1976 Washington State Cougars football team

1976 Washington State Cougars football
Conference	Pacific-8 Conference
Record	3–8 (2–5 Pac-8)
Head coach	Jackie Sherrill (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Bob Leahy (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Howard Tippett [1] (1st season)
Home stadium	Martin Stadium, Kingdome (Seattle), Joe Albi Stadium (Spokane)
Seasons ←  1975 1977  →

1976 Pacific-8 Conference football standings

v t e	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]}

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
September 11	at No. 19 Kansas *	Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS	L 16–35	31,121–39,475
September 18	at Minnesota *	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	L 14–28	31,627
September 25	at Wisconsin *	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	L 26–35	69,658
October 2	Idaho *	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA (Battle of the Palouse)	W 45–6	23,500
October 9	No. 11 USC	Kingdome Seattle, WA	L 14–23	37,268
October 16	at No. 4 UCLA	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	L 3–62	35,508
October 23	Stanford	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	L 16–22	24,300
October 30	at Oregon	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	W 23–22	22,200
November 6	Oregon State	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	W 29–24	20,122
November 13	at California	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	L 22–23	30,000
November 20	Washington	Joe Albi Stadium Spokane, WA (Apple Cup)	L 32–51	35,800
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries

USC

#11 USC Trojans (3–1) at Washington State Cougars (1–3)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
USC	0	14	0	9	23
Washington State	0	7	0	7	14

at Kingdome, Seattle, Washington

• Date: October 9
• Game weather: Indoors (dome)
• Game attendance: 37,268
• ^[21]

Game information

First quarter No scoring Second quarter USC – Ricky Bell 1-yard run (Glen Walker kick). USC 7–0. Drive: USC – Shelton Diggs 55-yard pass from Vince Evans (Glen Walker kick, 6:23. USC 14–0. Drive: WSU – Harold Gillum 4-yard run (Chuck Diedrick kick). USC 14–7. Drive: Third quarter No scoring Fourth quarter WSU – Brian Kelly 23-yard pass from Jack Thompson (Chuck Diedrick kick). Tie 14–14. Drive: USC – Glen Walker 26-yard field goal, 9:26. USC 17–14. Drive: USC – Ricky Bell 9-yard run (kick failed). USC 23–14. Drive: Top passers USC WSU – Jack Thompson – 26/48, 341 yards, TD Top rushers USC – Ricky Bell – 51 rushes, 346 yards, 2 TD WSU Top receivers USC WSU

"1976 Washington State vs. USC (game film, silent)" on YouTube

Roster

1976 Washington State Cougars football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 12 Wally Bennett Sr WR 13 Bob Bratkowski Jr TE 88 Ron Bull So RB Sam Busch C 60 Jon DesPois Sr RB Mike Doerfler RB 11 Dan Doornink Jr RB Tali Ena G 71 Larry Finan Jr RB 25 Harold Gillum So OT 54 Bob Hill Sr QB 18 John Hopkins Sr WR 44 Brian Kelly Jr OL Allan Kennedy G 65 Tom Larsen Jr OT 68 Dave Lemke Jr WR 21 Mike Levenseller Jr WR Bevan Maxey TE 83 Eason Ramson Jr QB 14 Jack Thompson So RB Toby Tisby RB 26 Mike Washington Fr RB 31 Ray Williams Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 96 Raleigh Fletcher So LB 98 Terry Gilmore So CB 37 Ken Greene Jr DB Bob Gregor DT 76 Spud Harris Fr DL Mark Hicks LB 57 Don Hover Jr LB 97 Jeff Jones So DT 87 Tim Ochs Sr CB 15 Mark Patterson Jr LB Dean Pedigo DE 38 Mel Sanders Fr DB 48 Don Schwartz Jr DE 36 Tom Thompson So S 16 John Troppman Jr NG 50 George Yarno So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 33 Chuck Diedrick Jr P 46 Gavin Hedrick Jr	Head coach Jackie Sherrill (1st year) Coordinators/assistant coaches Dave Campo (DB) Bill Cords Michael Church (DL) Rod Kirby (LB) Bob Leahy (OC) Howard Tippett (DC) Mike Price (RB) Dave Walker (OL) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

^{[22] [23] [24] [25]}

References

1. 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. 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.
21. "Bell runs for 346 as USC clips Cougars." Eugene Register-Guard. 1976 OCt 10. Retrieved 2018-Dec-29.
22. "Vandals vs. Cougars: probable starters". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). (rosters). October 2, 1976. p. 13.
23. "Cardinals vs. Cougars: probable starters". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). (rosters). October 23, 1976. p. 13.
24. "The lineups: probable starters". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). October 30, 1976. p. 1D.
25. "Huskies vs. Cougars: probable starters". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). (rosters). November 20, 1976. p. 17.

External links

• Game program: USC vs. WSU at Seattle – October 9, 1976
• Game program: Stanford at WSU – October 23, 1976
• Game program: Oregon State at WSU – November 6, 1976
• Game program: Washington vs. WSU at Spokane – November 20, 1976