Huskies Have Played In Multiple Bowls That No Longer Exist

Forty-eight hours before kickoff comes word, not official, that this LA Bowl will be the last one when the University of Washington and Boise State football teams meet on Saturday afternoon at SoFi Stadium.

Reached in Los Angeles, a UW team spokesperson said the bowl's demise was news to him. The LA Bowl hasn't responded to an inquiry about its future operation.

However, if that is indeed the case, it's five-and-out for an early December match-up that has tried to use Jimmy Kimmel and Rob Gronkowski to market it, has averaged crowds of just 29,000-plus and will disappear into college football postseason history.

This should come as no surprise to the Huskies, who have appeared in six other bowl games that no longer exist and a seventh that has gone through nonstop name and sponsorships changes but is still hanging in there.

Three of the UW's now defunct bowl games were held in Hawaii -- the Pineapple, the Aloha and the Oahu.

And who could forget the Freedom, the Fight Hunger and the Cactus bowls?

These games always seemed like a great civic idea to the communities that welcomed them, but, other than providing sports TV programming in December, they found their games buckled under the expense and often times disinterest.

Now with a 12-team playoff system in place, that could be expanded in the near future, games on the periphery will continue to become irrelevant unless they can be included in the playoff itself as the New Year's 6 bowl games are.

LA Bowl is ending after Saturday’s game b/w Washington & Boise State, sources told @On3sports. Created in 2020, LA Bowl matched Mountain West champ vs. Pac-12 team. LA Bowl joins Bahamas Bowl as latest bowls to be canceledhttps://t.co/jvSsR5bveP
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 11, 2025

Here's a brief history of postseason games involving the Huskies that now exist only in the college football record book.

PINEAPPLE BOWL

In 1938, the Huskies traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii, for two extra games, one of which was the Pineapple Bowl, where they beat the University of Hawaii 53-13. They later faced what appeared to be a club team, the Honolulu Townies, and won that one 35-6, too. The Pineapple Bowl existed in 1934-52 and tried to restart in 1980 only to have the NCAA deny its application.

FREEDOM BOWL

This game was played annually in a virtually empty Anaheim Stadium in Southern California from 1984 to 1994. The Huskies made two appearances, beating Colorado 20-17 in 1985 and Florida 34-7 in 1989. The game against the Gators was particularly noteworthy because the UW defense held the great Emmitt Smith to just 17 yards rushing on seven carries.

ALOHA BOWL

This game, which operated from 1982 to 2000, twice proved to be the big disappointment bowl for the Huskies. They were redirected there each time after losing to Washington State in 1982 and 1983 and getting knocked out of a Rose Bowl berth. The beach was nice, but the UW wanted to be elsewhere. Don James' teams beat Maryland 21-20 in the first Aloha Bowl held and lost to Penn State 13-10 in the second one. In 1997, the Huskies pummeled Michigan State 51-23, three years before the game was discontinued.

OAHU BOWL

Blink and you missed this one. This game was played just three times in 1998-2000 and was noteworthy for two reasons. The Huskies lost the first one held to Air Force 45-25 and UW coach Jim Lambright was fired immediately afterward. And once the game was scrubbed in the islands, it was moved and became the Seattle Bowl for two seasons before it was discontinued altogether.

FIGHT HUNGER BOWL

This San Francisco-based game was held under different names in 2002-19 and hosted the Huskies in 2013 against BYU. It was awkward because Steve Sarkisian left three weeks earlier to become the USC coach, leaving Marques Tuiasosopo to serve as the interim guy. But Tuiasosopo held it all together and the UW beat Sarkisian's alma mater 31-16.

CACTUS BOWL

Chris Petersen's first Husky team took on Oklahoma State on Jan. 2, 2015, in Tempe Stadium, fell behind 24-0 at halftime and tried to make a game out of it before losing 30-22. This bowl was in existence in 1989-2020, disappearing during the COVID pandemic.

HEART OF DALLAS BOWL

Created in 2011, this game has gone through a host of name changes, from the Dallas Football Classic to the TicketCity Bowl to the Heart of Dallas Bowl to the now First Responders Bowl. Playing in the Cotton Bowl, the Huskies won a 44-31 shootout with Southern Miss on Dec. 26, 2015.

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