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Watching the Washington State Cougars’ game against the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday night, it looked like the defense was carrying the day, and advanced metrics have backed up those suspicions. PFF College named four Cougars to its defensive team of the week, double of any other Pac-12 team.
End Nnamdi Oguayo returned from an unspecified injury and put up the highest grade for a defensive lineman in the Pac-12, as he recorded a sack and a tackle for loss. Team of the week mainstay Hercules Mata’afa made another appearance, as well, after he made five tackles with one coming for a loss. This time, a different redshirt freshman inside linebacker (other than Jahad Woods) made an appearance on the team, as Justus Rogers checked in for the first time. Rogers recorded 9 tackles and a hurry as the Cougars shut down one of the conference’s top running backs. Finally, Hunter Dale is giving fans Shalom Luani flashbacks for his play at the Nickelback position and was chosen after his five-tackle, one-pass-defensed and one-quarterback-hurry effort.
The offense, as expected, didn’t receive many accolades after their performance in bad weather. However, one Cougar made the grade. If you surprisingly didn’t notice any issues at right guard this week it’s because B.J. Salmonson had probably his best game of the year. He made the Pac-12 offensive team of the week and had the highest grade of any guard.
Football
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