The Washington Huskies rolled at home over #20 Washington State Cougars to a final score of 45-10 to take home the Apple Cup trophy for the sixth time in seven years. This was the 108th edition of the cross state rivals' traditional season-ending game, this match in front of an attendance of 70,348.

The win is massive for Washington who entered the game 5-6, needing the victory to become bowl eligible for the sixth consecutive season. With the season on the line, the defense stepped up and was the story of the game, forcing five fumbles on the day and picking off two passes. The defense scored two touchdowns on back-to-back Wazzu drives in the fourth quarter.

Washington State fell to 8-4 on the season with the loss and will now wait and see what bowl they get invited too. With seven turnovers, the most by the Cougars since 2009 when they played Hawaii, this was also the most lopsided Apple Cup since 2000 when the Cougars lost that one by 48 points.

AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

The big story of the game was Washington State’s Luke Falk being held out of the game following a head injury in last weekend’s game against Colorado, meaning the Air Raid offense was going to have to rely on redshirt freshman Peyton Bender. The youngster was making his first start and looked sharp on the first drive before the offense bowed down to Washington’s defense. Bender would go 36 of 58 for 288 yards while throwing two interceptions. That went toward the 7 total turnovers Cougars would have on the day.

Jake Browning, however, continued his recent string of good form as he went 14 for 20 with 203 yards on the day for the Huskies. The real story for Washington, though, was the ground game. Myles Gaskin wound up with 138 yards on the day on 32 carries and two rushing touchdowns. Overall, Washington rushed it for 240 yards on 55 attempts.

The game got off to a slow start. The Cougars started it with a field goal on its opening drive, but it was all Huskies after that for the first half, picking up a touchdown on its second drive to make it 7-3 at end of the first quarter. Washington would get a field goal and touchdown to take a commanding 17-3 lead into the half.

Washington would intercept Washington State's opening drive in the second half and take it to the house to make it a 24-3. Wazzu would finally get a touchdown in the middle of the third quarter after Browning was picked off by Marcellus Pippins who returned it 66 yards to the Washington 19 yard line. But that was all for the Cougars, as the wheels fell off the bus after that. The Huskies responded with 21 unanswered points.

The loss was the first for Washington State since falling to Stanford back on Halloween, while the win was the second in a row for Washington.