Turnovers plagued the Cougars all day, and the Washington Huskies took advantage, knocking off No. 20 Washington State, 45-10, Friday to gain bowl eligibility and keep the Apple Cup trophy in Seattle for a third straight year.

Moving the ball was rarely an issue for the Cougar offense, but the team committed seven turnovers – five fumbles and two pick-sixes – the most since 2009, which made it impossible for WSU (8-4, 6-3 Pac-12) to keep pace with the Huskies (6-6, 4-5).

“If you turn over the ball seven times, it’s going to be hard to win,” WSU redshirt freshman quarterback Peyton Bender said. “Put a lot of that on me. I made two bad interceptions, and then I just gotta hold onto the ball a little bit stronger in the pocket.”

Too many dropped passes, too many turnovers, and too many mistakes allowed Washington to run away with the game in the second half, and WSU Head Coach Mike Leach shouldered the blame for not getting his team ready to play.

“I think that most of our problems go back to coaching, starting with me and all of us coaches. We need to find a way to coach these guys better. We didn’t have them prepared to play,” Leach said. “For whatever reason, our guys played wide-eyed. We’ve beaten teams that are considerably better than Washington this year, but the thing about it is, we go in here wide-eyed and act like its special.”

The first turnover came with WSU leading 3-0 with 6:20 to go in the first quarter when Bender fired a screen pass out to redshirt freshman running back Keith Harrington. With little to gain on the play, Harrington tried breaking through a wall of UW defenders, and sophomore linebacker Keishawn Bierria forced a fumble. The ball bounced into the backfield and was eventually recovered by sophomore linebacker Azeem Victor. The official result of the play was a 29-yard loss for the Cougs.

UW freshman quarterback Jake Browning led the Huskies on their first scoring drive of the game on the ensuing possession, a four-play, 41-yard drive capped off by a 26-yard rush by freshman receiver Chico McClatcher on a reverse play to give Washington a lead that would never be relinquished.

The turnover woes continued for the Cougars in the second half, as WSU was rolling on its first drive after the break, picking up 48 yards on six plays, when Bender fired a pass into the flat to junior wide out John Thompson that was undercut by sophomore cornerback Sidney Jones, who returned the interception 69 yards for a touchdown to give the UW a 24-3 lead.

WSU rallied to score a touchdown in the third quarter, a 1-yard strike from Bender to senior receiver Dom Williams set up by an interception by sophomore cornerback Marcellus Pippins. But the UW defense was stifling in the fourth quarter, forcing three fumbles, a turnover on downs and an interception on the Cougars’ final five offensive drives.

“I’ve been on both sides of flood-gate games,” Leach said. “They are something that starts gradually, and then it’s a series of over-corrections. Like fish-tailing down a road.”

WSU led drives into UW territory on four of its six drives in the first half, but was only able to produce a field goal by halftime. Both Leach and sophomore running back Jamal Morrow said the team left far too many points on the field in the early going.

“We didn’t finish, and that’s what we pride ourselves on,” Morrow said. “We can get the ball down to the 30 all we want, but if we’re not scoring, it doesn’t even matter.”

With redshirt sophomore Luke Falk on the mend after sustaining a concussion last week against Colorado, Bender started his first collegiate game at quarterback for the Cougars. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida native moved the ball well against a young but talented UW defense, throwing for 288 yards on 36-58 passing.

However, the two pick-sixes, two fumbles, some bad reads and several overthrows indicated the redshirt freshman still has room to improve.

“Overall I think it was a good experience for me, I’m just disappointed in the outcome,” Bender said.

For Washington, freshman tailback Myles Gaskin had a historic day while leading the Huskies to the Apple Cup victory. His two rushing touchdowns gave him 10 for the season, a school record for true freshmen, and his 138 yards put him at 1,121 for the season, a school record for all freshmen.

With 12 regular season games in the books for both teams, the Huskies and Cougars will next take the field for their bowl games.

“We got one more game left on our schedule, whatever game that may be,” WSU senior linebacker Jeremiah Allison said. “So we start preparing for it this week.”

Bowl game assignments will be announced Dec. 7. Here is a list of the Pac-12 ‘tie-in’ games the Cougars could potentially end up playing, in order of prestige.

– National University Holiday Bowl: 7:30 p.m., Dec. 30 in Qualcomm Stadium; San Diego. Big Ten vs. Pac-12 No. 3.

– Foster Farms Bowl: 6:15 p.m., Dec. 26 in Levi’s Stadium; Santa Clara, California. Big Ten vs. Pac-12 No. 4.

– Hyundai Sun Bowl: 11 a.m., Dec. 26 in Sun Bowl Stadium; El Paso, Texas. ACC No. 4 vs. Pac-12 No. 5.

– Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl: 12:30 p.m., Dec. 26 in Sam Boyd Stadium; Las Vegas. Mountain West No. 1 vs. Pac-12 No. 6.

– Cactus Bowl: 7:15 p.m., Jan. 2 at Chase Field; Phoenix. Big 12 No. 5 vs. Pac-12 No. 7