The 1986 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their ninth and final season under head coach Jim Walden, the Cougars compiled a 3–7–1 record (2–6–1 in Pac-10, eighth place) and were outscored 312 to 221.[1][2]
The Cougars tied eventual Rose Bowl champion Arizona State in Tempe in late September,[3] then beat USC by twenty points in Pullman, but lost their final five games and dropped in the standings.
WSU's statistical leaders in 1986 included senior quarterback Ed Blount with 1,882 passing yards, Kerry Porter with 921 rushing yards, and Kitrick Taylor with 523 receiving yards.[4] Notable underclassmen included quarterback Timm Rosenbach,[5][6] guard Mike Utley, and future head coach Paul Wulff.[7]
Walden departed for Iowa State in the Big Eight Conference in mid-December,[8][9][10][11] and was succeeded by Dennis Erickson, who returned to the Palouse (four years at Idaho) in January 1987 after just one season at Wyoming.[12][13]
Schedule
Date | Opponent | Site | Result | Attendance | Source |
---|
September 6 | UNLV* | | W 34–14 | 17,000 | [14] |
September 13 | San Jose State* | - Martin Stadium
- Pullman, WA
| L 13–20 | 15,000 | [15] |
September 20 | at California | | L 21–31 | 41,500 | [16] |
September 27 | at No. 11 Arizona State | | T 21–21 | 70,543 | [17] |
October 4 | Oregon State | - Martin Stadium
- Pullman, WA
| W 24–14 | 25,200 | [18] |
October 11 | No. 9 USC | - Martin Stadium
- Pullman, WA
| W 34–14 | 26,000 | [19] |
October 25 | at No. 17 UCLA | | L 16–54 | 46,189 | [20] |
November 1 | at Stanford | | L 12–42 | 35,000 | [21] |
November 8 | No. 17 Arizona | - Martin Stadium
- Pullman, WA
| L 6–31 | 17,000 | [22] |
November 15 | at Oregon | | L 17–27 | 25,137 | [23] |
November 22 | No. 12 Washington | | L 23–44 | 40,000 | [24] |
- *Non-conference game
- Homecoming
- Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
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[2][25]
Game summaries
UNLV
Team |
1 |
2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
UNLV |
0 |
7 | 0 | 7 |
14 |
• Washington St |
21 |
3 | 7 | 3 |
34 |
Scoring summary |
Q1 | | WSU | Taylor 11 yard pass from Blount (Adams kick) | WSU 7–0 |
|
Q1 | | WSU | Blount 14 yard run (Adams kick) | WSU 14–0 |
|
Q1 | | WSU | Collins 71 yard interception return (Adams kick) | WSU 21–0 |
|
Q2 | | UNLV | Woods 5 yard run (Libonati kick) | WSU 21–7 |
|
Q2 | | WSU | Adams 32 yard field goal | WSU 24–7 |
|
Q3 | | WSU | Wood 15 yard pass from Blount (Adams kick) | WSU 31–7 |
|
Q4 | | WSU | Obrastoff 44 yard field goal | WSU 34–7 |
|
Q4 | | UNLV | Jones 10 yard run (Libonati kick) | WSU 34–14 |
Source:[26]
Washington
Game information
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First quarter
Second quarter
- WSU – Ed Tingstad 3-yard run (Kevin Adams kick). Tie 7–7. Drive:
- WSU – Kevin Adams 51-yard field goal. Washington St 10–7. Drive:
- WASH – Tony Covington 2-yard run (Jeff Jaeger kick). Washington 14–10. Drive:
- WASH – Matt Slater 25-yard pass from Chris Chandler (Jeff Jaeger kick). Washington 21–10. Drive:
Third quarter
- WASH – Matt Slater 38-yard pass from Chris Chandler (Jeff Jaeger kick). Washington 28–10. Drive:
- WASH – Jeff Jaeger 43-yard field goal. Washington 31–10. Drive:
- WASH – Jeff Jaeger 26-yard field goal. Washington 34–10. Drive:
- WSU – Kerry Porter 2-yard run (Kevin Adams kick). Washington 34–17. Drive:
Fourth quarter
- WASH – Matt Slater 25-yard pass from Chris Chandler (Jeff Jaeger kick). Washington 41–17. Drive:
- WSU – Kerry Porter 9-yard run (pass failed). Washington 41–23. Drive:
- WASH – Jeff Jaeger 27-yard field goal, 3:16. Washington 44–23. Drive:
|
- Top passers
- WASH – Chris Chandler – 15/20, 204 yards, 4 TD
- WSU – Ed Blount – 16/30, 240 yards, 2 int
- Top rushers
- WASH – Vince Weathersby – 25 rushes, 177 yards
- WSU – Kerry Porter – 25 rushes, 90 yards, 2 TD
- Top receivers
- WASH – Matt Slater – 4 receptions, 106 yards, 3 TD
- WSU – Rodd Olson – 6 receptions, 94 yards
|
|
Roster
1986 Washington State Cougars football team roster
|
Players
|
Coaches
|
Offense
|
Defense
Pos. |
# |
Name |
Class
|
DL
|
87
|
Marvin Adams
|
Jr
|
LB
|
55
|
Tunieau Alipate
|
So
|
DL
|
|
Rob Carpenter
|
DE
|
67
|
Rob Cleveland
|
Sr
|
S
|
25
|
Ron Collins
|
Sr
|
DE
|
67
|
Ivan Cook
|
So
|
DT
|
97
|
Tim Downing
|
Fr
|
LB
|
57
|
Brian Forde
|
Jr
|
LB
|
43
|
Bob Gregory
|
Sr
|
DB
|
41
|
James Hasty
|
Jr
|
DE
|
93
|
Chris Hiller
|
Jr
|
DB
|
|
Artie Holmes
|
CB
|
18
|
Shawn Landrum
|
So
|
DT
|
91
|
Mark Ledbetter
|
Fr
|
DB
|
42
|
Ron Lee
|
So
|
LB
|
40
|
Maury Metcalf
|
So
|
LB
|
41
|
Bob O'Neal
|
Fr
|
CB
|
20
|
Ricky Reynolds
|
Sr
|
DT
|
75
|
Tony Savage
|
Fr
|
S
|
6
|
Kevin Thomasson
|
Sr
|
|
Special teams
Pos. |
# |
Name |
Class
|
K
|
4
|
