Tuesday Morning Quarterback: Apple Cup is sticking around after all

Nov. 21—The Apple Cup isn't going anywhere.

At least not for the next five years.

After six weeks of misery on the football field, the Washington State football team got two wins in the same weekend.

One came in the form of an unlikely 56-14 beatdown of Colorado on Friday. The other came in the form of the news Sunday that the Apple Cup rivalry series against Washington will extend until at least 2028.

WSU and UW agreed in principle to a five-year continuation of the series.

The future of the rivalry series had been in doubt because Washington is headed to the Big Ten next season as one of 10 Pac-12 teams leaving the conference.

The next two games will be in Seattle with Pullman and Seattle alternating locations over the next four. Here's what the Apple Cup looks like for now:

Saturday at Seattle (1 p.m., FOX)

Sept. 14, 2024, at Seattle (Lumen Field).

2025 at Pullman.

2026 at Seattle.

2027 at Pullman.

2028 at Seattle.

Online, there was some grumbling from WSU fans about how so many games are being played away from Pullman lately. Aside from last year's game, the previous two were also in Seattle, making for a stretch of four of five Apple Cup games played away from the Palouse in 2019-24 (the 2020 game that was supposed to be in Pullman was canceled during the COVID-19 season).

Some on both sides are also upset about the game moving from its season-ending slot to early in the season because it's now a nonconference game.

Others are mad about UW leaving the conference and have no desire to continue playing the Pac-12 deserters.

My thought: Who cares about all that?

The Apple Cup returning is only a good thing no matter how you look at it.

It's good for the Cougs, it's good for the Huskies, it's good for the state and it's good for college football.

In today's ever-changing landscape of college football, many teams are leaving their conferences and leaving long-standing rivalries and other regionally relevant games off their schedules.

Earlier this month, Oklahoma State upset Oklahoma 27-24 in the last game of the Bedlam Series before the Sooners jump ship for the Southeastern Conference.

Oregon and Oregon State are still working out the details of possibly extending their rivalry series.

Texas and Texas A&M haven't played each other since 2011, and although that series will return next year, the Longhorns might not continue games against the other in-state Big 12 schools — like Texas Tech, Baylor and TCU — that they're leaving behind by joining the SEC.

Cal and Stanford will start playing teams on the East Coast next season when they join the Atlantic Coast Conference, leaving behind games against UCLA, USC and other teams on the West Coast.

In the end, money talks. And college football is losing some of its luster with this realignment nonsense as programs chase television money.

"At the end of the day, this rivalry needs to continue and I do think that's important," WSU coach Jake Dickert said. "Some of the other stuff involved around it, I get the reaction to. I do."

The Huskies and Cougars have played each other 114 times since their first meeting in 1900. In games since 1963, the winner of the is awarded the Apple Cup trophy by the Governor of the state of Washington.

History, rivalry and pageantry is a major part of the joy in college athletics.

If these things go away, so too will many of the fans in the stands, who provide the money to keep the NCAA machine running.

I felt the same way when WSU and Idaho took a one-year pause in the men's basketball Battle of the Palouse last season.

That rivalry returned this year, but that one-year gap in 2022 ended the nation's longest continuously running rivalry at 277 games over 116 years.

WSU may still have a lot to figure out about its football future, but at least the most important game is nailed down.

That's a step in the right direction.

"The Apple Cup is one of the oldest and most renowned rivalries in all of collegiate athletics," WSU President Kirk Schulz said in a news release. "For more than a century, fans across the state have been circling the Apple Cup date on their calendars. We are pleased that we will be able to continue this beloved tradition for future generations of Coug fans."

Wiebe may be contacted at (208) 848-2260, [email protected] or on Twitter @StephanSports.