Coach Leach has built a remarkably steady machine in Pullman, with four consecutive 8+ win seasons and surviving the loss of quarterbacks, coaches, and other key personnel. This offseason has presented another set of departures of important players that, while small in number, are potentially huge in impact, and will test just how well constructed that machinery is.
The schedule gets a bit tougher - still no Power-5 team in the non-conference, but Houston in NRG Stadium is a harder match than any OOC game they played in 2018, missing Arizona and USC from the South instead of ASU and UCLA, and playing Utah, Oregon, ASU, and Cal on the road .