The Apple Cup is on the move again.
Washington and Washington State will push their 2027 rivalry game into August, with the 119th meeting now set for Aug. 28 at Gesa Field in Pullman, the Cougars’ home stadium. It’s another reshuffle for one of college football’s most enduring rivalries, and it continues a stretch of date changes that’s become almost routine.
This will be the third time in four years the game has been moved back. When Washington left the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, the Apple Cup shifted from an end-of-season matchup on Nov. 25, 2023, to a Week 3 game on Sept.
16, 2024. The 117th game followed the same Week 3 slot on Sept. 20, 2025, before this year’s edition kicked off the season on Sept.
- The 118th Apple Cup was also notable for another reason: it was played on a Sunday for the first time in the game’s history and aired on NBC and Peacock.
Washington won that one 24-10.
The 2027 game will again open the season, just as this year’s edition did.
There’s also a bigger issue hanging over the rivalry. The current home-and-away agreement between the Huskies and Cougars runs through the 2028 season, which makes the 119th Apple Cup the second-to-last game on the books under the present deal. If that contract isn’t extended, next year’s trip to Pullman could be the final one for a while.
The Apple Cup has been around since 1900 and has been played nearly every year since, with breaks in 1905-06, 1909, 1915-16, 1918, and 1943-44. It has been played annually without interruption since 1945. Washington leads the all-time series 78-34-6.
The possibility of the rivalry disappearing from the schedule touches on a broader problem across college sports, where long-running matchups are getting harder to preserve. Washington men’s basketball just ran into that reality against Washington State.
For the first time since 1916, the two schools will not meet in the regular season. They did play an exhibition Sunday at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle, and Washington State won 84-80.
There’s also a scheduling wrinkle ahead for the Huskies. Washington already has two nonconference games on the books for 2029-30, and new rules tied to the expected expansion of the College Football Playoff could complicate how the Apple Cup fits into future schedules.
Under the likely 24-team format, Power Four teams could be required to schedule 10 additional Power Four opponents. Conference commissioner Tony Petitti has said Big Ten teams are comfortable with that setup if the playoff grows.
Washington currently has Tennessee scheduled for the 2029-30 seasons, which covers one of those Power Four spots and leaves two nonconference openings. The Huskies also have Fresno State and Portland State scheduled for 2027, along with Eastern Washington and UNLV in 2028. To meet the possible playoff-era scheduling requirement and still keep the Apple Cup in place, Washington would need to drop either Portland State or Fresno State in 2027 and either UNLV or Eastern Washington in 2028, then add a Power Four opponent in both years.
For 2029-30, Washington already has Boise State and Hawaii lined up alongside Tennessee, which would leave room for one more nonconference game. In that scenario, the Apple Cup could still fit if Washington State’s schedule allows it.
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