Today, we look at the Conference of (real NCAA) Champions and its individual schools on Pac-12 Friday: we make the drive from Corvallis, OR, to Pullman, WA—one we have made ourselves a few times, truthfully. The Washington State Cougars have played 100 seasons in the league, and they have won only 4 conference titles, while finishing in the Associated Press poll 12 times at the end of a season, along with 8 bowl wins.

Yet there is a proud following for the WSU traditions on the Palouse, despite a losing record overall (.479 winning percentage). Even though the team has only 18 bowl appearances overall, that does include four Rose Bowls (and one win there, too, famously). Impressively, the Cougars have played in 8 bowl games over the last 10 seasons, too, so it’s a program that has found some recent consistency despite the league drama.

5. 2003

With a 6-2 league record, the Cougars finished second to the top-ranked USC Trojans and headed to the Holiday Bowl. There, WSU beat No. 5 Texas, 28-20, to cap a 10-3 season that earned the school a No. 9 finish in the AP poll and the No. 15 overall SRS ranking, too. The winning percentage (.769) was 13th in the nation as well. The team’s three losses all came on the road (at Notre Dame, at USC, at Washington): a great season.

4. 2002

A 7-1 conference record earned WSU a league title, based on its head-to-head win over USC. Even though the Cougars lost an untraditional Rose Bowl to the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners, the team finished No. 10 in the AP poll with a 10-3 record and the No. 12 overall SRS ranking—against the No. 20 SOS, too. The only other losses were to No. 6 Ohio State on the road and in the Apple Cup against the Washington Huskies. Not bad.

3. 1941

We go way back for this one, surprisingly, as these Cougars posted just a 6-4 record to finish second in the conference behind the Beavers. The 5-3 league mark included victories over ranked teams from Oregon State and Stanford. The day before Pearl Harbor? WSU lost 7-0 to No. 2 Texas A&M to conclude its season with the No. 19 AP ranking, the No. 16 defense, the No. 20 SRS ranking, and the No. 17 SOS rating. Nice!

2. 1988

WSU finished third in the Pac-10 behind USC and UCLA, earning an Aloha Bowl bid in the process. With the bowl victory over Houston, the Cougs ended up No. 16 in the final AP poll. The team featured the No. 11 offense, fueling the No. 12 SRS ranking overall against the No. 12 SOS, too. WSU beat then-No. 1 UCLA on the road, and the Cougars also won the Apple Cup by 1 point over the Huskies. It was a pretty good year.

1. 1997

This should be no surprise to anyone familiar with WSU football—or anyone who was watching college football during this last year of disorganized MNC chaos. The Cougars won the Pac-10 and advanced to the Rose Bowl as the No. 8 team in the nation, but there was some chicanery there that may have cost WSU a chance to upset No. 1 Michigan. WSU finished No. 9 in the AP poll, with the No. 2 offense overall, nationally.