WSU's Greatest Victory
- Thread starter Suudy
- Start date
'97 apple cup to make the Rose Bowl for first time in 60-some-odd years, followed by '88, beating #1 ranked UCLA on the road
Wish i would have experienced that 88 game.
02 USC is right up there.
Can't discount 18 Oregon, though; gameday + top ranked opponent + win = greatness.
I am a "modern" era coug 
started in spring of 2000. I was at both the 2002 and 2017 SC games. For some reason, the 2017 excited me more...probably cause more recent. I'd actually say the Holiday Bowl game against Texas is my all time win for the Cougs.
started in spring of 2000. I was at both the 2002 and 2017 SC games. For some reason, the 2017 excited me more...probably cause more recent. I'd actually say the Holiday Bowl game against Texas is my all time win for the Cougs.
Just for clarity, the timeframe for games that qualify for his list is 2000-2019, so the 92 AC doesn't qualify.
In terms of greatest wins in the designated timespan, the following is my personal Top 5 wins
1) 2003 Holiday Bowl vs Texas - beating up a Top 5 Texas team was great
2) 2002 USC - USC ended up #4 that season.....and the win over the Trojans led to a Rose Bowl
3) 2017 USC - one of the better wins of the past 20 years, but not in the Top two
4) 2018 Oregon - a good win when a lot of eyes were on us.
5) 2016 Stanford - gets a nod because of how dominating it was over a 10 win Cardinal team.
All time Top 10 wins (1989-2019 for me)
1) 2003 Holiday Bowl vs Texas
2) 2002 USC
3) 1992 Apple Cup - featured the best 3rd quarter in program history
4) 1997 Apple Cup - the game that got us into the first Rose Bowl in 67 years
5) 1997 UCLA - that 1997 UCLA team ended up being really damned good (still soft though) Awesome goal line stand to hold onto the win.
6) 2017 USC
7) 2018 Oregon
8) 2016 Stanford
9) 2015 Oregon - barely missed the cut above. started our 4 game winning streak against those pricks from Eugene.
10) 1989 BYU - barn burner win against a very good BYU team. The field goals by Hanson put it over the top for me to slip onto the list.
EDIT: I thought about 1997 USC because that was a crazy fun game, but USC was not particularly good, so the win looked better that week than it did two months later.
In terms of greatest wins in the designated timespan, the following is my personal Top 5 wins
1) 2003 Holiday Bowl vs Texas - beating up a Top 5 Texas team was great
2) 2002 USC - USC ended up #4 that season.....and the win over the Trojans led to a Rose Bowl
3) 2017 USC - one of the better wins of the past 20 years, but not in the Top two
4) 2018 Oregon - a good win when a lot of eyes were on us.
5) 2016 Stanford - gets a nod because of how dominating it was over a 10 win Cardinal team.
All time Top 10 wins (1989-2019 for me)
1) 2003 Holiday Bowl vs Texas
2) 2002 USC
3) 1992 Apple Cup - featured the best 3rd quarter in program history
4) 1997 Apple Cup - the game that got us into the first Rose Bowl in 67 years
5) 1997 UCLA - that 1997 UCLA team ended up being really damned good (still soft though) Awesome goal line stand to hold onto the win.
6) 2017 USC
7) 2018 Oregon
8) 2016 Stanford
9) 2015 Oregon - barely missed the cut above. started our 4 game winning streak against those pricks from Eugene.
10) 1989 BYU - barn burner win against a very good BYU team. The field goals by Hanson put it over the top for me to slip onto the list.
EDIT: I thought about 1997 USC because that was a crazy fun game, but USC was not particularly good, so the win looked better that week than it did two months later.
was hanging with a high school friend who was a rugby player at Gonzaga and watched it with a bunch of drunken rugby lunatics at the rugby house--even they were hooting and hollering to watch UCLA get toppled, it was quite an afternoon.
Despite knowing the outcome, I still find myself swearing at the computer as UCLA puts up another TD to open the second half. WTF COUGS, WAKE UP! ROSENBACH GET YOUR SH!T TOGETHER!
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Yeah, keep blitzing Donahue!!! Suck it, TD Stallworth!!! YEEEESSSS!!!
I had a feeling Donahue was going to get too cute and Erickson was going to make him pay.
TD Swinton, walks in untouched.
