1986 Washington State Cougars football team

1986 Washington State Cougars football
ConferencePacific-10 Conference
Record3–7–1 (2–6–1 Pac-10)
Head coach
Home stadiumMartin Stadium
Seasons
← 1985
1987 →
1986 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 4 Arizona State $ 5 – 1 – 1 10 – 1 – 1
No. 14 UCLA 5 – 2 – 1 8 – 3 – 1
No. 18 Washington 5 – 2 – 1 8 – 3 – 1
No. 11 Arizona 5 – 3 – 0 9 – 3 – 0
Stanford 5 – 3 – 0 8 – 4 – 0
USC 5 – 3 – 0 7 – 5 – 0
Oregon 3 – 5 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
Washington State 2 – 6 – 1 3 – 7 – 1
California 2 – 7 – 0 2 – 9 – 0
Oregon State 1 – 6 – 0 3 – 8 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1986 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their ninth and final season under head coach Jim Walden, the Cougars compiled a 3–7–1 record (2–6–1 in Pac-10, eighth place) and were outscored 312 to 221.[1][2]

The Cougars tied eventual Rose Bowl champion Arizona State in Tempe in late September,[3] then beat USC by twenty points in Pullman, but lost their final five games and dropped in the standings.

WSU's statistical leaders in 1986 included senior quarterback Ed Blount with 1,882 passing yards, Kerry Porter with 921 rushing yards, and Kitrick Taylor with 523 receiving yards.[4] Notable underclassmen included quarterback Timm Rosenbach,[5][6] guard Mike Utley, and future head coach Paul Wulff.[7]

Walden departed for Iowa State in the Big Eight Conference in mid-December,[8][9][10][11] and was succeeded by Dennis Erickson, who returned to the Palouse (four years at Idaho) in January 1987 after just one season at Wyoming.[12][13]

  1. ^ "1986 Washington State Cougars Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  2. ^ "2016 Media Guide" (PDF). WSUCougars.com. Washington State Cougars Athletics. p. 77. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 21, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  3. ^ "WSU is fit to be tied with Arizona State". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). September 28, 1986. p. 1C.
  4. ^ "1986 Washington State Cougars Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  5. ^ Grummert, Dale (September 21, 1986). "Kicking off Pac-10 play on wrong foot". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
  6. ^ Fears, Shannon (November 16, 1986). "Cougars locate their quarterback, but not in time". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 4C.
  7. ^ "Washington State at Arizona State: probable starters". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). September 27, 1986. p. 3B.
  8. ^ "Walden denies seeking job". Spokane Chronicle. (Washington). November 21, 1986. p. 21.
  9. ^ Devlin, Vince (December 16, 1986). "It's official: Walden's gone". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. B1.
  10. ^ Condotta, Bob (December 15, 1986). "Iowa State hires WSU's Walden". Idahonian. (Moscow). p. 1.
  11. ^ Grummert, Dale (December 16, 1986). "The Walden era comes to a close". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
  12. ^ Grummert, Dale (January 8, 1987). "Erickson sets lofty goals for Cougars". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. C1.
  13. ^ Condotta, Bob (January 7, 1987). "Denny's dream comes true". Idahonian. (Moscow). p. 1.