2002 Washington State Cougars football team

2002 Washington State Cougars football
Pac-10 co-champion
Rose Bowl, L 14–34 vs. Oklahoma
ConferencePacific-10 Conference
Ranking
CoachesNo. 10
APNo. 10
Record10–3 (7–1 Pac-10)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorMike Levenseller (2nd season)
Offensive schemeSpread
Defensive coordinatorBill Doba (9th season)
Base defense4–3
Captains
Home stadiumMartin Stadium
Seasons
← 2001
2003 →
2002 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
No. 10 Washington State $+   7 – 1     10 – 3  
No. 4 USC  %+   7 – 1     11 – 2  
Arizona State   5 – 3     8 – 6  
UCLA   4 – 4     8 – 5  
Oregon State   4 – 4     8 – 5  
California   4 – 4     7 – 5  
Washington   4 – 4     7 – 6  
Oregon   3 – 5     7 – 6  
Arizona   1 – 7     4 – 8  
Stanford   1 – 7     2 – 9  
  • $ – BCS representative as conference champion
  • % – BCS at-large representative
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2002 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University as a member of Pacific-10 Conference the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was led by Mike Price in his 14th and final season as head coach, and played its home games on campus at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington.

Washington State finished the regular season with an overall record of 10–2 and mark of 7–1 in the conference play, sharing the Pac-10 title with USC. They defeated the Trojans in overtime in early October,[1][2] but lost to unranked Washington in triple overtime in the Apple Cup at Pullman;[3] WSU regrouped and beat UCLA by three touchdowns two weeks later.[4] The seventh-ranked Cougars were invited to the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day, but were soundly defeated by the Oklahoma Sooners,[5][6][7] and dropped to tenth in the final rankings.

The Rose Bowl was the final game for Price at Washington State. He left to become the head football coach at the University of Alabama, but never coached a game for the Crimson Tide.[7][8][9][10][11] Bill Doba, longtime defensive coordinator for the cougars, was promoted to head coach for the 2003 season, and he led the Cougar program through 2007.[9][12]

  1. ^ Grummert, Dale (October 6, 2002). "Cougars finish with classic flair". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
  2. ^ Richardson, Vince (October 7, 2002). "Cougar celebration". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. (Idaho-Washington). p. 1B.
  3. ^ Korte, Tim (November 24, 2002). "Anderson comes up big as Huskies clip Cougars". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 9D.
  4. ^ Nadel, John (December 8, 2002). "Gesser's heroic afternoon puts WSU in Rose Bowl". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 8D.
  5. ^ Trimmer, Dave (January 2, 2003). "Handful of thorns". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. A1.
  6. ^ Grummert, Dale (January 2, 2003). "A thorny sendoff". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
  7. ^ a b Canfield, Owen (January 2, 2003). "Sooners clobber the Cougs". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 1D.
  8. ^ Grummert, Dale (December 18, 2002). "Mike Price goes out with Tide". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1A.
  9. ^ a b Richardson, Vince (December 18, 2002). "Southern comfort". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. (Idaho-Washington). p. 1B.
  10. ^ Zenor, John (May 5, 2003). "Down and out". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. (Idaho-Washington). Associated Press. p. 1B.
  11. ^ Yaeger, Don (May 12, 2003). "Bad Behavior - How he met his Destiny at a strip club - Mike Price: Fired". Sports Illustrated. p. 38.
  12. ^ Grummert, Dale (December 19, 2002). "Crimson ties". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.