The 1976 Washington State Cougars football team was an
American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
team that represented
Washington State University
Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...
in the
Pacific-8 Conference
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...
(Pac-8) during the
1976 NCAA Division I football season
The 1976 NCAA Division I football season ended with a championship for the Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh. Led by head coach Johnny Majors (voted the AFCA Coach of the Year), the Pitt Panthers brought a college football championship to ...
. In their only season under head coach
Jackie Sherrill
Jackie Wayne Sherrill (born November 28, 1943) is an American former college football player and coach. He was the head football coach at Washington State University (1976), the University of Pittsburgh (1977–1981), Texas A&M University (1982� ...
, the Cougars compiled a 3–8 record (2–5 in Pac-8, sixth), and were outscored 331 to 240.
The team's statistical leaders included
Jack Thompson with 2,762 passing yards,
Dan Doornink
Daniel Glenn Doornink (born February 1, 1956) is an American former professional football running back in the National Football League (NFL) who played one season for the New York Giants and seven seasons for the Seattle Seahawks.
Born in Yakim ...
with 422 rushing yards, and
Mike Levenseller with 1,124 receiving yards.
Senior quarterback John Hopkins injured a knee in the second game making a tackle;
sophomore Thompson relieved him and again the following week,
then became the starter for the rest of the season.
A home game was played in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
at the newly-opened
Kingdome
The Kingdome (officially the King County Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Industrial District, Seattle, Industrial District (later SoDo, Seattle, SoDo) neighborhood of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. O ...
, against
eleventh-ranked USC USC may refer to:
Education
United States
* Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico
* University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina
** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina
* ...
.
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
and 1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...
were at Husky Stadium.Joe Albi Stadium
Joe Albi Stadium was an outdoor multi-purpose stadium in Spokane, Washington, United States. It was located in the northwest part of the city, just east of the Spokane River. The stadium was primarily used for high school football, as a secondary ...
in Spokane
Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...
was the Apple Cup, which was also under consideration as the Kingdome game.Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
, Sherrill was hired in late December 1975,Warren Powers
Warren Anthony Powers (February 19, 1941 – November 2, 2021) was an American football player and coach. He was the head coach at Washington State Cougars football, Washington State University in 1977, and the Missouri Tigers football, Un ...
, the defensive backfield coach at Nebraska
Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
.
Schedule
Game summaries
USC
Roster
References
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
{{Washington State Cougars football navbox
Washington State
Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...
Washington State Cougars football seasons
Washington State Cougars football
The Washington State Cougars football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Washington State University, located in Pullman, Washington. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level in the FBS and is a member of the Pac-12 ...