Cougars Get Beat Up In Apple Cup

An Apple Cup for the ages was set up in Pullman on Friday when the two Washington rivals played each other for the right to go to the Pac-12 championship game, and this game was decided very early. It started with a touchdown drive sparked by a long Dante Pettis pass on a trick play that was finished off with a Myles Gaskin touchdown drive. After that Washington State started to drive the ball, but on a good run Jamal Morrow fumbled and after the Cougars put themselves behind the eight ball they were never able to dig themselves out of that hole. The Huskies put up another touchdown on a Browning pass to Pettis before the Cougars were able to get on the board with an Erik Powell. That field goal did not spark the Cougars because Pettis caught another touchdown on an impressive 61-yard catch from Browning despite being interfered with. Jamal Morrow ran in a touchdown to make it 28-10, but the defense was unable to get off the field and gave up a touchdown on a Lavon Coleman touchdown run. Washington State had a good chance to make it a 35-17 game at the half and would be getting the ball back to start the second half but Luke Falk threw a terrible interception in the end zone on a play that made him look like a freshman instead of a seasoned veteran.

The Cougars won the third quarter by shutting out the Huskies and a touchdown pass from Falk to Gabe Marks, who was playing his final home game at Martin Stadium. But the fourth quarter was different because of another Lavon Coleman touchdown run and a field goal by Cameron Van Winkle. The final score of this game was 45-17 and the Huskies will represent the North in the conference championship.

Right from the start of this game the Cougars looked like they were overwhelmed by how big of a game this one was. The Huskies came out very focused and weren’t playing too emotional while the Cougars looked like they were a little too emotional and weren’t doing things that they have done most of the season. This led to people being out of position on defense and the offense turning the ball over. The turnovers were the biggest killer because they made life easier on the Huskies offense and put their defense on the field before they could have a chance to catch their breath. This game should be good experience for Washington State going forward because a lot of the players have never played in a game of this magnitude, but now they have that experience. The Cougars will now have to wait through conference championship week to see who they will play in a bowl game. The most realistic bowl games I see for the Cougars would be the Alamo Bowl or the Holiday Bowl. I think they had too good of a season to be sent to the Sun Bowl so I think if you are a Cougars fan you are looking at one of the first two depending on what happens in some other games across the conference and what happens next Friday in the conference title game.

The Cougars picked up a commitment from three-star defensive end Preston Hendry this week.

Highlights from the game are available here