1953 Washington State Cougars football team

1953 Washington State Cougars football
ConferencePacific Coast Conference
Record4–6 (3–4 PCC)
Head coach
CaptainBob Burkhart
Home stadiumRogers Field, Memorial Stadium
1953 Pacific Coast Conference football standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
No. 5 UCLA $ 6 – 1 – 0 8 – 2 – 0
No. 19 Stanford 5 – 1 – 1 6 – 3 – 1
USC 4 – 2 – 1 6 – 3 – 1
California 2 – 2 – 2 4 – 4 – 2
Washington State 3 – 4 – 0 4 – 6 – 0
Oregon State 3 – 5 – 0 3 – 6 – 0
Washington 2 – 4 – 1 3 – 6 – 1
Oregon 2 – 5 – 1 4 – 5 – 1
Idaho 0 – 3 – 0 1 – 8 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1953 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State College during the 1953 college football season. Led by second-year head coach Al Kircher, the team was 4–6 overall and 3–4 in the Pacific Coast Conference.[1]

Two home games were played on campus in Pullman at Rogers Field, and one in Spokane in November. A road game was played nearby, against Palouse neighbor Idaho in Moscow, extending WSC's unbeaten streak over the Vandals to 27 games.[2][3] The Cougars defeated rival Washington by five points in Seattle.[4][5]

Schedule

DateOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 19No. 8 USC
L 13–2920,000[6]
September 26at Pacific (CA)*
W 26–2023,203[7]
October 3at Iowa*
L 12–5431,500[8]
October 10Oregon
  • Rogers Field
  • Pullman, WA
W 7–016,000[9]
October 17at Idaho
W 30–1319,000[2][3]
October 24at No. 12 UCLA
L 7–4427,608[10]
October 31at No. 17 Stanford
L 19–4818,500[11]
November 7TCU*
L 7–2117,500[12]
November 14at Oregon State
L 0–713,500[13][14]
November 21at Washington
W 25–2040,000[15]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • Source: [16][17]

NFL draft

Four Cougars were selected in the 1954 NFL draft, which was 30 rounds and 360 selections.

Player Position Round Overall Franchise
Howard McCants End 4 49 Detroit Lions
Wayne Berry Back 7 76 New York Giants
Milt Schwenk Tackle 11 133 Detroit Lions
Terry Campbell Back 30 351 Green Bay Packers

[18][19][20]

References

  1. ^ "2016 Media Guide" (PDF). WSUCougars.com. Washington State Cougars Athletics. p. 74. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 21, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Boni, Bill (October 18, 1953). "Muscle, manpower and ability beat Vandals". The Spokesman-Review. p. 1, sports.
  3. ^ a b "Berry paces Cougars to 30–13 victory of feisty Vandals". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Associated Press. October 18, 1953. p. 10.
  4. ^ Boni, Bill (November 22, 1953). "Washington State wins, 25-20". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. p. 1, sports.
  5. ^ "Washington State humbles Huskies 25-20 on wet field". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Idaho. Associated Press. November 22, 1953. p. 8.
  6. ^ "Trojans tip Cougars". Santa Barbara News-Press. September 20, 1953. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Jim Hagerty gives Cougars first win". Pasadena Star-News. September 27, 1953. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Washington State no match for wild scoring Hawkeyes". The Daily Nonpareil. October 4, 1953. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "83-yard WSC drive beats Oregon, 7–0". The Montana Standard. October 11, 1953. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "UCLA wins easily". Omaha World-Herald. October 25, 1953. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Indians step nearer Rose Bowl; Cal bows". The Sacramento Union. November 1, 1953. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Cougars hold TCU, but not for long enough". The Spokesman-Review. November 8, 1953. Retrieved March 20, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Oregon State surprises WSC with 7–0 upset". The Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. November 15, 1953. p. 1, sports.
  14. ^ Cornacchia, Pete (November 15, 1953). "Oregon State defeats Cougars 7–0". Eugene Register-Guard. p. 1C.
  15. ^ "WSC Cougars upset Huskies in 25 to 20 win". The Fresno Bee. November 22, 1953. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "1953 Washington State Cougars Schedule and Results". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
  17. ^ "Schedule/Results (1953 Washington State)". NCAA Statistics. National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved May 24, 2025.
  18. ^ "Grid pros seek size, college draft reveals". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. January 28, 1954. p. 8.
  19. ^ "Today's line-ups". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. October 17, 1953. p. 8.
  20. ^ "WSC-UW line-ups". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. November 21, 1953. p. 10.
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