2020 Washington State Cougars football team

The 2020 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University during the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Nick Rolovich. The team played their home games in Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington, and competed as members of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference.

2020 Washington State Cougars football
ConferencePac–12 Conference
DivisionNorth Division
2020 record1–3 (1–3 Pac-12)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorBrian Smith (1st season)
Co-offensive coordinatorCraig Stutzmann (1st season)
Offensive schemeRun and Shoot
Defensive coordinatorJake Dickert (1st season)
Base defense4–2–5
CaptainMax Borghi, Abraham Lucas, Liam Ryan, Jahad Woods
Home stadiumMartin Stadium
(Capacity: 32,952)
2020 Pac-12 Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
North Division
Washington x  3 –1     3 –1  
Stanford  4 –2     4 –2  
Oregon y$  3 –2     4 –3  
California  1 –3     1 –3  
Washington State  1 –3     1 –3  
Oregon State  2 –5     2 –5  
South Division
No. 21 USC xy  5 –0     5 –1  
Colorado  3 –1     4 –2  
Utah  3 –2     3 –2  
Arizona State  2 –2     2 –2  
UCLA  3 –4     3 –4  
Arizona  0 –5     0 –5  
Championship: Oregon 31, USC 24
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
  • Note: Due to COVID-19, the Pac-12 suspended the season on August 11, but later decided to begin play on November 6. In addition to the title game on December 18, the conference seeded all remaining teams for a game during that weekend.[1]
Rankings from AP Poll.

On August 11, 2020, the Pac-12 Conference initially canceled all fall sports competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

On September 24, the conference announced that a six-game conference-only season would begin on November 6, with the Pac-12 Championship Game to be played December 18. Teams not selected for the championship game would be seeded to play a seventh game.[3]

Previous season

The Cougars finished the season 6–7, 3–6 in Pac-12 play to finish tied for fifth in the Northern Division. They were invited to play in the Cheez-It Bowl, where they lost to Air Force 31–21. On January 9, head coach Mike Leach departed the program to accept the vacant head coaching position at Mississippi State.[4][5] Less than a week later, athletic director Pat Chun hired Hawaii head coach Nick Rolovich.[6][7]

Schedule

Washington State had games scheduled against Utah State, Houston, and Idaho, but canceled these games on July 10 due to the Pac-12 Conference's decision to play a conference-only schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
November 77:30 p.m.at Oregon State
FS1W 38–28—
November 144:00 p.m.No. 11 Oregon
  • Martin Stadium
  • Pullman, WA
FOXL 29–43—
December 64:30 p.m.at No. 20 USC
FS1L 13–38—
December 1910:30 a.m.at Utah
FS1L 28–45

[9]

#WeAreUnited controversy

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, student athletes of the Pac-12 Conference formed a unity group to negotiate with the conference to get more fair treatment for student athletes ranging from COVID-19 safety protocols to racial equality messages under the threat of opting out of the fall season with the hashtag #WeAreUnited.[10]

On August 2, 2020, Washington State wide receiver Kassidy Woods alleged that head coach Nick Rolovich threatened his status on the team, while also being removed from the team chats and being told to clear out his locker.[11] Woods also released an audio conversation between him and Rolovich to the Dallas Morning News, where Rolovich was understanding of Woods opting out due to COVID-19 but was still critical of the unity group.[12] Rolovich said in a statement that the said conversation between him and Woods occurred before the release of the #WeAreUnited group's article, and Washington State spokesman Bill Stephens clarified that Woods did not lose his scholarship or has been cut from the team, while ESPN reported that no one has been cut, but is not allowed to participate in team activities if they choose to opt out due to safety reasons.[13][14]

Personnel

Staff
Name Position Seasons at
Washington State		 Alma Mater
Nick Rolovich Head Coach 1 Hawaii (2004)
Brian Smith Offensive Coordinator / Running Backs 1 Hawaii (2005)
Jake Dickert Defensive Coordinator / Linebackers 1 Wisconsin–Stevens Point (2007)
Michael Ghobrial Special Teams Coordinator 1 UCLA (2011)
Craig Stutzmann Co-Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks 1 Hawaii (2002)
Andre Allen Wide Receivers 1 Ashford (2014)
Mark Weber Offensive Line 1 Cal Lutheran (1980)
A. J. Cooper Defensive Ends 1 North Dakota State (2006)
Ricky Logo Defensive Tackles 1 North Carolina State (1992)
Mark Banker Safeties 1 Springfield (MA) (1978)
John Richardson Cornerbacks / Recruiting Coordinator 1 North Dakota State (2010)
Dwain Bradshaw Head Strength and Conditioning Coach 1 Arizona State (2014)
Jason Cvercko Chief of Staff 1 Connecticut (2011)

