Huskies top Washington State for seventh straight Apple Cup victory
They passed it around like the Apple Cup trophy, this crinkled piece of white poster board. The edges were bent, and it had been stepped on a few times. The boot prints were still visible.
Written across it in hasty black Sharpie was this: “I ain’t ever lost to no Coug.” The ever was underlined three times, for emphasis. That seemed appropriate. The poster was handed between the seniors, from safety Myles Bryant to offensive lineman Trey Adams to wide receiver Aaron Fuller. As the sign made clear, none of them has ever lost to Washington State. Friday’s 31-13 victory — UW’s seventh straight win — was no exception.
The sign ended up back in Bryant’s hands later and he stood with junior running back Salvon Ahmed near the tunnel, waiting for photographers to come document the moment. They quickly obliged. After that, junior offensive lineman Luke Wattenberg grabbed it and carried it off the field, out of sight.
But that wasn’t the last message the Huskies had for Washington State. As senior Nick Harris emerged from the celebration at midfield, he rolled up his jersey. Underneath was the message he’d written in black Sharpie the night before: “We don’t lose to Cougs” with an ‘X’ over the final word. He wore it during warm-ups. He wore it during the game. If Harris didn’t have to wash it, he said he would’ve worn it for the rest of the night. He admitted that he might make a new one.
“It’s just truth,” he said. “That’s the way it is.”
UW’s season will be remembered for its unpredictability, and not in a good way. The Huskies opened the season ranked No. 12 in the AP top 25. Despite losing nine starters on defense, UW was expected to reload. Transfer quarterback Jacob Eason was supposed to usher in a high-powered offense.
None of it really played out that way.
UW ended the regular season 7-5. The defense came around, but it never became the kind of elite, Pac-12 leading defense UW is known for. And while Eason’s talent is undeniable, the offense struggled more often than not. All of that led to puzzling losses to Cal, Stanford and Colorado, games the Huskies should have won. But UW also led Oregon and Utah — both ranked in the top 15 — by double figures before allowing fourth-quarter comebacks.
The Huskies have looked good and bad and everything in between. You never knew which version was going to show up. But in a season where nothing played out as expected, at least one thing stayed the same: UW won the Apple Cup.
“It means a lot, for sure,” Harris said. “It’s a big-time rivalry. It means a lot for the city, it means a lot for the state, it means a lot for the alumni. That’s kind of what my mentality was. It’s bigger than just the dudes on the team. It’s bigger than me. it’s bigger than the seniors. We got a lot of people represented by UW and that’s the kind of mentality we went in with and it came out with a win.”
The Huskies did it with defense, as they always do. And Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense was powerless against Jimmy Lake’s defense, as it always is. The defensive backs look forward to this match-up all season, and for good reason. They finished with two interceptions — one each from Elijah Molden and Trent McDuffie — as well as a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
“It means more to the guys in the locker room, the coaching staff and the strength coaches,” Bryant said. “It means more to everybody in there. Playing in that kind of game is a DB’s heaven. You got a team that throws the ball 60 to 70 times. Once we start Monday morning, everybody is licking their chops because we know Washington State is going to throw the ball.”
Said Molden: “When you put these types of games combined with who our coach is, Coach Lake and Coach (Will) Harris. If you were a DB, I would come here. There’s no doubt. I’m glad I came here. It’s the best decision I ever made.”
UW knew exactly what was coming. Lake said as much last year. Former inside linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven said it again with a tweet shortly after the game ended: “Running the same 5 plays every year and expecting the end result to change is a real bold strategy.”
“Every year it’s the same thing, it’s just preparation,” Molden said. “It’s nothing else. We had a couple alumni come and talk to us throughout the week just to get our heads straight. Rivalries mean more.”
Washington State entered the game leading the Pac-12 in yards (533.0) and points (41.5) per game. Against UW, the Cougars finished with 339 yards of total offense. They scored one touchdown, averaged 4.1 yards per play and were forced to kick two field goals in the red zone.
But while Washington State’s offense remained consistent, the Huskies shifted away from their run-first mentality. Ahmed led the way, rushing for 85 yards on 16 carries. But UW did most of its damage through the air. Eason completed 15-of-22 passes for 244 yards and a touchdown. Tight ends Hunter Bryant and Cade Otton combined for nine catches for 173 yards. Wide receiver Terrell Bynum had three catches for 77 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown.
“We knew that going in,” Eason said of the offensive strategy. “We knew there were some good opportunities based on what they played coverage-wise. We just went out there and executed.”
Early on, it didn’t look like the game was going to play out this way. The Cougars scored on their first possession, putting together a 13-play, 81-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run from Max Borghi. Then UW’s offense took the field and promptly went three-and-out, something it did five times in last week’s loss to Colorado.
But the momentum began to shift later in the first quarter when Eason completed a 58-yard pass to Bynum to move the Huskies to Washington State’s 12-yard line. Three plays later, Eason reached the end zone from 3 yards out on a quarterback sneak.
The score was still knotted 7-7 heading into the second quarter, but UW then outscored the Cougars 14-3 to enter halftime with a 21-10 lead. The Huskies scored on their first possession out the break, pulling ahead 28-10 on a 2-yard touchdown run from redshirt freshman running back Richard Newton — his second of the game.
Any threat from Washington State seemed to evaporate after that. As the game ended, with Washington State still trying desperately to get back into the end zone, freshman safety Cameron Williams turned to the Cougars sideline and waved. It could have been last year. Or the year before. Or the year before. Washington State has averaged 14.1 points per game in the last seven Apple Cups. They all seem to look — and end — the same.
“To send the seniors out the right way with all they’ve done for us is everything we could’ve asked for,” Molden said. “Not every season is going to be perfect. After every game, you’re going to wish you had some plays back but it’s all learning from it and going forward.”
This story was originally published November 29, 2019 at 4:36 PM.
