Apple Cup Instant Reaction: 710 ESPN Seattle on Huskies’ win over Cougs

Nov 29, 2019, 5:38 PM

The Cougars didn't have a touchdown pass in their Apple Cup loss Friday. (Getty)

(Getty)

SeattleSports.com

The UW Huskies won the Apple Cup for the seventh straight year on Friday, coming back from a small deficit in the first half to beat the WSU Cougars 31-13.

UW 31, WSU 13: Quarter-by-quarter recap | Photos & story | Stats

In this special Apple Cup edition of Instant Reaction, we have collected the initial thoughts of the game from a few of the voices from 710 ESPN Seattle.

Brock Huard – Brock and Salk Podcast

Huskies defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake doesn’t mind calling his shot when it comes to his confidence in defending WSU and Mike Leach. And even though UW wasn’t dominant over the course of the season up front, Anthony Gordon suffered the same fate that former Washington State quarterbacks Luke Falk and Gardner Minshew have over the last seven years. Eight Huskies continually dropped in coverage and WSU had few consistent answers and even fewer big plays. If only the Huskies could play the Cougs instead of 7 p.m. night games at Colorado and Stanford…

Jim Moore – Bob, Dave and Moore

It’s reached the point where I now officially feel like the Cougs will never win another Apple Cup. Never as in ever. As in whatever I have left in my lifetime.

The only good part of the day? Returning to my illegally parked truck and finding it still there, un-towed and un-ticketed.

Funny how I thought it was going to be different from Apple Cups in the past six years and how it really seemed that way when the Cougars took a 7-0 lead after going 81 yards on their first drive.

But after that, nothing was different. Everything was the same. We scored six points the rest of the way on a pair of field goals, never finding the end zone again. After throwing a gazillion touchdown passes in his first 11 games, Anthony Gordon didn’t throw any against the Huskies.

I tip my cap to UW defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake, the man who has figured out how to stop the Air Raid offense. You win, Jimmy. You’re a better coach that the guys on the other sideline. I liked the idea of dinking and dunking with the passing game, but I don’t understand why Gordon didn’t take some deep shots to keep the Husky secondary honest at least.

And I thought we should have given the ball to Max Borghi more than we did, but that’s no doubt nitpicking – we probably wouldn’t have won anyway.

It’s remarkable – well, I guess that’s too strong of a word since it happens every year – that the final score was so close to the last six scores in the Apple Cup. Before today’s 31-13 defeat, the Cougars had lost by an average score of 34-16, so the margin remains the same.

I came home wondering why I spent $450 on three tickets to take my kids to the game and wondering why the outcome would be different this year. I can’t even use snow as an excuse this year because the weather conditions were perfect. There’s no fool like an old fool, and that was pounded home again this afternoon at Husky Stadium.