Caden Pinnick

#12 · QB · Washington State6′0″ · 192 lb · Loomis, CA · Del Oro

ZPR22111th of 119 QBs Last gameL 20–26at San Diego State · Oct 31

Nextvs Colorado StateSat Nov 14 · 10:30 pm ET

Did not play in Washington State’s last 3 games.

Owen Eshelman started the last one, L 20-26 at San Diego State, Oct 31.

Washington State’s next game: vs Colorado State, Sat Nov 14, 10:30 p.m. ET · CBS Sports Network

Washington State has lost three straight in the games played. A mobile passer.

Weakest: 3% of throws gain 20 or more yards, 2nd lowest of 158 starters.

Plays most like Eshelman, Washington State.

Passing yards

952

110 of 178, 62%

TD–INT

3–5

5.3 per throw

NCAA rating

106.7

118th of 119

ZPR

111th of 119

How ZPR works

Graded Shaky at Utah State, the last full game; shaky or worse in 5 of 6 graded games.

Best by our grade: Duquesne. Lowest: Fresno State, with 1 interception and sacked 3 times. Biggest game: at Washington, No. 17.

Tap a game for its plays

Q1Q2Q3Q4

at Washington

L 10–24·Ranked #17

Shaky

Passing grade only · 142 yds, 0 TD, 2 INT · Rush 14 for 61, 1 TD · Interceptions cost about 12 points of win chance · Sacked 3

The one time Pinnick should've probably bailed from a good pocket
Washington State fan

Biggest swing: a Q4 run added 32 points of win chance. Win chance: 13% to 45%.

Full game page

at Kansas State

L 7–34·Unranked

Rough

65 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT · Rush 13 for 29 · Sacked 3

Very first play is a QB run.....I don't know how I feel about that. We're supposed to have a super deep RB group and we need Pinnick to get some rhythm throwing the ball.
Washington State fan

Biggest swing: a Q2 run cost the team 8 points of win chance. Win chance: 41% to 33%.

Full game page

Duquesne

W 48–7·FCS

Solid

Passing grade only · Carried by the third quarter · 196 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT · Rush 12 for 76, 1 TD · Sacked 0

Pinnick is straight garbage.
Washington State fan

Biggest swing: a Q3 completion added 12 points of win chance. Win chance: 84% to 96%.

Full game page

Arizona

L 24–34·Unranked

Fans talked about this game

Shaky

241 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT · Rush 13 for 35, 1 TD · Lost a fumble · Sacked 3

A couple terrible balls by Pinnick on his picks.
Washington State fan

Biggest swing: a Q4 completion added 14 points of win chance. Win chance: 6% to 20%.

Full game page

Fresno State

L 6–26·Unranked

Fans talked about this game

Rough

152 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT · Rush 11 for -23 · Lost a fumble · Sacked 3

Every time I see Pinnick on the field, I die a little bit more inside
Washington State fan

Biggest swing: a Q3 run cost the team 9 points of win chance. Win chance: 28% to 19%.

Full game page

at Utah State

L 16–17·Unranked

Fans talked about this game

Shaky

156 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT · Rush 11 for 16 · Lost a fumble · Sacked 3

Kirby you absolutely have to bench Pinnick. He’s not in it, and it’s not fair to him but he has to sit
Washington State fan

Biggest swing: a Q4 incompletion cost the team 14 points of win chance. Win chance: 41% to 27%.

Full game page

at Oregon State

L 30–48·Unranked

Did not play

Okay, yeah, Pinnick was Potter all over again.
Washington State fan

Boise State

L 10–31·Ranked #21

Did not play

Pinnick was not a good rushing QB. Dude was indecisive as s--- and his "scrambles" were him just dropping out of the pocket too soon with the slightest pressure.
Washington State fan

at San Diego State

L 20–26·Unranked

Did not play

No way Eshelman can be the QB next year , nor pinnick. We need a clean-sheet offense top to bottom.
Washington State fan

Season

Fades after halftime

How to read this

Each column is a quarter. Blue and up is a good stretch for the quarterback, red and down a bad one, hatched means the game was already decided. A red cross is a turnover and a black dot a touchdown. The word on the right grades the whole game; on games with a lot of running it grades the passing only. A gold line means the r/CFB game thread kept naming the quarterback. Tap a game to open its plays: each bar is one of the quarterback’s plays, up helped the team’s chance of winning and down hurt it, and the grey line is that chance.

