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1976 Washington State Cougars football
Conference	Pacific-8 Conference
Record	3–8 (2–5 Pac-8)
Head coach	Jackie Sherrill (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Bob Leahy (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Howard Tippett[1] (1st season)
Home stadium	Martin Stadium, Kingdome (Seattle), Joe Albi Stadium (Spokane)
Seasons ← 1975 1977 →

The 1976 Washington State Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Washington State University in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) during the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. In their only season under head coach Jackie Sherrill, the Cougars compiled a 3–8 record (2–5 in Pac-8, sixth), and were outscored 331 to 240.^[2][3]

The team's statistical leaders included Jack Thompson with 2,762 passing yards, Dan Doornink with 422 rushing yards, and Mike Levenseller with 1,124 receiving yards.^[4]

Senior quarterback John Hopkins injured a knee in the second game making a tackle;^[5][6] sophomore Thompson relieved him and again the following week,^[7] then became the starter for the rest of the season.^[8][9]

A home game was played in Seattle at the newly-opened Kingdome, against eleventh-ranked USC.^[9][10] Previous home games in Seattle in 1972 and 1974 were at Husky Stadium.^[11][12] The sole game at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane was the Apple Cup, which was also under consideration as the Kingdome game.^[13]

Previously the defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh, Sherrill was hired in late December 1975,^[14][15][16] but coached just one season in Pullman, leaving in early December to return to the Panthers as head coach.^[1][17] A week later, he was succeeded at WSU by Warren Powers, the defensive backfield coach at Nebraska.^[18][19][20]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
September 11	at No. 19 Kansas*	Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS	L 16–35	31,121–39,475
September 18	at Minnesota*	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	L 14–28	31,627
September 25	at Wisconsin*	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI	L 26–35	69,658
October 2	Idaho*	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA (Battle of the Palouse)	W 45–6	23,500
October 9	No. 11 USC	Kingdome Seattle, WA	L 14–23	37,268
October 16	at No. 4 UCLA	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	L 3–62	35,508
October 23	Stanford	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	L 16–22	24,300
October 30	at Oregon	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	W 23–22	22,200
November 6	Oregon State	Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	W 29–24	20,122
November 13	at California	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	L 22–23	30,000
November 20	Washington	Joe Albi Stadium Spokane, WA (Apple Cup)	L 32–51	35,800
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

"1976 Washington State vs. USC (game film, silent)" on YouTube

^{[22][23][24][25]}

• Game program: USC vs. WSU at Seattle – October 9, 1976
• Game program: Stanford at WSU – October 23, 1976
• Game program: Oregon State at WSU – November 6, 1976
• Game program: Washington vs. WSU at Spokane – November 20, 1976