Washington State, Idaho look to rebound from rough Saturday losses

PULLMAN, Wash. – Saturday’s Apple Cup won’t be a pleasant memory for Washington State, as they fell 59-24 to Washington. The loss marks the most points a winning team has ever scored in their rivalry.

The Cougs’ suffered a late collapse, allowing a 28-0 Husky fourth-quarter run to dash away with the game.

Despite the stumble, WSU head coach Jimmy Rogers spoke to us today about the team’s identity, and their expectations for this Apple Cup and beyond.

“I can’t bleed into the ‘poor me’s’,” Rogers said. “I’m asking the players not to. I gotta be an example of that. So, that, and what everybody else on the outside world, the Coug world is complaining about what we don’t have and what conference is realignment. I don’t control that either. I control the direction this program goes, the mindset and the attitude of the players that want to commit to this and want to be here and want to build something special as we do it.”

Washington State now heads on the road to face the Colorado State Rams this Saturday.

Eight miles away in Moscow, the Idaho Vandals return home after a loss, that game held a starkly different scoreline but same storyline.

The V’s led the San Jose State Spartans almost the whole way but fell late off a 48-yard field goal clinched the W for the Mountain West school.

Head coach Tom Ford spoke to us today about how the team can use their back-and-forth non-conference play well now into Big Sky play.

“I think they really believe in each other,” Ford said. “They’re a group that’s very together, and I think they look left and right and see someone they believe is going to get their job done, and that belief, I think, can take you a long way in a Big Sky season that’s for sure. At the end of the day, you got to execute. Moral victories are not victories we want, right. They don’t count on our record, they don’t help us get into the playoffs.”

Idaho will look to get revenge on the Montana Grizzlies following their loss in 2023 and not playing last season, that kickoff in Missoula Saturday night.