Washington State survived the Southern California scare that has haunted it in previous seasons with a gritty 29-26 road victory against San Diego State on Saturday.

The magic didn’t run out for WSU, which needed a fourth-quarter miracle to steal a victory in San Diego. Redshirt sophomore quarterback John Mateer used his legs and his arm to give the Cougars (7-1) the road win.

Jake Dickert’s squad had offensive drives stall throughout the first three quarters allowing the Aztecs (3-4, 2-0 MW) to dominate at the line of scrimmage and force WSU backwards with pressure.

WSU found an offensive rhythm in the fourth quarter on successful chunk plays leading to more offensive yards in the fourth quarter alone than the first three quarters combined.

Dickert was happy that his team was able to withstand its early struggles to earn a victory in a game that had plenty of hurdles for the Cougars.

“I believe that’s why they give you 60 minutes.” Dickert said. “There’s no quit in our football team. There’s a lot of grit, lot of heart, lot of passion.”

The Cougars needed a comeback in their last road game two weeks ago against Fresno State with a pick-six that helped them seal the game. Saturday night, it was the offense that secured the victory in San Diego.

The offense started out on a hot note for WSU, with a couple of end-around plays and flea flickers on the opening drive, but a ground-and-pound physical type of running attack was the success in the end to go along with some finesse in the air from the top skill players.

The Cougars are now 7-1 for the first time since 2018 and head into their second bye week with momentum before the final month of the season.

First quarter

12:26, WSU – Cooper Mathers 26-yard pass from John Mateer (Dean Janikowski PAT) WSU 7-0

8:54, SDSU – Gabriel Plascencia 46-yard field goal, WSU 7-3

0:01, SDSU – Gabriel Plascencia 28-yard field goal, WSU 7-6

Second quarter

7:19, WSU – Mateer 1-yard run (Dean Janikowski PAT) WSU 14-6

0:17, SDSU – Marquez Cooper 7-yard run (PAT No Good) WSU 14-12

Third quarter

7:05, SDSU – Nate Bennett 27-yard pass from Jordan Napier (Plascencia PAT) SDSU 19-14

Fourth quarter

14:56, SDSU – Marquez Cooper 1-yard run (Plascencia PAT) SDSU 26-14

12:08, WSU – Carlos Hernandez 34-yard pass from Mateer (Janikowski PAT) SDSU 26-21

5:03, WSU – Mateer 2-yard run (Kris Hutson to Mateer 2pt GOOD) WSU 29-26

It’s hard to look at anyone else, but Mateer.

Seemingly each week he shows Coug fans and the staff something different they didn’t know he could do, and the WSU signal caller again put the offense on his back Saturday.

One of the most memorable plays was a would-be sack that turned into a first down gain thanks to Mateer’s playmaking ability.

“Luckily I was able to get out of it.” Mateer said, “It was exciting, it got us going. I haven’t seen it, I’m excited to see it. It was a cool play.”

The Cougars couldn’t get a consistent ground game going, which led to Mateer turning to the passing attack as much as he could on early downs to set WSU up in second or third-and-short. It was the same for Mateer’s legs.

Mateer totaled 299 yards of offense with four total touchdowns in the win, and he is quietly emerging as one of the best quarterbacks out west.

Saturday brought the emergence of sophomore defensive lineman Ansel Din-Mbuh.

He was a wrecking ball all night against the SDSU offense with many disguised pressures and Din-Mbuh simply bullying his way though the offensive front leading to three sacks.

The Aztecs are known for being a team that doesn’t turn the ball over, with true freshman quarterback Danny O’Neill only having one interception coming into the game, but he finished Saturday’s game with two giveaways.

Redshirt sophomore linebacker Taariq ‘Buddah’ Al-Uqdah collected his second interception in as many weeks for the Cougars with a fake blitz that sent him back into his zone awaiting the ball in his direction.

Al-Uqdah’s interception was the big starting point for the Cougars’ comeback in the fourth quarter as it set WSU up for a nice drive after a positive return

The play that Mateer will forever be keeping in his highlight reel took place with just under 8 minutes to play. The WSU quarterback was able to evade two defenders on a second-and-long conversion allowing him to escape down the field and pick up enough yardage to move the chains.

Mateer could’ve been sacked for an extra big loss on that second down try, but somehow he managed to turn that into a first down conversion making it the story of the fourth quarter.

The Cougars had early pressure from the Aztecs up front, with sophomore defensive end Trey White making his presence known early, finding himself in the backfield on multiple occasions.

But Mateer was able to just evade his grasp for a potential sack, and move the chains on what would be the eventual game-winning drive for WSU.

It was another week when the Cougars had to come up with some last-second heroics in the fourth quarter to escape with a road victory.

WSU has trailed entering the fourth quarter in all three road games during the Mountain West portion of the slate.

A win is a win, but the Cougars have to play more consistent football throughout all four quarters, like in their previous home game against Hawaii, if they want to be taken more seriously on the national stage.

The last time the Cougars started a season 7-1, they set a program record for most wins that year with an 11-2 record.

WSU will now go into its second bye week of the year with a 7-1 record and will hope to get healthy before welcoming Utah State to Pullman to kick off the final month of the regular season.

Passing

John Mateer – 19 of 27 passes, 257 yards, 2 TDs

Rushing

John Mateer – 21 carries, 42 yards, 2 TDs

Wayshawn Parker – 9 carries for 33 yards

Leo Pulalasi – 4 carries for 6 yards

Djouvensky Schlenbaker – 4 carries for 15 yards

Kyle Williams – 1 carry for 22 yards

Receiving

Carlos Hernandez – 4 receptions for 65 yards, 1 TD

Kyle Williams – 5 receptions for 74 yards

Cooper Mathers – 1 reception for 26 yards, 1 TD

Josh Meredith – 2 receptions for 44 yards

Kris Hutson – 3 receptions for 16 yards

Tre Shackelford – 3 receptions for 27 yards

Leo Pulalasi – 1 reception for 5 yards

Defense

Ansel Din-Mbuh – 4 tackles (3 solo), 3 tackles for loss, 3 sacks

Taariq ‘Buddah’ Al-Uqdah – 3 solo tackles, 1 INT

Kyle Thornton – 6 tackles (5 solo), 2 tackles for loss, 1 pass deflection

David Gusta - 5 tackles (2 solo), 1 pass deflection

Ethan O’Connor – 4 tackles (3 solo), 1 pass deflection

Nusi Malani – 2 solo tackles, 1 sack

Tyson Durant – 8 tackles (4 solo), 1 pass deflection