The Go Cougs Blog

Over this offseason the WSU athletic department has made some good improvements to the football weekend experience. As all Cougs know the big announcement (beer sales at Martin) has not been announced (at least not yet!). Let's dive into what the athletic department has announced. August 30th vs Idaho  WSU kicks off the season against Idaho on August 30th. With a lack of cheap lodging options in Pullman, the athletic department is going to have Camping with the Cougs for the Idaho game. There are going to be 97 camping spots on Mooberry Track as well as the turfed field on Grimes Way. The cost for this is going to be just $250 for 2 nights, much cheaper than most lodging options in Pullman.  I believe that this will be used as a test run for larger scale Camping with the Cougs in the future. This idea is great especially for games earlier in the season where the weather should be good and moisture shouldn't be a factor. If this is a success it could be used as a way to genera...

With fall camp set to begin this Wednesday (!) These are some of the top storylines that I will be monitoring throughout fall camp. I will have another blog post as we learn more throughout fall camp! The Offensive Line  This might be one of the biggest questions that determines how WSUs football season goes. How good is the offensive line? I am of the belief that the offensive line could be the most improved offensive group this season. Jimmy Rogers and staff brought in absolute units and in the new run heavy scheme it is vital that the OL improves from years past. The OL should have a sufficient amount of depth this year as well. Is There a QB Battle?  Is Zevi Eckhaus for sure QB1? The staff brought in 2 intriguing transfers to potentially contend for the QB1 spot. PITT transfer Julian Dugger and Rutgers transfer Ajani Sheppard both have an outside shot to win the position. While I think Zevi is the heavy favorite to be the starter it will be interesting to see if we ha...

How Just $18.90 Could Change the Future of WSU Athletics Donation Numbers  The Cougar Collective currently has somewhere around 2,000 to 2,500 members donating monthly and the Cougar Athletic Fund (CAF)   currently has around 4,000 members. That means that in total there are about 6,500 donors supporting WSU Athletics. This does not account for the people donating to both.  There are currently more than 240,000 living WSU alumni, that means that just 2.7% of living alumni are currently donating to WSU athletics. For reference there are 45,000 members of the WSU Alumni Association and more than 22,000 people in the state of Washington that pay to have a WSU license plate. The Die Hard Cougs Facebook page has 35,000 members.  These numbers clearly show that WSU alumni are passionate, engaged and still care about their alma mater. This also tells me that there is a disconnect when it comes to supporting WSU athletics.  While researching for this piece it was also ...

It is no secret that the attendance at last year's home football games was not good. In 2023 WSU football had a 168,138 total attendance number over 6 games which comes out to an average of 28,023 per home game. In 2024 the attendance number saw a very steep decline. In 2024, WSU football's total attendance number was 134,480 over 6 home games. That is just an average of 22,413 fans per game. That is a decrease of nearly 6,000 fans per home game. A major drop off, causing less revenue for the athletic department at a time when revenue is desperately needed.  Home Schedules  At the surface it is easy to understand why there was such a significant drop in attendance in just a one year span. In 2023 WSU played Wisconsin, Northern Colorado, Oregon State, Arizona, Stanford and Colorado.  In 2024 WSU played Portland State, Texas Tech, San Jose State, Hawai’i, Utah State and Wyoming at home. It is easy to see that this home schedule is less appealing than the home schedule was i...