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1978 Washington State Cougars football team

American college football season

Field	Value
year	1978
team	Washington State Cougars
sport	football
image	Washington State Football Helmet 1978.png
image_size	200
conference	Pacific-10 Conference
short_conf	Pac-10
record	4–6–1
conf_record	2–6
head_coach	Jim Walden
hc_year	1st
stadium	Martin Stadium, Joe Albi Stadium

The 1978 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. Under new head coach Jim Walden, the Cougars compiled a 4–6–1 record (2–6 in Pac-10, last), and were outscored 296 to 276. The six home games were split evenly between Martin Stadium on campus in Pullman and Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane.

The team's statistical leaders included Jack Thompson with 2,333 passing yards, Tali Ena with 728 rushing yards, and Mike Wilson with 451 receiving yards.

This was the first football season in the newly expanded Pac-10; the Cougars met the two new members, Arizona and Arizona State, but did not play the USC Trojans.

Senior quarterback Thompson was ninth in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy, and was the third overall selection of the 1979 NFL draft, taken by the Cincinnati Bengals.

The offensive backs coach in 1977 under Warren Powers, Walden was promoted that December and became the Cougars' fourth head coach in four seasons (Jim Sweeney (1975), Jackie Sherrill (1976), and Powers). He led the WSU program for nine years.

After this season, the running track in Martin Stadium was removed, the playing field was lowered, and the capacity was expanded with new lower seating.

Schedule

|{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = t |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l :^ Note: The Oregon game was later forfeited to Washington State by order of the Pacific-10 Conference

Roster

Jim Walden (1st year)
Mike Church – (LB)
Gary Gagnon – (RB)
Rich Glover – (DL)
Lindsay Hughes – (DE)
Steve Morton – (TE)
Pat Ruel – (OL)
Al Sandahl – (QB)
Dave Walker – (DL)
Jerry Wamsley – (DB)
Ken Woody – (WR)

Awards

All-American: QB Jack Thompson (Playboy, Preseason, Sporting News, 1st)
All-Pac-10: QB Jack Thompson (1st), C Mark Chandless
All-West Coast: Jack Thompson (UPI, 2nd)
Frank Butler Award: Jack Thompson
J. Fred Bohler Award: Tom Larsen
Laurie Niemi Award: Mark Chandless

Source:

NFL draft

One Cougar was selected in the 1979 NFL draft.

Jack Thompson	QB	[1](1980-nfl-draft-round-one)	3	[Cincinnati Bengals](1979-cincinnati-bengals-season)

References

"1978 Washington State Cougars Schedule and Results". Sports Reference LLC.
"2016 Media Guide". Washington State Cougars Athletics.
"1978 Washington State Cougars Stats". Sports Reference LLC.
(May 3, 1979). "Thompson 3rd in NFL draft". Spokane Daily Chronicle.
Killen, John. (December 19, 1977). "WSU hires Waldens, who plans to stay". Lewiston Morning Tribune.
Missildine, Harry. (December 19, 1977). "Walden's players' choice at WSU". Spokesman-Review.
Brown, Bruce. (December 19, 1977). "WSU makes Walden's dreams come true". Spokane Daily Chronicle.
(October 10, 1978). "Hanson directs stadium drive". Spokesman-Review.
(April 1, 1979). "Martin Stadium on schedule". Spokesman-Review.
(December 21, 1978). "Construction to start". Spokesman-Review.
(September 7, 1979). "New Martin Stadium". Spokane Daily Chronicle.
(September 10, 1978). "Thompson leads WSU win". The Spokesman-Review.
(September 17, 1978). "Error-prone UI falls to Cougars". The Spokesman-Review.
(September 24, 1978). "Throwin' Samoan drills Devils, 51–26". The Arizona Republic.
(October 1, 1978). "Army rallies for 21–21 tie". The Daily Item.
(October 15, 1978). "WSU falls in Pac-10 game". The Bellingham Herald.
(October 22, 1978). "Cougs bombed 43–27". The News Tribune.
(October 29, 1978). "Oregon upsets Washington State". The Idaho Statesman.
(November 5, 1978). "Walford FG upsets Cougars, 32–31". The Olympian.
(November 12, 1978). "Jones' runs spark Bears". The Sunday Oregonian.
(November 19, 1978). "Arizona claims 31–24 win". The El Paso Times.
(November 26, 1978). "One for the record book: Huskies 38–8". Tri-City Herald.
2009 Washington State football media guide
(September 9, 1978). "Rebels vs. Cougars: probable starters". Spokesman-Review.
Van Sickel, Charlie. (September 11, 1978). "Cougar QBs abound". Spokane Daily Chronicle.
(November 4, 1978). "Beavers vs. Cougars: probable starters". Spokesman-Review.
(November 25, 1978). "Huskies vs. Cougars: probable starters". Spokesman-Review.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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