PULLMAN – Jake Dickert has all but given up on trying to kill time by taking naps. It’ll be a Saturday morning, hours before his No. 20 Washington State team is set for another late kickoff, and he might consider a snooze.
“That doesn’t work,” Dickert said. Instead, on the four occasions WSU has been scheduled for a late-night kickoff this season, the Cougars head coach will bide his time in other ways. He doesn’t watch other college football games – “It just stresses me out,” he said – so in the morning, he’ll get together with the team.
The Cougars will stretch, chat, go into meetings with each other and their coaches. This fall, WSU has had to get creative in spending time before kickoff. Through eight games, the Cougars have kicked off at 7 p.
m. or later four times: 7 p.m.
against Texas Tech, 7 p.m. against San Jose State, 8 p.
m. against Boise State and most recently, 7:30 p.m.
against San Diego State on Oct. 26. WSU has gone 3-1 in those matchups, its only loss coming to BSU, which is No.
12 in the first installment of College Football Playoff rankings. Two of WSU’s final four regular-season games are also set for similar times: 7:30 p.m.
Saturday against visiting Utah State, and 7:30 p.m. Mountain time at New Mexico on Nov.
16. The Cougs get a break for the final two weeks (their games against Oregon State and Wyoming are both slated for 3:30 p.m.
kickoffs), but all told WSU will have kicked off at 6:30 p.m. or later six times – half of their g.
