Photo by Gerardo Bolong
Washington State University offensive lineman Cole Madison (61) was a draft choice of the Green Bay Packers.
Cougars play wide open games
By Tim Clinton
Wide open, high-scoring games are what come to mind when you think of the Washington State University football team.
Although that has not always been the case for the Cougars, more often than not it has been in recent years.
When WSU gunned its way into the Holiday Bowl in 1981 and almost made the Rose Bowl, it broke a string of seasons without going to a bowl game that had lasted since 1930.
And what a Holiday Bowl it was.
The Cougars were outscored by their Brigham Young University namesakes in a memorable 38-36 shootout.
The past 44 years have been much more successful than the previous 41 as far as going to bowls is concerned, including Pac-12 championships and Rose Bowl trips after the 1997 and 2002 seasons.
Washington State has gone to 17 bowl games from 1981 on in all with only two appearances before, although no one but the conference champion was allowed to go to a bowl for most of that time.
The Cougars previously made the Rose Bowl in 1915 and 1930.
In 1915 they beat Brown by a 14-0 score and in 1930 they were blanked by Alabama, 24-0. The 1915 game remains as their only Rose Bowl win.
They lost the Rose Bowl that culminated the 1997 season to Michigan, 21-16, and fell to Oklahoma after the 2002 season, 34-14.
WSU stands at 8-11 in its bowl history.
The Cougars made their fourth Holiday Bowl appearance in 2024, getting outgunned by Syracuse, 52-35.
Their last bowl win was in 2018 at the Alamo Bowl, when they outscored Iowa State, 28-26.
At that time WSU was in the midst of a string of five bowl seasons in a row under head coach Mike Leach that lasted from 2015-2019.
Leach also led them to the New Mexico Bowl in 2013, where they lost by a 48-45 score to Colorado State. The Cougars beat Miami of Florida, 20-14, in the Sun Bowl in 2015.
The Washington State University program played its first season in 1894. It also won the Pacific Coast Conference title in 1917 but did not go to a bowl.
The Cougars play their home games at 35,117-seat Martin Stadium in Pullman, which was built in 1972.
They are still a member of the Pac-12 Conference along with Oregon State. The conference is awaiting more members in two seasons, after WSU plays Oregon State twice this coming fall in a mostly independent schedule.
WSU has a new head coach in Jimmy Rogers.