Battle of the Palouse

Battle of the Palouse
History
Number of meetings:	91
First:	May 20, 1894
Most recent:	September 15, 2007
Next:	TBD
All-time series:	WSU leads 70-18-3 (.786)
At Pullman:	WSU leads 38-10-3 (.745)
At Moscow:	WSU leads 28-8-0 (.777)
At Spokane:	WSU leads 3-0-0 (1.000)
At Seattle:	WSU leads 1-0-0 (1.000)
Current Streak:	7 (2001–2007, WSU)
Washington State:	21 (1928-42 & 1945-49)
Idaho:	3 (1903–05, 1923–25)

The Battle of the Palouse is an American college football rivalry between the Washington State University (WSU) Cougars and the University of Idaho (UI) Vandals. The name of the rivalry is derived from the "Palouse", the rolling agricultural region in which both schools are located. The two land-grant universities are less than eight miles (13 km) apart, with Idaho's campus located in Moscow, directly on the Washington-Idaho border, and Washignton State's campus directly west in Pullman.

Series history

The first rivalry game was played in 1894 and resulted in a win for Idaho. Through 2007, WSU has dominated the rivalry, holding an overall record of 70-18-3 (.786), and 55-5-2 (.903) since 1926. The longest winning streak for Idaho was three games (1923-25), and has only five victories since that three-peat (1954, 1964, 1965, 1999, & 2000), and two ties (1927, 1950), to offset the 55 losses (.097).

The games were skipped in 1969 & 1971. The rivalry became increasingly one-sided as WSU dominated in the 1970s (except for 1974) and the original series ended, following the 1978 game. From 1979-97 the game was played just twice (1982, 1989) until the 10 year renewal from 1998-2007. Since their last win in 2000, Idaho has been physically outmatched in most of the seven games; the game was not played in 2008 or 2009.

As two schools are less than eight miles apart, there was once a tradition called The Loser’s Walk, where students of the losing school would walk from the winner's campus back to their own. In 1954, the walk made national news when about 2,000 students from Washington State College made the trek west from Moscow to Pullman after the Cougars lost to Idaho for the first time in 29 years.

College Comparison

Category	Washington State	Idaho
Location	Pullman	Moscow
Abbreviation	WSU	UI
Team Name	Cougars	Vandals
Students	23,225	11,251
School Colors	Crimson & Grey	Silver & Gold
Mascot	Butch T. Cougar	Joe Vandal
Conference	Pac-12	WAC
Home Field	Martin Stadium	Kibbie Dome

Between 1969 and 1970, both schools’ wooden stadiums (UI’s Neale Stadium and WSU’s Rogers Field) burned down due to suspected arson. In 1970, the WSU-UI game was dubbed the Displaced Bowl, which was held in Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane on September 19. The WSU Cougars won the game (their only win that season), as well as the next ten against the Vandals.

In 1978 the NCAA split Division I football in two: Division I-A (now FBS) and Division I-AA (now FCS). Washington State joined Division I-A as part of the Pacific-10 Conference and Idaho joined Division I-AA as part of the Big Sky Conference. During the years they were in different divisions, the schools met only twice (1982 in Spokane and 1989 in Pullman). In 1996, Idaho moved back up to Division I-A, joining the Big West Conference, and UI and WSU rekindled their century-old rivalry. Since the rivalry was reinstated in 1998, every game has been played at Martin Stadium in Pullman, except for the matchup in 2003, which was played at Seattle’s Seahawks Stadium. The last time the game was played on the Idaho side of the border was in 1966, a 14-7 Cougar victory on a very muddy field.

