Washington State Drop 24-20 Result at James Madison Despite Halftime Lead

Washington State dropped a close contest to College Football Playoff hopefuls James Madison in Virginia Saturday by a final score of 24-20.

While the Cougs gave the Dukes a competitive battle for most of the game, the Cougs were ultimately done in by giving up two huge plays on defense and an interception returned for a touchdown.

WSU would finish with 301 net yards on offense, compared to 319 by JMU. Zevi Eckhaus finished with 19 completions on 31 attempts for 171 yards with one touchdown and an interception. Eckhaus also rushed for 26 yards and a touchdown, part of a 130-yard effort by the WSU ground game.

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The Cougar defense made a critical play on James Madison's first possession when Caleb Francl intercepted Alonza Barnett III at the JMU 31. WSU ran ten plays, but settled for a 29-yard field goal from Jack Stevens with 8:06 remaining in the first quarter.

JMU took the ensuing possession and drove 38 yards, to WSU's 27, where they settled for a field goal of their own. The two sides then traded punts before JMU cornerback Justin Eaglin picked off an Eckhaus pass intended for Josh Meredith and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown.

After a WSU defensive stand, Eckahus redeemed himself later in the second quarter with a 48-yard touchdown pass to Tony Freeman. The defense then pushed the JMU offense backwards, forcing another punt.

WSU took a different approach to their next possession, with a similar result. The Cougars drove 67 yards in 11 plays, with Zevi Eckhaus running in a four-yard touchdown. WSU would take a 17-10 lead into the halftime break.

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To start the second half, James Madison pushed their way down to the seven yard line and burned over eight minutes, but were stopped on a fourth-and-one by the Cougar defense.

Unfortunately for the Cougs, they were unable to do anything offensive with that possession. After JMU received WSU's punt, Alonza Barnett threw a 68-yard bomb to Braeden Wisloski for a touchdown, evening the score at 17-17.

To start the fourth quarter, Washington State again took to the ground quite a bit, with Kirby Vorhees and company powering the offense back into the red zone. That resulted in a 36-yard field goal from Stevens, with the ball ricocheting through the goal posts off of the right upright.

Six plays later, JMU running back Wayne Knight found a huge hole in the middle of the line for a 58-yard touchdown rush as the Dukes regained the lead.

Washington State only managed to get back to their own 45-yard line before turning it over on downs on their ensuing possession. JMU burned the remaining 2:58 off of the clock to close out their tenth win of the season.

As for the Cougars, they'll drop to 5-6 on the season with one game remaining: a November 29 rematch with Oregon State in Pullman with bowl eligibility on the line.

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