Washington State Head Coach Jimmy Rogers on Oregon State: “I don’t care what their record is”
In this story:
On Saturday, Oregon State welcomes the Washington State Cougars to Reser Stadium. Leading up to the game, Wazzu coach Jimmy Rogers spoke with local reporters on the Palouse. In additional press conferences so far this week, local media met with Washington State redshirt-sophomore defensive end Jack Janikowski, and Washington State redshirt-senior center Brock Dieu. This piece features highlights from those conversations.
Washington State head coach Jimmy Rogers on the state of his program
“To recap: last Saturday I was proud of our effort. There’s certain areas inside of everything that we need to shore up to make sure that a common error or a mistake that could have happened in every segment of how we played doesn’t come back to haunt us. And we need to continue to improve. We’re going to have a tough one this week, just with the certain dynamics, and what will be written out there, and what our players will read; we’re going to play a team that’s still connected. I mean, we have [former Oregon State wide receiver] Jeremiah Noga on our team, and he can speak to the behalf of the friendships that were created there, and this is a conference game obviously versus a rival, a team that was left in the Pac [Pac-12] with us, and so we’re going to go into another team’s place. We’ve got to get ready to play, and I don’t care what their record is.”
Washington State head coach Jimmy Rogers on facing a 1-7 Oregon State team
“Well, we’re 4 and 4, right? We’re 4-4, and I don’t know who’d be satisfied with 4-4, so we’ve got a long ways to go. We got four games left. We need to win every one of them, one at a time.”
MORE: State of the Beavs: Can Oregon State Football Land A Big Name Coach?
Washington State head coach Jimmy Rogers on being nationally televised this weekend
“I think it’s important to put out there, in a competitive product, this is going to be one of the best Group of Six conferences in the country. And to be on the national stage, I always think it’s important to put your best foot out there, to play in front of hopefully what will be an electric atmosphere and to play well. It goes back to recruiting: players want to play in front of fanbases that care, in front of environments that are fun, and whether that’s home or away, it doesn’t really matter. So we’ve got to hit the ground running.”
Washington State head coach Jimmy Rogers on facing the Beavers twice in one season
Does your experience at South Dakota State (rematching regular season opponents later in the FCS playoffs) help you prepare for Oregon State? “No, I’ve never gameplanned against Oregon State before, and what you saw early is starting to slowly change late. You know, they have different people in place. Now the reality is you may play somebody in a season and then see them in a bowl game, too. So I don’t know if it helps you. You just need to be aware that you can’t do the same exact things. And what’s hard, I would say more than anything, is doing everything right and having a ton of success, and then you come back around and say ‘what would we change?’ and then you feel like an idiot for changing, and then you feel like an idiot if you didn’t change and you didn’t have success. So there’s a balance with that. You got to be somewhat unpredictable at times, and you have to adapt as the game goes, just as you would any game.”
MORE: How Did Oregon State's Future Opponents Fare In Week 9
Washington State defensive end Jack Janikowski on his first career sack last week
“It was a great opportunity. Coach Bibbs [Washington State defensive line coach Jalon Bibbs] always tells us just take one play at a time and the plays will come to us. And that was that play that came to me. Means a lot to me personally, especially with my foundation, the Tackling Cancer Foundation. Every tackle, every sack that I get, every assisted tackle that I get, all raises money for people with cancer, and we’ve already donated $20000 - it would be $10000 to two people so $20000 in general - but right now the foundation just off the stats are right around $5000. So it’s going good. It’s a huge deal for me. I play for more than just myself, for other people that are battling stuff. So it’s a huge thing.
Washington State center Brock Dieu on the rhythm of the Cougs’ offensive line
“You know, I think we’ve just been slowly chipping away the whole season, and we’ve attacked areas we’ve needed to improve, and we’ve strained on the details. I think that’s what’s really come to fruition the last couple weeks. So it’s not necessarily that we've changed, we’ve just improved on our weaknesses.”
More Reading Material From Oregon State Beavers On SI
Matt fell in love with radio during his college days at Oregon Tech, and pursued a nine year career in sports broadcasting with Klamath Falls' and Medford's highest-rated sports radio stations. He currently lives in McMinnville wine country and is excited to talk about the Beavers again.