2013 Washington State Cougars football team

2013 Washington State Cougars football
2013 Washington State Cougars football
New Mexico Bowl, L 45–48 vs. Colorado State
Conference	Pac-12 Conference
	North Division
Record	6–7 (4–5 Pac-12)
Head coach	Mike Leach (2nd season);
Offensive scheme	Air raid
Defensive coordinator	Mike Breske (2nd season)
Base defense	Multiple 3–4
Home stadium	Martin Stadium
	Seasons ← 2012 2014 →

2013 Pac-12 Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
North Division
No. 11 Stanford xy$	7	–	2	11	–	3
No. 9 Oregon x	7	–	2	11	–	2
No. 25 Washington	5	–	4	9	–	4
Oregon State	4	–	5	7	–	6
Washington State	4	–	5	6	–	7
California	0	–	9	1	–	11
South Division
No. 21 Arizona State x	8	–	1	10	–	4
No. 16 UCLA	6	–	3	10	–	3
No. 19 USC	6	–	3	10	–	4
Arizona	4	–	5	8	–	5
Utah	2	–	7	5	–	7
Colorado	1	–	8	4	–	8
Championship: Stanford 38, Arizona State 14
$ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

The 2013 Washington State Cougars football team represented Washington State University during the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by second-year head coach Mike Leach and played their home games at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington. They were members of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference. They finished the season 6–7, 4–5 in Pac-12 play to finish in a tie for fourth place in the North Division.

Washington State became bowl eligible for the first time since the 2006 season, when they went 6–6. As the seventh-place team in the Pac-12 conference, the Cougars were selected for their first bowl game since 2003. They played the Colorado State Rams in the New Mexico Bowl on December 21, 2013, losing by the score of 48–45. The game was noted for an egregious error by head coach Mike Leach, who instead of electing to kneel down the ball three times when the Rams were out of time outs, instead ran a play which resulted in a turnover. This allowed Colorado State to tie the game and ultimately win on a last-second field goal.