PULLMAN – Coming off their first loss, the No. 19 Washington State Cougars return home Saturday to take on an improved Arizona squad, who is coming off of back-to-back closely contested games against two top-10 teams in the country.

The Wildcats lost 31-24 to No. 7 Washington on Sept. 30 and lost 43-41 in triple overtime to then-No. 9 USC on Saturday.

“Arizona, to me, is the most improved team in the league,” WSU coach Jake Dickert said at a press conference Monday. “I’ve watched pretty much every team, and I think it’s evident and it’s obvious. The last two results against top-10 teams are no fluke.”

WSU fell 25-17 on the road to UCLA last week, where the Cougars had their lowest total yards of offense (216) of the season.

“At the end of the day all the credit goes to UCLA, but they were tougher in tough moments than we were,” Dickert said. “Tough doesn’t just mean physical tough – it’s executing, it’s mental toughness, it’s doing your job, it’s relying on your techniques, it’s an effort and a strain to finish. They did it more times than we did.”

The Cougars’ 12 rushing yards on 19 attempts were the fewest in a game since a zero-yard performance against Utah in 2018. Quarterback Cam Ward was sacked three times, which led to a total loss of 25 yards on the ground and running back Nakia Watson gained 25 yards on 11 carries.

“I think it does have to do with UCLA having a good defensive line, but I also think we definitely left a little bit out there,” Watson said at a press conference Tuesday. “We didn’t play up to our standard. We just have to go from there.”

Arizona has had two quarterbacks start under center this season; former Cougar Jayden de Laura and redshirt freshman Noah Fifita. de Laura started Arizona’s first four games of the year but left the Wildcats’ 21-20 win over Stanford in the third quarter with an injury, and has thrown for 1,069 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions. He’s also added 131 yards and three scores on the ground.

Fifita entered the game against Stanford and then started Arizona’s next two outings against Washington and USC, throwing for 604 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions.

Arizona coach Jedd Fisch said that de Laura will start Saturday if he is “100% healthy” at a press conference Monday.

“(Fifita) is operating the offense at a really high level,” Dickert said. “They’re similar, yet different; both can really throw the ball. (de Laura’s) going to have more off-script plays and do a little bit different things like Cam (Ward) does, while (Fifita) really operates in the framework of the offense and can really run, but takes off in normal escape patterns.”

Lining up outside for the Wildcats is Tetairoa McMillan, a six-foot-five wide receiver who has amassed 524 receiving yards and five touchdowns on 33 catches through Arizona’s six games this fall. With the height advantage going to McMillan over the Cougar cornerbacks, WSU corner Cam Lampkin said it’s most important to follow technique.

“Just trust in your technique,” Lampkin said at a press conference Tuesday. “... Size doesn’t really matter to me; you can be tall but not be good at football, or you can be good at football and not tall. It’s just a thing about it, so I feel like the size doesn’t really matter.”

WSU cornerbacks coach Ray Brown shared a similar sentiment, adding that the Cougar cornerbacks prepare for opposing receivers the same way every week.

“We prepare the same way, it’s always the same way,” Brown said at a press conference Wednesday. “At the end of the day for us, it's always about the execution of what we do and nothing to do with anybody else. Every opponent, they have their strengths, they have their weaknesses. We try to do a great job of understanding what they do well, what they struggle with, then we just go out and focus on our task and what we’re supposed to do.”

The Cougars have won three straight games against Arizona, including a 31-20 win on the road last season. Kickoff is at 4 p.m. in Pullman.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.