Apple Cup comes with speculations and certainties

PULLMAN – If there is an upside to the Apple Cup’s return to the Friday after Thanksgiving, it is that the speculation and hand wringing over who will start at quarterback for Washington State can end a day early.

The uncertainty over whether Luke Falk plays after suffering apparent head injuries in consecutive games, the potential outrage by some if he risks a third injury and the potential for backup Peyton Bender to put together a memorable performance in his stead, all raise the stakes in what is shaping up to be a particularly memorable rivalry game.

“They have a good team and good players, all respect to them. But if we do our job, it’s up to us how the game comes out,” said WSU offensive lineman Gunnar Eklund. “They have something of ours that we want. It belongs to us and we’re going to go get it. Of course it’s personal.”

The personal ties between the schools run deep. WSU rush linebacker Kache Palacio’s dad is the godfather of Jaydon Mickens, UW’s leading receiver. Mickens is a close personal friend of WSU linebacker Jeremiah Allison, who visits Mickens in Seattle during the offseason, sometimes watching UW’s workouts.

The family of linebacker Peyton Pelluer, WSU’s leading tackler, embodies the Apple Cup rivalry as much as any. His older brother, Cooper Pelluer, played at UW from 2010-13. Their father, Scott Pelluer, played at WSU and was an assistant coach at UW. Their grandfather, John Pelluer, and great-grandfather, John, also played for the Cougars. Uncle Steve played quarterback for the Huskies in the early 80s.

One of the teams, No. 20 WSU (8-3, 6-3 Pac-12), is nationally ranked and the other is playing for a bowl game. At least UW (5-6, 3-5) is fighting to avoid the indignity of going to the postseason with a losing record.

Appropriately, the cross-Cascades rivalry will also disproportionately highlight the strengths of the respective teams. WSU will dictate this. Regardless of whether Falk plays, when the Cougars are on offense the football will get passed around like sweet potato casserole.

The WSU passing offense leads the Pac-12 by more than 50 yards per game and has attempted 192 passes more than any conference opponent. Bender and Falk have combined to complete 69.4 percent of their passes, a higher completion percentage than any other Pac-12 school.

But the Huskies hope other teams put the ball in the air. UW’s defense has given up just eight passing touchdowns and allows only 209.5 passing yards per game. The Huskies have four athletic starting defensive backs who are quick enough to play a physical game with wide receivers at the line of scrimmage, and still cover them once they break down the field.

Three of UW’s defensive backs rank in the conference’s top 20 in passes defended and two of them are in the top 12 in passes intercepted. The Huskies have intercepted 13 passes, returning them for 262 yards.

“They do a good job just doing their job. I think that the defense they run puts them in a position to be successful,” said WSU outside receivers coach Graham Harrell. “It’s a similar philosophy to what we do offensively: We’re going to be good at what we do and put our guys in a position to be successful and let them make plays.”