Apple Cup - Series History

Series History

From 1950 to 1980 (except for 1954), the WSU home games in the series were played at Spokane's 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, the teams played for the "Governor's Trophy." The game was renamed the "Apple Cup" in 1962 because of Washington's famous apple crop. The Apple Cup trophy has been awarded to the winning team ever since.

With the lengthening of the college football regular season schedule to 12 games in 2006, there was a movement to change the date of the Apple Cup from the weekend before Thanksgiving to the weekend following. This would have allowed a bye week 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.

The Apple Cup has been sponsored by Boeing since 2007.

The first rivalry game was held in 1900 and resulted in a tie between UW and WSU. From 1900 to 2011, there have been 104 games between the schools. The Huskies were the home team 58 times (all in Seattle). The Cougars were the home team 46 times (31 in Pullman, 15 in Spokane). The Huskies hold a 67–32–6 advantage. The UW's longest winning streak has been eight games, achieved twice: (1959–66 and 1974–81). WSU has never won more than two consecutive Apple Cups, but the Cougars have 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). On November 23, 2012 WSU mounted the largest comeback in Apple Cup history, erasing an 18 point, 4th quarter deficit to win in overtime.