1975 Washington Huskies football team

	1975 Pacific-8 football standings
	§ – Conference co-champions ; Rankings from AP Poll

Washington Huskies football
	1975 Washington Huskies football
Conference	Pacific-8
1975 record	6–5 (5–2 Pac-8)
Head coach	Don James (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Dick Scesniak (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Jim Mora (1st season)
MVP	Al Burleson (DB)
Captain	Ray Pinney (C) (2nd year)
Captain	John Whitacre (OT)
Captain	Dan Lloyd (LB)
Captain	Al Burleson (DB)
Home stadium	Husky Stadium
	Seasons ← 1974 1976 →

The 1975 Washington Huskies football team represented the University of Washington in the 1975 NCAA Division I football season as a member of the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8). The Huskies were led by head coach Don James in his first year, and played their home games at Husky Stadium in Seattle. They finished season at 6–5 overall (5–2 in the Pac-8).

Preseason[]

Coming off a 5–6 season in 1974 under Jim Owens, James inherited a veteran squad with most of the talent on the defensive side of the ball, and they would be relied upon as the offense adjusted to running primarily from the I-formation. Fullback Robin Earl, who switched from tight end after four games last season, and center Ray Pinney were the foundation for the change occurring on that side of the ball.^[1]

Schedule[]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
September 13	at Arizona State*	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	L 12–35	50,194
September 20	No. 8 Texas*	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 10–28	56,000
September 27	Navy*	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	W 14–13	53,000
October 4	at Oregon	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	W 27–17	28,500
October 11	at No. 7 Alabama*	Bryant–Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, AL	L 0–52	58,000
October 18	Stanford	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 21–24	45,000
October 25	Oregon State	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	W 35–7	43,500
November 1	at No. 13 UCLA	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 17–13	29,158
November 8	at No. 18 California	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	L 24–27	43,270
November 15	No. 13 USC	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	W 8–7	53,700
November 22	Washington State	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA (Apple Cup)	W 28–27	57,100
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll

Personnel[]

1975 Washington Huskies football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
TE	`84`	Bronson, GordyGordy Bronson	7.0 !Sr
C	`58`	Bush, BlairBlair Bush	3.0 !So
FB	`99`	Earl, RobinRobin Earl	5.0 !Jr
WR	`93`	Gaines, SpiderSpider Gaines	1.0 !Fr
RB	`32`	Martin, GregGreg Martin	1.0 !Fr
QB	`12`	Moon, WarrenWarren Moon	3.0 !So
TE	`97`	Petermann, NelseNelse Petermann	7.0 !Sr
WR	`91`	Phillips, ScottScott Phillips	3.0 !So
C	`59`	Pinney, RayRay Pinney	7.0 !Sr
QB	`13`	Rowland, ChrisChris Rowland	7.0 !Sr
T	`74`	Whitacre, JohnJohn Whitacre	7.0 !Sr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DB	`18`	Burleson, AlAl Burleson	7.0 !Sr
DB	`42`	Jourdan, RobertoRoberto Jourdan	7.0 !Sr
LB	`50`	Lloyd, DanDan Lloyd	7.0 !Sr
DB	`17`	Olson, RonRon Olson	7.0 !Sr
DB	`28`	Reed, FrankFrank Reed	7.0 !Sr
LB	`92`	Strohmeier, PaulPaul Strohmeier	7.0 !Sr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
P	`3`	Feleay, DonDon Feleay	5.0 !Jr
PK	`7`	Robbins, SteveSteve Robbins	3.0 !So

Head coach

Don James (1st year)

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Dick Scesniak (OC)
Jim Mora (DC)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Source:^[2]^[3]

Game summaries[]

Washington State[]

Washington State Cougars at Washington Huskies

	1	2	3	4	Total
Washington St	10	14	3	0	27
Washington	7	7	0	14	28

at Husky Stadium • Seattle, Washington

Date: November 22
Game time: 1:30 pm PST
Game weather: Rain • 50 °F (10 °C)
Game attendance: 57,100

Game information

Washington St

Washington

Warren Moon
4/22, 126 yards, 2 TD
Robin Earl
9 Rush, 51 Yds
Spider Gaines
2 Rec, 107 Yds, 2 TD

Trailing by thirteen points with three minutes remaining, defensive back Al Burleson returned an interception 93 yards for a touchdown and sophomore quarterback Warren Moon connected with Bob "Spider" Gaines for a 78-yard touchdown pass with less than a minute left to complete the comeback victory in the Apple Cup.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Washington State had dominated the second half and appeared on their way to another score when Burleson picked off John Hopkins and raced down the left sideline to the end zone with less than three minutes remaining.

Coach Don James was surprised by the Cougars electing to pass instead of playing for the field goal, saying "Had they made the field goal it would have put the nail in the coffin."

Following a three-and-out on Washington State's next possession, the Huskies started from their own 22. On the first play, Moon threw into coverage and the ball deflected off Leon Garrett and into the hands of teammate Gaines, who went 40 yards to score.

Until then, the Cougars had controlled the game thanks to fullback Vaughn Williams and tailback Dan Doornink, who appeared unstoppable against the Washington defense.

Washington's first score came on a quarterback sneak by Chris Rowland from the one for a 7-3 lead.

The Huskies scored again before halftime on a 29-yard pass from Moon to Gaines, who had primarily been used as a punt blocker to that point.

Moon had started the season as the starting quarterback, only to be replaced by Rowland after the offense struggled in the first few games.

