Cougs Weekly: Inside WSU’s big day on offense in Moore’s 1st win

The WSU Cougars picked up their first win of the season, and their first under head coach Kirby Moore, by beating Duquesne 48-7 on Saturday in Pullman.

On this week’s edition of Seattle Sports’ Cougs Weekly, Moore shared his insights on a big performance by his Wazzu offense.

With Caden Pinnick (17-of-22 passing, 196 yards, two touchdowns) running things at quarterback, the Cougars racked up 512 yards of offense, including 316 on the ground led by running backs Maxwell Woods (116 yards) and Kirby Vorhees (109 yards, two TDs).

@KirbyVorhees9 HOUSE CALL. pic.twitter.com/dtUhNQju74

— Washington State Football (@WSUCougarFB) September 19, 2026

Monroe native Branden Ganashamoorthy led the receivers with four catches for 67 yards and a TD.

Here’s a look at what Moore said in his weekly conversation with WSU legend Michael Bumpus.

A balanced attack

You just want balance. I think that’s the big thing. We wanted to get some misdirection there early. We got the misdirection play there with Max (Maxwell Woods) out in space. And then with that, we’ve got to make sure we give our skill guys enough opportunities. So I wanted to make sure we spaced the field a little bit more, played with some pace, and I thought our guys did a nice job of responding with that. And that helped create some explosive plays and have a better flow there in the second half.

The receivers

BG (Branden Ganashamoorthy) did a really nice job there. Every time we’ve targeted him throughout the season, he’s done a great job of coming down with it. And you look at the red zone, you know, obviously put some lift there on the ball, had a couple individual routes. And, you know, D-Blood (Daniel Blood) had a nice kind of crossing route there over the middle as well. So we’ve got to continue to build off that and be more explosive in the pass game.

Running backs lead the way

I think every game has a life of its own. Depending on who you’re playing, what their strengths are, where you feel like you have the best matchups, and those guys did a nice job with their opportunities. Starts with the offensive line. I know those guys setting edges at the tackle position showed up. And so we’ve got to make sure we’re always looking at that. I don’t think we can ever say, hey, this is the only thing we’re going to be about from an offensive standpoint. I think you want to have versatility and did a nice job of having balance there.

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