Apple Cup 2015: Washington Huskies Picked By SB Nation To Beat Washington State Cougars
The 2015 Apple Cup game has nearly arrived for the Washington State Cougars and Washington Huskies. The Apple Cup already has a big prediction submitted by SB Nation, as the web site states that the Huskies are going to beat WSU. It’s in contrast to what the Vegas oddsmakers are expected to project, especially with how the current Pac-12 standings look.
After beating UCLA on Saturday, November 15, the Washington State Cougars have improved to 7-3 on the season. WSU is currently in second place in the tough Pac-12 North, three games ahead of the 5-6 Washington Huskies in conference play. While WSU has posted a 5-2 record in Pac-12 games, the Huskies have gone just 2-5 against those same opponents. The Cougars are guaranteed to get a bowl invite now, but the Huskies have to win the last two games to make the postseason.
The 2015 Apple Cup will be played on Friday, November 27, with the Pac-12 yet to release a kickoff time yet. It’s likely going to be a primetime game if there is still a lot on the line when the final regular season game for both teams draws closer. It’s the day after Thanksgiving, meaning students from both schools will have the day off from classes. That should present a very packed stadium in Seattle to cheer on both teams.
Regarding what SB Nation has to say about the 2015 Apple Cup results, the site predicts both schools will get invited to postseason bowl games. The first projection is for the Washington Huskies to play BYU in Hawaii on December 24. This is the Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu, with Washington getting an at-large invite to play against Brigham Young University.
An 8-4 WSU team is projected to play in the Sun Bowl against North Carolina State. That’s the fifth place conference bowl game for the Pac-12, taking place on December 26 in El Paso, Texas. While it’s exciting for WSU fans to get to a bowl game again, the team has its sights set on a bigger invite.
The winner of the Pac-12 Championship Game will go to the Rose Bowl and likely play against the second place Big Ten team. With Ohio State and Iowa both 10-0, the two teams could remain undefeated when the Big Ten Championship Game arrives. The winner of that game would go on to the College Football Playoff and the loser would get a spot in the Rose Bowl.
The other Pac-12 bowl game predictions are Utah vs. Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl, Wisconsin vs. UCLA in the Holiday Bowl, Oregon vs. Nebraska in the Foster Farms Bowl, California vs. Air Force in the Las Vegas Bowl, and USC vs. West Virginia in the Cactus Bowl. That would put Stanford in the Rose Bowl against either Ohio State or Iowa.
In addition to a prediction that Washington will beat Washington State in the 2015 Apple Cup, SB Nation is also predicting that the Oregon Ducks and UCLA Bruins will finish ahead of WSU in the final Pac-12 standings. For that to happen, Oregon and UCLA would each need to win its final two regular season games. That means Oregon is projected to beat USC and UCLA is projected to beat Utah. With those results, though, UCLA would finish the regular season ahead of Utah in the Pac-12 South.
The math doesn’t work out for the SB Nation bowl predictions, revealing that the Washington State Cougars could easily finish in third place in the conference by beating Colorado and the Washington Huskies to finish the season. That third place finish could mean an invite to play in the Holiday Bowl on December 30 in San Diego, California. It’s still too early to look that far ahead, though, as the UW vs. WSU game is the grudge match both teams should be focused on.
[Photo by: William Mancebo/Getty Images]
