Joe Albi Stadium - Washington State Cougars

Washington State Cougars

Prior to the mid-1980s, the WSU Cougars played several home games each season at Joe Albi Stadium, usually before classes began in Pullman in late September. During the stadium's first thirty years (1950-80), WSU hosted the Apple Cup at Joe Albi in the even-numbered years (except 1954), rather than on-campus in Pullman. The Cougars won only three of the fifteen Apple Cups played at the Spokane venue (1958, 1968, 1972). The rivalry game returned to Pullman in 1982, where the Cougars have won six of fourteen (1982, 1988, 1992, 1994, 2004, 2008) at Martin Stadium.

In 1970 and 1971, the Cougars played their entire home schedule at Joe Albi, after the south grandstand at the wooden Rogers Field stadium on the Pullman campus was damaged by fire in April 1970. The Idaho Vandals played their home games at Rogers Field in 1969 & 1970 (after the fire), as its wooden Neale Stadium in Moscow had been condemned during the summer of 1969. On September 19, 1970, WSU and Idaho met up in their annual "Battle of the Palouse," which became known as the "Displaced Bowl" (since neither team was able to play on their home field), with the Cougars dominating 44-16 at Joe Albi in their only win of the season.

Washington State last played regular season football games at Joe Albi Stadium in 1983, when the Cougars defeated both Montana State and UNLV in September. Following the revision of the WSU academic calendar in 1984 (the fall semester starting a month earlier in late August), the Cougars have played all of their eastern Washington home games at Martin Stadium in Pullman. From 2002 to 2009, the Cougars played one "home game" per season across the state in Seattle at the Seahawks' CenturyLink Field, with the game resuming in 2011 as "The Seattle Game". The 2012 Seattle Game will be at CenturyLink Field on September 29 versus the Oregon Ducks.