Washington State hits the road with a Pac-12 Conference matchup at Arizona State in Tempe Saturday afternoon. Kickoff is set for Noon on Fox Sports 1.

SERIES HISTORY
Washington State trails the all-time series with Arizona State 15-27-2 but has won two of the last three meetings. ASU won the last meeting, 38-34 in 2019 in Tempe. The Cougars are 6-17-2 all-time in Tempe and last won in 2016, 37-32.

ABOUT WASHINGTON STATE
Washington State enters the week with a 4-4 overall record including a 3-2 mark in Pac-12 Conference play after posting three straight conference wins, at Cal, against Oregon State and Stanford. WSU dropped a nonconference matchup to BYU, 21-19 in Pullman last weekend. The Cougar defense enters the week second in the Pac-12 and No. 13 in the country with 15 takeaways while the 44 tackles-for-loss are fourth in the league. Quarterback Jayden de Laura leads the Pac-12 with 15 passing touchdowns, Max borghi is tied for third in the Pac-12 with eight rushing touchdowns and receivers Travell Harris (51) and Calvin Jackson Jr. (41) rank third and fourth in the league in the receptions, respectively. Linebacker Jahad Woods moved into the WSU Top-5 for career tackles earlier this season and enters the week with 380 career stops, most among all active Pac-12 tacklers

LEADERSHIP CHANGE WITH FOOTBALL PROGRAM, JAKE DICKERT NAMED ACTING HEAD COACH
October 18, due to the requirements set forth in Washington Governor Jay Inslee's Proclamation 21-14.1, Nick Rolovich was no longer able to fulfill the duties as the football head coach at Washington State University. In addition, four football assistant coaches, Ricky Logo, John Richardson, Craig Stutzmann and Mark Weber, are also not in compliance with the Proclamation. As a result, Washington State University has initiated the separation process based on the terms of their respective contracts, effective immediately. Proclamation 21-14.1, prohibits, "Any State Agency from permitting any Worker to engage in work for the agency after October 18, 2021, if the Worker has not been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and provided proof thereof to the agency." Current WSU defensive coordinator Jake Dickert was elevated to acting head coach Oct. 18.

ALL-PURPOSE, ALL THE TIME
• Cougar running backs served all-purpose roles for the Air Raid and increased their production in the run-n-shoot offense
• Last season, Deon McIntosh rushed for a career-high 147 yards in the win at Oregon State, the most by a Coug since Dwight Tardy's 214 yards against UCLA in 2007
• Borghi opened the 2021 season with 86 rushing yards including a 64-yard rushing touchdown against Utah State
• Borghi, McIntosh and Jayden de Laura each rushed for a touchdown against Portland State
• In the win at Cal, Borghi and McIntosh combined for 93 rush yards and 6.2 yards-per-carry
• In the win over Oregon State, the two combined for 98 rush yards and each scored a touchdown, Borghi (2-yard rush) and McIntosh (1-yard rec)
• In the win over Stanford, Borghi rushed for 89 yards and a pair of 2-yard TD runs
• Last week against BYU, Borghi rushed for a career-high 3 TD (11,1,1)
• Borghi enters the week tied for 3rd in the Pac-12 with 8 rushing TD and 2nd in WSU history with 28 career rushing TD

COUGAR DEFENSE CONTINUES TO IMPROVE
• Since 2015, the Cougars are 32-10 when forcing multiple turnovers
• Jahad Woods enters the week with 380 career tackles, 5th in WSU history, most by any active Pac-12 player and 2nd-most among all FBS players
• WSU opened 2021 by forcing a pair of turnovers against Utah State, recorded two more against Portland State and added 3 more takeaways along with 9 TFL against USC
• WSU forced six fumbles and recovered three at Utah
• in the win at Cal, WSU allowed just 273 yards of total offense, the fewest yards allowed since San Jose State week two in 2018 (109)
• in the win over Oregon State, WSU picked off two passes, allowed just 158 pass yards and held OSU to 0-for-3 on 4th-down attempts
• in the win over Stanford, WSU recovered 2 more fumbles, tallied 8 TFL including 4 sacks
• WSU enters the week leading the Pac-12 with 8 fumble recoveries, 8th-most in the country
• WSU's 15 takeaways are 2nd in the Pac-12 and No. 13 in the country