Washington State goes bowling: Few legacy Pac-12 teams can match the Cougars’ postseason hit rate
Washington State is bowl-eligible again after smashing Oregon State in the regular-season finale.
The sixth victory secured a 2-for-2 record for the Cougars: Two seasons in Pac-12 purgatory, following the demise of the former conference and before the rise of the rebuilt version, and two bowl bids.
The accomplishment is both impressive and unsurprising. Coaching changes, quarterback turnover, brutal schedules, tight budgets — none of it has successfully derailed WSU’s drives for the postseason.
The only obstacle the Cougars couldn’t overcome in the past decade killed millions and shut down the global economy.
They are bowling for the ninth time in the past 10 non-COVID seasons.
That equals the success rate in Seattle, Eugene and Salt Lake City.
And it’s more postseason appearances in that span than USC, Arizona, UCLA, Colorado, Stanford, Cal, Arizona State and Oregon State can claim.
The Cougars’ streak began in 2015, Mike Leach’s fourth year on the Palouse, with a trip to the Sun Bowl. Bids followed for the next four years of Leach’s tenure.
Then he left, COVID hit, and WSU played only four games.
The 2020s brought massive chaos. But they were bowl-eligible in 2021 despite firing Nick Rolovich in October for failing to comply with the vaccine mandate for state employees.
Interim coach Jake Dickert led them to an Apple Cup win and the Sun Bowl. He was given the permanent job and took the Cougars back to the postseason in 2022.
They missed by one game in 2023, the result of three three-point losses in November (to Stanford, Cal and Washington) but made the postseason last year, the first of two seasons in Pac-12 limbo.
They are bowling again this year after enduring another coaching change — Dickert left for Wake Forest; Jimmy Rogers was hired from South Dakota State — and losing quarterback John Mateer (to Oklahoma) and navigating a schedule built for Independent teams, with eight bowl-eligible opponents and three road games in the Eastern and Central Time Zones.
They lost by three points at Mississippi, two points at Virginia and four points at James Madison. The Rebels are headed to the College Football Playoff; the Cavaliers might be; the Dukes are contenders, as well.
(Those three losses, by nine points, came to teams with a combined record of 32-4.)
From the opening kickoff of 2015 through the final Saturday of the 2025 season, the Cougars have consistently produced quality seasons despite firing their coach in the middle of the season, the implosion of their conference and two years of purgatory — plus all the inherent challenges posed by their location and resources.
Where are they headed for the holidays?
That’s impossible to know at this point, but we can make an educated guess based on the records of the legacy Pac-12 teams and the selection process that has been tweaked slightly since implosion.
(Instead of conference record setting the hierarchy, overall record is used.)
Eight of the 12 teams are eligible, but only one, Oregon, will jump into the CFP.
If the remaining seven are slotted appropriately based on overall record, WSU probably will land in the ESPN bowl pool, a collection of games operated by the network that includes the Gasparilla, Armed Forces and First Responders bowls.
The Gasparilla is in Florida; the other two are located in Texas and would provide quality exposure for the Cougars in a state vital to recruiting.
Wherever they land, the Cougars are headed somewhere for the holidays, thus providing first-year coach Jimmy Rogers with momentum for recruiting and NIL support, and weeks of additional practices. That should assist with player evaluations and development.
Yes, the Cougars waited far too long to settle on Zevi Eckhaus as the starting quarterback, they pulled a complete no-show at Oregon State, and they let three possible upsets slip through their grasp on the other side of the country.
But Rogers and his staff have done quality work, especially defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit, and the season counts as a qualified success.
It could have been far worse for a program accustomed to bowling.
The Cougars could be Oregon State, which went 0-of-2 in this period of purgatory.
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