Jimmy Rogers Notes "No Moral Victories" After Cougs Take Ole Miss To The Wire

On Saturday, Jimmy Rogers' Washington State Cougars nearly shocked the world in a three-point loss to an Ole Miss team ranked in the top-five nationally. Ever the competitor, Rogers noted his frustration with the fact that his team did not get the result they were going for.

"Like I said, there's no moral victories," Rogers stated during his postgame media availability in Oxford, Mississippi. "You win or you lose in competitive sports and nobody will care in a week how well we played. So, we lost."

MORE: Washington State Drops Heartbreaker At #4 Ole Miss 24-21

In the 24-21 loss, quarterback Zevi Eckhaus completed 24 of his 31 passes with two touchdowns, Isaac Terrell posted two sacks, and Kirby Vorhees broke off a 46-yard touchdown run. However, the Cougars also allowed Eckhaus to be sacked four times and were penalized eight times, including two costly calls on the offense that killed a drive early in the fourth quarter. It's mistakes like that which Rogers is looking forward to fixing in the coming days before the Cougs hit the road again to face Virginia this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. PT.

"We'll review the film. They'll get honesty. There were things in that game that we did really well. There were some huge plays in there that unfortunately got called back that we don't control. Guys made plays, we executed a lot. Kirby's hit some bigger runs. It's a great front that we just went against. So, there's positives for sure, but, we lost and the guys are going to hear that. They just heard that. So, in competitive sports, there's a winner, there's a loser, and if you're going to compete at the highest of levelz, you got to be able to handle it. And, proud of the way our guys came into the game ,how they prepared throughout the week. They blocked out the outside noise that we would get throttled and we didn't. We should have won that game and 'shoulds' don't count. I'm proud of their effort."

The Cougs are 3-3 to start Rogers' first season as the head coach in Pullman. Now at the halfway point of the year, WSU have meetings against Toledo, Louisiana Tech, James Madison, and two against a currently-winless Oregon State program still on the schedule. Rogers reaching postseason eligibility in his first season with the Cougs remains a considerable possibility.

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