Apple Cup: Updates, score, how to watch Washington football vs. WSU

Here are three instant impressions from Washington State’s 24-19 win over Washington at Lumen Field.

The two teams are very evenly matched

A lot was unknown about both teams coming into the game, and what we know now is that the Huskies and Cougars and Huskies seem very close in ability.

For good chunks of the game, particularly in the first half, the teams’ total yardage was nearly identical.

A touchdown drive late in the second quarter gave the Cougars a 17-13 lead, and a total of 257 yards in the first half. The Huskies had 231 yards in the opening half.

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Following the Cougars' thrilling win over the Huskies, WSU fans overtook the field at Lumen Field (and UW fans quickly emptied their seats).

Cougar fans could be seen dancing and celebrating along with the Apple Cup trophy.

Perhaps no play epitomized Washington’s Apple Cup struggles than 3rd-and-18 from Washington State’s own 26-yard line with less than two minutes remaining in the first half.

The Huskies, who’d been plagued by penalties since the literal opening kickoff, finally forced the Cougars into some mistakes of their own. A false start by Washington State left guard Roderick Tialavea forced WSU into its difficult situation, and on the ensuing play, UW linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala bull rushed a Cougar lineman into quarterback John Mateer for a sack. 

Then the whistles blew and the flags flew. Defensive holding on redshirt freshman defensive back Jordan Shaw. Automatic first down. Three plays later, the Cougars were celebrating in the end zone. 

Washington State held on to beat Washington 24-19 in the 116th Apple Cup in the rain at Lumen Field on Saturday. The Cougars stopped the Huskies on 4th-and-1 from the WSU 1-yard line on an option pitch play to seal the game.

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On fourth-and-goal from the 1.5-yard line, Will Rogers took a read option and shoveled it to Jonah Coleman who was tackled for a 2-yard loss.

WSU takes over at its own 4-yard line with 1:07 remaining.

The drive: 5 plays, 21 yards, 2:08.

The story: Welp. John Mateer did not in fact throw another interception, but the WSU offense was once again stopped and forced to punt back to the Huskies.

Next possession: UW starts at own 31.

Time left: 3:40 remaining.

Oh my.

It appeared that UW cornerback Ephesians Prysock intercepted WSU quarterback John Mateer, but it was overturned on review to an incomplete pass.

The Cougs still face a third-and-10 at their own 33.

With just over eight minutes left in the game, we have our first turnover.

On 2nd-and-4 at WSU's 47, quarterback John Mateer threw deep along the left sideline and was picked off by UW corner Thaddeus Dixon, who gets a little bit of redemption.

Dixon returned it to the UW 39, where the Huskies will take over down 24-19 with 8:14 left in this Apple Cup.

The drive: 3 plays, 3 yards, 2:18.

The story: Facing a 2nd-and-7, Will Rogers was sacked for a 7-yard loss. UW was then hit with a false-start penalty. Drive killers.

Next possession: WSU starts at own 32.

Time left: 10:08 in 4Q.

The drive: 6 plays, 13 yards, 2:29.

Next possession: UW starts at own 22.

Time left: 12:26 in 4Q.

The scoring play: Grady Gross again cuts into WSU's lead as UW settles for another field goal, a 43-yarder.

The drive: 12 plays, 50 yards, 5:54.

The score: Cougars 24, Huskies 19. End of third.

The scoring play: John Mateer finds Josh Meredith who dives into the end zone along the right sideline for a 16-yard touchdown to extend WSU's lead midway through the third quarter.

The drive: 6 plays, 77 yards, 3:45.

The story: WSU is taking advantage of what UW is giving them right now, as a huge defensive-holding penalty again kept the Cougs alive for another touchdown drive.

The score: Cougars 24, Huskies 16. 5:54 left in 3Q.

The highlight:

The scoring play: Grady Gross hits a 24-yard field goal to trim the Cougars' lead to 17-16 to begin the third quarter.

