On Thursday, Nov. 29, 1900, the University of Washington and Washington Agricultural College football teams fought to a 5-5 draw on a simple grass field in downtown Seattle. In the 125 years since that game, stadiums have been built, school names changed, conferences created, and trophies awarded. Through it all, rivalry has remained.
Saturday’s Apple Cup clash will be the 117th game played between the Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars, whose lasting enmity for one another is responsible for one of college football’s most historic near-annual contests.
The rivalry has evolved a number of times in its history. In 1934, a bronze shield called the Governor’s Trophy was donated by the state’s then-governor, Clarence D. Martin, who graduated from UW in 1906 and for whom WSU’s Martin Stadium is named.
From 1934 onwards, the winning team in the Washington-Washington State contest was awarded the Governor’s Trophy by the governor. However, the 1934 game ended in a 0-0 tie, making the 1935 Washington team the first to actually win the trophy.
In 1962, the Washington Apple Commission introduced the Big Apple Trophy as a nod to the state’s agricultural roots. The trophy and game both became known as the Apple Cup shortly afterward, and the name has been used for both ever since.
Washington has historically dominated the rivalry, as the Huskies have 76 wins to the Cougars’ 34. The Huskies have also won 17 of the 24 games played since 2000. However, there have been plenty of close games played between the two schools.
There were six ties before 1945, and there have been four instances of overtime since it was introduced to FBS play in 1996. The Cougars hosted all four (1996, 2002, 2008, 2012), with Washington winning the first two and Washington State winning the most recent two. The Cougars have also won two of the last four Apple Cups, including last year’s clash at Lumen Field in Seattle.
Unfortunately, recent conference realignment has fundamentally changed the Apple Cup. Washington’s 2024 shift to the Big Ten conference, which trapped Washington State in a sinking Pac-12 Conference, has turned the Apple Cup into a non-conference affair, and shifted the contest from a year-end thriller to an early-season game.
The athletic and financial disparities between the two conferences could one day bring an end to the UW-WSU rivalry in its near-annual entirety. The Apple Cup has been formally scheduled through 2028, with games in even years held in Seattle and games in odd years held in Pullman, but its future from 2029 and on is a mystery.
Conference mysteries aside, these two teams have built a storied history together over the past 125 years. Both schools will get a chance to add to that history on Saturday, when the visiting Huskies take on the hosting Cougars at 4:30 p.m. in Pullman.