2016 Washington State Cougars football team

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.[1] They were invited to the Holiday Bowl where they were defeated by Minnesota.

2016 Washington State Cougars football
Holiday Bowl, L 12–17 vs. Minnesota
ConferencePac-12 Conference
DivisionNorth Division
Record8–5 (7–2 Pac-12)
Head coach
Offensive schemeAir raid
Defensive coordinatorAlex Grinch (2nd season)
Base defenseMultiple 3–4
Home stadiumMartin Stadium
Seasons
← 2015
2017 →
2016 Pac-12 Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
North Division
No. 4 Washington x$^   8 1     12 2  
Washington State   7 2     8 5  
No. 12 Stanford   6 3     10 3  
California   3 6     5 7  
Oregon State   3 6     4 8  
Oregon   2 7     4 8  
South Division
No. 17 Colorado x   8 1     10 4  
No. 3 USC   7 2     10 3  
No. 23 Utah   5 4     9 4  
Arizona State   2 7     5 7  
UCLA   2 7     4 8  
Arizona   1 8     3 9  
Championship: Washington 41, Colorado 10
  • ^ – College Football Playoff participant
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

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DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 35:00 pmNo. 14 (FCS) Eastern Washington*P12NL 42–4532,952
September 107:15 pmat Boise State*ESPN2L 28–3136,163
September 1711:00 amIdaho*
P12NW 56–628,477
October 16:30 pmOregon
  • Martin Stadium
  • Pullman, WA
P12NW 51–3333,528
October 87:30 pmat No. 15 StanfordESPNW 42–1650,424
October 157:30 pmUCLA 
  • Martin Stadium
  • Pullman, WA
ESPNW 27–2129,310
October 227:00 pmat Arizona StateP12NW 37–3250,582
October 297:45 pmat Oregon StateESPN2W 35–3137,081
November 51:00 pmArizonaNo. 25
  • Martin Stadium
  • Pullman, WA
P12NW 69–733,547
November 127:30 pmCaliforniaNo. 23
  • Martin Stadium
  • Pullman, WA
ESPNW 56–2130,135
November 1912:30 pmat No. 10 ColoradoNo. 22FOXL 24–3848,658
November 2512:30 pmNo. 5 WashingtonNo. 23
FOXL 17–4533,773
December 271:00 pmvs. Minnesota*ESPNL 12–1748,704

Conference opponents not played this season: Utah, USC

Rankings

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Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
Week
PollPre1234567891011121314Final
APRVRVRVRV25232023RVRVRV
CoachesRVRVRVRV25232023RVRVRV
CFPNot released25232223Not released

Game summaries

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Eastern Washington

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

At Boise State

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

Idaho

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

Oregon

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

At Stanford

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

UCLA

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

At Arizona State

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

At Oregon State

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

Arizona

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

California

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

At Colorado

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

Washington

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

Minnesota–Holiday Bowl

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

Coaching staff

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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
Ken Wilson Linebackers coach 4 North Central, 1986
Brian Odom Defensive quality control coach 2 Southeastern Oklahoma State, 2004

Source:[2]

References

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  1. ^ "2016 Pac-12 Conference Year Summary". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
  2. ^ "2016 Football Roster". wsucougars.com. Retrieved March 7, 2018.