Kevin Adams
|
Jr
|
P
|
45
|
Rob Myers
|
Fr
|
|
- Head coach
- Coordinators/assistant coaches
- Jim Burrow (DB)
- Dave Elliott (LB)
- Jon Fabris (TE)
- Gary Gagnon (RB)
- Lindsay Hughes
- Steve Morton (OL)
- Robin Ross (DL)
- Mel Sanders
- Ken Woody (WR)
- Legend
- (C) Team captain
- (S) Suspended
- (I) Ineligible
|
[9][27][28][29][30][31]
NFL draft
Four Cougars were selected in the 1987 NFL draft.
[32][33]
References
- ^ "1986 Washington State Cougars Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- ^ a b "2016 Media Guide" (PDF). WSUCougars.com. Washington State Cougars Athletics. p. 77. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 21, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- ^ "WSU is fit to be tied with Arizona State". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). September 28, 1986. p. 1C.
- ^ "1986 Washington State Cougars Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- ^ Grummert, Dale (September 21, 1986). "Kicking off Pac-10 play on wrong foot". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
- ^ Fears, Shannon (November 16, 1986). "Cougars locate their quarterback, but not in time". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). p. 4C.
- ^ "Washington State at Arizona State: probable starters". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). September 27, 1986. p. 3B.
- ^ "Walden denies seeking job". Spokane Chronicle. (Washington). November 21, 1986. p. 21.
- ^ a b Devlin, Vince (December 16, 1986). "It's official: Walden's gone". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. B1.
- ^ Condotta, Bob (December 15, 1986). "Iowa State hires WSU's Walden". Idahonian. (Moscow). p. 1.
- ^ Grummert, Dale (December 16, 1986). "The Walden era comes to a close". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
- ^ Grummert, Dale (January 8, 1987). "Erickson sets lofty goals for Cougars". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. C1.
- ^ Condotta, Bob (January 7, 1987). "Denny's dream comes true". Idahonian. (Moscow). p. 1.
- ^ "Cougars open with 34–14 victory over UNLV". Tri-City Herald. September 7, 1986. Retrieved April 21, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "San Jose State stops Washington St. 20–13". The Idaho Statesman. September 14, 1986. Retrieved April 21, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Cougs take licks on kicks". The Spokesman-Review. September 21, 1986. Retrieved April 21, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Cougars, Arizona State play to hard-fought 21–21 tie". The Olympian. September 28, 1986. Retrieved April 21, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Blount passes Washington St. past Oregon St". The Idaho Statesman. October 5, 1986. Retrieved April 21, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Porter keys WSU upset of Trojans". The Billings Gazette. October 12, 1986. Retrieved April 21, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "UCLA unmasks Cougars, 54–16". The San Bernardino County Sun. October 26, 1986. Retrieved April 21, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Cougars can't pass Muster". The Spokesman-Review. November 2, 1986. Retrieved April 21, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Arizona runs all over Cougars". The Daily Herald. November 9, 1986. Retrieved April 21, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Ducks top WSU by 27–17". The Sunday Oregonian. November 16, 1986. Retrieved April 21, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "How 'bout them Dawgs!!!". The News Tribune. November 23, 1986. Retrieved April 21, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "1986 Washington State Cougars and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ Gainesville Sun. 1986 Sep 7. Retrieved 2018-Jan-15.
- ^ Devlin, Vince (December 17, 1986). "WSU assistants left in limbo". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
- ^ Grummert, Dale (December 17, 1986). "Walden's staff considers its options". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1B.
- ^ "2009 Football media guide: coaches" (PDF). Washington State University Athletics. 2009. p. 179. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
- ^ "Washington State vs. California". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). (probable starters). September 20, 1986. p. 4B.
- ^ "Starting lineups". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). November 15, 1986. p. 4C.
- ^ Bergum, Steve (April 29, 1987). "Reynolds goes in 2nd round". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). p. D1.
- ^ "Four Cougars go in football draft". Idahonian. (Moscow). April 29, 1987. p. 6.
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