This Apple Cup was supposed to be different. It was not.

After a 28-15 win, Chris Petersen’s Washington has still yet to lose to Washington State.

In 2014, Washington State averaged 33.5 points per game against teams not named Washington but scored only 13 against the Huskies.

2015: 33.3 and 10.

2016: 39.1 and 17.

2017: 31.7 and 14.

This was supposed to be the year the narrative changed.

Washington was a disappointing 8-3, and Wazzu was 10-1. The Cougs had a miraculous graduate transfer quarterback and still had an outside shot at the College Football Playoff. For the first time since 2006, they were Vegas favorites (by 3) against their in-state rivals.

It was going to be different this time.

• It was going to be different because Skyler Thomas picked off a Jake Browning pass on the Huskies’ first drive.
• It was going to be different because, despite a shaky first half in the snow, James Williams scored to cut Washington’s lead to 14-7 right before half, and then Cole Dubots forced a fumble on the ensuring kickoff that Wazzu recovered.
• It was going to be different because when Washington scored early in the second half, Wazzu blocked the PAT and took it back for two points.
• It was going to be different because Dillon Sherman recovered a Browning fumble to set up a Wazzu score.

It wasn’t different.

Washington State came into the Apple Cup averaging 40.5 points per game but scored just 15. The Huskies have solved the How to Defend the Air Raid puzzle and, with some help from the conditions, executed it to perfection again. Wazzu’s Gardner Minshew completed 26 of 35 passes, nearly three quarters of them, but averaged just 5.8 yards per completion. Minshew’s numbers were easily his worst in an otherwise great year.

Washington did what Washington does against Washington State: the Huskies let Minshew throw check-down passes all night (running backs James Williams and Max Borghi had 14 receptions for just 79 yards), tackled well, then did it again. They know Wazzu quarterbacks are programmed to take what’s given to them, and they gave them the short pass, living to play another down and eventually forcing mistakes.

The conditions perhaps made this strategy a bit easier. According to UW defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake after the game, “It makes it really easy to game plan when an offense does the same thing every year. Obviously, now with the conditions, and they can only do one thing, it handcuffs you a little bit. Definitely to our advantage, and we took advantage.”

The key to playing good option defense is basically to dictate which option is chosen, tackle well, and wait. Washington confidently applies those principles to Mike Leach’s offense.

They even forced Wazzu to run at times. On a third-and-2 early in the third quarter, the Huskies lined up with no defensive tackles. None! Their four linemen were doubled up at both end positions. Naturally, Washington State handed to Williams. Ben Burr-Kirvin stuffed him short. The Huskies even forced some QB draws — Minshew averages about three non-sack carries per game but had five for 27.

UW mixed in random blitzes but mostly relied on its defensive line to generate sporadic pressure while the rest of the defense dictated the reads. The Huskies sacked Minshew just twice, but both sacks killed second-half drives, and pressure forced a third-quarter interception as well.

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This was supposed to be different for the Wazzu defense, too.

The Cougs came into the game ranked 43rd in Def. S&P+ and 13th in Passing S&P+, and they had snow on their side. Against an experienced UW offense that had seen far more disappointing moments than expected this season, and had scored 16 or fewer points in two of three losses, there was reason to believe that Wazzu could slow UW down as well as UW tends to slow Wazzu down.

But the two turnovers were almost literally the only two mistakes Browning made — he finished 11-for-14 for 207 yards and the pick. Meanwhile, Myles Gaskin rushed 27 times for 170 yards and three scores, and when Gaskin needed spelling, Salvon Ahmed did his part, rushing nine times for 87 yards.

Wazzu knew Washington was going to run the ball and frequently stacked the box accordingly. Didn’t matter.

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In theory, the snow could have helped the Wazzu pass defense, but the effects were perhaps equally negative for the Cougs against the run. “We’re not really big on the defensive front and we rely on speed,” Leach said after the game. “I think it mitigated our speed as far as cutting and weaving and moving some, so I think that hurt us some. When you’re in conditions like that it’s kind of a random game, either you slip or the other guy slips.”

No excuses, of course. As Minshew said, “They were playing in it too, they made plays in it and we didn’t.”

Washington out-gained Wazzu by 250 yards and countered three turnovers with three takeaways of its own. Browning and Gaskin finished 4-0 against their Apple Cup rival, once again a win in Pullman gave the Huskies the Pac-12 North crown. In 2017, UW was easily the best team in the conference, but a pair of road slip-ups against Arizona State and Stanford cost the Huskies the division title.

In 2018, their dominance is less certain, but they made up for one that got away.

Minshew was extremely emotional on the field after the game. It was obvious what the game meant to both him and the Washington State football program. “We had a lot riding on this game, big goals that we had set for ourselves, that kinda depended on the outcome of this game,” he said, “and we just felt like we let each other down.

“We all wanted to win for each other, but at the end of the day we couldn’t do it.”

This year was supposed to be different. It was anything but.