1976 Washington State Cougars football team

1976 Washington State Cougars football
ConferencePacific-8 Conference
Record3–8 (2–5 Pac-8)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorBob Leahy (1st season)
Defensive coordinatorHoward Tippett[1] (1st season)
Home stadiumMartin Stadium,
Kingdome (Seattle),
Joe Albi Stadium (Spokane)
Seasons
← 1975
1977 →
1976 Pacific-8 Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 2 USC $ 7 – 0 – 0 11 – 1 – 0
No. 15 UCLA 6 – 1 – 0 9 – 2 – 1
Stanford 5 – 2 – 0 6 – 5 – 0
California 3 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
Washington 3 – 4 – 0 5 – 6 – 0
Washington State 2 – 5 – 0 3 – 8 – 0
Oregon 1 – 6 – 0 4 – 7 – 0
Oregon State 1 – 6 – 0 2 – 10 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1976 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) during the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. In their only season under head coach Jackie Sherrill, the Cougars compiled a 3–8 record (2–5 in Pac-8, sixth), and were outscored 331 to 240.[2][3]

The team's statistical leaders included Jack Thompson with 2,762 passing yards, Dan Doornink with 422 rushing yards, and Mike Levenseller with 1,124 receiving yards.[4]

Senior quarterback John Hopkins injured a knee in the second game making a tackle;[5][6] sophomore Thompson relieved him and again the following week,[7] then became the starter for the rest of the season.[8][9]

A home game was played in Seattle at the newly-opened Kingdome, against eleventh-ranked USC.[9][10] Previous home games in Seattle in 1972 and 1974 were at Husky Stadium.[11][12] The sole game at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane was the Apple Cup, which was also under consideration as the Kingdome game.[13]

Previously the defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh, Sherrill was hired in late December 1975,[14][15][16] but coached just one season in Pullman, leaving in early December to return to the Panthers as head coach.[1][17] A week later, he was succeeded at WSU by Warren Powers, the defensive backfield coach at Nebraska.[18][19][20]

  1. ^ a b Emerson, Paul (December 7, 1976). "Sherrill takes Pitt job for 'a lot of reasons'". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
  2. ^ "1976 Washington State Cougars Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  3. ^ "2016 Media Guide" (PDF). WSUCougars.com. Washington State Cougars Athletics. p. 76. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 21, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  4. ^ "1976 Washington State Cougars Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  5. ^ Missildine, Harry (September 19, 1976). "Gophers whip Cougs". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
  6. ^ Brown, Bruce (September 20, 1976). "Effort is not enough to ease hurt of loss". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). p. 17.
  7. ^ Missildine, Harry (September 26, 1976). "Badgers win air war". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
  8. ^ Missildine, Harry (October 3, 1976). "Thompson unloads on Idaho". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
  9. ^ a b Missildine, Harry (October 9, 1976). "Thompson's key in 'Dome Bowl'". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 13.
  10. ^ Missildine, Harry (October 10, 1976). "Cougs tough, short". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
  11. ^ Emerson, Paul (November 5, 1972). "Top-ranked Trojans bomb Cougars 44-3". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 19.
  12. ^ Emerson, Paul (October 6, 1974). "Cougars 'discover' No. 1". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 15.
  13. ^ "WSU may move Husky contest to Kingdome". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. February 20, 1976. p. 3B.
  14. ^ Franke, Russ (December 26, 1975). "Pitt assistant takes head job". Pittsburgh Press. p. 38.
  15. ^ "Sherrill named WSU coach". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). December 26, 1975. p. 15.
  16. ^ "WSU hires Pittsburgh assistant". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). December 27, 1975. p. 1B.
  17. ^ Livingston, Pat (December 7, 1976). "Sherrill's time comes for Pitt job". Pittsburgh Press. p. 49.
  18. ^ Barrows, Bob (December 14, 1976). "WSU fills football job with Nebraska assistant". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
  19. ^ Missildine, Harry (December 14, 1976). "Warren Powers new Coug coach". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 19.
  20. ^ Brown, Bruce (December 14, 1976). "New challenge faces Powers". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). p. 19.