The 1970 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 wi ...

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 uni ...

in the

Pacific-8 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-8) during the

1970 NCAA University Division football season The 1970 NCAA University Division football season was marked by tragedy, due to two airplane crashes. On October 2, one of the planes carrying the Wichita State football team crashed on the way to a game against Utah State, killing 31 people on ...

. In their third season under head coach Jim Sweeney, the Cougars compiled a 1–10 record (0–7 in Pac-8, last), and were outscored 460 to 231. The team's statistical leaders included Ty Paine with 1,581 passing yards, Bob Ewen with 667 rushing yards, and Ed Armstrong with 488 receiving yards. Due to the

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...

at Rogers Field in April, all home games were played at

Joe Albi Stadium Joe Albi Stadium is a former outdoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, located in Spokane, Washington. In the northwest part of the city, just east of the Spokane River, it was primarily used for high school football, and as a secon ...

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

in 1970 and 1971. AstroTurf was installed there in the summer of 1970. For the second straight year, Washington State played a full conference schedule and went winless. The only victory was in September over neighbor

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

in the

Battle of the Palouse The Battle of the Palouse refers to an athletic rivalry in the northwest United States, between the Vandals of the University of Idaho and Cougars of Washington State University. The two land-grant universities are less than apart on the ...

, the sole meeting in a three-year span. The annual rivalry game was not played the previous season (and in 1971) to allow the Cougars to schedule all seven conference opponents.

Schedule

Roster

All-conference

One Washington State offensive lineman, junior guard Steve Busch, was named to the All-Pac-8 team. On the second team (honorable mention) was senior cornerback Lionel Thomas. Busch made the first team again as a senior in 1971.

NFL Draft

For the first time in five years, no Cougars were selected in the

1971 NFL Draft The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...

References

External links

Game program: Idaho vs. WSU at Spokane
– September 19, 1970
Game program: Stanford vs. WSU at Spokane
– October 17, 1970
Game program: USC vs. WSU at Spokane
– November 7, 1970
Game program: Oregon State vs. WSU at Spokane
– November 14, 1970
Game program: Washington vs. WSU at Spokane
– November 21, 1970 {{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 Washington State Cougars football