2008Washington State Cougars football
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Record	2–11 (1–8 Pac-10)
Head coach	Paul Wulff (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Todd Sturdy (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Co-defensive coordinators	Chris Ball (1st season) Jody Sears (1st season)
Base defense	Multiple
Home stadium	Martin Stadium (Capacity: 35,117)
Seasons ← 2007 2009 →

The2008 Washington State Cougars football team representedWashington State University in the2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team's new head coach wasPaul Wulff and home games were played on campus atMartin Stadium inPullman, Washington. The season was a disaster from the start for WSU, who gave up the most points in a single season in Pac-10 Conference history, allowing more than 60 points on four occasions.

Perhaps the only consolation for the Cougars was winning theApple Cup. The media joked before the game that it was the "Crapple Cup" and "full of worms", because the Huskies (0–10 at the time) also had a very poor season.^[1]

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 30	12:30 p.m.	Oklahoma State*	Qwest Field Seattle, WA (2008 Cougar Gridiron Classic)	FSN	L 13–39	50,830
September 6	3:30 p.m.	California	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	FSNNW	L 3–66	27,906
September 12	5:30 p.m.	atBaylor*	Floyd Casey Stadium Waco, TX	FSN	L 17–45	25,595
September 20	4:00 p.m.	Portland State*	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	FSNNW	W 48–9	23,920	[2]
September 27	3:15 p.m.	Oregon	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	FSNNW	L 14–63	30,927
October 4	7:15 p.m.	atUCLA	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA	FSNNW	L 3–28	65,469
October 11	3:30 p.m.	atOregon State	Reser Stadium Corvallis, OR	FSNNW	L 13–66	45,289
October 18	12:30 p.m.	No. 6USC	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	FSN	L 0–69	25,118
November 1	2:00 p.m.	atStanford	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA		L 0–58	26,662
November 8	2:00 p.m.	Arizona	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA		L 28–59	24,118
November 15	2:30 p.m.	atArizona State	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ		L 0–31	61,490
November 22	12:00 p.m.	Washington	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA (Apple Cup)	FSN	W 16–132OT	32,211
November 29	8:00 p.m.	atHawaii*	Aloha Stadium Halawa, HI		L 10–24	43,312
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings fromAP Poll released prior to the game All times are inPacific time

Oklahoma State Cowboys spoiled new Cougars coach Paul Wulff's debut. Cowboys' Kendall Hunter had a career-best two touchdowns, quarterback Zac Robinson passed for 182 yards and ran for another score. The Cougars' new offense didn't look good against the Cowboys.

The Cowboys had 367 total yards (193 yards passing, 174 rushing) while Washington State had 196 total yards (82 passing and 114 yards rushing)

The Cougars were shut out after the first period while the Golden Bears scored at least 10 points each quarter to win the Pac-10 conference opener at Martin Stadium, Washington State's home field. Cal had over 500 yards (112 yards passing and 392 yards on the ground) and allowed only 162 yards (106 yards passing, 56 yards rushing) to the Cougars.

Mark Sanchez became the first USC quarterback to throw five touchdown passes in a half as the Trojans dominated.

USC's defense, ranked first in the nation coming in by allowing just 9.4 points per game, held the Cougars scoreless for the first time since 1984, ending a stretch of 280 straight games in which the Cougars had not been shut out. That was the nation's second-longest active streak behindMichigan's 306. For Washington State, it is also the largest shutout loss and largest margin of defeat in school history.

"Our guys had a ball playing football today, from the locker room on out", USC coachPete Carroll said. "Right from the start, we wanted to find that focus that we really hadn't had yet."^{[citation needed]}

It was the largest shutout victory for USC (5–1, 3–1 Pac-10) since a 69–0 win overMontana in 1931.

"Our intention wasn't to come out and beat these guys by 80 points. Our intention was to come out and play a great football game", star linebackerRey Maualuga said.

The Cougars have now allowed at least 60 points in four games this year, becoming the first BCS team to allow 60-plus points four times in a season. Beset by injuries, Washington State has allowed 66, 63, 66 and now 69 in four of their conference losses. The Cougars, whose only win is againstPortland State of the Championship Subdivision, have been outscored 385–111 this season. That's on track to break the Pac-10 record for most points allowed in a season, 469 by Oregon State in 1981.

"It's unfortunate for those guys. They are trying to build a program", Carroll said. "It's tough. I don't know what else we could have done.

"It was a little bit uncomfortable to see what was going to happen."

The Trojans outgained Washington State 408–17 in the first half and 625–116 for the game. They led 21–0 less than 11 minutes in. Patrick Turner and Ronald Johnson each caught two of Sanchez's scoring throws, freshman Broderick Green rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns andC. J. Gable ran for 109 yards and three more scores. Stafon Johnson must have had an off game.^{[citation needed]} He ran for 112 yards but didn't score.

It was the first time USC had three 100-yard rushers in a game since 1977.^[3]

• 2008 Pacific-10 Conference football season
• Washington State Cougars football seasons
• 2008 in sports in Washington (state)

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