Washington State Cougars stats, records, schedule, and standings

Cougars

Washington State Cougars

NCAAF – PAC – 12

Washington State Cougars

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The Washington State Cougars have played 125 seasons of football, starting in 1894. Over that time, the team has forged an all-time record of 557-563-45 entering the 2021 campaign.

The team has played in 16 bowl games in its history and has been coached by 33 different head coaches. Washington State has been a part of the Pac-12 Conference since 1962 when it was known as the Athletic Association of Western Universities.

Washington State Cougars Standings

The Washington State Cougars have been making waves in college football with their innovative strategies and strong play. With a talented roster and a determined coaching staff, the Cougars are always a threat on the field.

The stats and standings of the Washington State Cougars reflect their hard work and dedication, making them a top pick for fans and analysts alike.

Washington State Cougars Betting Trends

Washington State Cougars Recent History

Nick Rolovich enters his second season as the Washington State head coach in 2021, having put together a 1-3 record in the shortened 2020 campaign. Rolovich replaced Mike Leach, who was the Cougars’ coach from 2012 to 2019, taking the team to six bowl games over that span.

Prior to that run, it had been ten years since Washington State had played in a bowl game, appearing in three straight from 2001 to 2003. Entering 2021, the Cougars have finished with a winning record in just seven times since the turn of the century.

Key Players in History

The Cougars have had a number of very productive quarterbacks, including the No. 1 overall pick of the 1993 draft, Drew Bledsoe. Bledsoe was the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year in 1992, earning second-team All-American honors. He finished his three-year career with the Cougars having passed for 7,373 yards and 46 touchdowns.

Soon after Bledsoe came Ryan Leaf, who also put up fantastic passing numbers. Leaf was with Washington State from 1994 to 1997, throwing for 7,433 yards and 59 touchdowns. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1997 and was the No. 2 pick in the 1998 NFL Draft.

More recently, Gardner Minshew II earned the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award in 2018. Minshew threw for 4,779 yards and 38 touchdowns that season.

Placekicker Jason Hanson was a two-time first-team All-American, earning the honors in 1989 and 1991. Hanson finished his career with 328 points, hitting 96.5 percent of his extra-point attempts and 65.6 percent of his field-goal attempts. He also averaged 43.2 yards in two years as a punter for the Cougars and was selected in the second round of the 1992 NFL Draft.

Key Championships

The Cougars have won four conference championships in their long history, two in the Pacific Coast Conference and two in the Pac-10 Conference. It was 1917 when Washington State won its first conference title, earning the Pacific Coast crown. The Cougars repeated the feat in 1930.

The first Pac-10 title for Washington State came in 1997 under long-time coach Mike Price. The Cougars advanced to the Rose Bowl for the first time, falling to No. 1 Michigan, 21-16.

Price led the Cougars to another conference title in 2002, which advanced them to the 2003 Rose Bowl, where they fell to No. 8 Oklahoma, 34-14.

Washington State tied for the Pac-12 North title in 2018, its only division crown. Unfortunately for the Cougars, they lost a tiebreaker to Washington and did not advance to the Pac-12 Championship Game.

The Cougars have gone 8-8 in bowl games in their history, with the last win coming in 2018 when they defeated Iowa State in the Alamo Bowl.

Conference Outlook

Washington State played as an independent for the first 23 years it played football, joining the Pacific Coast Conference for one season in 1917, then joining permanently in 1919. The Cougars stayed in the conference until the 1959 season when they started three seasons as an independent again.

The school joined the Athletic Association of Western Universities in 1962, with the conference changing to the Pac-8 Conference in 1968. When Arizona and Arizona State joined the league for the 1978 season, the name was changed to the Pac-10 Conference.

The league expanded again prior to the 2011 season, when Colorado and Utah joined the ranks, with the name changed to the current Pac-12 Conference. The league features 12 schools divided into two six-team divisions for football.

The Cougars are part of the Pac-12 North along with Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Stanford, and California.

Coaching History

There have been 33 head coaches in Washington State football history, but none were as successful at the job as O.E. Hollingbery, who posted a 93-53-14 record when he coached the team from 1926 to 1942.

In the modern era, the standard-bearer for Cougars head coaches is Mike Price, who had an 83-78 record during his tenure from 1989 to 2002. He led Washington State to its only Pac-10 championships.

Next on the wins list is Mike Leach, who had 55 victories from 2012 to 2019, and Jim Walden, who was 44-52-4 as head coach from 1978 to 1986.

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