As someone who has been watching WSU football games since I was a baby, I have seen my fair share of heartbreakers as a Cougs fan. Some of those were games the Cougars should have won and others were some that they didn’t have much business keeping them close.

#1. 2023 Apple Cup WSU 21-  No. 4 UW 24 

The 2023 Apple Cup has by far been the most heartwrenching loss that the Cougars have endured in recent memory. The Cougs came into the game against the then-ranked No. 4 Huskies as big underdogs who were trying to salvage their season and obtain bowl eligibility. The Huskies were looking to end their regular season a perfect 12-0. What could have been better for the Cougars than to ruin the cross-state rivals’ perfect season and significantly hurt their CFP chances? 

Up until there were 55 seconds left on the clock and a roughing the passer penalty to bring the Huskies into field goal range, it looked like the Cougars could pull off their biggest upset of the season. It would be wrong if I did not mention the end around on 4th and 1 that the Huskies gained 23 yards on. That play will haunt Cougar fans for years to come. It looked like they had stopped them, only for Rome Odunze to run to the outside, possibly with the help of some no-calls by the referees and all but seal the game.  

I remember getting the feeling that I would get in elementary school, knowing I had to go to school and expect to hear it from everyone about how the Cougars lost and that they sucked. However, this time I wasn’t in elementary school. The Huskies would win the game with a field goal as time expired and sent Cougar fans into a state of utter disbelief after it had seemed like a season that couldn’t go wrong at the start, let alone the game. 

#2 2022 No. 15 Oregon Ducks 44 – WSU 41

Coming in at second on the list is the 2022 matchup against the Ducks. Another game that the Cougars could have won and would have changed the trajectory of the season. With a little over four minutes left in the third quarter, the Cougs had a 27-15 lead over the Ducks. The game was not over at that point, but you could see that they had a really good shot to put the game away in the fourth quarter against a top-15 team in the country. The 2018 game against the Ducks, which had the Cougars host College Gameday for the first time, was still ever-present in the minds of Cougar fans. Could this game be another upset over the Ducks?

It looked like it when the Cougars went up 12 with over six minutes left. You would think the game was all but over. That was not the case. The Cougars would go on to give up 29 points in the fourth quarter alone, more than they had given up in the whole game to that point.               They gave up three touchdowns from the 3:48 left in the fourth to 1:01 remaining in the game. A flat-out collapse. This game was the prelude to the horror story of collapses that would become all too familiar under former head coach Jake Dickert. 

#3 2019 UCLA Bruins 67 – No. 19 WSU 63

Coming in at third is one of the most memorable Cougar games in recent memory for all of the wrong reasons. This game was supposed to be a blowout against a winless UCLA team. Garder Minshew came home to raise the flag; it was supposed to be a great fall night on the Palouse. The Cougars got out to a commanding 49-17 lead halfway through the third quarter. What could possibly go wrong at this point? 

Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. The Cougars would give up 50 points in the second half. Yes, you read that right, 50. It was one of the hardest games to watch. I didn’t think that we could actually lose the game. The closer the Bruins got, the more sobering the feeling became. The Cougar offense was electric; the defense, on the other hand, was about as dull as watching paint dry. The 2019 defense was a historically bad defense for the Cougars. The difference from that team to 2018 or some of the other good Leach years was stark. Despite the offense being so good this game, with a three-point lead with over two minutes left, the Cougars fumbled on their own 12-yard line, opening the door for the Bruins to stun the Cougars, which was exactly what they did. It was one of the most stunning, painful and heartbreaking losses I’ve seen as a Cougar fan. 

#4 2024 No. 18 WSU 35 – New Mexico Lobos 38

At number four, for the most painful loss I have, the Cougars’ loss to an unranked New Mexico team that had no business beating a top 20-ranked WSU team that had loads of talent on it. They, of course, had John Mateer, who is now at Oklahoma, but we also had quite a few starters on defense who transferred to other power four teams, including the whole starting interior defensive line. Now what is there to make of that? It can be pointed out that the defense, as well as the rest of the team, fell victim to the traumatizing collapses that befell Jake Dickert’s teams here at WSU. 

This game was closer throughout than some of the others on this list. The nail in the coffin in this game came with 21 seconds left in the fourth quarter on a one-yard touchdown run. The Cougars let the Lobos go on a clinical 11-play 75-yard drive that took just under three minutes off the clock. There was not much time to give up, yet they gave it up. It was a house of horrors in Albuquerque. This was the game that started to show signs of a collapse. This was a game that should’ve been a blowout, yet it was a loss. I hadn’t been so frustrated after a loss since the week before to Oregon State, which could show up later. 

#5 2024 Oregon State 41- WSU 38

Ending off the top five, I have the matchup between the PAC-2 buddies from last season. This game might not instantly come across as that bad, but it should. For me, there is a little more incentive for it to make the list. I was there at the game in Corvallis, witnessing the classic Dickert collapse in person. 

This game set off the landslide that was the last quarter of the 2024 season. I thought that they had this game in the bag; they had the better team and a better record. The Cougars were coming off the loss to New Mexico and the Beavers were coming off a five-game losing streak. The game had higher stakes than others because of the “Pac-12 championship” that was being played for, but the Cougars just did not finish the game the way they should have. It was soul-crushing. 

The Cougars came back to take a 38-31 lead with just over 11 minutes remaining. They then let the Beavers go on a 16-play 75-yard drive for a game-tying touchdown that took over eight minutes off the clock. That can’t happen. The Cougars got the ball back and with two minutes left, wide receiver Kyle Williams fumbled, leading to a 55-yard game-winning field goal for the Beavers. Heart-shattering. I had to witness this in a section full of Beaver fans who could sense the pain in my face. 

The Cougars had a long shot getting the ball back with 20 seconds left, but like their season, fumbled it away.