The word grades the game against every FBS quarterback start, from Rough to Great, using the same throws as the season Zeitgeist Passer Rating and adjusting for the defense faced. Bars are points added per throw in that quarter. The Season row leaves out quarters after a game was decided.

Style of play

Mobile passer

Why this word

Runs7.5 a gameRarelyA lot

Throws7.6 yards past the lineShortDeep

Completes63% by play-by-playFewerMore

Takes sacks8% of dropbacksRarelyOften

The dot is this quarterback, among this season’s starters; the tick is the middle.

Throws at a middling depth and runs a lot. 7.5 carries a game. Closest matches: Eshelman, Sharman, Johnson ’25, Turner.

Where the throws go

Behind the line17%typical 17%

Short53%typical 47%

Middle20%typical 22%

Deep11%typical 14%

Runs 7.5 times a game; 83% of starters run less.

Closest in style

Nearer the middle means more alike.

Eshelman Washington State · Run-first
779 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT so far. Both score less and throw short.
Sharman Sacramento State · Short-game passer
1,374 yards, 8 TD, 6 INT so far. Both hit few big plays and throw short.
Johnson ’25 Oregon State 2025 · Short-game passer
501 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT. Both take sacks and score less.
Turner Marshall · Balanced
608 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT so far. Both throw short and take sacks.

Compared with the 158 FBS starters this season for throws and running, and with 219 quarterbacks across 2 seasons for the matches, on how they play and how they have done.

This week

RecordWashington State is 1-8.
Fans after San Diego State
Pinnick couldn't have gotten us to the 30
Washington State fan

What’s being said

7 stories in the last 30 days, from 5 outlets.

Stories per day. W and L: the team’s results.

WSU’s Owen Eshelman to start at QB against Oregon State, replacing Caden Pinnick - The Spokesman-Review

The Spokesman-Review +1 Oct 12

All 45 stories this season

His most important play this season

Q1, 9:57 · Washington State tiedCaden Pinnick runs 11 yards for a touchdownArizona at Washington State, week 4Q1, 9:57 · Washington State 7, Arizona 0Washington State opened the scoringWashington State opened the scoringC.Pinnick rush left for 11 yards gain to the ARIZ00 touchdown, 1ST DOWN, kick goodWatch from this play CBS Sports College Football

All 3 of his plays on video

Caden Pinnick

QB · Washington State · #12

On tape: 241 passing yards and 35 rushing yards against Arizona, Week 4, 2026.

952 passing yards · 3 passing TD · 201 rushing yards

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2026	Washington State	110	178	61.8%	952	5.3	3	5	106.7	22
Career		110	178	61.8%	952	5.3	3	5	106.7	22

Season	Team
2026	Washington State	74	194	2.6	3	26
Career		74	194	2.6	3	26

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2026 season · 6 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	Grade	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	SK	RUSH	Note
Wk 1	L 10-24@ No. 17 Washington	Shaky	16/25	142	0	2	5.7	68.2	3	61
Wk 2	L 7-34@ Kansas State	Rough	9/20	65	0	0	3.3	13.2	3	29
Wk 3	W 48-7vs Duquesne	Solid	17/22	196	2	1	8.9	49.9	0	76
Wk 4	L 24-34vs Arizona	Shaky	24/41	241	1	1	5.9	42.1	3	35	Season-high 241 yds
Wk 5	L 6-26vs Fresno State	Rough	21/34	152	0	1	4.5	9.8	3	-23
Wk 6	L 16-17@ Utah State	Shaky	23/36	156	0	0	4.3	32.6	3	16
Total			110/178	952	3	5	5.3	—	15	194

The season, game by game

L 16-17 at Utah StateOct. 9156 yds23 of 36Box score only

23 of 36 for 156 yards.

