Jimmy Rogers Notes Biggest Priorities For Washington State Bye Week

Aug 30, 2025; Pullman, Washington, USA; Washington State Cougars head coach Jimmy Rogers walks off the field after a game against the Idaho Vandals at Gesa Field at Martin Stadium. Washington State Cougars won 13-10. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images | James Snook-Imagn Images

With an overall record of 3-2 to start the 2025 football season, the Washington State Cougars have plenty to be happy about. WSU may be the underdog in most of their remaining seven contests, but with two contests scheduled against a winless Oregon State team and two home games against G5 teams, bowl eligibility is a very attainable goal.

That being said, Cougs head coach Jimmy Rogers is staying realistic about where his team stands in the grand scheme of things. While last weekend's road win over Colorado State was very encouraging, it presented plenty to improve upon.

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WSU's rushing yardage total of 158 yards in that contest may have been their best of the season, however, the goal should be to post something close to that total consistently. Even with that performance, the Cougs are averaging just 77.8. rushing yards per game in 2025.

All in all, it wasn't exactly a complete game for the Cougars. WSU's offense was held scoreless in the second half and the defense allowed three lengthy drives in the final two frames, though they did not result in points. Rogers noted his intention to look deeper into the specifics of the performance with his staff, but highlighted communication, continued development in run blocking, and improved tackling as goals for the upcoming bye week.

"We got to get better at situational awareness. We got to get better at tackling. We got to continue to work our feet in the line of scrimmage and running off the ball at o-line. We got to make sure that the communication is clean. We got to be able to win in the red zone. And then obviously just continue to work on the small things, whether it's winning a one-on-one matchup and making a hard contested play or defensively winning your one-on-one and not grabbing and not looking and not peeking. So, there's plenty of things that we'll see on this film that will be addressed and we'll move forward."

While Washington State's performance was good enough for a multi-score win over Colorado State, they'll need to hold themselves to a higher standard to compete with College Football Playoff hopefuls Ole Miss in less than two weeks. The Cougars will make the trip to Oxford, Mississippi for a matchup with the Rebels on October 11, with kickoff set for 9:45 a.m. PT on the SEC Network.

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