5 Times the Cougars Ruined Everything
Face it, the Apple Cup usually winds up in the hands of the University of Washington football team. It's always had Husky fingerprints all over it. It's been that way for two out of every three rivalry games played. The UW almost always is favored and comes away gloating.
However, let us not forget when Washington State pushed aside history, ignored the odds-makers and not only beat the Huskies, but shockingly took something valuable away from them.
The Rose Bowl. Home-field advantage. An air of superiority. The betting line. A sense of invincibility. Did we mention the Rose Bowl?
On Saturday, the Huskies (11-0 overall, 8-0 Pac-12) put their perfect season, an 18-game win streak, No. 4 Associated Press and College Football Playoff rankings and their season-long national championship hopes on the line against the Cougars (5-6, 2-6), who arrive in town after blistering Colorado and leaving Coach Prime speechless.
Could WSU, which trails 75-33-6 in the Apple Cup series, pull off another totally unexpected and super deflating upset?
For all of the domination displayed by Don James' Huskies over two glorious decades, a career low for the late and legendary coach had to be his back-to-back losses to WSU that cost him the chance to go to four consecutive Rose Bowls.
James' UW players almost always sealed the deal whenever Rose Bowls or Orange Bowls were on the line, but in 1982 and 1983 his powerful teams inexplicably did back-to-back flameouts at the hands of WSU.
In 1992, the two-time defending Rose Bowl champions on the way to a third consecutive Pasadena trip went into Pullman and got hit by both a sudden snow storm and a Cougar blizzard. The Huskies fell behind by four touchdowns and lost by three, getting beat like they hadn't been beat by anyone in five seasons.
Five years later, UW coaches, players and fans had to watch incredulously as WSU clinched a Rose Bowl berth and handed out roses at Husky Stadium, claiming a Pasadena trip that seemingly had been earmarked for a Husky team that began the season ranked No. 4 in the national polls.
And, finally, when the UW was at its program lowest over the past decade and a half the Cougars came to Seattle in 2021 and made it worse, beating them by four touchdowns — the Huskies' worst loss in the then-113 games of the series.
So here they go again this weekend, with the UW having everything to lose against their country cousins and wanting no part of past history.
Yet to get to the College Football Playoff, these Huskies have to push back hard on their upset-minded pals from the Palouse and prevail.
MOST SHOCKING HUSKY APPLE CUP LOSSES
1982, at WSU 24, UW 20 — The fifth-ranked Huskies were so close to a third consecutive trip to Pasadena, they could smell the roses. This just wasn't going to happen. Trailing 21-20 with 4:35 remaining, first-team All-America kicker Chuck Nelson lined up a 33-yard field goal after having made all 25 of his attempts that season, and 30 in a row dating back to the year before. His short kick shockingly sailed wide right and the Huskies were done, giving up a late 3-pointer to the 3-7-1 Cougs and having to settle for the Aloha Bowl and finish 10-2.
1983, WSU 17, at UW 6 — For the second consecutive year, only this time in Seattle, the unranked and 7-4 Cougars stunned the Huskies and knocked them out of the Rose Bowl. Don James' 15th-ranked team was held to two measly field goals and it pretty much seized up with everything on the line one more time. Another Aloha Bowl was the bitter consolation prize.
1992, at WSU 42, UW 23 — Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. The white stuff showed up overnight in the Palouse and the Rose Bowl-bound and No. 5 Huskies wilted at the sight of it, falling behind 35-7. WSU was much more adaptable to the elements, outgaining its rival in total offense, 476 yards to 267. Shaumbe Wright-Fair rushed for 193 yards while apparently wearing studded tires, and Drew Bledsoe threw for 260 yards with snowflakes falling all around. The 9-3 Cougars wound up in the Copper Bowl as their reward.
1997, WSU 41, at UW 35 — The 11th-ranked Cougars came in to Husky stadium and did the unthinkable: they not only clinched a Rose Bowl berth for the first time in 63 years, they did it in Montlake. Ryan Leaf threw for 358 yards and 2 scores and was carried off the field, and Michael Black rushed for 170 yards and a score against the No. 17 Huskies. One team would face Michigan, the other Michigan State, in their bowl games.
2021, WSU 40, at UW 13 — While the Huskies were suffering through the end of a 4-8 downturn, already had parted ways with fired coach Jimmy Lake and weren't going anywhere, they were handed their worst loss of the more than century old rivalry on their home field. Looking for something positive, the UW started freshman and 5-star quarterback Sam Huard, giving him his only game-opening assignment of his brief time in Montlake. Huard threw four interceptions and he could have been scarred for good with the Huskies, ultimately transferring to Cal Poly.
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