Washington State Football: 3 takeaways from 28-24 win over Utah

The Air Raid

Just to get it out of the way, Washington State rushed for zero yards on 13 carries against the top-ranked defense in college football Saturday night. The Cougars still had 445 yards of total offense. Its why Leach’s offense is called the Air Raid and not the ground assault.

Easop Winston Jr. and Desmon Patmon had huge games. Patmon had five receptions for 112 yards and one touchdown. Winston had four receptions for 115 yards and one touchdown as well. 89 of Winston’s yards came on the eventual game-winning play on a bomb from quarterback Gardner Minshew II. More on that later.

Six receivers had at least three catches. Tay Martin who was an absolute beast the first three games of the season had four receptions on the night. While 30 yards may not be as prolific as some of the totals he had previously this year, Martin caught a touchdown pass for the Cougars first score of the night. It was his fourth TD reception this year in five games.

Getting back to Minshew, why isn’t there any buzz about Washington State’s quarterback as a Heisman Trophy candidate? Last night, Minshew overcame an interception on the Cougars first drive to have a landmark game. 31 completions in 56 attempts for 445 yards and three scoring passes against Utah’s vaunted defense is a Heisman-worthy performance.

In 2018, Minshew has thrown for 1992 passing yards (second), on 185 completions (first) resulting in 14 touchdowns (eighth). For good measure, he gets rid of the ball so quickly, Minshew has only been sacked five times.