1975 Washington Huskies football team

1975 Washington Huskies football
Conference	Pacific-8 Conference
Record	6–5 (5–2 Pac-8)
Head coach	Don James (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Dick Scesniak (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Jim E. Mora (1st season)
MVP	Al Burleson
Captains	Ray Pinney John Whitacre Dan Lloyd Al Burleson
Home stadium	Husky Stadium
Seasons ←  1974 1976  →

1975 Pacific-8 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 5 UCLA ^ +	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	1
No. 14 California +	6	–	1	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Stanford	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	4	–	1
Washington	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
No. 17 USC	3	–	4	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Oregon	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Oregon State	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
Washington State	0	–	7	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – Selected as Rose Bowl representative Rankings from AP Poll

The 1975 Washington Huskies football team represented the University of Washington in the 1975 NCAA Division I football season as a member of the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8). The Huskies were led by head coach Don James in his first year, and played their home games at Husky Stadium in Seattle. They finished season at 6–5 overall(5–2 in the Pac-8).

Preseason

Coming off a 5–6 season in 1974 under Jim Owens, James inherited a veteran squad with most of the talent on the defensive side of the ball, and they would be relied upon as the offense adjusted to running primarily from the I-formation. Fullback Robin Earl, who switched from tight end after four games last season, and center Ray Pinney were the foundation for the change occurring on that side of the ball. ^[1]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 13	at Arizona State *	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	L 12–35	50,194	[2]
September 20	No. 8 Texas *	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 10–28	56,000	[3]
September 27	Navy *	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	W 14–13	53,000
October 4	at Oregon	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR (rivalry)	W 27–17	28,500
October 11	at No. 7 Alabama *	Bryant–Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, AL	L 0–52	58,000	[4] [5]
October 18	Stanford	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 21–24	45,000
October 25	Oregon State	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	W 35–7	43,500
November 1	at No. 13 UCLA	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 17–13	29,158
November 8	at No. 18 California	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	L 24–27	43,270
November 15	No. 13 USC	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	W 8–7	53,700
November 22	Washington State	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA (Apple Cup)	W 28–27	57,100
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries

Washington State

See also: 1975 Washington State Cougars football team and Apple Cup

Washington State Cougars at Washington Huskies

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Washington St	10	14	3	0	27
Washington	7	7	0	14	28

at Husky Stadium • Seattle, Washington

• Date: November 22
• Game time: 1:30 pm PST
• Game weather: Rain • 50 °F (10 °C)
• Game attendance: 57,100

Game information
Washington St Washington Warren Moon 4/22, 126 yards, 2 TD Robin Earl 9 rush, 51 yds Spider Gaines 2 rec, 107 yds, 2 TD

Trailing by thirteen points with three minutes remaining, defensive back Al Burleson returned an interception 93 yards for a touchdown and sophomore quarterback Warren Moon connected with Bob "Spider" Gaines for a 78-yard touchdown pass with less than a minute left to complete the comeback victory in the Apple Cup. ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]}

Washington State had dominated the second half and appeared on their way to another score when Burleson picked off John Hopkins and raced down the left sideline to the end zone with less than three minutes remaining.

Coach Don James was surprised by the Cougars electing to pass instead of playing for the field goal, saying "Had they made the field goal it would have put the nail in the coffin."

Following a three-and-out on Washington State's next possession, the Huskies started from their own 22. On the first play, Moon threw into coverage and the ball deflected off Leon Garrett and into the hands of teammate Gaines, who went 40 yards to score.

Until then, the Cougars had controlled the game thanks to fullback Vaughn Williams and tailback Dan Doornink, who appeared unstoppable against the Washington defense.

Washington's first score came on a quarterback sneak by Chris Rowland from the one for a 7-3 lead.

The Huskies scored again before halftime on a 29-yard pass from Moon to Gaines, who had primarily been used as a punt blocker to that point.

Moon had started the season as the starting quarterback, only to be replaced by Rowland after the offense struggled in the first few games.

