GAME BREAKDOWN
KEY MATCHUP: Washington State has the top-rated passing attack — by far — in the Pac-12, led by quarterback Gardner Minshew II. The Cougars average 392.3 passing yards per game. The next highest conference team is Stanford at 286.4. Arizona’s pass defense has struggled, ranked No. 9 in the league, allowing 248.7 yards a game. The Wildcats have the league’s top rushing attack, averaging 206.4 yards, while Washington State’s run defense is solid at No. 3, allowing only 125.4 a game.
DRAFT SLANT
–QB Gardner Minshew II, a graduate transfer from East Carolina, has emerged from nowhere to be a Heisman Trophy candidate and an NFL draft pick, according to NFLDraftScout.com’s Rob Rang. When asked by the Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review recently about Minshew’s draft status, Rang said, “I think he’s probably fifth to seventh round right now, but I think a month ago he wasn’t even that and a month from now he could be more in that third to fourth round range.” Minshew, 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, leads the nation with 385.2 passing yards per game while completing 69.6 percent of his passes (364 of 523) with 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
ROSTER REPORT:
–DE Nnamdi Oguayo has returned after missing three weeks with an undisclosed injury. He had one tackle last week at Colorado.
–LB Derek Moore is out indefinitely with an undisclosed injury. He is questionable to return against Arizona this week.
–CB Sean Harper Jr., who started the first six games of the season, was held out for the last four weeks because of an undisclosed lower-body injury. How long Harper will be out is uncertain.