'It still means a ton': At WSU, a litany of ties to rival Washington and the Apple Cup still remain

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Sep. 2—PULLMAN — In his college football journey, an odyssey through three schools and two eras and a compelling transformation, Keith Brown has seen a lot of ball. He's played in the traditional Pac-12 and the rebuilt version, he's played in the ACC, he's played for a Washington State program at a time when it had no conference at all.

The common denominator through it all: Brown has played at Washington twice, including once at Husky Stadium when he was at Oregon and once at Lumen Field in his debut season at WSU. Ahead of Sunday's season-opening Apple Cup, which pits WSU against No. 17 Washington, that gives Brown a unique perspective on this setting.

Namely, on a new-look team with a new-look coach, Brown has the luxury of experience. In 2021, he didn't play in Oregon's road game against UW, but he was at the venue. A few years later, he played eight snaps in the Cougars' win over the Huskies at Lumen Field. As the Cougars try to pull a massive upset and overcome a 22.5-point spread in favor of the Huskies, Brown has found himself imparting wisdom on his teammates.

"I would say, one, just make sure when you go there, you're ready to compete," Brown said. "When you go into that stadium, it feels like the fans are on top of you, and it creates a great atmosphere for football. So just come ready to compete. It's gonna be loud. It's gonna be fun."

Set to start at linebacker in WSU defensive coordinator Trent Bray's 4-2-5 system, Brown figures to play a key role in Apple Cup No. 118, the third edition as a nonconference affair. He missed all of last season due to injury, which is why he didn't play in last fall's game, but he looked sharp during the Cougars' fall camp. Can he and WSU's defense slow UW QB Demond Williams Jr., one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in college football?

That much has yet to materialize, but what is certain is this: Brown and other veteran Cougars are spending this week making sure their teammates understand the gravity of the Apple Cup, the history behind one of the longest-running series in the country. They walk a fine line — what's the right balance between respecting the series' history without psyching yourself out of big moments? — but Brown and teammates are toeing in the best they can.

"For me, you approach it the same. You have to approach every game the same," Brown said. "But when it comes to tackling someone, you always wanna try to hit them a little harder and stuff like that. But no, I treat every game the same, whether it's a rival game or not. Wanna go out there feeling overly prepared, so I can go out there and do my best. So, for me, every game's the same, but there's definitely a little more extra excitement when it comes to this one."

Then there's coach Kirby Moore, who finds himself straddling a similar line. The game is important to him and the program. He didn't comment on the series' future, which is uncertain past 2028 — "I'm not necessarily in those conversations about where the Apple Cup goes," he said — but he did express a real appreciation for the magnitude of the moment.

"It still means a ton for both sides and for this state, and just really looking forward to our players going out there," Moore said. "We want to make sure that everyone understands how important this game is. Understand the history. There's a lot of players who've been here for a number of years who understand that, and the guys who've transferred in. There's very few times that you get to be the first in the Apple Cup starting the season, and so we wanna make sure we're maximizing that opportunity."

Here's a fun fact about Moore: He may never have coached against Washington, but he has played against the Huskies. In 2012, Moore's penultimate season playing wide receiver for Boise State, the Broncos earned a 28-26 win over the Huskies in the Maaco Bowl.

Moore didn't record any catches in that game. But Boise State's leading receiver was Matt Miller, who hauled in six receptions for 90 yards. Fourteen years later, he is the Cougars' offensive coordinator. "We were probably watching that game during the prep," Moore said with a grin.

Turns out, that same season, the Broncos were off the weekend after Thanksgiving. So Moore traveled back north to Prosser, his hometown, and the family made the roughly 160-mile drive east to Pullman for the Apple Cup. In that game, Moore remembers, the Cougs were facing a big deficit heading into the fourth quarter: 28-10.

"And not gonna name names, but there were some people who came with us who left," Moore said. "That game obviously changed in a hurry, and the Cougs did a great job of responding there in the fourth quarter."

Throughout this WSU team, the ties to Washington and the Apple Cup run even deeper. Back in 2009, Moore's freshman year at Boise State, his head coach went on to become one of Moore's closest mentors: Chris Petersen. Moore played four seasons for Petersen, took a year away to coach receivers at the College of Idaho, then headed back to the Pacific Northwest in 2015 to work as a graduate assistant for Petersen, who had become the Huskies' head coach.

That gave Moore a chance to see how Petersen approached the Apple Cup, which he won in both 2015 and 2016, the two years Moore spent in that role. The Huskies may have won those games in runaway fashion, but years later, Moore mostly remembers the importance Petersen placed on ensuring that everyone around the program understood the weight of this game.

"Coach Petersen did a good job of giving history to the players," Moore said. "I think that's something we've done throughout the offseason with having Ryan Leaf, having Jack Thompson come in. That's something we wanna continue to do through this week. There's a number of players that know it, and then there's other guys that we want to make sure they're educated on the Apple Cup and the opportunity ahead."

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