Not drawn: the play-by-play doesn’t add up to the box score.

L 6-26 vs Fresno StateOct. 3152 yds21 of 34, 1 INT

Play by playOn the field

21 of 34 for 152 yards and an interception. Two drives ended on his fourth-down plays: an incompletion and an incompletion.

2 of 14 of his drives scored
3 of 15 on 3rd and 4th down
sacked 5 times
6 runs for 10 yds

First quarterbegan tied 0-0
Punt0 of 2, 0 yds1
Punt1 of 1, 4 yds
Second quarterbegan down 3-0
Punt—
FG3 of 4, 28 yds
Punt2 of 2, 13 yds
FG5 of 7, 37 yds
Third quarterbegan tied 6-6
Punt—
Fumble—
Punt2 of 3, 25 yds2
Fourth quarterbegan down 13-6
Punt1 of 2, 3 yds
Punt1 of 2, 6 yds
Downs1 of 3, 3 yds3
Int0 of 1, 0 yds4
Downs5 of 7, 33 yds
FinalL 6-26

a drive that ended in a touchdown or a field goala drive he didn’t playa completion, by its yardshis runincompleteinterceptedsacked, by the yards lost

completea touchdownincompleteinterceptedhis runsacked

1
Incomplete to Branden Ganashamoorthy on 3rd and 8. First quarter, tied 0-0.
2
23-yard completion to Daniel Blood. Third quarter, down 13-6.
3
Incomplete to Daniel Blood on 4th and 6. Fourth quarter, down 16-6. Turnover on downs.
4
Intercepted. Fourth quarter, down 23-6. Picked off by Fresno State’s Justin Johnson.

1020304050

leftmiddlerightno spot

a completionincompleteinterceptedsacked, below the line

Each pass sits where it was caught or thrown to, in yards past the line. The play text only says left, middle or right, so inside a lane marks are sorted, not placed.

4 more games, with the play by play

L 24-34 vs ArizonaSept. 26241 yds24 of 41, 1 TD, 1 INTBox score only

24 of 41 for 241 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Not drawn: the play-by-play doesn’t add up to the box score.

W 48-7 vs DuquesneSept. 19196 yds17 of 22, 2 TD, 1 INTBox score only

17 of 22 for 196 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception.

Not drawn: the play-by-play doesn’t add up to the box score.

L 7-34 at Kansas StateSept. 1265 yds9 of 20Box score only

9 of 20 for 65 yards.

Not drawn: the play-by-play doesn’t add up to the box score.

L 10-24 at WashingtonSept. 6142 yds16 of 25, 2 INTBox score only

16 of 25 for 142 yards and 2 interceptions.

Not drawn: the play-by-play doesn’t add up to the box score.

Highs and lows

Only games with 20 or more plays count for best and lowest.
Best by our grade	Duquesne	W 48-7 · Graded solid · Passing grade only · Carried by the third quarter · 196 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT · Rush 12 for 76, 1 TD · Sacked 0
Lowest by our grade	Fresno State	L 6-26 · Graded rough · 152 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT · Rush 11 for -23 · Lost a fumble · Sacked 3
Biggest game	at Washington	No. 17 at kickoff · L 10-24 · Graded shaky · Passing grade only · 142 yds, 0 TD, 2 INT · Rush 14 for 61, 1 TD · Interceptions cost about 12 points of win chance · Sacked 3

Where he ranks

Tied for 3rd among Pac-12 quarterbacks in rushing touchdowns.

Stat	His	Nation	Pac-12
Passing yards	952	118th of 370	6th of 21
Yards an attempt	5.3	151st of 152	9th of 9
Touchdown passes	3	T-151st of 370	T-8th of 21
Passer rating	106.7	149th of 152	9th of 9
Completion percentage	61.8	98th of 152	7th of 9
Rushing yards	194	T-65th of 370	5th of 21
Rushing touchdowns	3	T-53rd of 370	T-3rd of 21

Counting stats rank all FBS quarterbacks with a pass attempt; the rates rank those with at least 10 attempts a game.

