SEATTLE — Aggie Clark and her partner agree on just about everything 364 days out of the year.
They go their separate ways, however, 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 (regular) 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 play 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 conference can’t be done the same way. So that means an Apple Cup before Labor Day this year, a shift everyone is trying to get used to. The Apple Cup was played in September the past two years, but until 2024, the rivalry game had been played in November every year but one (and that exception was in December) since 1949.