Pullman, WA – Washington State filled the stat sheet with big plays in the first half then rolled on to a 70-30 season-opening win over the Portland State Vikings.
 
After being stopped on their initial series, the Cougars scored six straight touchdowns on offense, ranging from 30 to 58 yards in length. Four of the touchdowns were passes by quarterback John Mateer, who was making his first career start. That got WSU out to a 49-10 halftime lead and the Vikings could not recover.
 
Portland State moved the ball on offense, totaling 449 yards on the day, but could not stop the pass-heavy Washington State offense. The Cougars went for 637 yards, including 413 through the air.
 
"Coach Dickert has a good football team," said Vikings Coach Bruce Barnum of the Cougars. "They picked the right guy at quarterback. Mateer played well today. They played well and they played clean. We didn't tackle well, but they have good players.
 
"We have to clean some stuff up. I think I have a good football team but you can't play a team like that and have the multitude of mistakes that we had."
 
Portland State's defense got off to the best start possible, forcing the Cougars to a three-and-out in the first series of the game. Then, the offense put a score on the board quickly. Freshman running back Delon Thompson broke away on a 53-yard run. Two plays later, quarterback Dante Chachere scored on a five-yard scamper for a 7-0 Viking lead.
 
Washington came back behind Mateer. The Cougar signal-caller completed TD passes of 30, 39 and 58 yards on WSU's next three possessions for a 22-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
Mathias Uribe kicked a 44-yard field goal to open the second quarter and get the Vikings within 22-10.
 
WSU tailback Wayshawn Parker scored on a 54-yard run and the Cougars were up 29-10. A few minutes later, Parker caught a 52-yard touchdown pass from Mateer. That made it 36-10 Cougs midway through the second quarter.
 
Later in the second quarter, the Vikings drove 14 plays and 71 yards. On a fourth-and-goal play from the four-yard line, Chachere was intercepted by Stephen Hall, who returned it 100 yards for a score.
 
In the final 90 seconds of the half, Chachere and then Will Haskell engineered another Viking scoring drive. Chachere moved PSU to the Wazzu 29, but came out of the game after being hit from behind. Haskell came in and completed two passes, the second was an 11-yard score to wide receiver Branden Alvarez.
 
At halftime it was 49-17 Washington State. The Cougars had 393 yards of total offense to 260 for the Vikings.
 
Portland State continued to move the football in the second half, a positive sign for the 2024 season. They scored two more touchdowns, with both coming on 75-yard drives. Eric Denham had a 40-yard TD reception from Chachere in the third quarter. Chachere scored a second rushing touchdown with a four-yard run on a fourth-down play in the fourth quarter.
 
However, the hole was too deep for the Vikings. WSU still had a 21-13 advantage after halftime.
 
PSU had 215 rushing yards and 234 passing yards for the game. Thompson came up just shy of 100 yards with 15 carries for 96 yards. Craig had 10 rushes for 54 yards, four receptions for 24 yards and completed a pass on a halfback option for 28 yards.
 
Chachere was 14-25 for 175 yards, a touchdown and a pick. Haskell completed 5-9 passes for 31 yards and a score.
 
Senior cornerback Tyreese Shakir made a team-high seven tackles. Sophomore linebacker Peyton Wing made five stops, including one tackle for loss.
 

GAME NOTES

• Portland State is 1-4 all-time against Washington State…. The Vikings are 4-47 all-time against FBS level programs.
• Delon Thompson had the biggest offensive play of the day for the Vikings with a 53-yard run.
• Despite coming out late in the first half with an injury, Dante Chachere returned in the third quarter and tossed a 40-yard touchdown pass to Eric Denham. With two rushing TDs and a passing TD, Chachere has 57 career TDs in all.
• Senior Travis West made his debut on the offensive side of the ball after three years on defense. West made two receptions for 41 yards.
• The Vikings will have an early start to Big Sky Conference play with a game at Weber State next Saturday. The Vikings and the Wildcats meet at 6 p.m. MT/5 p.m. PT in Ogden. The game can be seen on ESPN+.