caller Caden Pinnick, whose struggles in the passing game contributed in a big way to the Cougars' floundering offense.
To help WSU (1-5, 0-2 Pac-12) earn its first FBS win of the year and end a three-game slide, Eshelman and the Cougars' offense will have to be much better than they have been all year. The Cougs are averaging just 12.6 points per game, which is just seven spots up from last in the country, and their minus-6 turnover margin ranks No. 129, meaning only four other teams in the nation have a worse mark.
Those are all key reasons why WSU coach Kirby Moore decided to bench Pinnick and pivot to Eshelman, who has played just two snaps in his college career, which came in garbage time against FCS Duquesne earlier this season. Listed at 6-foot-3 and 204 pounds, Eshelman's best qualities center around his live arm and sharp accuracy, which could unlock a gear that WSU has yet to find in its offense.
A former three-star product of Norman North High in Oklahoma, Eshelman takes over at a tough spot for WSU. Off to their worst six-game start since 2010, the Cougars need a string of wins to save their bowl streak, which stands at 10 times in the last 11 full seasons. Moore has already made a couple changes to turn around this offense, including taking over playcalling duties ahead of his team's previous game, a road loss to Utah State last weekend.
The only problem for the Cougars: They're taking on a Beaver team that ranks among the hottest in the country. Thanks in large part to quarterback Braden Atkinson and freshman wideout Jesse Legree, Oregon State (4-2, 2-0) ranks fifth nationwide with 522 yards per game of total offense, coming off a 66-14 home dismantling of San Diego State. In short: The Beavs' offense is electric, and the Cougs' defense will get perhaps its tallest task of the season.
"He's a really good player," Moore said of Legree, who leads the country with 12 receiving touchdowns, including three apiece in his last two outings. "You see him with the ball in space, obviously taking the top off a number of times as well. I think it's about playing team defense. Obviously, communication is gonna be really important: Where he's at, whether he's in the slot, whether he's outside, left, right. The pass rush has to help out the coverage. The coverage has gotta help out the pass rush. I think Coach (Trent) Bray is doing a good job right now with our guys, making sure they're all on the same page."
It's also a homecoming for Bray, an Oregon State alum who has coached 11 years at his alma mater, including the full 2024 season and part of the 2025 campaign before being fired amid the Beavers' 0-7 start to the season. In fact, the OSU connections on this WSU team number far more: Receiver Darrius Clemons and cornerback Jalil Tucker each transferred from Oregon State, true freshman Lance McGee was committed there before flipping to the Cougars and chief of staff Dan Van De Riet worked with the Beavers' program in different capacities for 20 years.
Plus, this year, WSU and OSU won't just be playing for bragging rights. The schools will also be playing for a new trophy, a new rivalry rock, which has yet to be named. The trophy isn't official — it's more of a fan and alumni-sponsored push than a school-sanctioned tradition — and the winner won't hoist it at midfield like other trophies. But it does add a layer of intrigue to the WSU and OSU series, which will play installment No. 112 on Saturday afternoon.
"Hey," Brown said earlier this week, "let's go win the rock."
To do that, the Cougars will have to find a way to slow down Atkinson and the Beavers' offense, which nobody outside two Power 4 opponents have done so far. Atkinson, who ranks first nationwide with 376 passing yards per game, has tossed 21 touchdowns against just 2 interceptions. He's thrown seven of his scores on deep passes, according to Pro Football Focus, highlighting the way he's able to stretch the field.
It's not exactly promising news for this WSU defense, which has played exceptionally well all season and kept the team in games, a remarkable feat in the face of the Cougs' scuffling offense. But if the Cougars have shown one weakness on defense, it's that they're susceptible to allowing explosive plays, like a long touchdown pass against Utah State last weekend and a 75-yard touchdown rush against Kansas State last month.
Even if Bray and the Washington State defense can produce a few key stops, there's also the matter of Eshelman and the WSU offense. Can the Cougs score enough to keep pace? In his first real college action, can Eshelman get it going through the air? Even if he throws an interception, though, his offense might be better for the bold approach. With Pinnick at the controls, WSU's offense never looked capable of stretching the field.
Eshelman might have that capability. But it's still a challenge for WSU, on both sides of the ball.
"There's definitely some similarities in terms of playmaking ability," Moore said, comparing Eshelman and Pinnick's styles. "I think the big thing is we gotta continue to work on accuracy with the football, and when something's there, we gotta take advantage of it and be more efficient on first and second down. Had opportunities there to drive in the red zone and didn't take advantage of it, and then on third down, we gotta make sure we do a good job of taking care of the football. And sometimes it's OK to punt. We've had some turnovers in those situations the last few games that have put our defense in bad positions."