All Pac-12 quarterbacks

Rk	Quarterback	Yards	TD	INT	Att	Y/A
1	Brad Jackson	1,933	18	5	232	8.3
2	Maddux Madsen	1,681	15	1	222	7.6
3	Jayden Mandal	1,595	10	2	212	7.5
4	Hauss Hejny	1,138	14	2	134	8.5
5	Grady Brosterhous	1,120	7	6	178	6.3
6	Caden Pinnick	952	3	5	178	5.3
7	Ksaan Farrar	943	5	2	143	6.6
8	Jayden Denegal	896	7	5	150	6.0
9	Owen Eshelman	779	2	3	131	5.9
10	Stone Saunders	552	2	3	69	8.0
11	McCae Hillstead	398	3	4	59	6.7
12	Max Cutforth	131	3	0	13	10.1
13	Gavin Parkhurst	114	1	0	9	12.7
14	Maalik Murphy	81	1	0	12	6.8
15	Khristian Martin	71	1	0	4	17.8
16	Darius Curry	70	1	0	8	8.8
17	Draiden Trudeau	66	1	1	14	4.7
18	Anthony Garcia	50	1	0	2	25.0
19	Bert Emanuel Jr.	9	2	0	2	4.5
20	Brady Jones	5	0	0	3	1.7
21	Julian Dugger	2	0	0	1	2.0

Sorted by passing yards. Gray: under 10 attempts a game, so not ranked on yards an attempt.

Passing yards9527th in the Pac-12 this season.

Touchdown passes3tied for 9th in the Pac-12 this season.

Conference ranks count every player in the conference with a row in that stat, any position. Career ranks count current FBS players, from the games in our log.

Opponents faced, by strength

Ratings of the games shown run from -9 to +16 points against an average team (SP+ rating of each opponent).

Pass targets

Ganashamoorthy and Clemons saw 64 of the 178 charted throws.

Receiver	Targets	Catches	Yards	Throw depth	After catch
Branden Ganashamoorthy	35	15	196	13.4	3.3
Darrius Clemons	29	20	218	10.7	2.2
Daniel Blood	29	20	207	7.7	3.9
Jack Pedersen	19	11	64	5.1	2.1
Tank Hawkins	16	13	88	3.6	4.5
8 others	43	31	179	1.8	5.9
No receiver charted	7	All five interceptions are among these

Play by play: 178 passes, 110 caught, 952 yards. Throw depth: average air yards per target. After catch: average yards after the catch per catch. Bar: targets; the blue part was caught.

Passing profile

Pass Profile · True throw depth (charted plays)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

110/178 (61.8%) · 3 TD · 5 INT

178 of 178 attempts matched to play-by-play

178 of 178 attempts charted for true throw depth

Adjusted ANY/A

3.42180 of 185 QBs

Sack rate

9.2%161 of 185 QBs

Sacked on 9.2% of dropbacks (161 of 185) and Adjusted ANY/A trails the field (180 of 185).

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Behind LOS · Negative air yds

16% of attempts (29)

86%comp

Air -3.0 · YAC 6.3 avg

Short · 0–9 air yds

52% of attempts (92)

67%comp1 INT

Air 4.4 · YAC 3.4 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

21% of attempts (38)

55%comp2 INT

Air 13.7 · YAC 2.5 avg

Deep · 20+ air yds

11% of attempts (19)

11%comp2 INT

Air 26.8 · YAC 9.5 avg

Overall 61.8% completion on 178 attempts · 11% completion on 19 deep attempts (20+ air yds).

Teams and coaches

2026Washington State1-8HC: Kirby Moore · Balanced

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 25 (#140 of 145). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

25Below cohort / limited sample #140 of 145 · through 6 games?

