2005 Washington State Cougars football team

The 2005 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University in the Pacific-10 Conference during the 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by third-year head coach Bill Doba, WSU played its home games at on campus Martin Stadium in Pullman, with one at Qwest Field in Seattle.

2005 Washington State Cougars football
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Record	4–7 (1–7 Pac-10)
Head coach	Bill Doba (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Mike Levenseller (5th season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Robb Akey (3rd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Martin Stadium
Seasons ← 2004 2006 →

2005 Pacific-10 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 2 USC † $		8	–	0					12	–	1
No. 13 Oregon		7	–	1					10	–	2
No. 16 UCLA		6	–	2					10	–	2
No. 25 California		4	–	4					8	–	4
Arizona State		4	–	4					7	–	5
Stanford		4	–	4					5	–	6
Oregon State		3	–	5					5	–	6
Arizona		2	–	6					3	–	8
Washington State		1	–	7					4	–	7
Washington		1	–	7					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion † – USC later vacated 12 wins (8 in conference) and 1 loss due to NCAA sanctions. Rankings from AP Poll

Season

Washington State was picked fifth in the pre-season Pac-10 conference poll. They were even classified by some^[who?] as a sleeper pick for the national championship, with Alex Brink at the helm. They opened with three non-conference wins in September, but the results were different in league play. In the Pac-10 opener at Oregon State, Brink passed for over 500 yards, but WSU lost by eleven.^[1]

The Cougars lost their next three games (Stanford, UCLA, Cal), by a combined ten points; their inability to close out games cost them. After a blowout loss in Los Angeles to top-ranked USC,^[2] three-point setbacks at home to Arizona State and #11 Oregon followed, as the conference losing streak extended to seven games.^[3] In the Apple Cup at Seattle, they defeated struggling rival Washington by four points to finish at 4–7 overall.^[4]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	7:00 pm	Idaho*	Martin Stadium Pullman, Washington (Battle of the Palouse)	FSNNW	W 38–26	28,339
September 9	7:00 pm	at Nevada*	Mackay Stadium Reno, Nevada	ESPN	W 55–27	17,552
September 17	4:00 pm	Grambling State*	Qwest Field Seattle (Cougar Gridiron Classic)		W 48–7	51,486
October 1	1:00 pm	at Oregon State	Reser Stadium Corvallis, Oregon		L 33–44	42,908
October 8	2:00 pm	Stanford	Martin Stadium Pullman, Washington		L 21–24	33,442
October 15	3:30 pm	No. 11 UCLA	Martin Stadium Pullman, Washington	FSN	L 41–44 OT	35,117
October 22	7:15 pm	at No. 25 California	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, California	FSN	L 38–42	52,569
October 29	12:30 pm	at No. 1 USC	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles	ABC	L 13–55	92,021
November 5	2:00 pm	Arizona State	Martin Stadium Pullman, Washington		L 24–27	31,054
November 12	7:15 pm	No. 11 Oregon	Martin Stadium Pullman, Washington	FSNNW	L 31–34	27,595
November 19	12:15 pm	at Washington	Husky Stadium Seattle (Apple Cup)	FSN	W 26–22	70,713
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

Game summaries

Washington

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Washington State	10	3	6	7	26
Washington	7	0	7	8	22

• Date: November 19
• Location: Husky Stadium • Seattle
• Game start: 12:15 p.m. PST

Scoring summary

1	8:15	WSU	Greg Prator 30 yard pass from Alex Brink (Loren Langley kick)	Wash St 7-0
1	6:37	WASH	Sonny Shackelford 65 yard pass from Kenny James (Evan Knudson kick)	Tie 7-7
1	1:59	WSU	Loren Langley 22 yard field goal	Wash St 10-7
2	1:50	WSU	Loren Langley 48 yard field goal	Wash St 13-7
3	7:41	WSH	Craig Chambers 16 yard pass from Isaiah Stanback (Evan Knudson kick)	Wash 14-13
3	2:53	WSU	Jerome Harrison 19 yard run (pass failed)	Wash St 19-14
4	14:50	WASH	James Sims Jr. 3 yard run (Anthony Russo pass from Isaiah Stanback)	Wash 22-19
4	1:20	WSU	Trandon Harvey 39 yard pass from Alex Brink (Graham Siderius kick)	Wash St 26-22

^[5]