For the first time since 2014, however, a bowl game won’t be the destination. The Cougars were already facing long odds when it came to the convoluted 2020 bowl season, needing to beat Utah on the road Saturday to merely qualify for the college football postseason with the Pac-12-mandated .500 record. With only four bowls in play for the conference, WSU would also need luck. Some combination of USC, Washington, Oregon, Stanford and Colorado would probably have to opt out for the 2-2 Cougars to nab a backdoor invite. It won’t come down to that for the Cougars. Even if everything aligned for WSU, first-year coach Nick Rolovich confirmed the next time his team would be playing competitive football after Saturday’s game at Rice Eccles-Stadium in Salt Lake City (10:30 a.m., FS1) will be on Sept. 4, 2021, in Pullman against Utah State.