13 metrics · season cumulative

through 6 games score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. Concern: explosive rate (1st percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Interception rate#115 / 157 · 27th pct

2.8%

Sack rate#138 / 157 · 12th pct

9.2%

Success rate#150 / 157 · 4th pct

32.3%

EPA / dropback#151 / 157 · 4th pct

-0.16

Explosive rate#156 / 157 · 1st pct

3.4%

Box-score rates (8)

Rush TDs#42 / 159 · 69th pct

Rush yards#54 / 159 · 66th pct

194

Interceptions#87 / 159 · 37th pct

Completion %#102 / 159 · 36th pct

61.8%

Pass yards#123 / 159 · 23rd pct

952

Fumbles lost#114 / 142 · 12th pct

Pass TDs#147 / 159 · 6th pct

Yards / att#158 / 159 · 1st pct

5.3

Season trend

EPA / dropback— first qualifying season

Success rate— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Sack rate— first qualifying season

Interception rate— first qualifying season

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Zeitgeist Passer Rating

2026 · our own passing-efficiency number, shown next to the 1979 formula it does not replace.

After 177 dropbacks

22Zeitgeist Passer Rating111th of 119 FBS QBs

NCAA passer rating 106.7 118th of 119 FBS QBs

Positive-play rate weight 24%

43.1%22nd pct of FBS QBs

share of dropbacks that gained expected points · +0.7% schedule adj.

Yards per attempt weight 56%

5.835th pct of FBS QBs

sacks excluded · +0.2 schedule adj.

Sack rate weight 21% (penalty)

8.4%11th pct of FBS QBs

the input passer rating cannot see · -0.1% schedule adj.

Opponent-adjusted; garbage time excluded (18 of 195 dropbacks dropped). 50 = FBS average; the number is pulled toward 50 when the sample is thin. How ZPR is built.

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2026 season · 6 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home3g	196	1.0	6.4	1.0
Road3g	121	0.0	4.4	0.7

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-76g	159	0.5	5.4	0.8

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Kirby Moore

Pass share

49.4%

310 pass / 317 run

Plays / game

69.7

9 games

Scheme: Balanced.

Washington State’s quarterbacks

Caden Pinnick	Threw in 6 of 9 games · 110 of 178, 952 yds, 3 TD, 5 INT · 5.3 yards an attempt on 178 attempts · ran for 194 yds, 3 TD
Owen Eshelman	Threw in 3 of 9 games · 83 of 131, 779 yds, 2 TD, 3 INT · 5.9 yards an attempt on 131 attempts · ran for 203 yds, 3 TD
Julian Dugger	Threw in 1 of 9 games · 1 of 1, 2 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT · 2.0 yards an attempt on 1 attempt · ran for 12 yds, 1 TD

Box score. Every quarterback on the team who has thrown a pass this season.

Who threw, quarter by quarter

Who threw in each quarter. Blue: Caden Pinnick. Gray: Julian Dugger, Owen Eshelman. From the play by play.

Q1Q2Q3Q4@ Washington@ Kansas StateDuquesneArizonaFresno State@ Utah State@ Oregon StateBoise State@ San Diego State

Awards

Player standing · 2026

178 pass attempts and 74 carries in 6 games

More passes and runs a game than nearly every FBS quarterback who plays every week.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

25 · #140 of 145 QBs · through 6 games

Three-star recruit. Now #140 at the position.

Starter

The No. 2,705 recruit in the country is starting at quarterback in the Pac-12.

Caden Pinnick

Style of play

This week

What’s being said

His most important play this season

In the news in the last 30 days

What they’re talking about

In the news this season

What they’re talking about

Week by week

In the news across his career

What fans said

In the game threads

Where to follow

Career stats

Game log

The season, game by game

Highs and lows

Where he ranks

Pass targets

Passing profile

Teams and coaches

Our ratings

Splits

Washington State’s quarterbacks

Who threw, quarter by quarter

Awards

178 pass attempts and 74 carries in 6 games

Starter

Two seasons, two schools

2024