Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 54. Washington State
The Most Remote FBS School
WASHINGTON STATE, YOUR TIME HAS COME. The most remote campus in the FBS took me long enough to get to, making it all the way to #54 as the 10th ranked Pac-12 team in the series. Between Mike Price, Dennis Erickson, and Mike Leach, a few great coaches have made stops in Pullman over the last 4 decades, with the three coaches’ tenures spanning 24 years.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+------------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 8 | Washington State | 2018 | 31.867 | 11-2 |
| 11 | Washington State | 1997 | 29.966 | 10-2 |
| 11 | Washington State | 2001 | 27.037 | 10-2 |
| 15 | Washington State | 2003 | 26.575 | 10-3 |
| 14 | Washington State | 1988 | 24.975 | 9-3 |
| 15 | Washington State | 2002 | 24.301 | 10-3 |
| 19 | Washington State | 1992 | 15.607 | 9-3 |
| 22 | Washington State | 1994 | 13.714 | 8-4 |
| 29 | Washington State | 2017 | 13.293 | 9-4 |
| 32 | Washington State | 2015 | 13.08 | 9-4 |
| 37 | Washington State | 2016 | 11.457 | 8-5 |
| 34 | Washington State | 1983 | 8.721 | 7-4 |
| 40 | Washington State | 1989 | 0.135 | 6-5 |
| 49 | Washington State | 1984 | -2.591 | 6-5 |
| 49 | Washington State | 2006 | -3.008 | 6-6 |
| 56 | Washington State | 2021 | -3.373 | 7-6 |
| 56 | Washington State | 2022 | -3.763 | 7-6 |
| 51 | Washington State | 1993 | -9.205 | 5-6 |
| 68 | Washington State | 2013 | -9.734 | 6-7 |
| 69 | Washington State | 2019 | -12.128 | 6-7 |
| 60 | Washington State | 1996 | -13.506 | 5-6 |
| 68 | Washington State | 2004 | -14.269 | 5-6 |
| 58 | Washington State | 1985 | -16.245 | 4-7 |
| 85 | Washington State | 2020 | -16.729 | 1-3 |
| 79 | Washington State | 2005 | -17.431 | 4-7 |
| 72 | Washington State | 2000 | -17.846 | 4-7 |
| 77 | Washington State | 2007 | -19.196 | 5-7 |
| 74 | Washington State | 1986 | -22.297 | 3-7-1 |
| 71 | Washington State | 1987 | -22.33 | 3-7-1 |
| 71 | Washington State | 1991 | -23.22 | 4-7 |
| 77 | Washington State | 1995 | -28.472 | 3-8 |
| 94 | Washington State | 2014 | -28.667 | 3-9 |
| 94 | Washington State | 2011 | -28.859 | 4-8 |
| 79 | Washington State | 1998 | -30.029 | 3-8 |
| 85 | Washington State | 1990 | -30.236 | 3-8 |
| 96 | Washington State | 1999 | -33.415 | 3-9 |
| 103 | Washington State | 2012 | -38.018 | 3-9 |
| 107 | Washington State | 2010 | -46.169 | 2-10 |
| 117 | Washington State | 2009 | -60.207 | 1-11 |
| 118 | Washington State | 2008 | -63.81 | 2-11 |
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Overall Score: 19461 (54th)224-242-2 record
2 conference titles
7-8 bowl record
8 consensus All-Americans
79 NFL players drafted
Washington State boasts a fine resume. Their 2 conference titles is as many as Cal and Oregon State have combined, and Wazzu has 2 more Rose Bowl appearances than them combined (1997 and 2002). Surprisingly Washington State’s 2002 Pac-10 title season barely misses the cut, but that says more about the strength of their other seasons rather than the (lack of) strength of their title-winning year. Consensus All-Americans we won’t discuss below are RB Rueben Mayes (1984) who ran for over 1600 yards and was a 2x Pac-12 Offensive POTY, RB Jerome Harrison (2005) who had over 2000 yards from scrimmage and 17 TD, DE Hercules Mata’afa (2017) who led the Pac-12 with 10.5 sacks and 12 TFL, and OT Cody “The Continent” O’Connell (2016 and 2017), who stood 6’9 370 lbs and is Wazzu’s only ever 2 time consensus All-American. The most notable alumni are mostly quarterbacks (Drew Bledsoe, Mark Rypien, Luke Falk, Gardner Minshew), but also DB James Hasty, DL Keith Millard, K Jason Hanson, CB Marcus Trufant, and S Steve Gleason.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2008 (2-11 overall, 1-8 Pac-10)
The state of Washington had a ruff time in 2008, with the Cougars going 2-11 and the Huskies 0-12. In fact, my rankings had Wazzu as the 3rd worst team in the nation and Washington as the 2nd worst. For a while, it was actually looking like Washington State was going to be the worst despite them having a win heading into the Apple Cup—their greatest hits included 3-66 to Cal, 17-45 to Baylor, 14-63 to Oregon, 13-66 to Oregon State, 0-69 to USC, 0-58 to Stanford, 28-59 to Arizona, and 0-31 to Arizona State. Somehow they had a 48-9 win over Portland State. That set up the most anticipated game in Apple Cup history, 1-10 Washington State hosting 0-10 Washington in the “Crapple Cup”. Washington State was so bad that even as the home team, with an actual win, they were 7 point underdogs to the Huskies. The game itself was actually pretty good, with Washington State coming out plenty scathed but victorious 16-13 in 2OT. They even got a nice trip to Hawaii to end the year with a 10-24 loss. If not for the Apple Cup win, this team would’ve had a legitimate claim as the worst Power 5/6 team ever. They averaged 12.7 PPG and gave up 43.8 PPG. Starting QB Kevin Lopina threw for 841 yards, 0 TD, and 11 INT on the year. Those are real stats!
