Apple Cup canceled due to Washington State’s COVID-19 issues
The Apple Cup has been canceled.
Washington had its second game of the season wiped out on Sunday, three days after Washington State announced it could not meet the 53-man scholarship mark to play Saturday’s game against Stanford. The rivalry game was called off after the Cougars were again unable to meet that threshold.
The Apple Cup has been played every year since 1944, when Washington State did not field a team because of World War II. UW has won seven consecutive games in the rivalry and leads the all-time series, 74-32-6. Both UW athletic director Jen Cohen and Washington State athletic director Pat Chun expressed interest in exploring ways to schedule the game for later this season.
“This is so disappointing for our players, coaches and staff, as well as Husky Nation as we were all looking forward to the Boeing Apple Cup this week,” Cohen said in a statement. “This is one of the best rivalries in college sports and every year we circle this game at the start of the season.
“We will work with Pac-12 to prioritize this game and look into any opportunities to play it should there be an open date for both schools down the road. We also understand that the Pac-12, in conjunction with local and state officials, developed policies that placed the health and safety of students, coaches and staff as the top priority. We want to provide an opportunity for our football program to compete this weekend and are working to find another opponent.”
The game will be declared a no-contest.
“Not contesting this game is very disappointing to our student-athletes and our fans,” the Pac-12 said in a statement. “While all of us want to see our football student-athletes on the field competing, our number one priority must continue to be the health and safety of all those connected to Pac-12 football programs.”
The Pac-12 requires each program to have 53 scholarship players available, including one quarterback, seven offensive linemen and four defensive linemen.
Washington State’s COVID-19 protocols include a 10-day isolation period for anyone who tests positive and a 14-day quarantine for potential contacts of positive cases.
“After assessing the overall status of our football program, we remain under the minimum threshold of 53 available scholarship student-athletes and cannot forecast a scenario that allows us to reach that threshold by the end of the week,” Chun said in a statement. “Earlier today I communicated with President Schulz, Commissioner Scott and Washington Director of Athletics Jen Cohen our current situation. While this is another heartbreaking week for our football program, the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches and staff remains our top priority.
“The Boeing Apple Cup is one of the most sacred rivalries in all of sports and one of the most meaningful days of the year for all Washingtonians. It’s gut-wrenching and disappointing for our student-athletes and coaches as well as those at UW. As we work through the remainder of our schedule, we will continue to communicate with the Pac-12 Conference and UW if any scenario would emerge that would allow us to reschedule the game at a later point in the season.”
After its season-opening win over Oregon State, head coach Nick Rolovich told reporters told local media that 32 players were unavailable for unspecified reasons. The Cougars played their first two games, but Chun told local media on Friday that nine players were in the program’s COVID-19 protocol and four were placed in protocol after testing that morning. There were no players in the protocol when Washington State played Oregon eight days ago.
Last week, the Pac-12 voted to allow member programs to schedule non-conference games if their game was canceled and no other opponents were available to play. The matchup must meet the following criteria:
▪ All Pac-12 testing and related protocols are adhered to by the non-conference opponent
▪ The non-conference game is a home game for the Pac-12 team, and broadcast by a Pac-12 television partner
▪ If a Pac-12 opponent becomes available by Thursday in that given week, the conference game is played in lieu of any non-conference game
If a conference opponent isn’t available — Utah’s game at Arizona State next weekend is in jeopardy because of the Sun Devils’ COVID-19 issues — No. 8 BYU is a potential opponent. BYU, who is 9-0, doesn’t have a game scheduled until Dec. 12.
This story was originally published November 22, 2020 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Apple Cup canceled due to Washington State’s COVID-19 issues."
