WSU, first-year coach Kirby Moore ready to try and pull massive upset on No. 17 Washington in 118th Apple Cup

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Sep. 5—PULLMAN — When Kaden Beatty thinks back to last season's Apple Cup, when he ponders the way Washington used a blowout fourth quarter to bury Washington State and walk out of Gesa Field with the trophy in hand, he feels the sting come back like it happened yesterday.

In that game, Beatty played 24 snaps, still in a backup role at defensive tackle. Since then, though, much has changed: Beatty is now a starter. The Cougars are playing for a new head coach. The Pac-12 has been rebuilt.

And now WSU gets another crack at UW.

"I've lived with that now for an entire 365 days and some," Beatty said. "So now we can go out and show who we really are and show that last year that wasn't what we're about."

To knock off No. 17 Washington and win Apple Cup No. 118, set for 1 p.m. Sunday at Husky Field in Seattle, Beatty and the Cougars' defense will have to follow through on that promise. WSU's defense, the story of the team's three-week fall camp back in August, gets the challenge of containing dual-threat UW quarterback Demond Williams Jr., who piled up five total touchdowns in last year's game, showing off the arm talent and athleticism that makes him so dangerous.

Nine months after a wild saga — in which Williams signed a new revenue-sharing deal to return to Washington, change his mind and decide to hit the transfer portal, only to reverse course again and return to the Huskies — Williams is back to pilot a new-look UW offense. Gone are several playmakers who keyed Washington's operation last season, including running back Jonah Coleman and wide receiver Denzel Boston (five total touchdowns in last year's Apple Cup) and even running back Adam Mohammed, who made a surprise transfer to Cal over the offseason.

This year, WSU defensive coordinator Trent Bray's unit will have to wrangle Williams and his new cadre of skill position players, including receivers Christian Moss, Rashid Williams and returner Dezmen Roebuck. The Huskies' starting running back will be Quaid Carr, a superstar high school back who has yet to make a splash at the college level headed into his second season.

Still, before the Cougars can try to slow those players they'll have to get to Williams, which is far easier said than done. That's because he's protected by what figures to be one of the Big Ten's best offensive lines, which includes five-star freshman tackle Kodi Greene, returning freshman All-American John Mills and fifth-year senior tackle Drew Azzopardi, a staunch unit.

Can WSU defensive ends Matyus McLain and Linus Zunk, two of the brightest stars of the Cougars' fall camp, generate enough pressure to bother Williams? That will be one of the top developments to watch as Sunday's game unfolds.

"I just think we gotta do a good job of keeping him in the pocket," WSU veteran linebacker Keith Brown said. "Don't let him run free as much as he wants. He's a good player, so I think as long as we can keep him in the pocket and make him throw the ball and throw the ball downfield, we'll be in a good spot."

"It's a lot easier said than done," WSU coach Kirby Moore added. "You look at containing the quarterback and making sure we're sticky in coverage, and it really takes all 11 on defense. And then when you get in those positions, you gotta get him on the ground, and if it's not the first guy, the second guy's gotta be really close."

On the other side, WSU quarterback Caden Pinnick gets his first start in the Cougar crimson and gray. It won't be his first start at Husky Stadium, where he completed just 8 of 16 passes for 50 yards, one touchdown and one interception playing for UC Davis last fall. Can he improve on those numbers? Will he get enough protection from his offensive line, from tackles Ashton Tripp and Jonny Lester against the UW pass rush?

Washington's starting edge rushers are set to be true freshman Ramzak Fruean and veteran Jacob Lane. If they can produce consistent pressure on Pinnick, it could force him into bad decisions, which surfaced several times during WSU's fall camp. If not, he'll have time to connect with receivers Tony Freeman, Daniel Blood and Darrius Clemons, the Cougars' starting trio.

"Really starts with command and operation," Moore said of Pinnick, "the pre-snap, doing a really good job of communication with his teammates from play to play. The other team's got really good players. They're gonna make plays, making sure we're picking guys up when that happens. We gotta be accurate. We gotta make great decisions. And then when scramble drill opportunities come up, he's gotta do an excellent job of finding guys downfield or using his legs."

No matter how this one plays out, this much is clear: WSU values this rivalry like it's still a traditional Pac-12 game. The teams may be separated by conferences — Sunday's Apple Cup will be the third nonconference installment — but the Cougars are treating it with the reverence it has commanded for more than a century.

Earlier this week, Moore said the rivalry "still means a ton for both sides and for this state." In 2015-16, Moore worked as a graduate assistant for the Huskies, who back then were coached by Chris Petersen, who Moore considers one of his closest mentors. That's one of a bevy of ties between these Cougars and the Huskies.

The one that has stuck in Beatty's mind, however, is more about a bad taste. He's let the memory of last season's game drive him to make this year's different.

"Winning the Apple Cup would mean absolutely everything," Beatty said. "That is what makes this place go around here. If you're wearing crimson and gray, this is why you watch on Saturdays — well now Sunday. Now we're gonna see it on Sunday. It's something that I've worked for all off season, something that I've definitely pinned on my calendar to look at and something that I'm excited for. So I'm just thrilled to be a part of it and to make history."

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