When Jedd Fisch coached his first Apple Cup with the Washington Huskies in 2024, everything was different.
Fisch was three games into his first season at UW, and the former Arizona Wildcats coach had to salvage a roster with no winter transfer window and an abbreviated spring transfer period that netted multiple starting offensive linemen, a less-than-optimal lead in when facing then-fourth-year Washington State coach Jake Dickert.
The Cougars came away with a 24-19 victory over the Huskies at Lumen Field two years ago, a result that Fisch made sure wouldn't be repeated the following season when the cross-state rivals faced off last fall in Pullman.
With a school-record 59-point outing, Fisch avenged his year-one loss to Dickert; only former South
Dakota State coach Jimmy Rogers was on the opposing sidelines for WSU, and this Sunday's season opener will feature a third different coach in ex-Husky graduate assistant Kirby Moore, who is now at the helm after Rogers departed for Iowa State.
Washington coach Jedd Fisch will face his third different coach at Washington State this Sunday with Cougars' coach Kirby Moore making his head coaching debut at Husky Stadium
— Lars Hanson (@LarsHanson) August 31, 2026
Fisch said it's certainly difficult to evaluate film with a new roster + multiple coaching schemes
"The preparation is challenging, that's for sure," Fisch said Monday during his first press conference ahead of the 118th Apple Cup this coming weekend.
"Game one. New players, new coordinators, new head coach. Really, it was kind of the opposite in our first year. They were the ones that were consistent over a few years, and we were the ones that were new. Now it becomes we're the more consistent ones, and they kind of get to know what we're doing, and we're the ones that are trying to figure it out."
Moore, a standout wide receiver under ex-UW coach Chris Petersen at Boise State from 2009-13, previously was an offensive coordinator at Missouri (2023-25) for Eli Drinkwitz, plus Kalen DeBoer and Jeff Tedford at Fresno State in various roles after his two seasons on Montlake in 2015-16.
His offensive coordinator, ex-Boise State and Montana State assistant Matt Miller, and defensive coordinator, former Oregon State head coach Trent Bray, have only faced off against Fisch once in 2023 in his last year in Tucson.
Bray, then the Beavers' defensive coordinator under Jonathan Smith, held Fisch and the Wildcats to 10 points in the first half and held star running back Jonah Coleman to his second-fewest rushing yards total—55 yards on 11 carries without a touchdown—when recording 10 or more attempts in a game in 2023.
"All together, I think there's a lot of work to be had to figure things out in the first quarter, and then go from there," Fisch added.
Given the uncertainty of what the personnel will look like on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at Husky Stadium when UW's offense takes the field, Fisch knows it's going to be a unique challenge to open the 2026 season.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Fisch Discusses Challenges of Facing Third Different WSU Coach
