2002 Washington State Cougars football team

2002 Washington State Cougars football
Pac-10 co-champion
Rose Bowl, L 14–34 vs. Oklahoma
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 10
AP	No. 10
Record	10–3 (7–1 Pac-10)
Head coach	Mike Price (14th season)
Offensive coordinator	Mike Levenseller (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Bill Doba (9th season)
Base defense	4–3
Captains	Jason Gesser Curtis Nettles Marcus Trufant
Home stadium	Martin Stadium
Seasons ←  2001 2003  →

2002 Pacific-10 Conference football standings

v t e	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
Oregon State		4	–	4					8	–	5
UCLA		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]}

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 31	12:00 pm	vs. Nevada *	No. 12	Seahawks Stadium Seattle, WA (Cougar Gridiron Classic)		W 31–7	63,588
September 7	3:00 pm	Idaho *	No. 11	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA (Battle of the Palouse)		W 49–14	30,110
September 14	12:30 pm	at No. 6 Ohio State *	No. 10	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH ( College GameDay )	ABC	L 7–25	104,553
September 21	2:00 pm	Montana State *	No. 16	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA		W 45–28	23,713	[13]
September 28	2:00 pm	at California	No. 16	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA		W 48–38	29,297
October 5	4:00 pm	No. 18 USC	No. 17	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	TBS	W 30–27 OT	36,861
October 12	2:00 pm	at Stanford	No. 12	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA		W 36–11	30,750
October 26	7:00 pm	at Arizona	No. 9	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	FSN	W 21–13	46,462
November 2	12:30 pm	No. 16 Arizona State	No. 8	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	ABC	W 44–22	37,444
November 9	12:30 pm	No. 15 Oregon	No. 5	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	ABC	W 32–21	37,600
November 23	3:30 pm	Washington	No. 3	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA (Apple Cup)	FSN	L 26–29 3OT	37,600
December 7	1:30 pm	at UCLA	No. 7	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA	ABC	W 48–27	56,335
January 1, 2003	2:00 pm	vs. No. 8 Oklahoma *	No. 7	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl)	ABC	L 14–34	86,848
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

Game summaries

USC

#20 USC at #17 Washington State

Team	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
USC	7	0	7	13	0	27
•Washington St	10	0	7	10	3	30

• Date: October 5
• Location: Martin Stadium • Pullman, Washington
• Television network: TBS

Scoring summary

1		USC	Sultan McCullough 6 yard run (Ryan Killeen kick)	USC 7-0
1		WSU	Drew Dunning 48 yard field goal	USC 7-3
1		WSU	Mike Bush 3 yard pass from Jason Gesser (Drew Dunning kick)	Wash St 10-7
3		USC	Malaefou MacKenzie 15 yard pass from Carson Palmer (Ryan Killeen kick)	USC 14-10
3		WSU	Jermaine Green 75 yard run (Drew Dunning kick)	Wash St 17-14
4	10:03	WSU	Devard Darling 2 yard pass from Jason Gesser (Drew Dunning kick)	Wash St 24-14
4		USC	Carson Palmer 3 yard run (Ryan Killeen kick)	Wash St 24-21
4	4:10	USC	Mike Williams 55 yard pass from Carson Palmer (kick failed)	USC 27-24
4	1:50	WSU	Drew Dunning 35 yard field goal	Tie 27-27
OT		WSU	Drew Dunning 35 yard field goal	Wash St 30-27

Washington State's first win over USC in Pullman in sixteen years. ^[14]

Personnel

Coaching staff

• Head coach: Mike Price
• Assistants: Robb Akey, Chris Ball, Bob Connelly, Bill Doba, Kasey Dunn, Mike Levenseller, Robin Pflugrad, Aaron Price, Mike Walker

} ^[15]

Roster

2002 Washington State Cougars football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class OT 67 Calvin Armstrong So TE 81 Troy Bienemann Fr WR 5 Mike Bush Sr WR 1 Devard Darling So QB 17 Jason Gesser  (C) Sr RB 30 Jermaine Green Jr C 52 Tyler Hunt Sr QB 4 Matt Kegel Jr G 71 Billy Knotts Jr OT 50 Josh Parrish Jr WR 84 Jerome Riley Sr G 77 Derrick Roche Sr QB 9 Josh Swogger Fr RB 25 John Tippins Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 28 Hamza Abdullah So LB 46 Pat Bennett So DE 9 Isaac Brown Jr FS 27 Erik Coleman Jr CB 29 Jason David Jr LB 58 Mawull Davis Sr LB 51 Will Derting Fr LB 48 Al Genatone Jr DT 88 Rien Long Jr CB 15 Karl Paymah So DE 6 Fred Shavles Sr CB 45 Marcus Trufant  (C) Sr DT 95 Jeremey Williams Jr SS 24 Virgil Williams Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 8 Kyle Basler Fr K 10 Drew Dunning Jr	Head coach Mike Price (14th year) Coordinators/assistant coaches Mike Levenseller – (OC) Bill Doba – (DC) Chris Ball – (DB) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

^{[16] [17] [18] [19]}

2002 Cougars in professional football

• Hamza Abdullah
• Calvin Armstrong
• Erik Coleman
• Devard Darling
• Jason David
• Rien Long
• Karl Paymah
• Marcus Trufant

References

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. 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. 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.
13. "Trufant too much as Cougs level Montana State". Kitsap Sun. September 22, 2002. Retrieved August 2, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
14. USA Today. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
15. 2012 Washington State Cougars football information guide.
16. "Today's lineups". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). November 9, 2002. p. 4D.
17. "Apple Cup preview: WSU". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). November 23, 2002. p. C15.
18. "Rose Bowl by the numbers". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. (Idaho-Washington). December 31, 2002. p. 4B.
19. "Rose Bowl matchups". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). January 1, 2003. p. 4B.