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP WSU WASH 1 Washington St 40-yard field goal by Hedrick 3 0 1 Washington Rowland 1-yard touchdown run, Robbins kick good 3 7 1 Washington St Williams 3-yard touchdown run, Hedrick kick good 10 7 2 Washington St Hopkins 1-yard touchdown run, Hedrick kick good 17 7 2 Washington St Williams 1-yard touchdown run, Hedrick kick good 24 7 2 Washington Gaines 29-yard touchdown reception from Moon, Robbins kick good 24 14 3 Washington St 36-yard field goal by Hedrick 27 14 4 Washington Interception returned 93 yards for touchdown by Burleson, Robbins kick good 27 21 4 Washington Gaines 78-yard touchdown reception from Moon, Robbins kick good 27 28 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 27 28

Roster

1975 Washington Huskies football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TB, QB 15 James Anderson Sr TE 84 Gordy Bronson Sr C 58 Blair Bush So SE 82 Craig Davillier Jr FB 99 Robin Earl Jr SE 93 Spider Gaines Fr RB 32 Greg Martin Fr QB 12 Warren Moon So TE 97 Nelse Petermann Sr SE 91 Scott Phillips So C 59 Ray Pinney  (C) Sr G 65 Eddie Ray Sr QB 13 Chris Rowland Sr G 63 Jeff Toews Fr OT 95 Don Wardlow So OT 74 John Whitacre (C) Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 18 Al Burleson  (C) Sr DT 62 Bob Graves Sr MG 66 Charles Jackson Jr LB 5 Michael Jackson Fr DB 42 Roberto Jourdan Sr LB 50 Dan Lloyd  (C) Sr DB 17 Ron Olson Sr DB 28 Frank Reed Sr LB 36 Dean Schlamp Sr LB 92 Paul Strohmeier Sr DT 94 Stan Walderhaug So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 3 Don Feleay Jr PK 7 Steve Robbins So	Head coach Don James (1st year) Coordinators/assistant coaches Dick Scesniak – (OC) Jim Mora – (DC) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

^{[10] [11] [12]}

Statistics

Passing

Player	Att	Comp	Yards	TD	INT
Chris Rowland	45	117	597	4	6
Warren Moon	48	122	587	2	22

_{Moon played in eight games, started six}

Rushing

Player	Att	Yards	TD
Robin Earl	167	782	1

Receiving

Player	Rec	Yards	TD
Scott Phillips	33	433	1

Awards

Al Burleson

• Honorable Mention All-American (AP, UPI)
• All-Pac-8
• Pac-8 Player of Week (vs. Navy, USC, Washington State)

Charles Jackson

• Pac-8 Player of Week (vs. Oregon)

Dan Lloyd

• All-Pac-8
• Pac-8 Player of Week (vs. UCLA)
• Guy Flaherty Award (most inspirational)

Ray Pinney

• Honorable Mention All-American (AP, UPI)
• All-Pac-8

^[13]

NFL draft selections

Seven University of Washington Huskies were selected in the 1976 NFL draft, which lasted 17 rounds with 487 selections.

= Husky Hall of Fame [14]

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
Ray Pinney	Center	2nd	37	Pittsburgh Steelers
Dan Lloyd	Linebacker	6th	162	New York Giants
Frank Reed	Defensive back	8th	219	Atlanta Falcons
Paul Strohmeier	Linebacker	10th	272	Washington Redskins
Al Burleson	Defensive back	14th	400	Los Angeles Rams
Ron Olson	Defensive back	15th	414	Atlanta Falcons
Chris Rowland	Quarterback	17th	461	Seattle Seahawks

References

1. "Conferences: Pacific Eight". Sports Illustrated. September 8, 1975. p. 60.
2. "Huskies crunched by 35–12". The Columbian. September 14, 1975. Retrieved October 17, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
3. "Startled Longhorns surge past Huskies". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. September 21, 1975. Retrieved March 29, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
4. Browning, Al (October 12, 1975). "Fifty years later: Alabama romps". The Tuscaloosa News. p. 1A. Retrieved August 24, 2014– via Google News Archives.
5. "Shelby hot as Crimson rip dogs". The Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. October 12, 1975. p. D1. Retrieved August 24, 2014– via Google News Archives.
6. Missildine, Harry (November 23, 1975). "Bomb, theft beat Cougars". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. 1.
7. Barrows, Bob (November 23, 1975). "Cougs bit from behind". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
8. "WSU gets greedy, falls to Huskies". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. November 23, 1975. p. 3B.
9. Brown, Bruce (November 24, 1975). "Changes due at WSU". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). p. 25.
10. "The lineups". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). October 4, 1975. p. 1B.
11. Barrows, Bob (November 22, 1975). "Cougs close with Huskies". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
12. "You Always Remember Your First Time". YouTube. (UW video). 2013. Archived from the original on December 15, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
13. 2009 Washington football media guide
14. "The Husky Hall of Fame". gohuskies.com. Retrieved October 8, 2019.