The Apple Cup is an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

game between the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Huskies Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that mai ...

and

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant unive ...

Cougars The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. I ...

, the two largest universities in the state of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. Both were members of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

until 2024. First played in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

, , the matchup was traditionally the final game of the regular season for both teams and generally took place on the Saturday preceding

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

. With the NCAA's extension of the regular season to twelve games in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, the game is often played at a later date. From 2011 to 2023, it was most commonly held on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Due to the rivalry becoming a non-conference game with the demise of the Pac-12 Conference in 2024, the 2024 Apple Cup is scheduled to occur on Saturday, September 14. Since

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

, the game has been held in odd years in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Husky Stadium Husky Stadium (officially Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is an outdoor football stadium in the northwest United States, located on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. It h ...

(except

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, at

CenturyLink Field Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in S ...

), while Washington State has hosted during even years at Rogers Field (1946, 1948, 1954) and

Martin Stadium Martin Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, on the campus of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. It is the home field of the Washington State Cougars of the Pac-12 Conference. Its full name is ...

(since

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

) in Pullman, and

Joe Albi Stadium Joe Albi Stadium is a former outdoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, located in Spokane, Washington. In the northwest part of the city, just east of the Spokane River, it was primarily used for high school football, and as a secon ...

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

. The games in

eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

Washington from 1935 to 1948, all in Pullman, were held in mid-October. The exception was in

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

, when two games were played: the first in Seattle in mid-October, and the second in Pullman in late This will change in 2024, as Seattle will host for 2024, 2026, and 2028 while Pullman hosts in 2025 and 2027. First awarded in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

, the Apple Cup Trophy is presented to the winner by the state's

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

at the conclusion of the game.

Series history

The teams played for the Governor's Trophy starting in 1934. This bronze shield was made by sculptor

Dudley Pratt Dudley Pratt (June 14, 1897 – November 18, 1975) was an American sculptor. He was born in Paris, France to Boston sculptors Bela and Helen Pratt. His sculptural education included study under Charles Grafly, Antoine Bourdelle, and Alexander A ...

and donated and awarded by Governor Clarence D. Martin, an alumnus of the University of Washington and the namesake of Pullman's

. The winners for the years 1934–1939 are etched on the shield. The trophy was awarded until at least 1946. In 1963 the Big Apple Trophy was donated to the competition by the

Washington Apple Commission The Washington Apple Commission is a quasi-public body in the United States state of Washington, created by the Revised Code of Washington, which is statutorily authorized to "speak on behalf of the Washington state government with regard to apple ...

, emblematic of

's national reputation as a major producer This award was colloquially referred to as the Apple Cup, which later came to

metonymically Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...

refer to the game itself. In 1989 the apple was recognized as Washington's state fruit during the state's

centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...

celebration. When the college football regular season was lengthened from eleven to twelve games in

, there was a movement to change the date of the game from the Saturday before

to the weekend following, which would have allowed a bye week for both teams during the season. In 2006, both teams played twelve straight weeks without a bye, leaving the two teams noticeably fatigued. The 2007 game was played on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for the first time; but the 2008 game was returned to the Saturday before The media joked that the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

game won by the Cougars in Pullman was the "Crapple Cup" and "full of worms," because hosted winless The game returned to the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2009 in Seattle. The 2011 game in Seattle was moved to CenturyLink Field to allow an early start on the renovation of From 1950 through 1980 (except for the WSU home games in the series were played in Spokane at

(Memorial Stadium until 1962). The Cougars won three of these fifteen games (

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

). In 1910, the WSU home game in Spokane was played at Recreation Park The first game in 1900 resulted in a 5–5 tie. The series has been played continuously since 1945, when there were two games, one in Seattle and one in Pullman. The 2020 game was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Game results

Overtime was introduced for

Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(FBS) in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

and has been used four times in the Apple Cup, all in Pullman.
Each team has two overtime victories: UW in 1996 and 2002, WSU in 2008 and 2012. :^OT → Overtime (1996, 2012) :^2OT → Double Overtime (2008) :^3OT → Triple Overtime (2002) After a two-year hiatus in 1943 and 1944, two games were played in 1945.
The 2020 game scheduled in Pullman was declared No Contest by the league due to Washington State not having the minimum number of scholarship players available for the game as a result of a positive football student-athlete COVID-19 cases.
Prior to 1959, WSU was WSC.

Coaching records since 1945

Washington

Washington State

: * Last tie was in 1942, overtime began in

in Division I-A * Two games were played in 1945 *

Jimmy Lake James Paul Lake (born December 17, 1976) is an American football coach who is the assistant head coach for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He was most recently the head coach at the University of Washington, from 2020 t ...

(UW) and

Nick Rolovich Nicholas Robert Rolovich ( ; born February 16, 1979) is an American football coach and former player, who was most recently the head football coach at Washington State University (WSU). Rolovich majored in economics at the University of Hawaii, ...

(WSU) both coached for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, but neither in an Apple Cup; the 2020 game was canceled amid the

, and both were fired prior to the 2021 matchup.

References