PULLMAN – Zoom in far enough from Washington State’s 59-24 loss to Washington, which never needed to punt in a runaway win Saturday night, and you can see the nuance.

The Cougars were down one starting defensive tackle due to injury. Their other exited early with his own injury. They were facing the Huskies’ frenetic offense, one of the finest in the nation, which will no doubt give top-ranked Ohio State problems next week. WSU may not have forced a punt, but through three quarters in Saturday’s game, the hosts trailed by only one score.

“For the most part,” WSU coach Jimmy Rogers said, “I thought we hung with them.”

The Cougars did just that. They made the right choice in starting Zevi Eckhaus at quarterback. They produced two sacks on UW quarterback Demond Williams Jr. They may have b

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