Nov. 20—PULLMAN — Shortly after Washington State’s winning streak ended, after New Mexico upset the Cougars last weekend, Jared Kaster gathered his offensive linemen for this which he called a “heart to heart”.

Overall, WSU’s starting five acquitted themselves well, earning a Pro Football Focus pass-blocking grade of 89.8, the program’s best single-game mark in five full seasons. Quarterback John Mateer only took one sack, partly due to the Lobos’ coverage scheme, but it didn’t go against the Cougars’ offensive line. It was their best outing of the season.

“As an offensive line, any time you lose a ball game, we’re always going to put it on us,” said Kaster, WSU’s first-year offensive line coach. “We could have done better from the start.”

This is debatable. What is certain is that the Cougars showed creativity from the start. As they prepare for a test drive against Oregon State this weekend, they’re rotating personnel left and right in an attempt to find the best combination.

By all indications, they didn’t, prompting WSU to maintain a personnel rotation for its final two regular-season games.

Perhaps most importantly, WSU center Devin Kylany’s status is uncertain for Saturday’s game as he is dealing with a foot/ankle injury that has “limited” him through the first two days of practice this week, head coach Jake Dickert said.

Kylany has been the heart of the group, providing stability to a unit that hasn’t benefited much this fall.

Below Kylany on the depth chart is 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman Noah Dunham, but the Cougars will look elsewhere if Kylany can’t play against Oregon State.

If that’s the case, WSU will move right guard Brock Dieu to center, Dickert said.

The Cougars will also move left guard Christian Hilborn to right guard and install Rod Tialavea at left guard, leaving left tackle Esa Pole and right tackle Fa’alili Fa’amoe at their regular positions. This would be Hilborn’s first time playing right guard since the 2021 Sun Bowl, his freshman season, and it would be God’s first time playing center in his college career.

WSU would ask two of its best offensive linemen to be flexible in a way they haven’t been, at least not in their college careers. It’s up to Hilborn and God to handle those roles, including protecting against an OSU pass rush that produced two sacks last week in a loss to Air Force,

“That’s the level of trust we have with Hilborn,” Kaster said. “It’s all thanks to him. It’s his work, his preparation, his work ethic, his ability to be flexible like that and go out there and play that. So all the credit goes to those kids. That has nothing to do with me.”

God was recruited as the center.

“Brock has done an incredible job playing wherever he’s been,” Kaster said. “I probably wouldn’t play him too much at tackle, but he’s a smart kid, can stand out. He did it in spring, he did it in fall camp.

“He’s a guy that could play anywhere, because that shows you who Brock is. He’s a kid that wherever we want him to play, wherever we need him, he’s there for the team.”

Under different circumstances, if Kylany had played this weekend, the Cougars planned to operate like they did last week against New Mexico.

Dickert and Kaster agree that they can’t decide who is better at left guard, Hilborn or Talavea, so they rotated them against the Lobos – one series for Hilborn, one for Talavea. They followed this script until the fourth quarter, when Pole left with a minor injury, moving Hilborn to left tackle and Tialavea to left guard.

Against New Mexico, Hilborn took 40 snaps and didn’t allow pressure, according to PFF, who gave him a pass-blocking grade of 91.0 — a career-high. He also had a run blocking grade of 58.1, his fourth-best mark of the season.

In 45 snaps against UNM, Talavea allowed one rush, earning a PFF pass blocking grade of 71.2. Coaches like him best as a run blocker, where he graded out at 53.1, below average. This made him the Cougars’ third-worst run blocker in the game, ahead of tackles Pole and Fa’amoe.

“Nobody really stood out,” Dickert said of Hilborn and Tialavea at left guard. “I thought they both played a lot more like they were capable of last week. So we’re happy with both of them, but we’ll probably do an about-face by series in the future.”

Key linebacker to play against OSU

Third-year linebacker Buddah Al-Uqdah should be in action against Oregon State, Dickert said. Al-Uqdah left the field late in the game against New Mexico with a shoulder injury, and he practiced in a non-contact yellow jersey this week, Dickert added.

He is an invaluable presence in the middle of the field for the Cougars, leading the team in takeaways with five, two interceptions and three forced fumbles.

Dickert will take a little more control of the defense this weekend

As WSU’s defense struggles, allowing 28 points to Utah State in a win Nov. 9 and 38 to New Mexico in a loss last weekend, Dickert is ready to insert himself further into the team’s defensive planning for the Cougars’ last two regular games. games of the season, he said.

He remains conscious of his role as head coach and lets defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding call the defense, but Dickert said he’s “taking a little different approach” to finishing the regular season.

“I’ll probably watch a few more iPads on the sidelines so I can see exactly what’s going on,” Dickert said, “so I can give my opinion, my ideas, all that kind of stuff.”

Dickert, who came to WSU as the team’s defensive coordinator in 2020, is a defensive-minded coach. He coached the 2020 and 2021 seasons as defensive coordinator until taking over as interim head coach in 2021 and then accepting the position full-time after the season.

Late last season, with the Cougars’ defense struggling under Schmedding, Dickert said he was asserting himself more on that side of the ball.

This year, as WSU tries to find ways to limit point production and slow down mobile quarterbacks like UNM’s Devon Dampier, Dickert is doing something similar.