Hardly a battle

PULLMAN — Connor Halliday threw four first-half touchdown passes, two to Gabe Marks, and Washington State improved to 3-1 for the first time since 2006 with a dominating 42-0 win over neighboring Idaho Saturday night.

Halliday found Marks on TD throws of 43 yards in the first quarter and a 1-yard slant with 24 seconds left to cap a big half for the Cougars quarterback. Halliday also connected with Dom Williams on a 30-yard TD pass and Vince Mayle for a 20-yard TD.

Jeremiah Laufasa added a 13-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter and a 3-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

WSU recorded its first shutout since beating Idaho 25-0 to open the 2003 season, thanks in part to a goal line stand in the final minute. James Baker was stopped on fourth down at the 1-yard line with 18 seconds left as the Cougars preserved the shutout.

TV cameras caught Idaho coach Paul Petrino and WSU coach Mike Leach exchanging words after the post-game handshake. Neither would address what was said when asked by reporters afterward.

Idaho forced four Washington State turnovers but the Vandal offense was unable to keep pace with the Cougars.

D’Mario Carter and Christian Whitehead each had interceptions and Whitehead also forced a fumble, while Maxx Force recovered two WSU fumbles to lead the Idaho defense.

“I thought our defense played pretty hard all game” Petrino said. “They obviously made a bunch of plays on us but we didn’t take advantage when the defense did make plays. Offensively we just took turns killing ourselves.”

The Vandals produced 253 yards of total offense and held the ball for 38:06, but were hindered by two turnovers.

Washington State had the first quarter lead — but the score came on the heels of the turnovers Petrino has said have wrecked so much havoc so far this fall. Joshua McCain was intercepted by Deone Bucannon who returned the ball to the Idaho 47. Three plays later, Halliday hooked up with Marks for a 43-yard TD.

The teams traded punts for the rest of the quarter until Carter grabbed his first career interception to give the Vandals the ball at the Cougar 45 with 13 seconds remaining in the quarter.

The Vandals didn’t capitalize on the opportunity and the Cougars marched 64 yards in 10 plays to up their lead to 14-0 on a six-yard pass from Halliday to Williams.

Another turnover by the Vandals — the one a fumble by Kristoffer Olugbode led to a one-play scoring drive by the Cougars. Olugbode’s fumble was the end of an already ill-fated drive during which the Vandals had three fumbles and a tackle for loss in facing third and 27 when he lost his grip on the ball. Halliday hooked up with Vince Mayle for the 20-yard TD and the 21-0 lead with 5:05 left in the first half.

The Cougars made it 28-0 just 24 seconds before the half expired when Halliday found Marks with a one-yard toss to score.

The Vandals forced turnovers on three successive WSU possessions — two fumble recoveries by Forde and an interception by Whitehead, in the third quarter but were unable to capitalize on any of them. Instead, the Cougars added another TD after taking over on downs at the Idaho 20. Jeremiah Laufasa scored on a 13-yard run for the 35-0 lead with 2:17 left in the third.

Laufasa made it 42-0 when he capped a 72-yard, 10-play drive with a three-yard run with 8:15 left in the game.

“It’s a process of getting things right,” Petrino said. “We got whopped today so you just have to go back out tomorrow and go to work hard and try to get better.”

Idaho quarterback Chad Chalich completed 17 of 23 passes for 167 yards without an interception or a touchdown, and Josh McCain completed one of two passes for seven yards. His other pass was picked off. Dezmon Epps caught a team-high six passes for Idaho for 37 yards, and James Baker rushed 11 times for 43 yards for the Vandals.

Idaho 0 0 0 0— 0

Washington St. 7 21 7 7—42

First Quarter

WSU_Marks 43 pass from Halliday (Furney kick), 8:43.

Second Quarter

WSU_D.Williams 30 pass from Halliday (Furney kick), 8:11.

WSU_Mayle 20 pass from Halliday (Furney kick), 5:05.

WSU_Marks 1 pass from Halliday (Furney kick), :24.

Third Quarter

WSU_Laufasa 13 run (Furney kick), 2:17.

Fourth Quarter

WSU_Laufasa 3 run (Furney kick), 8:15.

A_31,521.

Id WSU

First downs 17 21

Rushes-yards 49-79 15-71

Passing 174 346

Comp-Att-Int 18-25-1 31-43-2

Return Yards 9 59

Punts-Avg. 7-43.4 2-49.5

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-2

Penalties-Yards 12-73 6-44

Time of Possession 38:06 21:54

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING_Idaho, Baker 11-43, Brown 12-26, Chalich 13-20, Epps 3-10, Olugbode 2-9, Montgomery 1-2, McCain 7-(minus 31). Washington St., Laufasa 6-41, Caldwell 4-22, Mason 4-16, Halliday 1-(minus 8).

PASSING_Idaho, Chalich 17-23-0-167, McCain 1-2-1-7. Washington St., Halliday 31-43-2-346.

RECEIVING_Idaho, Epps 6-37, Lovett 2-33, Brown 2-14, Baker 2-5, Sannon 1-41, Olugbode 1-13, Watson 1-10, Cowan 1-8, Runner 1-7, LaGrone 1-6. Washington St., Marks 11-146, Mayle 4-51, Galvin 3-26, Brooks 3-9, D.Williams 2-47, Myers 2-18, K.Williams 2-18, Ratliff 1-13, Cracraft 1-10, Caldwell 1-4, Laufasa 1-4.