# 1976 Washington State Cougars football team

The 1976 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) during the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. In their only season under head coach Jackie Sherrill, 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 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 at the newly-opened Kingdome, against eleventh-ranked USC. Previous home games in Seattle in 1972 and 1974 were at Husky Stadium. The sole game at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane was the Apple Cup, which was also under consideration as the Kingdome game.
Previously the defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh, Sherrill was hired in late December 1975, but coached just one season in Pullman, leaving in early December to return to the Panthers as head coach. A week later, he was succeeded at WSU by Warren Powers, the defensive backfield coach at Nebraska.

## Schedule

| Date | Opponent | Site | Result | Attendance |
| September 11 | at No. 19 Kansas* | Memorial StadiumLawrence, KS | L 16–35 | 31,121–39,475 |
| September 18 | at Minnesota* | Memorial StadiumMinneapolis, MN | L 14–28 | 31,627 |
| September 25 | at Wisconsin* | Camp Randall StadiumMadison, WI | L 26–35 | 69,658 |
| October 2 | Idaho* | Martin StadiumPullman, WA (Battle of the Palouse) | W 45–6 | 23,500 |
| October 9 | No. 11 USC | KingdomeSeattle, WA | L 14–23 | 37,268 |
| October 16 | at No. 4 UCLA | Los Angeles Memorial ColiseumLos Angeles, CA | L 3–62 | 35,508 |
| October 23 | Stanford | Martin StadiumPullman, WA | L 16–22 | 24,300 |
| October 30 | at Oregon | Autzen StadiumEugene, OR | W 23–22 | 22,200 |
| November 6 | Oregon State | Martin StadiumPullman, WA | W 29–24 | 20,122 |
| November 13 | at California | California Memorial StadiumBerkeley, CA | L 22–23 | 30,000 |
| November 20 | Washington | Joe Albi StadiumSpokane, WA (Apple Cup) | L 32–51 | 35,800 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to the game |||||

## Game summaries
### USC

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| USC | 0 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 23 |
| Washington State | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 |
at Kingdome, Seattle, Washington
* Date: October 9
* Game weather: Indoors (dome)
* Game attendance: 37,268
Game information :
First quarter
No scoring
Second quarter
USC – Ricky Bell 1-yard run (Glen Walker kick). USC 7–0. Drive:
USC – Shelton Diggs 55-yard pass from Vince Evans (Glen Walker kick, 6:23. USC 14–0. Drive:
WSU – Harold Gillum 4-yard run (Chuck Diedrick kick). USC 14–7. Drive:
Third quarter
No scoring
Fourth quarter
WSU – Brian Kelly 23-yard pass from Jack Thompson (Chuck Diedrick kick). Tie 14–14. Drive:
USC – Glen Walker 26-yard field goal, 9:26. USC 17–14. Drive:
USC – Ricky Bell 9-yard run (kick failed). USC 23–14. Drive:
Top passers
USC
WSU – Jack Thompson – 26/48, 341 yards, TD
Top rushers
USC – Ricky Bell – 51 rushes, 346 yards, 2 TD
WSU
Top receivers
USC
WSU :
"1976 Washington State vs. USC (game film, silent)" on YouTube