Cougar Chalk Talk: Changing the trajectory of a 4-1 start to the season

In 2022, the Washington State Cougars started their season 4-1.

Last season, the Cougars also started 4-1.

This season: you can probably fill in the blank. Through the first five weeks, the Cougs have found themselves with a 4-1 record for the third year in a row.

The 2022 and 2023 season have something else in common though: an ending that could’ve been better written.

In 2022: a 7-win season and a brutal loss to the Fresno State Bulldogs in the LA Bowl.

In 2023: Starting 4-0 and ranked in the AP poll several weeks in a row before losing the next five games and missing out on a bowl appearance.

“It’s been an entire year process of making sure we didn’t repeat the mistakes of last year’s team,” said captain Kyle Thornton. “It’s been the motto of this entire year: we can’t be like last year’s team. And I know we’re not.”

Now in 2024, the Cougs are on a familiar path and it’s up to the players to decide which way to turn after WSU’s first loss of the season.

“The teams that get stuck on how bad the loss was, those are the teams that struggle. The way I see it is: you can use it as fuel to can it the rest of the season, or you can use it as fuel to come back and show what we’re made of,” said Thornton.

In Jake Dickert’s head coaching tenure, WSU has won most of it’s football games in the front half of the season. But Dickert is confident this season’s 4-0 start won’t end up like last’s.

“I met with every kid after [last] season and too many kids came in and said ‘we probably just assumed we were going to show up on Saturdays and win.”

Dickert said that mentality has changed though.

After this week’s bye, we’ll see if the Cougars can flip the switch in their next game which is on the road against Fresno State. And the last time the two teams met – it was an ending the Cougs probably want to rewrite.

Their chance to start with a 5-1 record for the first time since 2018 comes on October 12 against the Bulldogs.