5. 1988 (9-3 overall, 5-3 Pac-10)
He wasn’t there for long, but Dennis Erickson did good work in Pullman. This is one of the most memorable seasons in WSU history for 2 games specifically, which we’ll get to. The Cougs started 4-3 with blowout wins over Illinois, Minnesota, and Tennessee, but just a 1-3 Pac-10 record. They weren’t going to go down that easy. For the first notable game, heading to #1 UCLA, the Cougars were 24 point underdogs and went down 6-27 in the 3rd quarter, before mounting a furious comeback, knocking down Troy Aikman’s pass on 4th and goal to win 34-30. This was one of the biggest wins in school history, coming over the #1 team in the country. Washington State started a win streak, beating Stanford and Oregon State, heading into the Apple Cup at 7-3 and #19. Down yet again, this time 16-28, Washington State prevailed 32-31 to knock Washington out of bowl eligibility and make the Aloha Bowl themselves. Erickson coached his final game against #14 Houston, winning 24-22 to finish 9-3 and #16 overall. QB Timm Rosenbach finished 7th in Heisman voting, throwing for 3000 yards 24 TD 11 INT along with 10 rushing TD. He entered the 1989 NFL Supplemental Draft and went 2nd overall. RB Steve Broussard and RB Rich Swinton each ran for 1000 yards, and WR Tim Stallworth caught for over 1000 receiving yards. OL Mike Utley was a consensus All-American, and kicker Jason Hanson hit 15/21 on FGs. Hanson would make the consensus All-American team the following year.
4. 2003 (10-3 overall, 6-2 Pac-10)
2003 Wazzu had some truly great performances. Following a blown 19 point lead against #19 Notre Dame in a 26-29 OT loss, Washington State came right back to knock out #17 Colorado 47-26. A few weeks later #21 Wazzu headed to #10 Oregon, who was coming off a win over #3 Michigan. The Cougs forced 7 first half turnovers from Oregon, and ended up winning 55-16 despite being outgained in yardage. Washington State was looking to win their 2nd straight Pac-10 title, getting all the way up to #6 with a 7-1 record. That set up #6 Washington State vs #3 USC for first place, but USC would dominate and ended up winning the AP national title that year. Washington State finished 9-3 at 2nd place in the Pac, before upsetting #5 Texas in the Holiday Bowl. 4 players made 1st Team All-Pac 10, with DBs Erik Coleman and Jason David combining for 13 interceptions and 3 defensive touchdowns.
3. 2001 (10-2 overall, 6-2 Pac-10)
While 2003 was coach Bill Doba’s first year, 2001 was Mike Price’s second to last year, and the start of the 3-year mini-dynasty, winning 30 games from 2001-03. The Cougs returned 19 starters from a 4-7 team in 2000, and the goal was just to get to a bowl game in 2001. With the preseason question being, “can Washington State get a win after September?”, that started to look silly after a 4-0 September start. A 34-27 win over defending Pac-10 champion Oregon State was huge, and a week later after beating #23 Stanford, Wazzu entered the top 25 at 6-0. Just like that, it was Washington State, Oregon, UCLA, and Washington for the title, and Wazzu played all 3 of them, going 1-2. The losses were close, to #11 Oregon and #16 Washington. A win over #9 UCLA was huge—the Bruins were 4-1 against Top 25 teams coming into the game. With a win over Purdue in the Sun Bowl, Wazzu finished #10, their highest ranking since…1997. Not too far removed from greatness—but it had been 3 years of futility in between. QB Jason Gesser was 2nd Team All-Pac 10, throwing for 3000 yards 26 TD 13 INT. DB Lamont Thompson led the Pac-10 in interceptions for the 2nd time in his career with 8, and is also first in Pac-10 history with 22 INTs. DT Rien Long was a consensus All-American in 2002, winning the Outland Trophy.
