Rivalries are supposed to feel big. Yankees-Red Sox. 49ers-Seahawks. Michigan-Ohio State. These games matter. Even if they do not matter in the standings, rivalries matter to the players, coaches and fans. The Apple Cup is no different.
Even when the Huskies and Cougars played in the same division, the Apple Cup rarely had true postseason implications. Sure, there were a handful of times when one school (usually the Cougs) had a chance to play spoiler, and there were four true high-stakes Apple Cups when both schools were competing for a trip to the Rose Bowl. However, the majority of the 116 Apple Cups were, in terms of standings, meaningless.
That never changed the hype, the buildup and the glory of winning the Apple Cup. The banter between Huskies and Cougs symbolizes a battle that goes beyond mascots. It is city versus country, west versus east, powerhouse versus underdogs.
This year, things felt different. Husky fans were noticeably tamer in their taunting. The national media barely covered the game, and even the local media seemed less excited than usual.
Seattle Times columnist Matt Calkin may have put it best when he wrote, “The Cougs are generally the little brother in this Pacific Northwest pastime, but this is the first time they’re playing the role of abandoned brother.”
WSU was left behind in realignment. They found themselves athletically homeless, without a conference or a path toward finding a new Power 5 conference. Effectively, the Cougars were abandoned.
Had the Huskies won the Apple Cup, it would have felt meaningless. A Big 10 school, fresh off a national championship appearance, defeating an independent school barely scraping by; that’s not a story. It is not a compelling rivalry. It would just have been another easy win for the Huskies, and a reminder of WSU’s inferiority, now even more magnified as they have been, at least temporarily, stripped of their Power 5 status.
Instead, the unlikely occurred. Against their most difficult opponent, coming off a national championship berth, and in their city (though Lumen was technically a neutral site) the Cougars made a statement: do not forget about us.
It is a symbol of their resilience. It is a mark of their grit and determination. And it is a message to the rest of college football that the Cougars are not going anywhere. The Apple Cup may not have the same conference implications that it used to, but that does not take away the value of the game. As long as the Cougs can compete, they will.
Offensive lineman Brock Dieu spoke about the aftermath of the game and what it meant to Cougar fans.
“It’s a big day for Cougar nation,” he said.
Dieu mentioned a professor of his who welcomed him back to class after the win with a celebration, saying the school’s exuberance “shows what it means to Cougar nation as a whole.”
“You got smiling faces, people storming the field, little kids tugging on my towel saying ‘hey, thank you,’ it’s huge,” Dieu said.
WSU is probably not going to build a stronger program than UW anytime soon. That is the reality of where the two schools are at, from a financial and recruiting perspective. The Cougars will probably be the underdogs in the Apple Cup almost every year. But this win showed the Huskies, the state and the NCAA what the Cougars already believed: they can still play football at a very high level, no matter what conference they play in.
The Apple Cup will return next year and if the past two matchups tell us anything, the game will continue to be close, intense and exciting. That is the way a rivalry is meant to be played. Even if the game does not mean anything in the standings, it will be meaningful for the Cougs, Huskies and football fans throughout Washington.
