UW Huskies’ 2024 Big Ten schedule set — room for Apple Cup left?

The first UW Huskies football schedule in Big Ten play has been set for the 2024 season. While we now know who Washington will face in league play, it leaves a big question.

Did they intentionally leave room for an Apple Cup?

Challenging month will prove if No. 5 UW Huskies are CFP worthy

Amid the conference slate for the Huskies are two open dates. The first isn’t that interesting: Oct. 19. The second is, though: Nov. 23. Seems like a good spot for a rivalry game that’s usually played the weekend of Thanksgiving, doesn’t it?

Adding fuel to that fire is the fact that Oregon also has an open date on Nov. 23. The Ducks’ annual rivalry game against Oregon State is usually played that weekend, as well. Oregon State and Washington State remain the only Pac-12 schools without new conferences for next season, and the future of both the Apple Cup and the Oregon-Oregon State series are unclear.

Related: Is this the end of the Apple Cup for UW and WSU?

New Washington athletic director Troy Dannen addressed the murky future of the Huskies’ annual game against WSU at his introductory press conference last month.

“My bias is I don’t want to lose history and the traditions,” he said. “I also know that I have this economic model, particularly as we move to the Big Ten where we’re playing with people that frankly have an economic model that is, I don’t want to say far superior, but far greater than ours. We have to be really careful and seven home games is a piece of the economic model going forward that UW has to have.”

It’s worth noting that the Huskies currently have six home games on the docket for next season.

Apple Cup presumptions and concerns aside, there is a guarantee that the Dawgs will end the regular season against a rival. Their final scheduled game of 2024 is against Oregon.

Here is what the UW Huskies’ 2024 Big Ten schedule looks like:

Sept. 21 – vs. Northwestern
Sept. 28 – at Rutgers
Oct. 5 – vs. Michigan
Oct. 12 – at Iowa
Oct. 19 – open date
Oct. 26 – at Indiana
Nov. 2 – vs. USC
Nov. 9 – at Penn State
Nov. 16 – vs. UCLA
Nov. 23 – open date
Nov. 30 – at Oregon

🏈 The #B1G Announces 2024 #B1GFootball Conference Schedule Powered by @ifs

➕https://t.co/ZuodwkbKbm pic.twitter.com/0Xl3BfYsqF

— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) November 2, 2023

Additionally, UW’s 2024 football schedule includes non-conference meetings with Weber State (Aug. 31) and Eastern Michigan (Sept. 7). Both will be in Seattle at Husky Stadium.

In their final season as a member of the Pac-12, the 8-0 Huskies are currently the No. 5 team in both the College Football Playoff rankings and the Associated Press poll. Washington will travel to USC to play the No. 24 Trojans at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

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