Bump responds to Brock: UW-WSU is still the Apple Cup

Sep 13, 2024, 2:29 PM | Updated: 4:58 pm

Seattle Sports

Last year’s Apple Cup had all the ingredients of a rivalry classic.

Bizarro Apple Cup arrives as UW, WSU meet in rivalry showdown

The scene was picture-perfect: A crisp, late-November afternoon at sold-out Husky Stadium along the shore of Lake Washington.

The stakes were massive: The UW Huskies were looking to remain undefeated and keep their national championship hopes alive, while the WSU Cougars were looking to spoil their bitter rivals’ dream season.

And the game itself certainly delivered, with the Huskies winning a 24-21 thriller on a field goal as time expired.

This year’s Apple Cup on Saturday has a decidedly different feel.

It’s being played in mid-September, instead of the traditional Thanksgiving weekend slot. It’s taking place at the Seattle Seahawks’ Lumen Field, instead of across town at Husky Stadium or at Martin Stadium in Pullman. It’s expected to be far from a sellout. And perhaps most notably, it’s a non-conference game, with the Huskies now in the Big Ten and the Cougars one of two remaining members of the depleted Pac-12.

Earlier this week, those factors led former UW quarterback and current FOX college football analyst Brock Huard to say that he won’t be calling this year’s UW-WSU matchup the Apple Cup.

But on Friday, former WSU wide receiver Michael Bumpus shared a different perspective. He said Saturday’s 116th meeting between the Huskies and Cougars absolutely still deserves to be called the Apple Cup.

“I love me some Brock Huard, man, … so this is no hate for Brock Huard at all,” Bumpus said on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy. “It’s the idea that I don’t agree with. Why give up over 100 years of tradition because the location is different? Both sides haven’t been able to come together and figure this thing out, but the fact that we’re still playing this game, the fact that you’re still gonna be able to line up and someone’s gonna grab the trophy and have bragging rights and keep the rivalry alive, I think that’s the most important thing.

“Forget the location. It’s not ideal. It’s not ideal at all. I would love to play it at Husky Stadium or over at Martin Stadium, but that’s just not the case. Things are changing.”

Bumpus said the most important aspect is keeping the rivalry going – along with the bragging rights that come with it.

While at the Seattle Seahawks’ practice on Thursday, Bumpus said he enjoyed some good-natured trash talk with former UW star receiver Mario Bailey.

“We were going at it, but it was all love,” Bumpus said. “And that’s what this game is about. He’s telling me, ‘Ah, you win one every 10 years. You’ve got eight more years to go.’ I’m like, ‘Mario, you know we got a chance to get y’all this year.’ So I can’t imagine going a year and not having the back and forth.”

The neutral-site location at Lumen Field is only for this year’s Apple Cup. It was part of a compromise between the two schools when they agreed last November to extend the rivalry series through 2028. The series will return to alternating between the schools’ on-campus stadiums again next year, beginning at Martin Stadium in 2025.

“We have to play this game,” Bumpus said. “You have to call it the Apple Cup. And you have to sketch your name on the trophy, take it home with you and keep tradition going so the kids who are in sixth, seventh, eighth grade right now, who will play in this game later, understand and keep it going. If we kill it, then it’s almost like we lose that history. It’s like there’s a gap in that history. Keep things rolling, man.”

UW Huskies (2-0) vs. WSU Cougars (2-0)

• When: 12:30 p.m. Saturday
• Where: Lumen Field (Seattle)
• WSU Radio Network Broadcast: Seattle Sports app, 710 AM, 770 AM (pregame at 10:30 a.m.)
• TV (streaming): Peacock