The drive: 11 plays, 67 yards, 5:06.

The story: The Huskies' first drive of the second half ended with a short field goal, but the mistakes are piling up as UW was hit with two false-start penalties, including one at the WSU 10-yard line, and botched the snap on the first play.

The score: Cougars 17, Huskies 16.

Washington enters halftime trailing 17-13 after a last-second TD run by WSU quarterback John Mateer. 

Some strange decisions there by Jedd Fisch to end the quarter. After WSU kicker Dean Janikowski missed a chip-shot field goal, the Huskies got the ball with 4:36 remaining in the half and chance to score before getting the ball back to start the second half. 

Midway through the drive, however, Fisch inserted true freshman QB Demond Williams Jr., who handed the ball off and threw a screen forcing UW to punt. Mateer then scored. 

Rogers has generally looked good so far, and instead of potentially entering halftime with a lead anywhere between 6 and 10 points and getting the ball back, the Huskies trail. 

The scoring play: Wow. Third-and-20, WSU sets up a designed run for quarterback John Mateer, who kept cutting left and tip-toed along the sideline into the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown. That's his second rushing TD of the day and a huge one with just 21 seconds left before halftime.

The drive: 6 plays, 91 yards, 1:41.

The story: Mateer hit two huge passes, including a 38-yard catch by a wide-open Tony Freeman along the left sideline, to start that drive. The Huskies were again hurt by a penalty, defensive holding at their 25. But the Cougars made it count after a 10-yard sack pushed them into the third-and-20.

The score: Cougars 17, Huskies 13. 0:21 left before halftime.

The highlight:

The drive: 4 plays, 25 yards, 2:34.

The story: Quick one there where the Huskies take the ball out of Will Rogers' hands (literally on third down with Demond Williams Jr. coming in) after he scrambles for 17 yards to the UW 37 on first down.

Next possession: WSU starts on own 9-yard line.

Time left: 2:02 in 2Q.

The drive: 11 plays, 44 yards, 4:25.

The story: WSU's drive started with a huge 16-yard catch-and-run on third-and-10 to avoid a three-and-out, continued with a poorly timed facemask on what should have been a 10-yard sack for UW and ended with a missed 26-yard field goal after three straight incompletions from John Mateer at the 8-yard line. Weird drive!

Next possession: UW starts at own 8-yard line.

Time left: 4:26 in 2Q.

The scoring play: Grady Gross hits his second field goal of the game, this one from 42 yards, as the Huskies retake the lead.

The drive: 7 plays, 56 yards, 3:19.

The score: Huskies 13, Cougars 10.

The drive: 5 plays, 37 yards, 2:20.

Next possession: UW starts at own 20.

Time left: 12:29 in 1Q.

The scoring play: Grady Gross hits a 44-yard field goal as the Huskies tie it up at 10 against the Cougars.

The drive: 10 plays, 48 yards, 4:20.

The score: Huskies 10, Cougars 10. 14:56 left in 1Q.

At the end of the first quarter in this mid-September Apple Cup, the Cougars lead the Huskies 10-7.

UW faces a fourth-and-12 on WSU's 22 when the second quarter begins.

The scoring play: John Mateer scrambles up the middle and past the second line of defense for a 23-yard touchdown to give WSU back the early lead.

The drive: 6 plays, 72 yards, 2:51.

The story: Fun little response drive there from the Cougs, as a couple easy completions, a great post-catch spin move by Kris Hutson and a pass-interference penalty led to the end zone.

The score: WSU 10, UW 7. 4:16 left in 1Q.

The highlight:

The scoring play: Will Rogers hits a wide-open Giles Jackson down the middle in the back of the end zone for a 31-yard touchdown that gives the Huskies their first lead of the day.

The drive: 4 plays, 75 yards, 1:42.

The story: That was perhaps the most explosive the UW offense has looked on one drive so far this season with four straight completions by Rogers. Those are also the first first-quarter points by UW in three games.

The score: Huskies 7, Cougs 3. 7:16 left in 1Q.

The highlight:

The scoring play: Dean Janikowski hits a 44-yard field goal to give the Cougs an early 3-0 lead.

The drive: 4 plays, 3 yards, 0:51.

The story: Not a lot working there for the WSU offense, but the Cougs didn't need much with the field position they got off a great punt return.

The score: Cougs 3, Huskies 0. 8:58 left in 1Q.

The drive: 3 plays, -1 yards, 1:37.

The story: The UW offense starts slow for a third straight week, at least on that first drive. One run, one complete pass for a loss and then Will Rogers threw incomplete on third down.

Next possession: WSU starts with great field position at UW's 29.

Time left: 9:49 in 1Q.

The drive: 10 plays, 65 yards, 3:34

The story: John Mateer was 4-for-6 on an efficient drive ... until reaching the red zone. The Huskies' defense came up with the stop when it mattered most.

Next possession: UW starts at own 10.

Time left: 11:26 in 1Q.

With just a few minutes until kickoff, there are still plenty of empty seats at Lumen Field. But despite the game being in Seattle, there is a pretty even split between Husky and Cougar fans — each occupying opposite sides of the field.

You won’t see quote marks around the word rivalry here, but they are hovering over the noun like vultures. This feels more like the Apple Seed Cup the way the magnitude of this game has seemed to slim down.

You can snag tickets on StubHub for a cool $53, an ostensible pittance for this cross-state custom. Washington and Washington State — two nonconference opponents facing off at Lumen Field in mid-September? Perhaps it’s fitting to mark the end of summer with the fall of a tradition.

I hope I’m wrong about this, even if Oregon did supplant the Cougs as Washington’s chief rival years ago. This is a matchup that has decided Pac-12 titles and Rose Bowl berths — one that has both cemented and spoiled seasons.

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Michael Bumpus has heard all the complaints. He understands them on some levels, even if he doesn’t agree with the message.

The 116th Apple Cup is going to be a weird one. For the first time since 1948, Washington and Washington State will face each other before November. In fact, this is the earliest Apple Cup in series history, shattering the record previously held by the 1941 game which was played on Oct. 11. Saturday’s game will take place in a corporate environment at Lumen Field instead of on either campus, to the chagrin of UW coach Jedd Fisch.

In many ways, the changes to this year’s Apple Cup epitomize the changes that have rocked the college football landscape, forgoing tradition, regionality and pageantry for prime-time television slots, NIL and media rights money. Yet Bumpus, the former Cougars wide receiver, broadcaster and radio host, can’t help the excitement he feels for Saturday.

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PULLMAN — There may be no overstating the ways Washington State’s clash with rival Washington on Saturday afternoon, the 116th renewal of the Apple Cup, will be different.

Neutral-site game: check.

Nonconference tilt: check.

September game: check.

“We’re beyond past that,” WSU coach Jake Dickert said at the beginning of the week. “This is the Apple Cup.”

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Start fast

Washington won its first two games of the season by comfortable margins. UW beat Weber State 35-3, then defeated Eastern Michigan 30-9.

Eleven though it won its first two games by an average of 26.5 points, the Huskies still haven’t scored in the first quarter. Washington’s start against Eastern Michigan was particularly brutal. The Huskies punted on their first three drives, including one that was blocked, and gained just 34 total yards. 

That’s despite its second drive gaining a total of 36 yards before Washington punted. 

Coach Jedd Fisch mentioned his 2023 Arizona team had this issue early in the season, too. The Wildcats scored a total of seven first-quarter points in its opening three games against Northern Arizona, Mississippi State and UTEP, but only lost once during that span before finding some rhythm for the rest of the season. 

Starting slow might not be an option against Washington State. The Cougars scored 22 points in their season-opening quarter against Portland State. WSU only managed seven points in the first quarter against Texas Tech, but then poured on 20 points in the second half to take a commanding lead into the break. 

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