Checking the melodrama meter here … and it isn’t spiking.
This column might sound hyperbolic, but it feels more hyper-accurate.
There have been 116 meetings between the Washington and Washington State football teams. They have played with Rose Bowl berths, playoff hopes and statewide pride on the line.
The Apple Cup has served as one of college football’s more time-honored traditions … but Saturday’s might be the last one that really matters. At least for a long while.
A year ago, in their first meeting as Pac-12 vs. Big Ten foes, the Cougars beat the favored Huskies 24-19 at Lumen Field to reclaim the Cup. It was a joyous moment for anyone not draped in purple and gold as it signified a victory for the ever-rootable little guy.
It wasn’t UW that was abandoned and left to the two-team Pac-12. It wasn’t the Huskies that were demoted to a tier that would forever lack resources in this new NIL age. So when the Cougs raised the trophy, they more or less raised a certain digit to a system that left them behind.
Problem is, the Cougs are still behind — and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better.
Washington (2-0) is a 19.5-point favorite to beat Washington State (2-1) on Saturday despite the game being played in Pullman. And it’s not because the Huskies are an emerging superpower with national-championship hopes (they received no votes in the latest AP Top 25 poll). It’s because they play in a major conference, have far more NIL money at their disposal and are facing a team that just lost 59-10 to North Texas.
Make no mistake, UW is generally the favorite in this rivalry, having compiled a 76-34-6 record vs. WSU over the past 125 years. But last season, WSU still had a decent amount of leftover recruits from the pre-conference split (including the current Heisman Trophy favorite, Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer), and the Huskies were rebuilding after losing the core of their national-title-game team.
A decent game was to be expected. Now, a blowout is — at least according to the sportsbooks.
What makes this year’s matchup intriguing is that UW is trying to win back the Apple Cup. Not owning that piece of hardware leaves a hole in the heart of a program that is supposed to be superior.
The Cougs proved last year that their lower-tiered status had no impact on their play against their in-state rivals. But when do you see that ever being the case again?
There was no world in which Washington State would lose by 49 to a team such as North Texas when it was in a Power Five conference. It’s true the Cougars were often near the bottom of every iteration of the Pac-12 as we knew it, but they were often competitive, too.
When a fully paid education complete with room and board was the most compensation a university could (legally) offer, the chance to play in a major conference was a major draw for a recruit. Didn’t necessarily matter if a program lacked the prestige of a USC or Ohio State, they could still compete for the same big prizes.
But now, how many high school kids with financial options are looking at a school such as Washington State? The money isn’t there, the exposure isn’t there — and the chance to play in a major bowl game is seriously lacking. This resource gap is only going to widen between the survivors and the stragglers.
To be fair, Washington coach Jedd Fisch is still underscoring this matchup as significant.
“There’s three trophies you can get nowadays. You can get the Apple Cup trophy, you can get a Big Ten championship trophy, and then you can get your postseason trophy,” Fisch said Monday. “So this is a championship game, and with that being the case our full focus is on winning the championship, and that’s what our conversations have been about the last four days.”
Almost everything is a trade-off. In the past, college athletes were earning millions of dollars for their universities while pocketing none for themselves. There was parity, though. Now, they’re pocketing plenty, but parity is perishing. You can argue whether one system was better from an ethical standpoint. It’s clear, however, which was better from a competitive standpoint.
As it stands, we will see at least three more Apple Cups after Saturday. From there, it remains unclear whether UW will want to or be able to schedule more.
Some might see the prospect of the Apple Cup disappearing after 2028 as sad. In three years time, however, they might see it as merciful.