But contingencies may come into play as the Wildcats prepare for their trip to Southern Utah.

Foremost on those contingencies is at quarterback after fifth-year player Devin Brown left WSU’s win at Northern Colorado with a dislocated right pinky finger.

After throwing for 175 yards in the first half of that game, Brown’s still the starter for head coach Eric Kjar. But freshman Nate Dahle, who took over for Brown last week, and junior Cash McCollum have been getting plenty of reps so far this week.

“We’re waiting to see where he’ll be at tomorrow, later in the week,” Kjar said. “We’re getting Nate and Cash as many reps as we can until we get to that point. …

“Biggest thing for (Brown) is strengthening, if he can get strength back in. He’s been keeping it out of the brace quite a bit to work on that strength and mobility.”

Dahle was 6 of 8 for 54 yards and a near-touchdown (Ammon Munyer was tackled at the 1) and had 13 rushing yards on four carries (but netted 7 yards due to a sack).

McCollum was WSU’s No. 2 quarterback in 2025 but lost most of his season with a hand injury of his own, leading then-freshman Kingston Tisdell into that role — and an eventual start and win in the 2025 finale.

That’s the pecking order for now, but it’s not set in stone, the coach said.

“Cash is behind Nate for this game and we just continue to evaluate that,” said Kjar, who is also the offensive coordinator. “That will be a continual process throughout the season because we feel like Cash and Kingston do a good job and are more than capable of leading our team. We want them to have a good mindset and compete the right way, put in the necssary work to be able to lead a team.”

WSU hopes to get sophomore defensive tackle Zion Finau into action to bolster the middle and, though he got banged up in the opener, Kjar expects fifth-year linebacker Raimoana Tinirauarii to be “full-go” for Game 2.

Junior receiver Tate Kjar has a less-positive outlook. He caught a 26-yard pass to open the game last week but left early in the second quarter with a high-ankle sprain.

Eric Kjar said Tate was working back to active status but his outlook as of Tuesday leans more toward missing the Southern Utah game.

“We’ve got Marv Session, Mason York, guys like Rob Young who are really good players who will get more time and targets,” Eric Kjar said. “And La Kalama, too. We missed a few things in that Northern Colorado game … but we’ll keeping working on that and get better.”