1975 Washington Huskies football team

1975 Washington Huskies football
Conference Pacific-8
1975 record 6–5 (5–2 Pac-8)
Head coach Don James
MVP Al Burleson
Captain Ray Pinney
Captain John Whitacre
Captain Dan Lloyd
Captain Al Burleson
Home stadium Husky Stadium
1975 Pacific-8 football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#5 UCLA + 6 1 0     9 2 1
#14 California + 6 1 0     8 3 0
Stanford 5 2 0     6 4 1
Washington 5 2 0     6 5 0
#17 USC 3 4 0     8 4 0
Oregon 2 5 0     3 8 0
Oregon State 1 6 0     1 10 0
Washington State 0 7 0     3 8 0
  • + Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1975 Washington Huskies football team represented the University of Washington in the 1975 NCAA Division I football season as a member of the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8). The Huskies were led by head coach Don James in his first year, and played their home games at Husky Stadium in Seattle, WA. They finished season with a record of six wins and five losses (6–5 overall, 5–2 in the Pac-8),.

Preseason

Don James was inherited a veteran squad coming off a 5-6 season with most of the talent on the defensive side of the ball and they would be relied upon as the offense adjusted to running primarily from the I-formation. Fullback Robin Earl, who switched from tight end after four games last season, and center Ray Pinney would have to be the foundation for the change occurring on that side of the ball.[1]

Schedule

Date Opponent# Rank# Site Result Attendance
September 13 at Arizona State* Sun Devil StadiumTempe, AZ L 12–35   50,194
September 20 #8 Texas* Husky StadiumSeattle, WA L 10–28   56,000
September 27 Navy* Husky Stadium • Seattle, WA W 14–13   53,000
October 4 at Oregon Autzen StadiumEugene, OR W 27–17   28,500
October 11 at #7 Alabama* Bryant-Denny StadiumTuscaloosa, AL L 0–52   58,000
October 18 Stanford Husky Stadium • Seattle, WA L 21–24   45,000
October 25 Oregon State Husky Stadium • Seattle, WA W 35–7   43,500
November 1 at #13 UCLA Los Angeles Memorial ColiseumLos Angeles, CA W 17–13   29,158
November 8 at #18 California California Memorial StadiumBerkeley, CA L 24–27   43,270
November 15 #13 USC Husky Stadium • Seattle, WA W 8–7   53,700
November 22 Washington State Husky Stadium • Seattle, WA (Apple Cup) W 28–27   57,100
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll.

Roster

Roberto Jordan Paul Strohmeier Ron Olsen John Whitaker Lou Quinn, g Rickey Bussey,db

Game summaries

Washington State

1 2 34Total
Washington State 10 14 3027
Washington 7 7 01428

at Husky Stadium, Seattle, WA

  • Date: November 22
  • Game attendance: 57,100

Al Burleson returned an interception 93 yards for a touchdown and Warren Moon connected with Spider Gaines for a 78-yard touchdown pass with less than a minute left to complete the comeback victory in the Apple Cup.

Washington State had dominated the second half and appeared on their way to another score when Burleson picked off John Hopkins and raced down the left sideline to the end zone with less than three minutes remaining.

Coach Don James was surprised by the Cougars electing to pass instead of playing for the field goal, saying "Had they made the field goal it would have put the nail in the coffin."

Following a three-and-out on Washington State's next possession, the Huskies started from their own 22. On the first play, Moon threw into coverage and the ball deflected off Leon Garrett and into the hands of teammate Gaines, who went 40 yards to score.

Until then, the Cougars had controlled the game thanks to fullback Vaughn Williams and tailback Dan Doornik, who appeared unstoppable against the Washington defense.

Washington's first score came on a quarterback sneak by Chris Rowland from the one for a 7-3 lead.

The Huskies scored again before halftime on a 29-yard pass from Moon to Gaines, who had primarily been used as a punt blocker to that point.

Moon had started the season as the starting quarterback, only to be replaced by Rowland after the offense struggled in the first few games.

[2]

Statistics

Passing

Player Att Comp Yards TD INT
Chris Rowland 45 117 597 4 6
Warren Moon 48 122 587 2 22

Moon played in eight games, started six

Rushing

Player Att Yards TD
Robin Earl 167 782 1

Receiving

Player Rec Yards TD
Scott Phillips 33 433 1

Awards

Al Burleson

Charles Jackson

Dan Lloyd

Ray Pinney

[3]

References

  1. Sports Illustrated. 8 Sept 1975.
  2. "WSU gets greedy, falls to Huskies." Eugene Register-Guard. 23 Nov 1975
  3. 2009 Washington football media guide
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, October 29, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.