1940 Washington State Cougars football team

{{short description|American college football season}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox college sports team season

| year = 1940

| team = Washington State Cougars

| sport = football

| image =

| image_size =

| conference = Pacific Coast Conference

| short_conf = PCC

| record = 4–4–2

| conf_record = 3–4–2

| head_coach = Babe Hollingbery

| hc_year = 15th

| captain = Don Greeley

| stadium = Rogers Field

}}

{{1940 Pacific Coast Conference football standings}}

The 1940 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State College during the 1940 college football season. Fifteenth-year head coach Babe Hollingbery led the team to a 3–4–2 mark in the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) and 4–4–2 overall.{{cite web|title=2016 Media Guide|url=http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/wsu.sidearmsports.com/documents/2016/8/25/2016_Football_Media_Guide_Color.pdf|website=WSUCougars.com|publisher=Washington State Cougars Athletics|access-date=October 24, 2016|page=74|archive-date=October 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021004149/http://sidearm.sites.s3.amazonaws.com/wsu.sidearmsports.com/documents/2016/8/25/2016_Football_Media_Guide_Color.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Washington State was ranked at No. 71 (out of 697 college football teams) in the final rankings under the Litkenhous Difference by Score system for 1940.{{cite news|title=Final 1940 Litkenhous Ratings|newspaper=The Boston Globe|author=Dr. E. E. Litkenhous|date=December 19, 1940|page=22|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123126338/final-1940-litkenhous-ratings/|via=Newspapers.com}}

The Cougars played their three home games, all in October, on campus at Rogers Field in Pullman, Washington. Two road games were played nearby, in Moscow and Spokane.

Schedule

{{CFB schedule

| rankyear = 1940

| poll = AP

| rank = y

| attend = y

| source = y

|September 28|at|USC||Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum|Los Angeles, CA|T 14-14|40,000|

|October 5||Montana||Rogers Field|Pullman, WA|W 13–0|7,500|

|October 12|at|California| |California Memorial Stadium|Berkeley, CA|W 9–6|25,000|

|October 19||No. 10 Stanford|19|Rogers Field|Pullman, WA|L 14–26|23,500|

|October 26||Oregon| |Rogers Field|Pullman, WA|T 6–6|6,500 |

|November 2|at|Idaho (Battle of the Palouse)||Neale Stadium|Moscow, ID|W 26–0|4,500|.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pe9XAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RfUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6876%2C737606 |work=Spokane Daily Chronicle|location=(Washington)|agency=(photo) |title=Camera catches Billy Sewell ringing up four yards for W.S.C. |date=November 4, 1940|page=11}}

|November 9|at|Oregon State||Bell Field|Corvallis, OR|L 0–21|8,000|

|November 16|at|UCLA||Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum|Los Angeles|L 26–34|35,000|

|November 23|at|Gonzaga||Gonzaga Stadium|Spokane, WA|W 14–7|8,000|{{cite news|title=Washington State Edges Gonzagans Amid Severe Cold|newspaper=Nevada State Journal|date=November 24, 1940|page=16|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/23034703/washington_state_edges_gonzagans_amid/|via=Newspapers.com}}

|November 30|at|No. 12 Washington||Husky Stadium|Seattle, WA (rivalry)|L 9–33|25,000|{{cite news|title=Huskies Rally To Down WSC Gridders, 33-9|newspaper=The Bellingham Herald|date=December 1, 1940|page=8|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120941367/huskies-rally-to-down-wsc-gridders-33-9/|via=Newspapers.com}}

}}

References

{{Reflist}}