SEATTLE (AP) — Aggie Clark and her partner agree on just about everything 364 days out of the year.
They go their separate ways, howefver, when the Apple Cup rolls around. The college football rivalry game between Washington and Washington State will be played for the 118th time this weekend, and it turns out that Clark went to Washington while her partner is a Washington State graduate.
“You always look forward to the Apple Cup,” Clark said. “It was
that end of the year stamp on the season, and you worked up to it every year. And, it was a great way to end the season.”
Clark fondly spoke in the past tense because the Apple Cup is no longer the culmination to the regular season and Pac-12 Conference slate for both teams. Washington is preparing for its third season in the Big Ten since leaving the Pac-12 while Washington State, alongside Oregon State, has helped bring the conference back with new full-time members.
Scheduling a game between two old rivals in different leagues can't be done the same way. So that means an Apple Cup before Labor Day this year, a shift everyone is getting used to. The past two years have seen September Apple Cups, but until 2024, the rivalry game had been played in November every year except one (and that was December) since 1949.
Larry Arcia, who graduated from Washington State in 1989, used to look forward to the Apple Cup every season. But with the way Washington and other former Pac-12 universities like Oregon, USC and UCLA left for the Big Ten, Arcia believes many Cougars fans like himself have lost interest.
“A lot of my friends are like, ‘I didn’t want to play them again, I’m never going to that stadium, they screwed us over’, all that kind of stuff,” Arcia said. “I’m kind of like, ’Eh, I don’t mind playing them.' But, I’m not super excited about it, either.”
Over the past two years alone, nearly 50 Division I football programs have changed conference affiliation. In the process, these departing schools have left behind rivalry games that meant a good deal to their alumni bases.
Maryland, for instance, was a founding member of the ACC in 1953 alongside rivals like North Carolina and Duke. The Terrapins split off from the conference in 2014 to join the Big Ten, and have since faced challenges with establishing themselves in several sports over the last decade and change.
“I think Maryland has really struggled with its identity ever since, and also its ability to generate revenue,” said Victoria Jackson, a sports historian and professor of history at Arizona State. “There’s been a lot of good reporting on whether or not these moves actually serve the institutions who are convinced or looking for that golden ticket.”
Dozens of rivalries have been lost to realignment or to nine-game schedules over the last decade and change, including some of the most prominent ones in college football history.
Bedlam, the in-state series between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, was played annually uninterrupted from 1910 through 2023, which was the Sooners' last season in the Big 12 before bolting for the Southeastern Conference. It is unclear when the series could resume.
USC and Notre Dame will not play one another again until 2030 as both schools adjust their scheduling models around the expanded College Football Playoff. The Trojans are nearing the start of their third season in the Big Ten.
Oregon, once a Pac-12 power alongside USC, has put its annual game against Oregon State on pause following its own move to the Big Ten. The Ducks and Beavers played in both 2024 and 2025, though, and plan to play one another in Corvallis in 2028.
David Tyler, an associate professor at UMass and an expert in sports rivalries, understands why Washington joined the Big Ten. The Huskies entered the conference with the understanding, though, that they would receive only a half-share of the conference’s media rights revenue until 2030. That has meant fiscal pain, including loans for the athletic department.
“Their view was, ‘Okay, it’s going to be rough right now, but in the long run, this is what is best for long-term viability of the program,’” Tyler said. “They don’t want to be University of Chicago, right?”
Unlike the University of Chicago, which deemphasized its major athletic programs in 1939, Washington has demonstrated its desire to keep up with bellwether universities in its conference like Ohio State and rival Oregon. Still, the Huskies have committed to playing against Washington State in the Apple Cup through the 2028 season while some rivalries have fallen by the wayside.
“It’s a very unique opportunity for the programs, for the state, to have the exposure,” said Washington State coach Kirby Moore. “To be on Sunday, it’ll be on NBC, I think all those things are awesome for the state of Washington."
Meanwhile, Clark fears that in 50 years, fans of both programs won’t care about the Apple Cup as much. But for now, the game is still being played, and that’s more than sufficient for a Washington fan of 45 years.
Don’t expect Washington State fans, though, to let the Huskies off the hook about why this game was devalued in the first place.
“One of our strong suits, we’re really good at hating (Washington) for anything,” Arcia said. “We want their soccer team to lose. We want their volleyball team to lose. It’s not just football.”
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