The Fate of the Cougars, Huskies, and Pac-12 - By Bradley Beck

   The landscape of college football has been in constant change within the past couple of years. The main issues involving NIL deals, the introduction of the transfer portal, conference-split ups, and the college football playoff being expanded. But with all this chaos surrounding the bigger picture of the game, what does this mean for the local teams in the Pacific Northwest? 

Photo: Coug Center

   The 2023-2024 season is the last time we will see the Cougars and Huskies in the Pac-12. UW and WSU have competed in the Pac-12 for over a century, but this year’s conference collapse will mark a new start for each team. Washington State and Oregon State are the only teams remaining in the now-deemed Pac-2. UW has announced they will compete in the Big 10 conference alongside USC, UCLA, and Oregon next season. Stanford and Cal announced they will join the ACC, while Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado will now compete in the Big 12. While all of these former Pac-12 universities will still be playing at the same Power-5 level as before, their new competition will be teams from all over the United States rather than just the West Coast. 

Photo: Wikipedia

   Looking at UW’s 2024-2025 schedule, their competition includes many powerhouses from the Big 10, like Michigan, Penn State, and Iowa. But the Husky's schedule also includes some familiarity with games against USC, UCLA, and Oregon. It will be interesting to see if any new rivalries emerge from these teams' entrance into the Big 10. Next year, we will also see a National Championship rematch with Washington vs. Michigan in the regular season. Despite UW’s loss to the Wolverines in the National Championship, the Huskies were able to make a name for themselves and prove that former Pac-12 teams can serve as legitimate opponents in their new respective conferences. But it’s hard to determine how the level of competition will change for Pac-12 teams, considering each team's ability to recruit from the transfer portal.

   On the other side of the state, WSU will be facing new challenges of its own. The Cougars’ 2024-2025 schedule will consist of all Mountain West opponents except Portland State and Texas Tech at the beginning of the season and Oregon State later on. Excluding their “Pac-2” matchup with Oregon State, Texas Tech will be WSU’s only Power-5 opponent. But WSU and Oregon State’s collaboration with the Mountain West conference does spark some intrigue over the future state of a possibly new conference that would combine the “Pac-2” with schools like Boise State, Utah State, Air Force, and Wyoming, among several others. But the Cougars’ schedule next season does not look very competitive, so their national rankings might not be weighted as much as they once were in the Pac-12. With the current 4-team playoff system, WSU would have virtually no chance of earning a spot with that type of schedule, but the 2024-2025 season will introduce a new playoff system that now offers 12 playoff spots and a larger bracket.

Photo: Associated Press (AP)

   Many fans pointed out a large issue with college football’s new look: several historic rivalries may be discontinued because of this division of conferences. For fans in the Pacific Northwest, the most controversial issue was the state of the Apple Cup, the long-time matchup between the Huskies and Cougars. The teams first met in 1900 and have been interstate rivals ever since. UW leads the series 76-33-6, with the Huskies claiming the trophy most recently. Regarding the future of this series, the Apple Cup will continue to be played depending solely on the collaboration of the two schools. It was recently announced that the Apple Cup will be extended for five years. Both schools agreed that the rivalry meant too much to be gone so soon. UW’s Athletic Director, Troy Dannen, told the press, “While the landscape of intercollegiate athletics continues to change — including conference affiliation — the Apple Cup remains an indelible part of our universities’ identities, and we are thrilled to find a framework to continue the more than a century tradition of football between the schools…” 

Photo: Seattle Times

   For now and in the immediate future, the beloved Apple Cup will remain a yearly event, alternating between UW and WSU’s campus after the 2024 Apple Cup, which will take place on September 14th at Lumen Field in Seattle. In the past, the meeting usually occurred as each team’s last regular season game. Despite the different paths the Huskies and Cougars will be taking next year and their varying levels of success this season, the Apple Cup is almost always unpredictable. This season’s Apple Cup was dangerously close to ending the Huskies’ chance for the playoffs, with UW barely scraping by with a win of 24-21. Even though WSU ended the season with a poor 5-7 overall record and only 2 Pac-12 wins, they gave UW a run for their money and produced one of the most nail-biting games in front of a sold-out crowd. The times are changing, and the landscape of college football is adapting rapidly. It will be interesting to see how UW and WSU football pan out next season with their roles in a new and chaotic college football environment.