Washington State Football: 3 takeaways from 56-37 win over OSU

The Air Raid

When all else fails, the Washington State Cougars have the passing game. Earlier in the week, Leach explained his version of balance, which you can read here. The cliff notes version is, it doesn’t matter how players touch the ball run or pass, it matters that all skill positions get the ball and contribute.

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In that respect, mission accomplished. Quarterback Gardner Minshew put the ball up 40 times, completing 30 to 10 different receivers. Tay Martin was re-emerged as Washington State’s number one receiver.

Both his touchdowns were the result of perfect passes that Minshew put in places where only Martin could catch them. One was for 38 yards in the third quarter, and the other came on a really nifty 28 yarder in the fourth. Martin had a total of eight receptions for 119 yards.

Easop Winston continued his string of good games on Saturday. The junior wideout from San Francisco caught seven passes for 99 yards. Over his past three games, Winston has 17 receptions for 357 yards and three TDs.

The rest of the receivers Renard Bell, Dezmon Patmon, Calvin Jackson, Jr., Kyle Sweet, Travell Harris, and Jamire Calvin combined for nine receptions and 114 yards. The super six also contributed a three-yard TD catch from Harris early in the fourth quarter.

Getting back to Leach’s interpretation of balance, both running backs Borghi and Williams were involved in the passing game. While Borghi only had one catch for 17 yards, Williams was dangerous catching passes out of the backfield.

He caught four passes for 78 yards. Two of the four were highlight worthy. The first highlight came on the first offensive play of the game. Minshew found Williams for a 41-yard catch and run. His second highlight was a touchdown in the second quarter. Minshew went through his receiver progression and found no one open. The QB checked all the way down to Williams coming out of the backfield at the OSU 20 and he took the ball in for six points.

Minshew was mentioned in passing earlier. The graduate transfer signal caller had his fourth 400-yard game with 430, and his first five-touchdown performance. Leach really couldn’t ask for a better quarterback to run the Air Raid.