The 1988 Washington State Cougars football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

in the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

(Pac-10) during the 1988 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their second and final season under head coach

Dennis Erickson Dennis Brian Erickson (born March 24, 1947) is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football league. He was also the head coach at the University of Idaho ( ...

, the Cougars compiled a 9–3 record (5–3 in Pac-10, tied for third), and outscored their opponents 415 to 303. The team's statistical leaders included

Timm Rosenbach Timm Lane Rosenbach (born October 27, 1966) is an American college football coach and former professional gridiron football player. Rosenbach was the head football coach at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado, taking the position at t ...

with 3,097 passing yards,

Steve Broussard Steve Nelson Broussard (born February 22, 1967) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals, and Seattle Seahawks. He has also serv ...

with 1,280 rushing yards, and Tim Stallworth with 1,151 receiving yards. On October 29, Washington State beat No. 1

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

at the Rose Bowl, their first and only win ever over a No. 1 ranked team. Several months after this season, Erickson departed for

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

in early March 1989, and

Mike Price Michael Bruce Price (born April 6, 1946) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach at Weber State College from 1981 to 1988, Washington State University from 1989 to 2002, and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) from 2004 ...

was hired a week later; a former Cougar player and assistant, he was previously the head coach for eight years in the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

Weber State Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. History Weber State University was founded ...

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

. Quarterback Rosenbach opted not to stay as a fifth-year senior in 1989 and announced his intent to turn professional in April. He entered the NFL's

supplemental draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

, and was selected in July with the second pick by the recently relocated

Phoenix Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

Schedule

:Source:

Roster

Season summary

Illinois

: 27 Rush, 173 Yds

Washington

Shawn Landrum blocked an Eric Canton punt which led to

's eventual game-winning fourth down touchdown run. Washington State secured an

Aloha Bowl The Aloha Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision (then known as Division I-A) college football bowl game played in Honolulu, Hawaii at Aloha Stadium. History The Aloha Bowl was established in 1982 by Mack ...

berth with the win.

NFL Draft

Three Cougars were selected in the 1989 NFL Draft, held April 23–24. : The

was held on July 7.

References

External links

''Spokane Chronicle'': Aloha Bowl '88
special pre-game section, December 22, 1988 {{Washington State Cougars football navbox

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

Washington State Cougars football seasons Aloha Bowl champion seasons Washington State Cougars football