PULLMAN -- Exactly two weeks ago, Jimmy Rogers sat inside the Cougar Football Complex, offered a wry smile and acknowledged one of his Washington State team's biggest weaknesses.
"Yeah, we're terrible right now at tackling," he said.
It was after a dismal defensive performance from WSU's defense, which had missed 21 tackles in a loss to power Ole Miss. That brought the Cougars' season total to 102 missed tackles, second-most nationwide. Two of the players who had missed the most tackles in the country belonged to WSU.
How things can change. Two weeks later, and the Cougs have nearly cut their tackling issues in half, missing 12 in a loss to Virginia and 10 in a win over Toledo last weekend. That paved the way for WSU's defense to turn in two stellar outings, allowing just two touchdowns to the top-20 Virginia Cavaliers and just one to the Toledo Rockets, who entered last weekends matchup with the Cougars, averaging more than 200 rushing yards per game.
Are those numbers still higher than what Rogers would like? Certainly. The Cougars have now missed 124 tackles, which remains the second-highest figure in the country, ahead of only Eastern Michigan. Veteran linebacker Caleb Francl has now missed 20 tackles, tied for second-most in the country, and redshirt freshman linebacker Anthony Palano has missed 17 -- tied for third-most.
But it's also true that WSU seems to be improving in the tackling department across these last two games. That helped the Cougs ground the Rockets' robust rushing attack, limiting them to just 61 yards on the ground. It is also worth noting that star running back Chip Trayanum missed the game with an undisclosed injury. Still, on the year, WSU is now yielding 140.1 rushing yards per game, which ranks No. 62 in college football.
As a result, the Cougs' defense has become the strength of their team.
"I think it's the same thing that makes all great defenses great," Rogers said. "Communication alignment, keeping your leverage, making sure you tackle. It's not just communication presnap, it's through the snap, and it's everybody playing together and rallying to the ball and being extremely physical and taking the right angle on tackles and trusting their teammates.
"When you can illustrate a picture, which I believe our defensive staff, coach (Jesse) Bobbit do an unbelievable job of creating a culture on the side where they're not just playing for themselves and they're playing together and for each other. I think there's a recipe for success in that. Bobbit's done a really good job with our defense."
Months ago, when WSU was midway through fall camp, Bobbit laid out his vision. As the Cougars' defensive coordinator, he had a goal for each game: Hold each opponent under 14 points. Maybe that seemed lofty at the time, especially considering WSU's schedule, which included two road contests against Power 4 foes, both of which wound up ranked by the time the matchups rolled around.
Well, in their last four games, the Cougars have held opponents to an average of 13.5 points -- even under Bobbit's goal.
The foundation has included a better approach to tackling. Players drilled tackling hard in practice in recent weeks, Rogers said, indicating he believes that's a trend a team can turn around in the middle of a season. WSU has delivered on that philosophy.
In an interesting twist, coaches have also shown a willingness to solve that problem by plugging in different players. The most recent example involves true freshman linebacker Sullivan Schlimgen, who has now earned more snaps than Palano in two of the last three games. Against Toledo, Schlimgen took 46 snaps to Palano's 22.
"Honestly, he tackled better than Anthony on Saturday, and that's why he played more," Rogers said of Schlimgen after WSU's loss to Ole Miss.
Can the Cougars' defense get even better? Without a doubt. But that unit is making meaningful progress.
Note
The Cougars added two members to their recruiting class of 2026: junior college cornerback Bryce Heckard and high-school prospect Jarvse Dickerson, the latter of whom hails from the Houston area. Those two make the 19th and 20th members of the Cougars' class. Since Friday, the Cougars have piled up six commitments.