1968 Washington State Cougars football team

1968 Washington State Cougars football
Conference	Pacific-8 Conference
Record	3–6–1 (1–3–1 Pac-8)
Head coach	Jim Sweeney (1st season)
Home stadium	Rogers Field, Joe Albi Stadium
Seasons ← 1967 1969 →

The 1968 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) during the 1968 NCAA University Division football season. In their first season under head coach Jim Sweeney, the Cougars compiled a 3–6–1 record (1–3–1 in Pac-8, seventh), and outscored their opponents 189 to 188.^[1][2] The final two games were shutout victories.

The team's statistical leaders included Jerry Henderson with 1,586 passing yards, Richard Lee Smith with 326 rushing yards, and Johnny Davis with 421 receiving yards.^[3]

The Cougars won a second straight Apple Cup from rival Washington, shutting out the Huskies 24–0 in Spokane.^[4] This was the last time that this rivalry game was played on natural grass.^[5] WSU played only five conference games, missing California and USC. Of the Cougars' five home games, three were played in Spokane.

Sweeney was hired in early January; he was previously the head coach for five seasons at Montana State in Bozeman.^[6][7][8] He retained alumnus Laurie Niemi on the staff, but Niemi died from cancer at age 42 in February.^[9][10][11]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 21	Idaho*	Joe Albi Stadium Spokane, WA (Battle of the Palouse)	W 14–7	23,612	[12]
September 28	at No. 8 UCLA	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	L 21–31	41,759	[13][14]
October 5	Utah*	Rogers Field Pullman, WA	L 14–17	16,503	[15]
October 12	at Arizona State*	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	L 14–41	36,226	[16]
October 19	No. 14 Stanford	Joe Albi Stadium Spokane, WA	T 21–21	15,700	[17]
October 26	Oregon State	Rogers Field Pullman, WA	L 8–16	20,781	[18][19]
November 2	at Arizona*	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	L 14–28	31,400	[20]
November 9	at Oregon	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	L 13–27	23,000	[21][22][23]
November 16	at San Jose State*	Spartan Stadium San Jose, CA	W 46–0	8,450	[24]
November 23	Washington	Joe Albi Stadium Spokane, WA (Apple Cup)	W 24–0	31,986	[25][26]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Source:^{[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]}

One Cougar was selected in the 1969 NFL/AFL draft.

^[36][37]

• Game program: Idaho vs. WSU at Spokane – September 21, 1968
• Game program: Utah at WSU – October 5, 1968
• Game program: Stanford vs. WSU at Spokane – October 19. 1968
• Game program: Oregon State at WSU – October 26, 1968
• Game program: Washington vs. WSU at Spokane – November 23, 1968