WSU’s 2018 schedule includes 7 home games, Black Friday Apple Cup in Pullman

The Washington State Cougars have, thus far, admirably maneuvered their way through a pretty ridiculous 2017 football schedule. The 2018 schedule released by the Pac-12 today is a little less silly.

There’s a lot of home games that aren’t all during the month of September, there’s a mid-season bye and some decent balance throughout. They do play two Friday games, one of which is another Black Friday Apple Cup because Pullman isn’t in the middle of nowhere and that totally makes sense.

Mike Marlow, WSU’s Deputy Director of Athletics, is pretty excited about the number of games (7) that will be played in Martin Stadium next season, which you should be thrilled about, too, because WSU doesn’t lose football games at home and that’s a solid strategy every year if you can pull it off.

“The 2018 season marks the third straight year where seven home games will be played in Pullman, and it will be five of six years when you extend that to the 2021 season,” Marlow said in a release. “With three straight bowl games under coach Leach, and four in the past five years, we expect more great moments at Martin Stadium during the 2018 campaign.”

WSU will kick—or receive, I guess, if we’re being thorough—the season off on September 1 at Wyoming, then return home to wrap up non-conference play against San Jose St. and Eastern Washington.

WSU, who will miss Arizona State and UCLA once again this year, opens Pac-12 play at USC the following week, which is a Friday. The good news is that it’s not a Friday game after a conference road game, which has been a contentious issue around the conference this year.

The following week, WSU will return to Pullman to face Utah for Homecoming weekend, then they’ll travel to Corvallis to take on whoever is leading the Beavers next year. And then a bye!

Bye weeks are good and some don’t care, but I think this is a good spot for a nice breather, because coming out of the bye week, WSU gets Oregon at home and then they’ll travel to the hostile confines of Stanford Stadium, a two-game stretch likely to have a big impact on the North. After chopping trees, WSU will return home to face California on Dad’s Weekend and then hop on a plane to Boulder to compete with the Buffaloes in their last road test of the year.

Unlike this season, WSU will end the year with two straight home games. They’ll get Arizona on November 17, which will be empty because everyone will be gone for Thanksgiving break, and then the Apple Cup returns to Pullman on Friday, November 23, which is my birthday and the last time WSU won an Apple Cup was also on my birthday, so you’re welcome.

Kickoff times and television for most of the games won’t be released until next summer, likely, and then we’ll get into the two-week and six-day window stuff.

Overall, I think it’s a fair schedule. They go on the road one week at a time, return home for back-to-backs a couple times and outside a couple short weeks and the scheduling to end the season travel-wise, it’s a favorable schedule. Go Cougs.