PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) - Jeff Tuel threw a pair of touchdown passes to Isiah Myers as Washington State hung on to beat Eastern Washington 24-20 on Saturday in the home debut of Cougars coach Mike Leach.
Washington State (1-1), which lost at BYU in the season opener, also unveiled a $65 million upgrade of Martin Stadium in front of the first sellout crowd here since 2007.
Eastern Washington (1-1), an FCS power coming off a victory over Idaho of the FBS, kept it close behind a pair of touchdown receptions by Brandon Kaufman.
This was the first meeting since 1908 between the two programs, located 60 miles apart.
Washington State scored first when Tuel connected with Myers in the back of the end zone on a 2-yard scoring pass with 5:42 left in the first quarter. It was their first touchdown of the season after being held to two field goals by BYU.
Eastern replied on the next series when quarterback Kyle Padron hit Kaufman with a 93-yard touchdown pass to tie the score. But Washington State drove 75 yards on its next series, with Carl Winston rushing over from the 1 to take a 14-7 lead. Winston's 27-yard run was the key play of the drive.
Eastern Washington drove 80 yards on its next series, half coming on a reception by Zack Gehring, before Jordan Talley ran over from the 5 to tie the score at 14 early in the second quarter.
Washington State's Cyrus Coen intercepted a scrambling Padron and ran the ball down to Eastern's 17. On the first play, Tuel passed 17 yards to Myers for a touchdown that put WSU up 21-14.
A 60-yard field goal by WSU's Andrew Furney as time expired gave the Cougars a 24-14 halftime lead. It was the second longest field goal in team history after Jason Hanson's 62-yarder against UNLV in 1991.
The third quarter was scoreless.
Washington State had first-and-goal on the EWU 2 in the fourth quarter, but Teondray Caldwell fumbled on a run and EWU's Allen Brown recovered. The Eagles went on a penalty-filled 99-yard drive that ended with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Padron to Kaufman. The extra point was blocked to leave WSU with a 24-20 lead with 2:17 remaining.
Washington State recovered the onside kick, had two touchdown plays called back because of penalties, and had to punt. Eastern got a last chance with 1:29 left from its 17, but could not score.
Washington State has never lost in 17 games against teams from the FCS. Eastern Washington is 8-21 against FBS teams.
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| Scoring Summary |
| WASHST | Isiah Myers 2 yd pass from Jeff Tuel (Andrew Furney kick) |
| EWASH | Brandon Kaufman 93 yd pass from Kyle Padron (Jimmy Pavel kick) |
| WASHST | Carl Winston 1 yd run (Andrew Furney kick) |
| EWASH | Jordan Talley 5 yd run (Jimmy Pavel kick) |
| WASHST | Isiah Myers 17 yd pass from Jeff Tuel (Andrew Furney kick) |
| WASHST | Andrew Furney 60 yd FG |
| EWASH | Brandon Kaufman 17 yd pass from Kyle Padron (blocked XP) |
| Team Stats | ||
| EWASH | WASHST | |
| First Downs | 22 | 20 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 7-19 | 6-15 |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 2-2 | 0-0 |
| Plays-Net Yards | 85-469 | 67-355 |
| Rushes-Yds | 30-90 | 30-108 |
| Passing Yds | 379 | 247 |
| Kick Return Yds | 44 | 18 |
| Punt Return Yds | 16 | 48 |
| Passes | 26-55-2 | 25-37-1 |
| Punts | 8-375 | 7-347 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 3-0 | 1-1 |
| Penalties-Yds | 10-93 | 8-75 |
| Time of Poss. | 29:52 | 30:8 |
| Individual Stats |
| RUSHING |
| EWASH: Jordan Talley 14-71, Quincy Forte 5-14, Kyle Padron 10-3, Vernon Adams 1-2 |
| WASHST: Carl Winston 12-67, Teondray Caldwell 11-46, Rickey Galvin 1-0, Jeff Tuel 6--5 |
| PASSING |
| EWASH: Kyle Padron 26-54-379-2, Team 0-1-0-0 |
| WASHST: Jeff Tuel 20-26-171-0, Connor Halliday 5-11-76-1 |
| RECEIVING |
| EWASH: Ashton Clark 6-61, Greg Herd 6-57, Brandon Kaufman 5-142, Nicholas Edwards 4-54, Quincy Forte 2-12, Zack Gehring 1-40, Cory Mitchell 1-9, Shaquille Hill 1-4 |
| WASHST: Isiah Myers 6-58, Brett Bartolone 5-15, Marquess Wilson 4-47, Gabe Marks 3-77, Rickey Galvin 3-30, Carl Winston 2--1, Andrei Lintz 1-12, Bobby Ratliff 1-9 |
