‘Pac-12 After Dark’ was in full effect Friday night in a back-and-forth shootout on the Palouse. What looked for a time like an upset, ended in a close 54-52 double-overtime win for Washington State over San Jose State.

On their final drive of regulation, the Cougars (4-0) needed to get into field goal range to give senior kicker Dean Janikowski even a decent chance to tie the game, and that’s exactly what quarterback John Mateer and the offense did with limited timeouts.

“We went 50 yards in three plays and Dean hit the best field goal I’ve ever seen him hit, just to give us an opportunity.” WSU head coach Jake Dickert said.

In the end, another goal-line stand proved to be the difference for WSU, which came up with a stop on a 2-point conversion try for SJSU thanks to a strip sack from edge rusher Quinn Roff in the second overtime.

“It’s a combination of celebration and relief.” Dickert said. “I’m proud of the mentality of our team. … The players did it tonight.”

After the teams traded interceptions in the first overtime, the Cougars were able to get in the end zone on a 7-yard rushing score for Dylan Paine followed by a converted 2-point attempt from Mateer on a run.

The Spartans (3-1) quickly answered with a 4-yard pass connection from Emmett Brown to Nick Nash setting up the final sequence.

WSU filled up the offensive stat sheet, outgaining the Spartans by more than 100 yards, with 507 of the 627 total offensive yards produced coming from Mateer, who threw for 390 yards and ran for 111 with five total touchdowns.

It wasn’t pretty for Dickert, but he was proud of the way his players persevered in the fourth quarter to make it a game and eventually pull out the victory in the second overtime.

“I take full responsibility for a lot of coaching errors tonight,” Dickert said. “I told (SJSU) coach (Ken) Niumatalolo that I got outcoached tonight, and our players pulled through.”

WSU had three receivers finish with at least 75 yards receiving including Kyle Williams, who finished with a team-high 8 catches for 138 yards and a touchdown.

The Spartans got it going early with some quick throws from Brown, who had something to prove after leaving the Cougars for the Bay Area as a transfer after one season in Pullman.

The redshirt sophomore finished with 375 yards passing and 4 passing touchdowns, to go along with a rushing score, as he carved through the Cougars’ defense on several big plays down the field while also helping to establish the ground game.

SJSU also had help from junior running back Floyd Chalk IV, who ran for 94 yards on 11 carries, finding the end zone twice, and Nash who caught 16 passes for 152 yards while also finding the end zone twice as well.

First quarter

9:00, WSU – Mateer 1-yard run (Dean Janikowski PAT) WSU 7-0

8:20, SJSU – Floyd Chalk 66-yard run (Kyler Halvorsen PAT) Tied 7-7

3:36, SJSU – Halvorsen 19-yard field goal, SJSU 10-7

Second quarter

11:31, WSU – Cooper Mathers 4-yard pass from Mateer (Dean Janikowski PAT) WSU 14-10

5:41, WSU – Cooper Mathers 8-yard pass from Mateer (Dean Janikowski PAT) WSU 21-10

1:40, SJSU – Jacob Stewart 4-yard pass from Brown (Kyler Halvorsen PAT) WSU 21-17

0:05, WSU – Dean Janikowski 36-yard field goal, WSU 24-17

Third quarter

13:02, SJSU – Nick Nash 19-yard pass from Brown (Kyler Halvorsen PAT) Tied 24-24

5:43, SJSU – Emmett Brown 1-yard run (Kyler Halvorsen PAT) SJSU 31-24

0:48, SJSU – Chalk 18-yard run (Kyler Halvorsen PAT) SJSU 38-24

Fourth quarter

13:41, WSU – Kyle Williams 13-yard pass from Mateer (Dean Janikowski PAT), SJSU 38-31

6:11, WSU – Josh Meredith 38-yard pass from Mateer (PAT MISSED) SJSU 38-37

4:56, WSU – Dylan Paine 1-yard run (2pt FAILED) WSU 43-38

0:26, SJSU – TreyShun Hurry 20-yard pass from Brown (Nick Nash 2pt GOOD from Brown) SJSU 46-43

0:00, WSU – Dean Janikowski 52-yard field goal, Tied 46-46

First OT

No scoring

Second OT

WSU – Dylan Paine 7-yard run (Mateer 2pt GOOD) WSU 54-46

SJSU – Nick Nash 4-yard pass from Brown (2pt FAILED) WSU 54-52

It’s hard to look at anyone else but Mateer with how he led the offense after being down two scores at the beginning of the fourth quarter at home to score three unanswered touchdowns to help WSU retake the late lead.

Mateer’s game was not 100 percent clean on the stat sheet, but he stepped up when it mattered most and he needed to make a play for the offense.

“John’s gusty, John’s tough, he doesn’t really get too high or too low.” Dickert said. “John does whatever it takes to win. He’s going to sacrifice a lot of his body to do that.”

Mateer totaled over 500 yards by himself with his combined efforts in the air and on the ground. Through four games, the Cougars’ quarterback is putting together an underrated Heisman-like season on the Palouse with his dual-threat ability really causing problems for opposing defenses.

The defense has received plenty of slack after some of the offensive performances it has allowed this year, but the bend-don’t-break mentality by the entire group worked out Friday night making it difficult to single out one particular player.

O’Connor with the late interception, redshirt senior linebacker Kyle Thornton having his own game-changing interception late, Roff forcing the game-sealing stop on the 2-point try. Each of them are certainly candidates.

The defense, as a unit, came together to get another win because of a defensive stand in another close game in Pullman.

“We weren’t going to lose that football game,” Thornton said. “It was a refuse-to-lose mindset. … It carried over from last weekend too.”

The Cougars stopped the Huskies at the 2-yard line last week to help win the game, and they did the exact same thing to the Spartans to secure the victory.

Another goal-line stand for the Cougars with the game on the line to seal the deal.

Last week, Thornton made the stop on Washington running back Jonah Coleman to earn a win, and this week it was Roff getting the strip-sack on Brown to force the ball out and end the game then and there.

The Spartans scored very quickly after WSU got its first touchdown in the overtime period. After a quick look at the defensive setup, SJSU ran its play to save the game but the pressure from Roff and the coverage down the field made it too difficult to make anything happen before Khalil Laufau scooped up the loose ball.

The Cougars now sit at 4-0 to start the 2024 campaign in the Pac-12 but have a big matchup against Boise State next week in an evening contest.

This will be the first true road trip for the Cougars, with the Apple Cup played in Seattle, as they now have to fly out to Idaho to square off with the Broncos on the blue turf.

Passing

John Mateer – 26/46, 390 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs

Rushing

John Mateer – 18 carries, 111 yards, 1 TD

Dylan Paine – 6 carries, 38 yards, 2 TDs

Wayshawn Parker – 22 carries, 76 yards

Leo Pulalasi – 1 carry, 7 yards

Receiving

Kyle Williams – 8 receptions, 138 yards, 1 TD

Josh Meredith – 5 receptions, 89 yards, 1 TD

Cooper Mathers – 2 receptions, 12 yards, 2 TDs

Kris Hutson – 5 receptions, 77 yards

Tre Shackelford – 3 receptions, 57 yards

Tony Freeman – 2 receptions, 16 yards

Defense

Kyle Thornton – 6 solo tackles, 1 TFL, 1 INT

Ethan O’Connor – 4 solo tackles, 1 INT

Tyson Durant – 3 solo tackles, 1 TFL

Taariq ‘Buddah’ Al-Uqdah – 5 solo tackles

Kapena Gushiken – 7 solo tackles

Adrian Wilson – 4 solo tackles, 1 TFL