2015 Washington State Cougars football team

The 2015 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University during the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by fourth-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 9–4, 6–3 in Pac-12 play to finish in third place in the North Division. They were invited to the Sun Bowl where they defeated the Miami Hurricanes.

2015 Washington State Cougars football
Sun Bowl champion
Sun Bowl, W 20–14 vs. Miami (FL)
Conference	Pac-12 Conference
	North Division
2015 record	9–4 (6–3 Pac-12)
Head coach	Mike Leach (4th season)
Offensive scheme	Air raid
Defensive coordinator	Alex Grinch (1st season)
Base defense	3–4 multiple
Home stadium	Martin Stadium (Capacity: 32,952)

2015 Pac-12 Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
North Division
No. 3 Stanford x$		8	–	1					12	–	2
No. 19 Oregon		7	–	2					9	–	4
Washington State		6	–	3					9	–	4
California		4	–	5					8	–	5
Washington		4	–	5					7	–	6
Oregon State		0	–	9					2	–	10
South Division
USC xy		6	–	3					8	–	6
No. 17 Utah x		6	–	3					10	–	3
UCLA		5	–	4					8	–	5
Arizona State		4	–	5					6	–	7
Arizona		3	–	6					7	–	6
Colorado		1	–	8					4	–	9
Championship: Stanford 41, USC 22
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	11:00 am	Portland State*		Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	P12N	L 17–24	24,302
September 12	12:30 pm	at Rutgers*		High Point Solutions Stadium Piscataway, NJ	ESPNU	W 37–34	46,536
September 19	5:30 pm	Wyoming*		Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	P12N	W 31–14	31,105
October 3	1:00 pm	at No. 24 California		California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	P12N	L 28–34	42,042
October 10	3:00 pm	at Oregon		Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	P12N	W 45–38 ^2OT	57,775
October 17	1:00 pm	Oregon State		Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	P12N	W 52–31	32,952
October 24	1:00 pm	at Arizona		Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	P12N	W 45–42	47,847
October 31	7:30 pm	No. 8 Stanford		Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	ESPN	L 28–30	30,012
November 7	12:30 pm	Arizona State		Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	FS1	W 38–24	32,952
November 14	7:45 pm	at No. 18 UCLA		Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA	ESPN	W 31–27	76,255
November 21	7:45 pm	Colorado	No. 24	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	ESPN2	W 27–3	25,121
November 27	12:30 pm	at Washington	No. 20	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA (108th Apple Cup)	FOX	L 10–45	70,438
December 26	11:00 am	vs. Miami (FL)*		Sun Bowl Stadium El Paso, TX (Sun Bowl)	CBS	W 20–14	41,180
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Pacific time

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	24	20	RV	RV	RV
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	23	20	RV	RV	RV
CFP	Not released									NR	NR	NR	20	NR	NR	Not released

Game summaries

Portland State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	0	0	10	14	24
Cougars	3	7	0	7	17

@ Rutgers

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cougars	7	6	7	17	37
Scarlet Knights	0	6	6	22	34

Wyoming

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cowboys	14	0	0	0	14
Cougars	7	14	0	10	31

@ California

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cougars	7	14	7	0	28
#24 Golden Bears	7	6	21	0	34

@ Oregon

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
Cougars	7	7	7	10	7	7	45
Ducks	10	7	7	7	7	0	38

Oregon State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Beavers	3	14	0	14	31
Cougars	14	31	0	7	52

@ Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cougars	14	17	7	7	45
Wildcats	0	21	7	14	42

Stanford

	1	2	3	4	Total
#8 Cardinal	3	0	17	10	30
Cougars	3	9	10	6	28

Arizona State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sun Devils	14	0	7	3	24
Cougars	0	10	7	21	38

@ UCLA

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cougars	7	7	7	10	31
#18 Bruins	6	10	0	11	27

Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
Buffaloes	0	0	3	0	3
#24 Cougars	7	7	3	10	27

@ Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
#20 Cougars	3	0	7	0	10
Huskies	7	10	7	21	45

vs. Miami (FL)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hurricanes	7	0	0	7	14
Cougars	7	13	0	0	20

2015 Coaching staff

• Mike Leach - Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator
• Jim Mastro - Running Backs
• David Yost - Inside Receivers
• Graham Harrell - Outside Receivers
• Clay McGuire - Offensive Line
• Joe Salave'a - Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line
• David Lose - Defensive Quality Control
• Alex Grinch - Defensive Coordinator/Secondary
• Ken Wilson - Linebackers
• Roy Manning - Outside Linebackers
• Brian Odom - Defensive Quality Control
• Eric Mele - Special Teams
• Dave Emerick - Chief of Staff
• Antonio Huffman - Director of Football Operations
• Jason Loscalzo - Strength and Conditioning

[1]

References

1. "WSU Football Coaching Staff". wsucougars.com. Retrieved 7 March 2015.