Pac-12 Conference Clash Preview: Washington State vs. Oregon State

Washington State and Oregon State enter Saturday night's Pac-12 clash with four wins each. This year's face-off looks to be much more explosive than last year's 19-6 Oregon State victory over Washington State.

Benefactors of a soft first-half schedule, Saturday offers one team the opportunity to establish itself as a rising power. The loser will still have work to accomplish in an increasingly powerful Pac-12 conference that can challenge the SEC for dominance.

Saturday's matchup features two of the top eight passing games in the FBS, according to ESPN. Neither Oregon State nor Washington State runs the ball very often or effectively, ranking 121st and 122nd in the nation respectively.

Last week's aerial battle between Washington State and California totaled over 1,000 yards, and Saturday's tilt could produce similar results.

For several years in a row, Oregon State has fielded a powerful offense and fields one again this season.

After several forgettable seasons, Washington State is in the second year of head coach Mike Leach's rebuilding process. In just his second year, Leach's implementation of the Air Raid is nearing completion. A win against Oregon State would place WSU in prime position to play its first bowl game since 2003.

WSU should put on a fireworks display against an Oregon State defense giving up 31.6 points and 400 yards per game. Even worse, the Beaver defense surrendered 49 points to FCS-school Eastern Washington.

Under the guidance of Leach, Washington State owns the eighth-ranked passing attack, averaging 359.7 yards each week. In order to win, quarterback Connor Halliday needs as big a game as last week. He cannot afford to make mistakes like he did during his rough performance last year in Corvallis.

"I think it had more to do with Connor," Leach said during Washington State's weekly Monday press conference. "Going into Oregon St., he never really started or played very much. So the fact that he's started and played whatever it is, I think six full games, it's definitely helped him and he's way ahead of where he was last year."

Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion leads the second-ranked aerial assault, throwing for 2,000 yards, 21 touchdowns and just two interceptions. Despite being torched by Stanford for 55 points just two weeks ago, the Cougar defense has only allowed 20.8 points per game and hopes to challenge Mannion's early season success. But if WSU's defense fails, Saturday night will rapidly devolve into a shoot-out.

PREDICTION: Washington State 42, Oregon State 35

This article was originally published by me on the Bleacher Report.

Washington State Cougars Potential Bowl Outlook

In his second year, Mike Leach's overhaul of the Washington State football program is showing impressive signs of development in all areas from defense to the passing game and, surprisingly, the run game. As a result, Washington State should qualify for its first bowl game since 2003.

Leach inherited the team from Paul Wulff, who went 9-40 overall and 4-32 in conference play, good for the worst win-loss record of any coach in Cougars history. After experiencing some initial bumps during his first season where his team went 3-9, Leach has seemingly begun righting the ship and put the Cougars in position for their first six-win season in seven years.

The Cougars schedule should help Leach earn two more wins and qualify for a bowl berth. Over the course of the next two months, Washington State will play Oregon State, No. 2 Oregon, Arizona State, Arizona and Utah before taking on No. 16 Washington in the Apple Cup.

Washington State will likely lose against Oregon and Washington barring a major upset, but the Cougars have the potential to defeat the remaining four teams, or at least go 2-2.

Excluding Stanford's 55-point outburst, Washington State's defense has been playing much stronger than last year, allowing just 14 points per game. Including the Stanford game bumps the average up to 20.8 points per game, which is still good for 35th in the FBS.

The defense's best game was against Southern California, ranked 25th at the time. Thanks to a pick-six and a blocked field goal, the Cougars won 10-7 and held the Trojans to their lowest point total in the past 10 years after averaging 45.4 points per game against the Cougars in their last seven meetings.

Even the run game is performing twice as well. Although ranked 122nd in the nation with 58.7 yards per game, which is characteristic of Leach's Air Raid, the run game has chalked up 352 yards with six touchdowns compared to the 349 yards and six touchdowns earned throughout the entirety of last season.

Although no Mike Leach-coached team will ever win a game by running the ball, the run game is strong enough to keep opposing defenses honest and refrain from blitzing multiple defenders or dropping seven or eight into coverage.

The most important factor behind Washington State's development is the improved quarterback play of Connor Halliday who spearheads the eighth-ranked passing attack in 2013, according to ESPN.

Halliday split time last season with current Buffalo Bills backup Jeff Tuel. Combined, Halliday and Tuel completed 58.2 percent of their passes for 3,965 yards, 23 touchdowns and 21 interceptions.

In six games, Halliday has surpassed his performance from last year.

Season      CMP  ATT   YDS    CMP%    TD    INT    SACK    QBR    Adj. QBR
2013          189    290    1993    65.2        13    10         9           51.7         65.8
2012          152    291    1878    52.2        15    13        22          34.5         35.3

Leach's Air Raid relies on excellent quarterback play. In his first season as the full-time starter, Halliday is proving that he is capable of coordinating Leach's aerial attack.

In his most recent game at California, Halliday completed 41 of 67 passing for 521 yards, three touchdowns and one interception as Washington State routed California 44-22. Halliday bounced back nicely after a lackluster performance two weeks ago against Stanford, setting a school record and climbing to second place in completions and yards. Only former quarterback Alex Brink threw for more yardage in a single game.

"We came out with our hair on fire, but we've got to be able to keep rolling and putting up points for our defense," Halliday said during a post-game interview (via Lew Wright of All Coug'd Up) after leading the Cougars to victory against California. "We had some looks to throw the ball out there today and we had the ball for a long time. That's going to happen in this offense."

If Halliday can cut down on the rate he throws interceptions, he might become as prolific as previous quarterbacks in Leach's system, like Graham Harrell.

ESPN writer Ted Miller agrees that Washington State will earn entry into a bowl game, projecting that the Cougars will play in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl on December 21 against Mountain West (No. 4). Another potential landing spot is the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl against either BYU or ACC (No. 9).

Anything less than a bowl game would be a disappointment. Next year, though, Leach's program should begin its ascent to levels similarly experienced by Leach's former team, Texas Tech.

This article was originally published by me on the Bleacher Report.