2. 1997 (10-2 overall, 7-1 Pac-10)
Once upon a time, there was this guy named Ryan Leaf…An innocuous win over UCLA in the opener would end up being one of the biggest wins of the season, as UCLA finished #5 in the country and tied for 1st in the Pac-10. After a 28-21 win over #23 USC, Washington State would carry that momentum to a 7-0 start, before losing to #20 Arizona State. With big wins over Southwestern Louisiana and Stanford to go to 9-1, it was all on the Apple Cup for Wazzu’s chance to make the Rose Bowl for the first time in 67 years. Voted the greatest game in school history by fans, #11 Washington State beat #16 Washington on the road, heading to the Rose Bowl by beating UCLA in the tiebreaker. Leaf threw for 358 yards and had 2 TDs of 50+ yards. The Cougs fell in the Rose Bowl 16-21 to #1 Michigan, who split the national title with Nebraska. Leaf was the Pac-10 Offensive POTY, throwing for nearly 4000 yards with 34 TD 11 INT, and 6 rushing TDs. He won the Sammy Baugh Trophy, finished 3rd in Heisman voting, and was the #2 overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft. RB Michael Black and WR Chris Jackson each went for 1000+ yards and 10+ TD. WR Kevin McKenzie had 911 yards and 11 TD. Most Washington State fans would call this the greatest team in school history.
1. 2018 (11-2 overall, 7-2 Pac-12)
This team has a special place in Washington State lore. The QB position was up for grabs—the school’s all-time leading passer Luke Falk was gone to the NFL, and next in line QB Tyler Hilinski had unfortunately passed in the offseason. There were no expectations, picked 5th in the Pac-12 North. A southern man with a glorious moustache arrived on campus, the transfer from East Carolina. He was there to compete for the starting QB job, but by the end of the season, he’d not only be the starter, but one of the most well known players in all of football. Gardner Minshew took the reigns and had one of the greatest ever seasons by a WSU quarterback, starting with a 3-0 opening record against weak competition. Some controversial calls in the USC game handed them their first loss of the season, 36-39, one that would be a thorn in their side for most of the year. Expected to lose more, Washington State refused, beating eventual Pac-12 South champion Utah 28-24, then Oregon State 56-37 in Corvallis.
College GameDay arrived in Pullman for the first time in school history for #25 Washington State vs #12 Oregon, a trip that had long been overdue after the Washington State flag had been flown at 216 consecutive College GameDays over 15 years. The over-capacity crowd of 33,000 spurred Wazzu to a 27-0 lead at halftime, then giving up 20 straight before ending it with a late TD, 34-20. A late FG against #24 Stanford improved Wazzu’s record to 7-1, and Minshew was firmly in the Heisman conversation, going 40-50 passing for 438 yards and 3 TD. At this point, Washington State was in the playoff conversation as they kept winning, with debates deciding between them and Oklahoma for the final spot if both won out. Washington State kept winning over Cal, Colorado, Arizona…all the way up to #8 in the country. A disappointing 15-28 loss to #16 Washington was a triple whammy: Wazzu lost their rivalry game, was eliminated from Pac-12 title contention, and eliminated from playoff contention. In the Alamo Bowl against #24 Iowa State, Minshew outdueled a young Brock Purdy for a 28-26 win, finishing the season 11-2 and #10, the most wins in a season in school history.
Minshew won the Pac-12 Offensive POTY, completing 71% of throws for 4779 yards and 38 TD 9 INT, finishing nationally 1st in completions, 2nd in passing yards, 2nd in completion percentage, and 4th in passing touchdowns. Mike Leach won Pac-12 Coach of the Year, his second after getting his first in 2015. Leach was instrumental in developing Minshew and navigating the difficulties of giving a proper tribute to Hilinski throughout the season.
5th Quarter
How would YOU rank these 5 Washington State teams in terms of on-field quality? Keep in mind that my algorithm ranks them based on resume, not skill, potential, or enjoyment. Based on the info at the time in 1998, without current-day hindsight, was Peyton Manning the better choice at #1 overall or would you have gone with Ryan Leaf? What are your favorite Mike Leach memories at Washington State? Is 2008 Washington State the worst Power 5/6 team of all time if they don’t beat Washington? What season that I didn’t talk about above is memorable to you? And is 10th in the Pac-12 fair for Wazzu?
Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years - Main Hub
