2016 Washington State Cougars football team

2016 Washington State Cougars football
Holiday Bowl, L 12–17 vs. Minnesota
Conference	Pac-12 Conference
Division	North Division
2016 record	8–5 (7–2 Pac-12)
Head coach	Mike Leach (5th season)
Offensive scheme	Air raid
Defensive coordinator	Alex Grinch (2nd season)
Base defense	3–4 multiple
Home stadium	Martin Stadium (Capacity: 32,952)
Seasons

Template:2016 Pac-12 football standings The 2016 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University during the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by fifth-year head coach Mike Leach and played their home games at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington. They were members of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference. They finished the season 8–5, 7–2 in Pac-12 play to finish in second place in the North Division. They were invited to the Holiday Bowl where they were defeated by Minnesota.

Previous season

Main article: 2015 Washington State Cougars football team

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	5:00 PM	No. 14 (FCS) Eastern Washington*		Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	P12N	L 42–45	32,952
September 10	7:15 PM	at Boise State*		Albertsons Stadium Boise, ID	ESPN2	L 28–31	36,163
September 17	11:00 AM	Idaho*		Martin Stadium Pullman, WA (Battle of the Palouse)	P12N	W 56–6	28,477
October 1	6:30 PM	Oregon		Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	P12N	W 51–33	33,528
October 8	7:30 PM	at No. 15 Stanford		Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	ESPN	W 42–16	50,424
October 15	7:30 PM	UCLA		Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	ESPN	W 27–21	29,310
October 22	7:00 PM	at Arizona State		Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	P12N	W 37–32	50,582
October 29	7:45 PM	at Oregon State		Reser Stadium Corvallis, OR	ESPN2	W 35–31	37,081
November 5	1:00 PM	Arizona	No. 25	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	P12N	W 69–7	33,547
November 12	7:30 PM	California	No. 23	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	ESPN	W 56–21	30,135
November 19	12:30 PM	at No. 12 Colorado	No. 20	Folsom Field Boulder, CO	FOX	L 24–38	48,658
November 25	12:30 PM	No. 6 Washington	No. 23	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA (109th Apple Cup)	FOX	L 17–45	33,773
December 27	1:00 PM	vs. Minnesota*		Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, CA (Holiday Bowl)	ESPN	L 12–17	48,704
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

Rankings

Template:Further information

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	23	20	23	RV	RV
Coaches	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	23	20	23	RV	RV
CFP	Not released									25	23	22	23	NR	Not released

Game summaries

Eastern Washington

	1	2	3	4	OT
#14 (FCS) Eagles	7	17	14	7	45
Cougars	14	14	0	14	42

See also: 2016 Eastern Washington Eagles football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–0	2012	WAZZU, 24–20

at Boise State

	1	2	3	4	OT
Cougars	0	7	7	14	28
Broncos	14	3	7	7	31

See also: 2016 Boise State Broncos football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–0	2001	WAZZU, 41–20

Idaho

	1	2	3	4	OT
Vandals	3	0	3	0	6
Cougars	7	14	7	28	56

See also: 2016 Idaho Vandals football team and Battle of the Palouse

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
71–18–3	2013	WAZZU, 42–0

Oregon

	1	2	3	4	OT
Ducks	7	7	6	13	33
Cougars	7	21	2	21	51

See also: 2016 Oregon Ducks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
39–47–7	2015	WAZZU, 45–38 2OT

at Stanford

	1	2	3	4	OT
Cougars	7	7	14	14	42
#15 Cardinal	0	3	7	6	16

See also: 2016 Stanford Cardinal football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
25–40–1	2015	STAN, 30–28

UCLA

	1	2	3	4	OT
Bruins	0	0	7	14	21
Cougars	3	7	14	3	27

See also: 2016 UCLA Bruins football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
20–39–1	2015	WAZZU, 31–27

at Arizona State

	1	2	3	4	OT
Cougars	0	17	14	6	37
Sun Devils	7	7	7	11	32

See also: 2016 Arizona State Sun Devils football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
14–26–2	2015	WAZZU, 38–24

at Oregon State

	1	2	3	4	OT
Cougars	0	6	22	7	35
Beavers	14	10	0	7	31

See also: 2016 Oregon State Beavers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
50–47–3	2015	WAZZU, 52–31

Arizona

	1	2	3	4	OT
Wildcats	0	7	0	0	7
#25 Cougars	24	14	14	17	69

See also: 2016 Arizona Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
15–26	2015	WAZZU, 45–42

California

	1	2	3	4	OT
Golden Bears	0	7	7	7	21
#23 Cougars	14	14	7	21	56

See also: 2016 California Golden Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
26–46–5	2015	CAL, 38–24

at Colorado

	1	2	3	4	OT
#20 Cougars	14	3	7	0	24
#12 Buffaloes	7	7	14	10	38

See also: 2016 Colorado Buffaloes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–5	2015	WAZZU, 27–3

Washington

	1	2	3	4	OT
#6 Huskies	28	7	0	10	45
#23 Cougars	3	7	7	0	17

See also: 2016 Washington Huskies football team and Apple Cup

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
32–70–6	2015	WASH, 45–10

Minnesota–Holiday Bowl

	1	2	3	4	OT
Golden Gophers	0	3	7	7	17
Cougars	3	3	0	6	12

See also: 2016 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team and 2016 Holiday Bowl

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–2	1988	WAZZU, 41–9

Coaching staff

Name	Title	Years at WSU	Alma mater
Mike Leach	Head Coach	6	BYU, 1983
Alex Grinch	Defensive Coordinator/Secondary Coach	3	Mount Union, 2002
Jason Loscalzo	Strength and Conditioning Coach	6	Humboldt State, 1999
Roy Manning	Outside Linebackers Coach	3	Michigan, 2004
Jim Mastro	Running Backs Coach	6	Cal Poly, 1994
Clay McGuire	Offensive Line Coach	6	Texas Tech, 2004
Eric Mele	Special Teams Coach	3	William Paterson, 2002
Dave Nichol	Outside Receivers Coach	2	Texas Tech, 1999

Source:

References

http://wsucougars.com/roster.aspx?roster=74&path=football