Apple Cup Scrapped Because of WSU COVID issues; UW Seeking Another Game

The rivalry was scheduled for Friday with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff in the Palouse. The Cougars couldn't make the minimum number of players available.

Dan Raley photo

The Apple Cup became a college football casualty on Sunday because of COVID-10 issues surrounding the Washington State players, with the Pac-12 canceling Friday night's rivalry game in Pullman, Washington.

Fresh from a 44-27 victory over Arizona, the University of Washington football team is now shopping for an alternative weekend opponent.

Utah was mentioned as a possibility, as was BYU, though the latter team reportedly is reluctant to schedule the Huskies. The Pac-12 last week gave its approval for member schools to arrange games with non-conference opponents. 

SOURCES: #BYU turned down the opportunity to play #Washington this coming weekend. UDub had reached out yesterday but was told BYU wanted to wait until after the CFP rankings Tuesday to gauge their place. "It's off the table."

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 23, 2020

Providing the UW and WSU don't make up this game later on, this will be the first season since the height of World War II in 1944 in which the cross-state don't play each other.

"This is so disappointing for our players, coaches and staff, as well as Husky Nation, as we were all looking forward to the Boeing Apple Cup this week," UW athletic director Jennifer Cohen said. "This is one of the best rivalries in college sports and every year we circle this game at the start of the season."

Cohen, however, held out hope the game might resurface before this pandemic-disrupted season concludes if an alternative date emerges.

"We will work with Pac-12 to prioritize this game and look into any opportunities to play it should there be an open date for both schools down the road," the administrator said. 

This is the second game cancellation involving Washington, which had its season opener at California wiped out because of the pandemic. The Huskies and Cougars were scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in Martin Stadium.

Washington State, unable to field the minimum amount of players because of the virus, canceled its Saturday game at Stanford. Chances seemed unlikely that the Cougars would be able to get their players through contact tracing and quarantine in time for the Apple Cup.

The Huskies, while dealing with a handful of positive tests during the offseason, have stayed relatively healthy while playing and winning games against Oregon State and Arizona and preparing for that third game against Cal.

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