Rankings
Further information: 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football 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 15 16 Final 
AP NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR  
Coaches RV NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR  
CFP Not released Not released

Game summaries

at Oregon State
See also: 2020 Oregon State Beavers football team
Washington State Cougars (0–0) at Oregon State Beavers (0–0)
1 2 34Total
Cougars 7 7 141038
Beavers 0 7 71428

at Reser Stadium, Corvallis, Oregon

Oregon
See also: 2020 Oregon Ducks football team
Oregon Ducks (1–0) at Washington State Cougars (1–0)
1 2 34Total
No. 11 Ducks 7 7 72243
Cougars 13 6 01029

at Martin Stadium • Pullman, Washington

  • Date: November 14, 2020
  • Game time: 4:00 p.m. PST
  • Game attendance: 0
  • Referee: Chris Coyle
  • TV announcers (FOX): Tim Brando (play-by-play) & Spencer Tillman (analyst)

at USC
See also: 2020 USC Trojans football team
Washington State Cougars (2–0) at USC Trojans (2–0)
1 2 34Total
Cougars 0 6 0713
No. 20 Trojans 28 7 3038

at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California

  • Date: December 6, 2020
  • Game time: 4:30 p.m. PST
  • Game attendance: 0
  • Referee: S. Strimling
  • TV announcers (FS1): Alex Faust, Petros Papadakis

California
See also: 2020 California Golden Bears football team
California Golden Bears (0–1) at Washington State Cougars (2–0)
1 2 34Total
Golden Bears - - --0
Cougars - - --0

at Martin Stadium, Pullman, Washington

  • Date: December 12, 2020
  • Game time: TBD
  • Game attendance: 0
  • TV: TBD

Awards
Player Award Date
Jayden de Laura Pac-12 Freshman of the Week[15] November 9, 2020
Ayden Hector Pac-12 Freshman of the Week[16] November 16, 2020

References
  1. Pac-12 Conference. "Pac-12 announces resumption of football, basketball & winter sports seasons". Pac-12 Conference. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  2. "Pac-12 Conference postpones all sport competitions through end of calendar year". pac-12.com. August 11, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  3. "Pac-12 announces resumption of football, basketball & winter sports seasons". pac-12.com. September 24, 2020. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  4. Mickanen, Dylan. "Reports: Mike Leach hired as Mississippi State head coach". NBC Sports. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  5. Sallee, Barrett. "Mississippi State hires Washington State's Mike Leach to be next head coach". CBS Sports. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  6. Shapiro, Michael. "Report: Washington State to Hire Hawaii's Nick Rolovich as Head Coach". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  7. Thamel, Pete. "Sources: Washington State finalizing deal to hire Hawaii's Nick Rolovich as next football coach". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  8. Bromberg, Nick. "Pac-12 follows Big Ten's lead and won't play non-conference games in 2020". Yahoo News. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  9. "2020 Washington State Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  10. Bumbaca, Chris. "Group of Pac-12 athletes unite, threaten opt out unless athletes' demands of conference are met". USA Today. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  11. Peter, Josh. "Washington State player says head coach threatened his status over Pac-12 unity group". USA Today. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  12. Blum, Sam. "Full transcript: Washington State coach Nick Rolovich critical of PAC-12 unity statement in conversation with WR Kassidy Woods". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  13. Evans, Jace. "Washington State coach Nick Rolovich attempts to clarify position on #WeAreUnited group". USA Today. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  14. Rittenberg, Adam. "Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich tells WR Kassidy Woods joining unity group would create 'an issue'". ESPN. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  15. "Pac-12 Football Players of the Week – Week 1" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  16. "Pac-12 Football Players of the Week – Week 2" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.