And, did I just see who I think I saw? Ugh, I have conflicted feelings about him as a Coug now...
And, did I just see who I think I saw? Ugh, I have conflicted feelings about him as a Coug now...
Where the hell is Artie Holmes and why aren't we bringing him back for homecoming every year?!?!
'03 Holiday Bowl over Texas. Not the win over the highest ranking opponent; that was #1 UCLA in 1988. But #5 Texas was our highest ranked opponent in a bowl, and we beat them soundly. FWIW, it was also the most spectacular exhibition of punting in Cougar football history. I've got to ask; in how many other big games has our defensive MVP been the punter??
And I've got to add, most of the Longhorn fans were very classy after the loss. Of course, it was their second trip to San Diego in 3 years, so probably a lot of the bandwagon folks did not come. Still, I was left with a good impression of their fan base from that game.
And I've got to add, most of the Longhorn fans were very classy after the loss. Of course, it was their second trip to San Diego in 3 years, so probably a lot of the bandwagon folks did not come. Still, I was left with a good impression of their fan base from that game.
With that kind of time restriction, I can't argue with your top 2. I'd probably make 2018 Oregon our #3, just because of the full spectacle including Gameday. And I'd at least consider the Sun Bowl win over Miami as #5. It wasn't dominating, but it was a nationally televised win over a nationally recognizable opponent.
All time...
I'll give the 2003 Holiday Bowl a slight edge for #1, because it was a big exposure game - great D on national TV against the #5 team.
2) '97 AC - maybe not that big for exposure, but it was for the Rose Bowl
3) 2002 USC - Put us on the road back to the Rose
4) 2018 Oregon - big exposure, big win
(tie) '92 AC - just because it was so damn much fun kicking them even when they weren't down
6) 1988 UCLA - Beat the #1 team in the country on national TV with KJ in the booth. Would be higher if we'd capitalized on it better
7) 2017 USC
8) 2015 Sun Bowl (Miami)
9) 2003 Oregon - Ducks were riding high coming off their win over Michigan and SI cover. We went into Autzen and absolutely destroyed them...on national TV
10) 2012 AC - It wasn't a great season, but coming back in the 4th quarter against a team that was ranked felt pretty good, and gave us the first flicker of what was coming...and the first glimmer of hope we'd seen in 4 years.
(tie) Boise State - terrible first 3 quarters, but we're not likely to see another 4th quarter like that.
Can an old guy vote for ‘82 and ‘83 Apple Cups in the top 10? All those fuskies having to cancel their Rose Bowl plans. All the RB package adds in the Sunday Times. Still have the poster “Something Funny Happened on the way to the Rose Bowl”.
Well, tell ‘em we’re coming” in ‘83. That was a great D game.
Those games didn’t mean as much as others, overall, but they were fun.
Hard to pick between ‘02 SC an ‘88 UCLA. For best.
‘03 Texas is right up there.
‘18 Oregon was another great one. Ducks crying at half.
‘03 Oregon curb stomping was another good one.
Well, tell ‘em we’re coming” in ‘83. That was a great D game.
Those games didn’t mean as much as others, overall, but they were fun.
Hard to pick between ‘02 SC an ‘88 UCLA. For best.
‘03 Texas is right up there.
‘18 Oregon was another great one. Ducks crying at half.
‘03 Oregon curb stomping was another good one.
I have to say that I’m a pretty fortunate Coug. I was at every game you listed with the exception of the ‘82 Apple Cup. That was my senior year of high school. I’m sure I was doing something stupid.
82 Apple Cup. Biggest upset of the series. Tore down the goal post and then set them adrift in the Palouse River.
Those are all great games. I didn't even think of the '03 Duck beatdown.........Crap....I need to revise my list!
I have been a Cougar fan since listening to the 1965 Cardiac Kids with my dad. Any Cougar win is a great win but nothing comes anywhere near as great as the 1997 Apple Cup.
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While 1988 UCLA, 2003 Texas, 1997 UW and 2002 USC are great wins, in my mind the greatest victory is the first Apple Cup in Pullman in more than a generation, against the #5, "tickets to the Rose Bowl already booked" Don James led UW. Come from behind by utterly dominating the trenches, Tim Harris' up the middle gaping hole, hand raised TD run, shell shocked and crying Huskies aplenty, goal posts tear down; Palouse River deposit. 24-20 1982 UW. If you were there, there is no equal.
