WATCH: Jake Dickert Talks Washington State's Close Loss At Oregon State

Joe Londergan | 2 Hours Ago

Nov 23, 2024; Corvallis, Oregon, USA; Washington State Cougars head coach Jake Dickert on the sidelines during the second quarter against the Oregon State Beavers at Reser Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images / Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

Things did not go the way Washington State head coach Jake Dickert wanted in his team's 41-38 loss to Oregon State over the weekend. Specifically, WSU's defensive struggles caused them a myriad of problems and allowed the Beavers to rack up nearly 500 yards of offense.

Dickert met with the media postgame the discuss his 8-3 team's performance and what they need to correct in the final week of the season. Watch the full presser below.

NOTES

- "I think first and foremost, I mean our guys gave us everything they had. I'm proud of them. I love the way they responded this week. I thought we had a great week of practice. I appreciated their efforts. This is a players game and they made one more play than us down the stretch. I thought it was obviously a back-and-forth contest. I felt great about having the ball there at the end. I didn't really feel like they could stop us. Listen, one play doesn't win or lose a game. That's what I told these guys, okay. One play doesn't win or lose a game, but there's a microcosm of some undisciplined play and execution, right, that hurt us especially early in the game. But I am proud of our football team. These guys have no quit in them. I'm proud to be their coach and we fell short tonight."

-On WSU's defensive issues: "I mean they were just so far ahead of us on fourth downs, you know. I think they kept the chains moving. We were never able to get that one one stop. I think the one we got was early in the game. So they went four for four the rest of the way. They're ahead of us on third down and you know obviously I thought we did a good job stopping their run game. You know they came out with five and ran the same New Mexico plays of last week, is what we thought they were kind of going to do. But it's just not enough playmaking kind of in the core of our defense tonight and credit to Oregon State."

-On where to go from here: "Obviously we're at the last game of the season. Like I said, the heart, the mind, the belief in our team just isn't evaporated in the last two weeks. Our guys still trust what we're doing. We got to do a little bit better. It's on me, you know. I'm the head coach. I got to put them in the best situations to utilize our personnel, to go out there and win football games that we're capable of winning. These last two losses, we're capable of winning these games, you know. So I take a critical eye at myself first and then I figure out ways that I can improve, and like I said our guys will do what we ask them to do, and they'll come back to practice and they'll keep giving us everything and and that's what I love and appreciate about our team."

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