Washington State Football: 6 takeaways from 19-13 win over Cal

Confidence/Over Confidence

After the Stanford game, WSU quarterback Gardner Minshew talked about how much confidence his teammates had in each other. He said it was a big reason for their comeback win over the Cardinal. You can see it on the field by the chemistry Washington State’s players have.

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Somewhere along the line, however, the team has to realize it can’t wait to do it later, or wait for someone else to step up. I’m good with patience, it’s an admirable quality. There needs to be both urgency and accountability, as well. Too many times it seemed like the offense was waiting for something to happen, rather than making something happen.

I like the confidence, but it shouldn’t be an excuse for lack of results. Going forward, the Cougs can’t wait until the end of a half, or end of a game to put the offense into a higher gear.

Mr. Clutch

All season long, I’ve written about how Gardner Minshew is a money player. He is calm in the pocket while going through check-downs and seemingly unflappable demeanor in the face of an oncoming pass rush. In short, Minshew is a cool customer.

Above I wrote that the team can’t wait for the end of halves to “turn it on.” Minshew was pretty good all day but not up to the standard Wazoo fans are accustomed to. He was however exceptional at crunch time. On the final two drives, which resulted in a missed field goal and the winning touchdown, GMII completed nine of 13 passes (69.2 percent) for 118 yards. That was around a quarter of his completions and a third of his yardage totals for the game.

When it mattered, Minshew was once again Mr. Clutch.

Check back with us soon for our coverage of head coach Mike Leach’s weekly press conference.