No matter who wins or covers between Ole Miss and Washington State on Saturday afternoon, the historical ledgers will add an entry in the “first meeting ever” column, which will excite at least one Wikipedia editor somewhere.
Thanks to geography and a lack of SEC and (former) Pac-12 bowl tie-ins, the stars never aligned for the schools to meet. Neither program in the past wanted to add a 2100-mile road trip to a season, and the bowl season lottery among the 7-5 teams after tie-ins never worked out.
Although, it feels like an Ole Miss/Washington State game’s spiritual home would be the Independence Bowl, circa 2002, in 42-degree weather and rain. However, you could talk me into the Liberty Bowl replacing a trip to Shreveport.
This first meeting is not due to a desire to have a fun home-and-home series, but it’s courtesy of a delicious blend of greed, cowardice, and panic. The greed of former Pac-12 schools and the Big Ten* leaving Washington State without a home, the cowardice of Wake Forest buying their way out of a trip to Oxford so they wouldn’t lose by 5 touchdowns, and the panic of 2024 Ole Miss and Washington State needing a 2025 game ASAP.
*The SEC is complicit in this greed as well!
All of that is oversimplified (minus the Wake Forest part), but it was a long sequence of dominoes falling to make this meeting happen. While a second meeting anytime soon is unlikely, it would be pretty sick if Ole Miss could one day make a trip to Pullman.
For now though, let’s get to know Washington State, both as a university and a football team.
Note: If the concept of the post sounds familiar, I did something similar in the 2023 season, starting with Mercer.
Location
Pullman is in eastern Washington on the border with Idaho, and part of the Palouse, which is a geographical region made up rolling hills and farmland that includes parts of Washington, Idaho, and (allegedly) Oregon.
Pullman has about 7,000 more people than Oxford, but one can assume it has similar college/small town vibes. However, based on 2-3 minutes of Google searches, the Pullman Chevron is not serving up soul-enhancing food.
History of Washington State
Washington State is a land-grant school founded in 1890, which was about 5 months after the state gained statehood. Clearly, the Washington state legislature in 1890 featured some go-getters who were excited about passing bills and such.
The school was initially named the Agricultural College, Experiment Station, and School of Science for the State of Washington, which would be the ACESSSSW. Perhaps the legislature could’ve taken another month or two to workshop names that weren’t 100 miles long.
On January 13, 1892, the first class of 59 students and 5 faculty members began the academic journey that is Washington State. And you better believe they put that 12:1 teacher-to-student ratio in the recruitment brochure.
In 1897, the first graduating class walked across the stage, which meant everyone in that class took a victory lap rather than finishing in 4 years. Much respect to those men and women. Absolutely no reason to be in a rush to enter the 1896 workforce.
In 1905, the school changed its name to the State College of Washington (better!), and then in 1959 it became Washington State University (perfect!).
Rapid Fire Wazzu Trivia
- Wazzu’s total enrollment this fall is just shy of 25,500 students, with about 21,400 of those doing undergraduate work
- Washington State also has campuses in Spokane, Richland, Everett, and Vancouver, which is not Vancouver, Canada
- Oddly enough, Vancouver, Washington is not near Canada but on the southern border just across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon*
- In 1944, Cougar Gold sharp cheddar cheese was introduced to the world via Ferdinand’s Creamery on Wazzu’s campus
- Cougar Gold won World Cheese Awards (!!!) in 2000 and 2006
- In 2008, they added a campus golf course that is 7300-yards from the tips (lmao), which features 596- and 635-yard par 5s (imagine lying two from 375-400 yards out)
*What’s left of the hellscape that is Portla- jk, it’s fine, and these administration freaks are losers. Though, to be fair, their energy for terrorizing Portland matches their energy in covering up their boss’ name in the Epstein files.
Notable Alumni
- Keith Jackson – the college football play-by-play GOAT
- Gary Larson – creator/cartoonist of The Far Side; another GOAT!
- Edward R. Murrow – journalist and war correspondent who became famous for his radio reports leading up to and during World War II
- Krist Novoselic – founding member of and bassist for Nirvana
- Paul Allen – started some company called Microsoft; no idea if that company made it or created a word processing program that, unprompted, repeatedly changes your font choice and size because it thinks Times New Roman at 12-point font is what you really want
- Gary Dahl – inventor of the pet rock and basic-ass cons
What About the Football Team in 2025?
They have wins over Idaho, San Diego State, and Colorado State, which are middling at best teams. Against North Texas and Washington, two teams with more firepower, they lost 59-10 and 59-24, respectively.
In those losses, they turned it over 5 times against North Texas and 3 times against Washington. While that no doubt wrecked their chances of winning those games, their offense is still fairly abysmal when they aren’t turning it over.
Some stats of note from that group:
- 4.9 yards/play (106th; Ole Miss is 9th)
- 0.331 points/play (89th; Ole Miss is 11th)
- 3.1 yards/rush (117th; Ole Miss is 29th)
Defensively, it’s also not great:
- 5.7 yards/play (87th; Ole Miss is 40th)
- 0.536 points/play (127th; Ole Miss is 22nd)
- 4.4 yards/rush (82nd; Ole Miss is 103rd)
The TL;DR is Washington State isn’t an explosive offense, and they give up explosive plays. Barring a grotesque game from Ole Miss, Washington State will have trouble keeping pace on offense and limiting Ole Miss’ offense.
