2005 Washington State Cougars football team

The 2005 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University in the Pacific-10 Conference during the 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by third-year head coach Bill Doba, WSU played its home games at on campus Martin Stadium in Pullman, with one at Qwest Field in Seattle.

2005 Washington State Cougars football
ConferencePacific-10 Conference
Record4–7 (1–7 Pac-10)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorMike Levenseller (5th season)
Offensive schemeSpread
Defensive coordinatorRobb Akey (3rd season)
Base defense4–3
Home stadiumMartin Stadium
Seasons
← 2004
2006 →
2005 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
No. 2 USC † $   8 0     12 1  
No. 13 Oregon   7 1     10 2  
No. 16 UCLA   6 2     10 2  
No. 25 California   4 4     8 4  
Arizona State   4 4     7 5  
Stanford   4 4     5 6  
Oregon State   3 5     5 6  
Arizona   2 6     3 8  
Washington State   1 7     4 7  
Washington   1 7     2 9  
  • $ – Conference champion
  • † – USC later vacated 12 wins (8 in conference) and 1 loss due to NCAA sanctions.
Rankings from AP Poll

Season

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Washington State was picked fifth in the pre-season Pac-10 conference poll. They were even classified by some[who?] as a sleeper pick for the national championship, with Alex Brink at the helm. They opened with three non-conference wins in September, but the results were different in league play. In the Pac-10 opener at Oregon State, Brink passed for over 500 yards, but WSU lost by eleven.[1]

The Cougars lost their next three games (Stanford, UCLA, Cal), by a combined ten points; their inability to close out games cost them. After a blowout loss in Los Angeles to top-ranked USC,[2] three-point setbacks at home to Arizona State and #11 Oregon followed, as the conference losing streak extended to seven games.[3] In the Apple Cup at Seattle, they defeated struggling rival Washington by four points to finish at 4–7 overall.[4]

Schedule

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DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
September 17:00 pmIdaho*FSNNWW 38–2628,339
September 97:00 pmat Nevada*ESPNW 55–2717,552
September 174:00 pmGrambling State*
W 48–751,486
October 11:00 pmat Oregon StateL 33–4442,908
October 82:00 pmStanford
  • Martin Stadium
  • Pullman, Washington
L 21–2433,442
October 153:30 pmNo. 11 UCLA 
  • Martin Stadium
  • Pullman, Washington
FSNL 41–44 OT35,117
October 227:15 pmat No. 25 CaliforniaFSNL 38–4252,569
October 2912:30 pmat No. 1 USCABCL 13–5592,021
November 52:00 pmArizona State
  • Martin Stadium
  • Pullman, Washington
L 24–2731,054
November 127:15 pmNo. 11 Oregon
  • Martin Stadium
  • Pullman, Washington
FSNNWL 31–3427,595
November 1912:15 pmat WashingtonFSNW 26–2270,713
  • *Non-conference game
  •  Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Pacific time

Game summaries

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Washington

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1 234Total
Washington State 10 367 26
Washington 7 078 22

[5]

References

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  1. ^ Rodman, Bob (October 2, 2005). "OSU defense finally makes its case". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. D1.
  2. ^ Nadel, John (October 30, 2005). "Trojans determine BCS stands for Beating Cougars Soundly". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. D4.
  3. ^ Clark, Bob (November 13, 2005). "Ducks cool, collected". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. D1.
  4. ^ Fox, Tom (November 21, 2005). "Not a bad Apple". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. (Idaho-Washington). p. 1B.
  5. ^ ESPN