This one - a near-Halloween treat that turned out to be a bad trick - will carry a deflating feeling for a few days.

For the first time this season, Washington State University had a real opportunity to go win a football game against an FBS opponent.

But the Cougars’ final-minute drive stalled near midfield on Owen Eshelman’s incomplete pass to Branden Ganashamoorthy on fourth down, and host San Diego State escaped with a 26-20 victory Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium.

WSU outgained the Aztecs, 367-306 and held possession of the football for 33:05 in the loss.

The Cougars are now 1-8, and the only team that hasn’t won a Pac-12 Conference game.

Here are three instant takeaways in WSU’s loss to the Aztecs in San Diego:

1. A little bit of blame to go around on final WSU drive

If you took one big breath and hoped for a breakthrough moment - well, so did many Cougars fans with five minutes remaining.

Trailing 26-20, WSU got an important three-and-out by its defense near midfield, forcing a SDSU punt - giving the Cougars the football back at their own 14-yard line with 4:43 remaining.

WSU took three plays to gain a first down on Eshelman’s 6-yard run on third-and-2. A solid start.

Then, the Cougars began their slow descent.

An Eshelman sack, followed by a Tank Hawkins Jr. drop forced a third-and-13 - but tight end Trey Leckner made up for the mistakes with his one-handed catch in the flat, turning it into a 13-yard catch-and-run.

After Eshelman’s 10-yard completion to Daniel Blood got the Cougars near midfield right after the two-minute warning, that is when it began unraveling for the offense.

• Eshelman took another sack on first down.
• Then, right tackle Jaylin Caldwell was called for a false start.
• And, for some reason, first-year WSU coach Kirby Moore decided to call the team’s final timeout to save a 10-second runoff on the penalty, keeping the clock at 1:18.

Eventually, the Cougars could not make up 16 yards for a needed first down as Eshelman threw incompletions to Blood and Ganashamoorthy on third and fourth downs with 38 seconds to go.

2. Cougars cannot flip momentum into gold

Moore talked about the importance of his defense forcing a turnover for the first time in 2 1/2 games - and it finally came to fruition coming out for the second half when safety Jaylen Thomas corralled a tipped Stone Saunders pass by linebacker Keith Brown for an interception at the SDSU 36-yard line.

Trailing 17-14, WSU had a fantastic opportunity to turn a momentum play into a lead - something this team desperately needed.

But after two no-gainer plays, and Kirby Voorhees’ 6-yard run, Moore decided to go for it on fourth-and-4 from the Aztecs’ 30. Defensive end Djibril Rahman came untouched up the middle, and forced a hurried pass from Eshelman to Voorhees in the right flat that fell incomplete to end the drive.

3. Trey Leckner is this offense’s most reliable contributor

In just his fourth game back from being out with a foot injury, Leckner had arguably the best game of his WSU career.

He was second on the team with seven receptions for 58 yards, including that one-handed catch on the final series for a first down.

Leckner was equally vital as a pull blocker for Eshelman’s on run-pass option (RPO) carries, including Eshelman’s 2-yard touchdown scamper that cut SDSU’s lead to 26-20 with 6:55 to go.

With Ganashamoorthy largely a non-factor in the second half, it was Leckner and Blood who carried the passing offense.

And it’s apparent Leckner has not only a different after-the-catch gear over fellow tight end Jack Pedersen, but he is a better athlete in space.