Washington’s defense under Chris Petersen has been, to say the very least, quite good. The Huskies have given up more than 30 points just three times in the past four seasons — all to teams ranked No. 12 or higher — and haven’t allowed more than 35 in that span. The Dawgs been more than adept at stopping everything from the Stanford power game to the Arizona State run/pass option to the Oregon tempo.

But the UW defense was built to beat Washington State.

There are multiple reasons why Washington runs a base 2-4-5, adding extra athleticism in the secondary, size in the middle, and speed on the edges. There are reasons why Jimmy Lake’s defensive backs are the pride and joy of the UW defense. Primarily among them: that’s what it takes to stop an Air Raid attack.

This will be the fifth Apple Cup with Chris Petersen at the helm for Washington; in the previous four, WSU hasn’t reached 20 points. The Cougars have scored 54 points against the Dawgs since 2015, with much of that coming in garbage time; the halftime deficit has only been less than 20 once.

Last season, Washington came into the Apple Cup reeling defensively. The Dawgs had more or less been torched by Stanford and Utah, but while Luke Falk racked up 369 yards through the air (the second-most allowed by the UW since Petersen took over), the Huskies held the Cougars off of the scoreboard for the first three quarters.

When it’s working, Washington’s defense is the embodiment of bend-but-don’t-break. That’s how you beat a team that wants to throw the ball all over the field and spread it out to as many receivers as possible. WSU has racked up over 340 yards per Apple Cup since 2014, but have averaged 4.5 turnovers and have scored points on just 57 percent of their trips to the red zone.

And this season, it may look even better for Washington.

Defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake has said multiple times this season that UW has nine defensive backs that would start anywhere else in the country. One of them is gone — Austin Joyner medically retired — but that still leaves eight, and the coaching staff has done what it can to put as many on the field together as possible.

Going against third-and-long situations especially, Washington has deviated from its base defense, taking men out of the box and adding DBs onto the field. The Huskies have routinely put six into their passing down formations, and sometimes even seven.

Mike Leach’s offenses make their hay by spreading the ball out with one-on-one situations across the field and getting the rock into playmakers’ hands as fast as possible in open space. Oddly enough, the UW defense is best at turning matchups outside into islands and crashing upfield to limit screens. Throw in an extra man or two in the UW secondary, and the battle favors the Dawgs even more.

That’s not to say WSU doesn’t have a chance. Gardner Minshew has been something else this season, and the loss at Cal proved that Washington’s defense can’t win a game on its own if the offense doesn’t at least help a little.

But until Washington State proves it can beat the Washington defense, history has shown you just can’t assume it’ll happen.