No. 25 WSU to face Oregon State in its lone Pac-12 game

Washington State coach Jake Dickert wanted to make one thing quite clear ahead of the Cougars’ Saturday meeting with Oregon State.

“Oregon State’s not our buddy,” Dickert said. “They would have left us as fast as we would have left them.

“We’ve been waiting to compete with these guys.”

It is essentially a conference championship game between the two remaining Pac-12 Conference schools. The No. 25 WSU Cougars will clash with Oregon State at 4 p.m. today (The CW) at Reser Stadium in Corvallis, Ore.

WSU’s Kyle Williams had one of the best games of his career last year in the Cougars’ 38-35 win over Oregon State in September 2023 with seven catches for 174 yards and a touchdown.

Like his coach, the senior receiver said he does not see Oregon State as his buddy.

“We look at it like any other opponent, we don’t think of it as a rivalry,” Williams said. “That’s a team that wants to beat us and we want to beat them. ... When we’re two different teams practicing in two different states you want to win, so it’s like no friendly competition over here.”

Prime Kyle Williams

Williams had the best game of his career last week versus New Mexico with a career-high 181 receiving yards on 11 catches and three touchdowns. It was the second straight week that sophomore quarterback John Mateer connected with Williams for three touchdowns in a game after Williams had three scores versus Utah State on Nov. 9.

With six touchdowns in the last two games, Williams jetted to No. 2 in the nation in receiving touchdowns with 13 on the season.

“It kinda is contagious,” Williams said of scoring. “You just get hungry for more more you get that piece of cake you’re like let me get some more, I’m craving more sweets, so I’ve got a sweet tooth for the end zone.”

Williams said he and Mateer started the season “a little rough” but were able to create a consistent connection.

Scouting Oregon State

At 4-6, the Beavers have perhaps their two toughest tests of the season remaining in WSU and Boise State standing between them and bowl eligibility in coach Trent Bray’s first year at the helm.

After a 4-1 start, which included wins over Purdue and future Pac-12 foes San Diego State and Colorado State, Oregon State is 0-5, most recently losing to Air Force 28-0 last week.

Dickert said the Beavers have played musical chairs at the quarterback position and that WSU is preparing for all three possible signal-callers.

Idaho transfer Gevani McCoy started the year at QB for the Beavers but tossed four interceptions in OSU’s 42-37 loss to Nevada on Oct. 12.

The Beavers turned to junior Ben Gulbranson for several starts and, most recently, freshman Gabarri Johnson of Tacoma, Wash., against Air Force. Johnson completed just over half of his passes for 154 yards and an interception in OSU’s 28-0 loss to Air Force last week.

The Beavers’ defense has allowed 28.7 points per game, but Dickert said he expects the OSU defensive backs to challenge Williams.

Junior running back Anthony Hankerson has emerged as the Beavers’ bell-cow running back with 889 yards on 198 carries and 14 touchdowns.

Bouncing back

The Cougars return to the field after losing 38-35 to New Mexico and allowing the Lobos to score the game-winning touchdown without completing a pass on their final drive.

While the Cougs are of course disappointed, cornerback Steve Hall said the team got right back to work after the loss.

“We watched film on it (on Monday) coach says we got to erase it,” Hall said. “We’ve got a big week ahead of us, we know Oregon State is preparing hard, but we are too. ... I mean yeah it hurt, but we’ve moved on from it.”

The basics

What: WSU (8-2) at Oregon State (4-6)

Where: Reser Stadium, Corvallis, Ore.

When: 4 p.m. today

TV: The CW

Radio: KHTR-FM (104.3/103.9), KCLX-AM (1450)

Spread: Washington State -11 (draftkings.com)

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.