There are a number of questions for first-year Washington State head coach Jimmy Rogers after the offense's valiant but futile performance against the heavily favored Huskies in the Apple Cup:

Why use all your timeouts up early in the first half, preventing a final drive after UW's field goal?

Or, after a flawless touchdown drive to start the second half with all the momentum, why risk an onside kick giving UW the chance to respond in immediate scoring position?

Or, why is the ground game so, so paltry?

But by far the most important question is why hasn't Zevi Eckhaus been starting at quarterback all season?

It may be tough to get a straight answer. Rogers was coy about who would leading the Cougars all preseason, and throughout the games, starting Jaxon Potter but also playing Julian Dugger and, eventually, Eckhaus.

When asked Rogers defended the decision to start Potter over the more proven Eckhaus at first, then on Monday of this week said there would be a new QB competition, before indirectly retracting that on Wednesday. On Wednesday he actually said the decision to start Eckhaus had been made on Sunday, prior to his Monday statement about an open competition.

Confused yet? You are not alone. Under Potter the team seemed rudderless in a 13-10 win over FCS Idaho, improved in the Homecoming win over San Diego State, and then downright disastrous in last week's 59-10 loss at North Texas, a game that just a couple years ago would have been considered a preseason warmup before conference play began.

If you open the paper and just see the final score it may be tough to tell, but Saturday was the best WSU's offense has looked since Eckhaus last started in the 2024 Holiday Bowl. In that game, against what is proving to be a very good Syracuse program, Eckhaus replaced John Mateer and threw for 363 yards and four touchdowns in a game WSU was not expected to be competitive.

The final stats for Eckhaus won't put him on any Player of the Week lists. 26 completions in 37 attempts for 292 yards, two TD passing and two interceptions, with another touchdown and a fumble on the ground.

But in a game where the defense literally did not get a stop, Eckhaus kept the Cougars in it for most of the game, leading four consecutive scoring drives before turnovers did him in. It was a tough result to avoid when the running backs combined for a mere 24 yards on 14 carries, and frankly both interceptions could reasonably be blamed on wide receivers. WSU's first three-and-out came on its final drive.

It is fair for Rogers to want to put his stamp on his new program as quickly as possible, and bringing so many of his former coaches and players from South Dakota State has certainly done that. And 2-2 is not such a disastrous position to be in.

But the Cougars need to steady the ship after consecutive blowout losses. With more than a month until their next home game, the team needs to coalesce around one quarterback. What has felt likely since last season ended was made obvious on Saturday: Eckhaus gives WSU the best chance of winning football games in 2025.

Eckhaus needed to be perfect and he wasn't. But he was a steady hand against a heavily favored opponent. He is a good football player, which he showed throwing for 10,000 yards at Bryant University, against Syracuse, and again on Saturday. He should be the starter going forward.