SoCal, I can't argue your logic. For me, that is probably #2 behind Texas, but from a sheer program impact at the time perspective it could arguably be # 1.
Wow Braindead........that’s the season I became hooked on the Cougs as a kid, too.
I didn’t get to listen with my dad. He was an Army officer stationed in northern Iran, back when we were “friends” with them, “doing sneaky things” across the border with what was then the USSR.
I became a huge Coug fan that Cardiac Kids year. When dad got back we did go to a lot of games in Pullman and Spokane. The rest is history, so to speak.
I think that 1997 Apple Cup win, which sent us to the Rose Bowl, has to be my pick of “greatest win”. So many years of being told that the Cougs would never go to the (modern era) Rose Bowl, unless it was the bowling alley in Rosalia, were erased by that game.
Those of us with personal history dating back that far (and further) know how much it really meant to win that game and put all that Rose Bowl baggage and “WSU doesn’t belong in the PAC 8/10/12” aside.
I can’t begin to describe the emotions down on the field after that game. Or at the Rose Bowl, with family and friends, looking out over the sea of Crimson and Gray fans before the game started.
Without that AC win, it wouldn’t have happened and those memories and emotions would have been missed. For me, and for the Coug football program, there’s no bigger win.
Wasi, as with SoCal in the post above, I can't argue your logic, either. What I'll say is that to me, Texas was the biggest intersectional validation/life on the big stage game; the first AC in Pullman after the long hiatus was probably the single biggest program impact; but your '97 AC to go to the Rose Bowl was probably the biggest sheer emotion game...from both an emotional relief and an emotional release perspective. As with any program that has been around as long as WSU football, there are a handful of games that can be re-arranged based on the criteria you use to judge. And none of the answers are wrong, but they do reveal a bit about what each Coug Fan values the most.
I'd have to say the 97' Apple Cup. Being at that game and witnessing history was well beyond memorable.
I have to say that game had me crying like a baby when it ended. My wife was with me at the game (UCSD grad - different college experience). She thought I was some kind of freak for being so emotionally tied to the Cougs for years (she’s probably right by the way). But when she saw the same emotion from other Cougs swarming the field after the game, she began to understand my psychosis a little more. By the time we were half through the ‘98 season I was just a whack job again in her eyes. Different set of emotions that year.
I have to echo the '97 Rose Bowl, but also shutting out Cal in 1981 at Albi. Not for the emotional power of the win, but for leading to a legit bowl berth for a program that hadn't had one in decades.
Random, your mention of Albi brings up a game I'd put in the top 25. ASU's first game in the PAC 10 was played there (1978). ASU did well that year; had a good team. But that day, everything we did worked. We destroyed them. By far our best effort in what became a disappointing season (Walden's first season; key injuries; close losses to OSU, Cal and Arizona...and a tie at Army!). I remember the student section (at least those students who got tickets through the school) chanting, "Welcome to the PAC 10!" over and over....
I hadn't thought of that game in years. Thanks for the Albi mention that brought it to mind! It was a good day to be a Coug.
I hadn't thought of that game in years. Thanks for the Albi mention that brought it to mind! It was a good day to be a Coug.
i was at that game sitting behind the ASU bench. WAC! WAC! Back to the WAC! They did an early version of the ‘18 ducks. Lots of yummy tears.
Hey......I remember that game, too. I think Mark Malone, who went on to a decent pro career, was the ASU QB that day?
I had graduated in ‘75 but was in the student section at Albi with some friends. Other than a great win, the thing I most remember about the game came beforehand.
It’s been a long while but I remember that Walden, at some point pre-game, came over to the sideline (very narrow at Albi) and addressed the students. He said something to the effect that, if the students did their job of being loud and proud, the Cougs were going to do their job and KICK ASU’s ASS! (That last part is verbatim...lol).
The students went crazy! And the team did, too in the game!
In all my years of going to games, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like that pre-game speech/promise. I guess it’s possible others have done something similar? I’m pretty sure I haven’t sat down low in the student section since then....
Was that the game that it rained buckets? Not the whole game but a full on frog-strangler rainstorm.
Things were a bit hazy but I remember water rushing down the stairs at Albi like the Spokane River during spring run off.
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