Apple Cup Notebook | Huskies say they're motivated, even if a bowl is out

PULLMAN — It's the Apple Cup, which the Huskies insist is reason enough to make today's game important, even if all of Washington's other stated goals for the season evaporated with last week's loss to Stanford.

"A lot of these guys are Washington kids and they know the importance of the Apple Cup," said quarterback Carl Bonnell. "They know it's a game they will be talking about for the next 20 to 30 years, and you want the score to be on your side."

But the Huskies have other motivations today, as well.

First is stopping a six-game losing streak. The Huskies haven't lost seven straight games in the same season since 1969.

Then there's the issue of heading into the offseason with a little momentum.

"It's one game, but it's one game that lasts the rest of the year," said defensive end Greyson Gunheim. "It's definitely better coming off a win. It makes you want to work harder and do things better in the offseason."

Gunheim remembers a year ago when the Huskies appeared to be on the upswing when they beat Arizona the week before the Apple Cup, then blew a late lead to lose to the Cougars and head into the offseason at 2-9.

"When we lost to Wazzu, and the way we did, it just kind of took us down," Gunheim said. "It brought us down. You could tell by people's attitudes."

A 5-7 finish and a win in the Apple Cup would indicate to players that some significant progress was made. They could console themselves by thinking how close they were to a bowl game and a winning season, particularly if one or two of those close losses — such as overtime defeats against California and Arizona State — had gone their way. But lose today, and there will be little to remember but losses.

"Those games were huge," Gunheim said. "We knew we were a good team. We knew we could play with anybody. We played with USC. We played with Cal. If we would have beaten them it would have given us so much more confidence for the season. Those took the wind out of our sails, I guess you could say."

Cougars' prospects

If the Cougars lose today and fall to 6-6 overall, 4-5 in Pac-10 the route to a bowl game gets dicey.

The Pac-10 has contracts with six bowls, which can be filled by teams with 6-6 records if there aren't enough teams with winning records available.

To get into a bowl with Pac-10 ties, the Cougars need to finish in the top six in the conference, which means they have to finish ahead of four teams.

Two teams, Washington and Stanford, already are out of the running for a bowl game. Two more teams need to join them.

The best Cougars scenario if they lose to the Huskies today is to have Arizona (5-5, 3-4) lose Saturday at Oregon and lose to Arizona State and have UCLA (5-5, 3-4) lose at Arizona State and to USC. That way, the Cougars have four teams below them in the final standings.

Notes

• One Apple Cup concern is that the game end without incident. Two of the past four have ended with some ugliness. In 2002, when the Huskies won in Pullman on a controversial call in the third overtime, angry Cougars fans threw bottles on the field. That prompted security changes now in effect. Last year in Seattle, Cougars and their fans celebrated at midfield after the win, and several Huskies tried to disrupt it.

• The Huskies expect a lot of blitzing from the Cougars today, perhaps half of all plays. "We anticipate a lot of pressure," said Huskies coach Tyrone Willingham.

• Washington coaches also expect the Cougars to throw deep a lot today to test Washington's secondary. "We'll see more vertical routes today than in the last six games combined," said UW defensive coordinator Kent Baer.

• Tight end Johnie Kirton could be even more involved in the running game today. He continued to get work in the backfield this week. He had 7 yards on three carries against Stanford.