Cougars already facing a must-win against Nevada

The Cougars made some defensive changes after allowing 496 yards of offense against Rutgers. (AP)

Washington State at Nevada

Where: Mackay Stadium (Reno, Nev.)
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Radio: AM 770 KTTH
Line: Cougars by 4

What’s at stake: More than likely, a bowl game is at stake for the Cougars. They’ve already lost to one team they were favored to beat in Rutgers; they can’t afford to drop another if they hope to get to six wins again.

Why the Cougars could win: You’d think a team from the Pac-12 would be superior to one from the Mountain West, and that might be the case in this matchup.

After their 41-38 loss to Rutgers, I have no idea if the Cougs are good, bad or something in between. I know the passing offense is good – Connor Halliday proved that last year and threw for 532 yards and five touchdowns last week. But what about the defense, giving up 173 rushing yards to Rutgers’ Paul James and recording only one sack?

The Cougars were burned on a long touchdown pass on the first play of the game, prompting changes in the secondary. Tracy Clark is out, Daquawn Brown is taking his cornerback spot, and Charleston White is moving into Brown’s former spot. We’ll see if that helps. Strong-side linebacker Cyrus Coen returns from injury, and that should give the Cougs a lift, too.

It’s also encouraging to see that Nevada gave up 380 yards in a 28-19 win over Southern Utah last Saturday. Thunderbirds quarterback Aaron Cantu averaged 9.85 yards an attempt, suggesting another big night for Halliday, who could surpass 1,000 passing yards in his first two games.

Why the Cougs could lose: Well, if they can lose to Rutgers, they can lose to anybody. That’s the skeptical feeling, anyway. But maybe Rutgers will turn out to be better than we thought going into the game.

Any road game is difficult, and this one’s at altitude, but the Cougars are 6-1 against the point-spread in their last seven road games.

They’ll have trouble containing Nevada quarterback Cody Fajardo, who completed 30 of 41 passes for 303 yards against Southern Utah. He’s also a big running threat.

Prediction: Washington State should be able to generate more rushing yards than the 14 they managed against Rutgers. Nevada had one of the worst rushing defenses in the country last year. That could prove to be the difference.

The Cougars should also have a huge night through the air with Halliday throwing to Vince Mayle and Isiah Myers again. I wonder about River Cracraft, though, since he hasn’t played all week because of an undisclosed injury.

But Nevada has play-makers, too. Besides Fajardo, Don Jackson rushed for 110 yards last week and Jerico Richardson had 13 receptions for 177 yards.

I hate picking against the Cougs and rarely do it because I’m such a crimson-and-gray homer, but our defense was so unimpressive against Rutgers that I think Nevada’s going to beat us in a high-scoring game. Wolfpack 41, Cougars 38.

2014 record against the spread:1-0

The Go 2 Guy also writes for SeattlePI.com and KitsapSun.com. You can reach Jim at jimmoorethego2guy@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @cougsgo.