WSU breaks Apple Cup streak, beats UW 40-13

The Washington State Cougars ended their Apple Cup drought with a 40-13 win over the Washington Huskies on Friday at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

The win means the Cougars (7-5, 6-3) are still alive for the Pac-12 North title, which they will secure if Oregon State can beat Oregon on Saturday. WSU owns the tiebreaker in the event of a three-way tie with the Beavers and the Ducks.

In his first Apple Cup, Jayden de Laura threw for 245 yards and relied on his backs to get in the end zone. In his last Apple Cup, Max Borghi had 129 yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns. Deon McIntosh had 49 yards and a touchdown. Dean Janikowski was was four-of-five on his field goal attempts.

Four WSU receivers had four or more receptions, with Donovan Ollie and Calvin Jackson Jr. leading the way with 68 yards each.

The WSU defense made things hell for UW freshman quarterback Sam Huard, who had just 190 yards—55 of them on one play—with one touchdown and four interceptions. You could make a case for Huard throwing two touchdowns but one was to the WSU defense. Armani Marsh had two interceptions, including the pick-six, Derrick Langford had one, and Justus Rogers had a key interception deep in WSU territory.

WSU scored on its opening drive when Max Borghi ran in from 32 yards. That drive started poorly, with WSU getting stuffed on its first two plays before de Laura connected with Donovan Ollie on a big third down conversion.

The Cougs followed up with two field goals to make it 13-0, and while that sure was nice, you don’t win kicking field goals, which caused some anxiety in my household at least. UW got on the board with a Kamari Pleasant 10-yard TD with 1:31 to go in the first half. UW got good field position on that drive thanks to an unsportsmanlike penalty on WSU on the kickoff.

WSU used a 10-play drive to get in the end zone in the third quarter as Borghi ran in untouched from one yard out, giving WSU a 20-7 lead.

Derrick Langford picked off a Sam Huard pass to set up WSU’s next points, a Dean Janikowski 41-yard field goal.

It looked like UW might have something going on its next possession when Sam Huard connected with Rome Odunze on a 55-yard completion. But with his team on the doorstep, Huard threw it into the hands of Bellevue’s own Justus Rogers who returned to the UW territory. WSU used seven plays to set up a Deon McIntosh two-yard touchdown run, and the route was on. More on McIntosh’s celebration to come.

UW scored on its next possession, and WSU answered with another field goal. On UW’s second play of its ensuing possession, Armani Marsh got his second interception of the night and returned it to the house to pour it on.

The 27-point margin of victory was absolutely satisfying and WSU fans wasted no time storming the field. And Jayden de Laura may have made a good case for a statue in Pullman when he did this:

Now, the Cougars await their bowl fate.

Go Beavs.

Random Thoughts

• OK, those unsportsmanlike penalties on McIntosh and de Laura: McIntosh gave Butch T. Cougar a big hug after a touchdown run and who can blame him? Apparently that’s against the rules. After a key first down scramble, de Laura struck a pose like a centerfold model and got flagged. Both were innocent plays, and I don’t blame the officials. The rules dictate they call those or else they’ll be officiating an Arizona-Cal game next season. Lighten up, rule makers.
• Have yourself a day, Donovan Ollie. The third-year receiver came up huge throughout the game after a quiet outing against Arizona.
• How pissed is Dylan Morris?
• I’m thrilled for WSU’s seniors, particularly to in-state guys. Rogers, Marsh, Abe Lucas, etc. Marsh’s pick-six went off the hands of Devin Culp, his high school teammate at Gonzaga Prep.
• That “invalid signal” call was probably correct by rule but one I’d never seen.

As seen on the CougCenter Slack