With Apple Cup looming, WSU moves up to No. 14, UW No. 15

After a week in which they neither lost nor won, the Washington State Cougars moved up to No. 14 in the Associated Press poll in advance of the Apple Cup showdown with the Washington Huskies, in which the Cougs can advance to the Pac-12 Championship Game with a victory.

They also moved up to No. 15 in the coaches poll.

It was actually pretty much a chaos-free weekend in front of the Cougs, which is why they moved up just a spot. The only loss in front of them came from then-No. 13 Oklahoma State; despite a furious fourth quarter rally, the Cowboys fell to the unranked Kansas State Wildcats, 45-40.

Washington, which defeated the Utah Utes, moved up one spot to No. 15; however, because of Stanford’s win over Cal in the Big Game, the Huskies can no longer win the Pac-12 North.

This is the second consecutive year that both WSU and UW will enter the Apple Cup ranked, but believe it or not it appears it’s the first time they’ve both been ranked in the top 15 of the Associated Press poll in the history of the rivalry game. Three other times came close: 2001 (WSU No. 9, UW No. 16), 1997 (WSU No. 11, UW No. 17) and 1981 (WSU No. 14, UW No. 17).

Joining WSU and UW in the top 25 from the Pac-12 are USC (No. 11 AP/No. 12 coaches), which defeated UCLA, and Stanford (No. 20 in both), which defeated Cal and eliminated the Huskies from contention in the Pac-12 North.