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Drive			Team	Scoring Information	Score
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring Information	WSU	WASH
1					Washington St	40-yard field goal by Hedrick	3	0
1					Washington	Rowland 1-yard touchdown run, Robbins kick good	3	7
1					Washington St	Williams 3-yard touchdown run, Hedrick kick good	10	7
2					Washington St	Hopkins 1-yard touchdown run, Hedrick kick good	17	7
2					Washington St	Williams 1-yard touchdown run, Hedrick kick good	24	7
2					Washington	Gaines 29-yard touchdown reception from Moon, Robbins kick good	24	14
3					Washington St	36-yard field goal by Hedrick	27	14
4					Washington	Interception returned 93 yards for touchdown by Burleson, Robbins kick good	27	21
4					Washington	Gaines 78-yard touchdown reception from Moon, Robbins kick good	27	28
"TOP" = Time of Possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.							27	28

Statistics[]

Passing[]

Player	Att	Comp	Yards	TD	INT
Chris Rowland	45	117	597	4	6
Warren Moon	48	122	587	2	22

_{Moon played in eight games, started six}

Rushing[]

Player	Att	Yards	TD
Robin Earl	167	782	1

Receiving[]

Player	Rec	Yards	TD
Scott Phillips	33	433	1

Awards[]

Al Burleson

Honorable Mention All-American (AP, UPI)
All Pac-8
Pac-8 Player of Week (vs. Navy, USC, Washington State)

Charles Jackson

Pac-8 Player of Week (vs. Oregon)

Dan Lloyd

All Pac-8
Pac-8 Player of Week (vs. UCLA)
Guy Flaherty Award (most inspirational)

Ray Pinney

Honorable Mention All-American (AP, UPI)
All Pac-8

^[8]

NFL Draft[]

Seven Huskies were selected in the 1976 NFL Draft, which lasted seventeen rounds (487 selections).

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
Ray Pinney	Center	2nd	37	Pittsburgh Steelers
Dan Lloyd	Linebacker	6th	162	New York Giants
Frank Reed	Defensive back	8th	219	Atlanta Falcons
Paul Strohmeier	Linebacker	10th	272	Washington Redskins
Al Burleson	Defensive back	14th	400	Los Angeles Rams
Ron Olson	Defensive back	15th	219	Atlanta Falcons
Chris Rowland	Quarterback	17th	461	Seattle Seahawks

References[]

↑ "Conferences: Pacific Eight". Sports Illustrated: p. 60. September 8, 1975. https://www.si.com/vault/1975/09/08/607094/conferences.
↑ Barrows, Bob (November 22, 1975). "Cougs close with Huskies". Lewiston Morning Tribune ((Idaho)): p. 1B. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M8heAAAAIBAJ&sjid=STIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2959%2C6150636.
↑ "You Always Remember Your First Time". YouTube. 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NmGcKp0z1M. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
↑ Missildine, Harry (November 23, 1975). "Bomb, theft beat Cougars". Spokesman-Review ((Spokane, Washington)): p. 1. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-u9LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bO0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6396%2C4088868.
↑ Barrows, Bob (November 23, 1975). "Cougs bit from behind". Lewiston Morning Tribune ((Idaho)): p. 1B. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NMheAAAAIBAJ&sjid=STIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5130%2C6483234.
↑ "WSU gets greedy, falls to Huskies". Eugene Register-Guard. wire services ((Oregon)): p. 3B. November 23, 1975. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DHozAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LeADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5344%2C6453687.
↑ Brown, Bruce (November 24, 1975). "Changes due at WSU". Spokane Daily Chronicle ((Washington)): p. 25. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=R_EjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zfgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5444%2C1992562.
↑ 2009 Washington football media guide

[siprevcnf-1] "Conferences: Pacific Eight". Sports Illustrated: p. 60. September 8, 1975. https://www.si.com/vault/1975/09/08/607094/conferences.

[ccwhu-2] Barrows, Bob (November 22, 1975). "Cougs close with Huskies". Lewiston Morning Tribune ((Idaho)): p. 1B. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M8heAAAAIBAJ&sjid=STIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2959%2C6150636.

[utbuwtv-3] "You Always Remember Your First Time". YouTube. 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NmGcKp0z1M. Retrieved December 2, 2018.

[srhmis-4] Missildine, Harry (November 23, 1975). "Bomb, theft beat Cougars". Spokesman-Review ((Spokane, Washington)): p. 1. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-u9LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bO0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6396%2C4088868.

[lmtcbfb-5] Barrows, Bob (November 23, 1975). "Cougs bit from behind". Lewiston Morning Tribune ((Idaho)): p. 1B. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NMheAAAAIBAJ&sjid=STIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5130%2C6483234.

[ergwggrd-6] "WSU gets greedy, falls to Huskies". Eugene Register-Guard. wire services ((Oregon)): p. 3B. November 23, 1975. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DHozAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LeADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5344%2C6453687.

[cdaws-7] Brown, Bruce (November 24, 1975). "Changes due at WSU". Spokane Daily Chronicle ((Washington)): p. 25. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=R_EjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zfgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5444%2C1992562.

[8] 2009 Washington football media guide

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[8]

v · d · e	Conf					Overall
1975 Pacific-8 football standings
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#5 UCLA §	6	–	1	–	0	9	–	2	–	1
#14 California §	6	–	1	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Stanford	5	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	1
Washington	5	–	2	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
#17 USC	3	–	4	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
Oregon	2	–	5	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Oregon State	1	–	6	–	0	1	–	10	–	0
Washington State	0	–	7	–	0	3	–	8	–	0

§ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll