Apple Cup is the annual college football rivalry game between the two
largest universities in the U.S. Washington State, the University of
Washington (UW) and the Huskies of Washington State University (WSU)
Pumas. It is traditionally the last game of the regular season
takes place the Saturday before Thanksgiving at Husky Stadium
Seattle during the odd years, and WSU Martin Stadium in Pullman even during
years, but the college football season is extended, the game is often
played at a later date.
From 1950 to 1980 (except 1954), WSU home games in the series were
played in Spokane Joe Albi Stadium. The WSU Cougars won three of these
fifteen games in Spokane (1958, 1968, 1972), and have won six of the
fourteen played at Martin Stadium (1982, 1988, 1992, 1994, 2004, 2008).
Before 1962, teams played for the “Governor’s Trophy.” The game was
the name “Apple Cup” in 1962 because of Washington’s famous apple
crop. The trophy Apple Cup was awarded to the winning team always
since then.
With the extension of the regular season schedule college football
12 games in 2006, there was a movement to change the date of the Apple
Cup weekend before Thanksgiving to the following weekend. This
would have allowed a week off during the season. In the 2006 season, both
teams played 12 straight weeks without a break, leaving the two teams
noticeably fatigued. For the first time, the 2007 edition of the Apple
Cup was played two days after Thanksgiving.
Apple Cup has been sponsored by Boeing [2] since 2007.
The first rivalry game was held in 1900 and resulted in a tie between the University of Washington
and WSU. From 1900 to 2008, there have been 101 games between the
schools. The Huskies have a 65-31-6 advantage. UW’s longest winning
eight-game winning streak has been achieved twice: (1959 to 1966 and 1974 to 81).WSU
has never won more than two consecutive Apple Cups, but the Pumas
won back to back games on eight separate occasions: (1929-30, 1953-54,
1957-58, 1967-68, 1972-73, 1982-83, 2004-05 and 2007-08). Although
Washington currently leads the series in general, the Pumas have had
four of the last six games, including a double win in overtime
2008 [3].
Washington currently has the trophy, as the Cougars were shut out 30-0
at Husky Stadium in 2009. It was the first shutout of the University of Washington since 1964 (14-0).
2010 Apple Cup is scheduled for December 4 in Pullman, the last
always the date of the Apple Cup, a game played historically in mid-November.