Owen Eshelman shows Washington State what it's been missing at quarterback

The traits that make redshirt freshman Owen Eshelman very popular around the Washington State University football program showed up Saturday in one of the suddenly scintillating environments in the Pac-12 Conference.

Perhaps the most impressive?

“He did a great job fighting, no matter what,” WSU wide receiver Branden Ganashamoorthy said.

Yes, it was another loss for the Cougars on Saturday - 48-30 to Oregon State University at Reser Stadium - but certainly a bright spot was the debut of Eshelman at quarterback.

Eshelman rushed for 136 yards Saturday, becoming the first WSU quarterback to post a 100-yard rushing game since 2024 when John Mateer went for 111 yards against San Jose State.

It was the most rushing yards by a Cougars’ signal caller since Mateer rushed for 197 yards against Texas Tech earlier in that same season.

Eshelman also completed 32 of 49 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns.

In all, the dual threat had 425 yards of total offense, and led the unit on four touchdown-scoring drives - easily the most this season against an FBS opponent.

“We just had much better rhythm,” WSU first-year coach Kirby Moore said.

Moore made the decision Monday to switch to Eshelman and bench Caden Pinnick, who started the first six games of the season.

All week, Eshelman said it was “definitely excitement” he felt over his first career start. For the most part, he had command of the offense, showed poise in the pocket and was definitive in his decision-making - either as a passer or runner.

“There’s a Cougar mentality that we are going to keep swinging,” Eshelman told a small gathering of reporters after the game in Corvallis, Oregon. “I thought that showed up tonight.”

Was the offense perfect? No. WSU started the game with back-to-back three-and-outs. It began the second half with another three-and-out, continuing the string of slow starts to halves.

At one point early in the second half, the Cougars were 0-for-8 on third-down conversions.

But Eshelman and company kept at it - and the perseverance began paying off the longer the game went on.

“Even with some missed opportunities, I was really proud of all of our guys,” Eshelman said.