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1978 Washington State

3–⁠7–⁠1 (1–⁠7 Pac-10), coached by Jim Walden. The season’s Wikipedia article records 4–⁠6–⁠1, over the same number of games, so a result differs.

Schedule and results

Washington State in 1978, game by game: won vs. UNLV 34–7; won vs. Idaho 28–0; won vs. Arizona State 51–26; tied at Army 21–21; lost at No. 14 UCLA 31–45; lost vs. Stanford 27–43; lost at Oregon 7–31; lost vs. Oregon State 31–32; lost at California 14–22; lost at Arizona 24–31; lost vs. Washington 8–38+28−30Won 34–7 vs. UNLV+27UNLVWon 28–0 vs. Idaho+28IdahoWon 51–26 vs. Arizona State+25Arizona StateTied 21–21 at Army0ArmyLost 31–45 at No. 14 UCLA-14No. 14 UCLALost 27–43 vs. Stanford-16StanfordLost 7–31 at Oregon-24OregonLost 31–32 vs. Oregon State-1Oregon StateLost 14–22 at California-8CaliforniaLost 24–31 at Arizona-7ArizonaLost 8–38 vs. Washington-30Washington
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 9vsUNLVW 34–⁠789%
Sep 16vsIdahoW 28–⁠075%
Sep 23vsArizona StateW 51–⁠2645%
Sep 30atArmyT 21–⁠2157%
Oct 14at14UCLAL 31–⁠4532%
Oct 21vsStanfordL 27–⁠4351%
Oct 28atOregonL 7–⁠3167%
Nov 4vsOregon StateL 31–⁠3272%
Nov 11atCaliforniaL 14–⁠2231%
Nov 18atArizonaL 24–⁠3134%
Nov 25vsWashingtonL 8–⁠3829%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Washington 38–⁠8; unranked in the final AP poll; 10th in the Pac-10.

In program history: The 91st-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 111 on file).

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1978.

Record
3–⁠7–⁠1
Conference
1–⁠7 10th in Pac-10
AP final
Unranked
Points
276–⁠296
Coach
Jim Walden
Elo
1402 −90 this season
SP+ rating
0.4 No. 72 of 133; offense No. 21, defense No. 120
SRS
3.1 No. 55 of 138 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—

Drafted in 1979

The 1979 draft
Rd 1Jack Thompson QBCincinnati Bengals

All-Pac-10

2 first team, 1 second team

First team

Second team

  • George YarnoDLCoaches-2

From Wikipedia’s 1978 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1978 Pac-10 standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
USC6–⁠112–⁠12
UCLA6–⁠28–⁠3–⁠114
Washington6–⁠27–⁠4
Arizona State4–⁠39–⁠3
Stanford4–⁠38–⁠417
California3–⁠46–⁠5
Arizona3–⁠45–⁠6
Oregon2–⁠52–⁠9
Oregon State2–⁠63–⁠7–⁠1
Washington State1–⁠73–⁠7–⁠1

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.