In the middle of what would be an eight game winning streak against in-state rival, Washington State, the 1977 Washington football team was heading into the Apple Cup hoping for its sixth win of the season to secure a bowl berth and continue play into the postseason.
Despite a frozen field and temperatures that never rose above 37 degrees, the Huskies defeated the Cougars 35-15 before a record-setting crowd of 60,964 at Husky Stadium.
After one quarter, the Huskies had a 21-0 lead, which still sits at seventh in the record book as the most points scored by the UW in the first quarter.
The opening series for the UW stretched seven plays and 79 yards, including a 28-yard pass from Warren Moon to Robert “Spider” Gaines before a 33-yard touchdown play on a screen pass to tailback Joe Steele.
Moon then found tight end Scott Greenwood for the second touchdown of the game on another 33-yard pass.
Steele tallied his second touchdown of the day on a 3-yard dive into the end zone to put the UW ahead 21-0.
Seconds before halftime, the UW was able to grab one more touchdown before walking into the locker room after a 6-yard pass from Moon to Steele. Steele ended the night with 73 yards rushing and three touchdowns before leaving the game due to a hip injury in the third quarter.
After halftime, the Cougars showed a bit more fight, but not enough to claw their way to the top.
The UW was up 35-0 midway through the third quarter after a 5-yard touchdown run in the first second-half series from tailback Ron Rowland.
Fullback Dan Doornink opened the scoring for the Cougars with a 4-yard run in the fourth quarter. Doornink led all rushers with 104 yards on 26 carries and all receivers with five catches for 70 yards.
A 14-yard touchdown pass from WSU quarterback Jack Thompson to Brian Kelly with 1:56 to go made it 35-13, and the Cougars went for the two-point conversion and converted.
Thompson came into the matchup ranked the No. 3 passer in the nation, averaging 219 passing yards per game. However, against the Huskies, he only completed five of his first 16 throws for a total of 17 yards, two of which were intercepted and led to UW touchdowns.
Thompson ended the night 17-of-38 for 178 yards and one touchdown.
On the defensive side for the Huskies, linebacker Michael Jackson racked up 29 tackles, 20 solo. He still sits at the top of the UW record book for most tackles by a linebacker in a single game, and tied his own record against Oregon State earlier in 1977.
Moon ended his final home game 12-of-18 for 159 yards and three touchdowns. He finished his senior year with 1,772 yards, 12 touchdowns, and nine interceptions but went undrafted in the National Football League and turned to the Canadian Football League, playing for the Edmonton Eskimos before coming to the NFL in 1984.
After a UCLA loss at the end of the week, the Huskies claimed sole ownership of league title and earned a trip to the Rose Bowl, where they defeated then-No. 4 Michigan 27-20.
Against WSU, the UW holds the record in the all-time series, 69-32-6. This year will be the 108th matchup between the in-state rivals and the Huskies have the chance to extend their current win streak to three.
Reach Editor-in-ChiefKathryn Altena at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @kkaltena
