A Brief History of Washington State versus the SEC

It is not often that Washington State crosses paths with the SEC. However, it's slated to finally occur again next Saturday when WSU takes on Ole Miss down in Oxford. The Cougars and the Rebels have never met on the field but, to commemorate the rare get-together, let's take a look back at the times the Cougs' clashed with other SEC squads, including the current SEC squads who weren't members of the league at the time.

Alabama

The Cougars have played the Crimson Tide just one time and that was all the way back in the 1931 Rose Bowl (1930 season). That fall Washington State ran the regular season table to go 9-0 and finished atop the Pacific Coast Conference. They recorded five shutout victories that year but when they met with Alabama, the rolls got reversed as Wallace Wade's Tide rolled out to a 24-0 victory over the Cougs thanks to a 21-point second quarter scoring barrage. It was the second time up to that point that WSU appeared in the Rose Bowl and is still just one of four times it's ever happened for the program.

Auburn

The Cougars have squared off with Auburn twice, losing both games. The first battle between them and the Tigers went down in 2006 in the season opener. At the time, Auburn checked in at #4 in the national rankings and they played like it as they routed Washington State 40-14. While the Tigers went on to win that year's Cotton Bowl with an 11-2 overall record, the season took a much different route for the Cougs who won just six games and missed out on bowling.

The second meeting between the two happened seven years later in Mike Leach's second season leading the Cougars. Again that game was the season opener but WSU kept it a whole lot closer in 2013, falling 31-24 in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Leach's team was still good enough to reach a bowl game that year while Auburn eventually won that season's SEC Championship game over Missouri in what was Guz Malzahn's first go as the head man.

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Missouri

Speaking of Missouri, Washington State has seen them once as well. It was the Cougars' first game of the 1961 season and it was one of their worst performances that year. Mizzou held WSU to a season-low six points and, before a crowd of 37,000 at Memorial Stadium, drubbed their visitors 28-6. The Tigers would finish that year ranked #11 while the Cougs, led by Jim Sutherland, went 3-7. WSU played as an independent that season.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma has won all three of their meetings with the Cougars, all of which occurred long before the Sooners actually joined the SEC. The most recent was a 34-14 win for the Sooners in the 2002 Rose Bowl. The other meetings occurred in Norman in 1938 and 1967.

Tennessee

The SEC team that Washington State has seen the most throughout the years has been the Volunteers. The two programs have come together five times, with Tennessee winning four of them. WSU's lone win came in October of 1988 and it was in impressive fashion. The Cougars dropped 52 points on the Vols in Knoxville and did so in front of the biggest crowd they would play in front of all year. It was one of nine victories they would nab that season in Dennis Erickson's second year. WSU won the Aloha Bowl later that fall while Tennessee went 5-6.

The other four games came in 1980, 1982, 1984 and... most recently... 1994. The Volunteers won those games 35-23, 10-3, 43-27 and 10-9 respectively. All of those contests were on the road as well.

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Texas

The Cougs picked up a win over the Longhorns, one of the SEC's newest members, in the 2003 Holiday Bowl. It was a 28-20 win for the Sammy Moore-led Cougars. Texas won blowout contests against the Cougs in 1954 and 1961.

Texas A&M

WSU has seen Texas A&M twice but both meetings were pre-WWII. The first time the two played was in Tacoma for the 1941 Evergreen Bowl. It was a low-scoring affair as the Aggies won 7-0. The second clash came just one season later when Washington State and A&M would just so happen to collide at the end of the year again. That time, though, it was not a bowl game but instead a "neutral site" matchup in San Antonio. Again, the Aggies would prevail and blank the Cougs in doing so with a 21-0 victory.

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