1969 Washington State Cougars football team

1969 Washington State Cougars football
ConferencePacific-8 Conference
Record1–9 (0–7 Pac-8)
Head coach
Captains
  • Bob Ewen
  • Steve Shoun
Home stadiumRogers Field, Joe Albi Stadium
Seasons
← 1968
1970 →
1969 Pacific-8 Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 3 USC $ 6 – 0 – 0 10 – 0 – 1
No. 13 UCLA 5 – 1 – 1 8 – 1 – 1
No. 19 Stanford 5 – 1 – 1 7 – 2 – 1
Oregon State 4 – 3 – 0 6 – 4 – 0
Oregon 2 – 3 – 0 5 – 5 – 1
California 2 – 4 – 0 5 – 5 – 0
Washington 1 – 6 – 0 1 – 9 – 0
Washington State 0 – 7 – 0 1 – 9 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1969 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) during the 1969 NCAA University Division football season. Under second-year head coach Jim Sweeney, the Cougars compiled a 1–9 record (0–7 in Pac-8, last), and were outscored 339 to 143.[1][2] Two home games were played on campus in Pullman at Rogers Field, with two at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane.

The team's statistical leaders included Jack Wigmore with 876 passing yards, Richard Lee Smith with 485 rushing yards, and Fred Moore with 523 receiving yards.[3]

Washington State won their opener at Illinois by a point with a late field goal,[4] then lost nine straight. They did not play Palouse neighbor Idaho in 1969; outside of World War II years without teams, it was the first break in the series since 1900. The game was dropped this season to allow the Cougars to schedule all seven Pacific-8 Conference opponents.[5]

Both Washington State and Washington entered the Apple Cup in Seattle winless (0–6) in conference play;[6][7] the Huskies won their only game of the season to avoid the Pac-8 cellar.[8][9][10] It was the first game of the series played on artificial turf.

This was the last football season for Rogers Field, as its south grandstand (and press box) suffered a suspicious fire the following April,[11] moving all home games in 1970 and 1971 to Joe Albi in Spokane. It was also the final year for natural grass on Cougar home fields (Rogers, Joe Albi). The game against Pacific on November 1 was the last on campus in Pullman for nearly three years, until the debut of Martin Stadium in September 1972.

  1. ^ "1969 Washington State Cougars Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  2. ^ "2016 Media Guide" (PDF). WSUCougars.com. Washington State Cougars Athletics. p. 76. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  3. ^ "1969 Washington State Cougars Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  4. ^ "WSU edges Illini, 19-18". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. September 21, 1969. p. 2B.
  5. ^ Missildine, Harry (September 19, 1970). "Battle of Palouse matches explosive offenses at Albi". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 14.
  6. ^ Missildine, Harry (November 22, 1969). "Cougars vs. Huskies: At least finish could be happy". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 12.
  7. ^ "WSU (1-8), Huskies (0-9) both after Apple trophy". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. November 22, 1969. p. 11.
  8. ^ "Huskies snap losing streak; breeze past Cougars, 30-21". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. November 23, 1969. p. 2B.
  9. ^ "Huskies beat Cougars 30-21". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. November 23, 1969. p. 1, sports.
  10. ^ Ashmun, Chuck (November 23, 1969). "Cougars lose to Washington". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 12.
  11. ^ "Fast blaze ruins Pullman stadium". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). April 6, 1970. p. 1.