The Apple Cup is alive despite UW's pending departure -- but is it alive and well?

The 2023 game between Washington and Washington State could have been the last Apple Cup, but the two schools have agreed to continue the rivalry for at least five more years.

Next year’s game will be played Sept. 14 at Lumen Field in Seattle. Then it will shift back and forth for the next four years, at Martin Stadium in 2025 and 2027 and at Husky Stadium in 2026 and 2028.

As much as the Apple Cup has become a Thanksgiving Week tradition for many of us, I’m conflicted about this news. It’s cool that we’re keeping something that started in 1900 alive. But alive and well? I’m not so sure about that.

In some weird way, I was looking forward to Saturday’s game at Husky Stadium being the last Apple Cup. Even though the Cougs are 17-point underdogs, I think we actually have a shot to win the game, which is nothing new. On an annual basis this time of year, I become irrationally delusional when it comes to the Cougs beating the Dawgs -- even if it appears to be a reach this season.

After all, at 11-0 the 2023 Huskies might be the best team in school history. They are more apt to demolish the Cougs and beat Oregon in the Pac-12 title game and maybe even win the national championship.

This would be our worst nightmare, watching the Dawgs wipe the field with us and go on to finish 15-0 and hold some stick-a-finger-down-our-throats parade on Montlake.

I’m conflicted about the Apple Cup returning for a few reasons:

• I wanted it to be the last one because if it turned into a pipe dream come true, we could permanently put the Apple Cup trophy in our trophy case, never to go back to Seattle again.

• I don’t like the idea of the game being played in September. I get it, that’s when the Dawgs have open dates for non-conference opponents in the future, but it will still seem strange to play an Apple Cup in 85-degree weather in Pullman. The Apple Cup almost always was the final game of the regular season for both teams.

• As one-sided as the rivalry has been with Washington leading 75-33-6, it’s bound to get worse for the Cougs. We’re probably going to lose one player after another in the transfer portal on Dec. 4, and in the coming years there will be an even bigger talent disparity between the two teams. A Power 5 team like Washington is going to be more enticing to recruits than a school like Washington State playing a largely Mountain West Conference schedule.

Then again, playing the Dawgs improves the strength of our schedule and should be a quality attraction for fans while helping draw attention from Power 5 conferences where the Cougs could be a future fit.

But there’s lingering bitterness toward the Dawgs for bolting to the Big Ten, deciding that half shares from TV contracts were more important than taking a low-risk deal from Apple and keeping the Pac-10 or Pac-9 afloat. So honestly, screw them for that, and if they ever try to B.S. anyone with talking about the welfare of their student-athletes, remind them that flying 3,000 miles for a volleyball match isn’t good for anyone.

As for this year’s Apple Cup, I have precedence for hope. We were 17-point underdogs in 1982 when we shocked the Huskies at Martin Stadium and knocked them out of the Rose Bowl. Headline in the Spokesman-Review the next day: “A handful of thorns.”

Granted, there have been other times when we’ve been double-digit underdogs to the Huskies and they blew our doors off, but that doesn’t work for my narrative so we’ll just ignore those games completely.

And last Friday we somehow broke a six-game losing streak, obliterating Colorado 56-14, prompting another reason to think there might be some life left after all in the Cougs.

Know something else? Think about the intangibles in this game. The Huskies have already clinched a spot in the Pac-12 championship game Dec. 1 in Las Vegas. It truly does not matter if they beat the Cougs. Win or lose, they most likely will have to beat the Ducks or possibly Arizona to reach the college football playoff.

Meanwhile, if the Cougs have been lacking motivation as a lame-duck team, it should be easy for Jake Dickert to rally the troops this week. Wouldn’t you want to be remembered as a member of the Washington State team that dealt your biggest rival its first loss of the season and possibly be the first domino to fall as the Dawgs lose their last three games?

I’ve never been a big fan of Husky happiness and there’s way too much of it this year. I’m expecting to see a bunch of purple-and-gold frowns around 4:30 Saturday afternoon, and yeah, you’re right, blind faith is a powerful drug.

Jim Moore is a longtime Pacific Northwest sportswriter and sports radio host on 950 KJR at 10 a.m. weekdays with Jason Puckett, and writes a regular column for the Kitsap Sun. Contact Jim at jimmoorethego2guy@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @cougsgo. 

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Jim Moore looks ahead at the Apple Cup's future