Washington State lists entire depth chart with ‘OR’ at every position

The regular season is here in college football. Now, just ahead of games opening up Week 1 on Thursday night, programs around the country are sharing their depth charts for Week 1. That includes the Washington State Cougars. However, the Cougars had a unique approach to their depth chart.

It’s common practice to list starters and the backups on a depth chart. However, sometimes, a starter or depth spot hasn’t fully been decided. In that case, the word “or” is used to signify the position battle. However, Washington State decided to be coy with their depth chart, listing “or” for every single position on the field.

The Washington State coaching staff, apparently, doesn’t want to give anything away going into the season. That’s not entirely uncommon. After all, plenty of teams look for a way around giving out information. Other teams like to troll the process. New Mexico, for instance, trolled Michigan with a fake depth chart since the Wolverines don’t like to release one.

Certainly, this is a time of uncertainty for the Washington State program. Former head coach Jake Dickert left following the end of the 2024 season. He’d be replaced by Jimmy Rogers, who previously was the head coach at South Dakota State. Along with that coaching change came, usurpingly, a ton of roster turnover.

Washington State finished with the addition of 33 players in the Transfer Portal. Among those, 16 are following Rogers from South Dakota State. The Cougars also had 35 total commits in the Class of 2025. That’s made for a complete roster flip. So, there are plenty of questions about the roster there on the whole.

All of this comes at a time of massive change for Washington State. The Cougars are dealing with changes like the House Settlement and NIL. They’re also dealing with the changing landscape of the Pac-12. As one of two teams left behind by conference realignment, they had to rebuild. Now, that’s included a new media deal with The CW, which will run through the 2030-31 season.

Washington State will have to reveal some of the secrets behind its depth chart sooner or later. The Cougars have their first game of the season on August 30th against Idaho. A week later, they’ll begin FBS play against San Diego State. So, it will be interesting to see if every position on the depth chart continues to be listed as “or” even once the season is underway and starters have taken the field for the first time.