Future of rivalry After ten years of the renewed rivalry, new Vandal head coach Robb Akey, formerly WSU's defensive coordinator, said in that he preferred the game not be played every year, instead saying he would prefer it as a "once-in-a-while thing." Game results 50 won by home team* 38 won by visitor 3 tied games UI* 8 in Moscow UI* 1 in Pullman UI* 0 in Seattle WSU* 37 in Pullman WSU* 3 in Spokane WSU 28 in Moscow WSU 1 in Pullman WSU 1 in Seattle UI 9 in Pullman UI 0 in Spokane Tie 0 in Moscow Tie 3 in Pullman Tie 0 in Seattle Tie 0 in Spokane 9 home* 40 home* 30 away 9 away 19 years with No game 70 WSU victories 113 years total (1894–2007) 18 UI victories 2 years with 2+ games (1945, 1894) 1892 No game 1893 No game 1894 UI* 22-0 Moscow 1894 UI 12-0 Pullman 1894 WSU 10-0 Moscow 1895 WSU* 10-4 Pullman 1896 No game 1897 No game 1898 No game 1899 WSU* 11-0 Pullman 1900 No game 1901 UI* 5-0 Moscow 1902 WSU* 17-0 Pullman 1903 UI* 32-0 Moscow 1904 UI 5-0 Pullman 1905 UI* 5-0 Moscow 1906 WSU* 10-0 Pullman 1907 UI* 5-4 Moscow 1908 Tie 4-4 Pullman 1909 WSU 18-0 Moscow 1910 UI 9-5 Pullman 1911 WSU 17-0 Moscow 1912 UI 13-0 Pullman 1913 UI* 3-0 Moscow 1914 WSU* 3-0 Pullman 1915 WSU 41-0 Moscow 1916 WSU* 31-0 Pullman 1917 WSU 19-0 Moscow 1918 No game 1919 WSU* 37-0 Pullman 1920 WSU 14-7 Moscow 1921 WSU* 20-3 Pullman 1922 WSU 18-19 Moscow 1923 UI 14-0 Pullman 1924 UI* 19-3 Moscow 1925 UI 7-6 Pullman 1926 WSU 6-0 Moscow 1927 Tie 7-7 Pullman 1928 WSU 26-0 Moscow 1929 WSU* 41-7 Pullman 1930 WSU 33-7 Moscow 1931 WSU* 9-8 Pullman 1932 WSU* 12-0 Pullman 1933 WSU 14-6 Moscow 1934 WSU* 19-0 Pullman 1935 WSU 6-0 Moscow 1936 WSU 14-0 Moscow 1937 WSU* 13-0 Pullman 1938 WSU 12-0 Moscow 1939 WSU* 21-13 Pullman 1940 WSU 26-0 Moscow 1941 WSU* 26-0 Pullman 1942 WSU 7-0 Moscow 1943 1944 No games 1945 WSU 43-12 Moscow 1945 WSU 21-0 Moscow 1946 WSU* 32-0 Pullman 1947 WSU 7-0 Moscow 1948 WSU* 19-14 Pullman 1949 WSU 35-13 Moscow 1950 Tie 7-7 Pullman 1951 WSU 9-6 Moscow 1952 WSU* 36-6 Pullman 1953 WSU 30-13 Moscow 1954 UI 10-0 Pullman 1955 WSU 9-0 Moscow 1956 WSU 33-19 Moscow 1957 WSU* 21-13 Pullman 1958 WSU 8-0 Moscow 1959 WSU* 27-5 Pullman 1960 WSU 18-17 Moscow 1961 WSU* 34-0 Pullman 1962 WSU 22-14 Moscow 1963 WSU* 14-10 Pullman 1964 UI* 28-13 Moscow 1965 UI 17-13 Pullman 1966 WSU 14-7 Moscow 1967 WSU* 52-14 Pullman 1968 WSU 14-0 Spokane 1969 No game 1970 WSU 44-16 Spokane 1971 No game 1972 WSU* 35-14 Pullman 1973 WSU* 51-24 Pullman 1974 WSU* 17-10 Pullman 1975 WSU* 84-27 Pullman 1976 WSU* 45-6 Pullman 1977 WSU* 45-17 Pullman 1978 WSU* 28-0 Pullman 1979 No game 1980 No game 1981 No game 1982 WSU 34-14 Spokane 1983 No game 1984 No game 1985 No game 1986 No game 1987 No game 1988 No game 1989 WSU* 41-7 Pullman 1990 No game 1991 No game 1992 No game 1993 No game 1994 No game 1995 No game 1996 No game 1997 No game 1998 WSU* 24-16 Pullman 1999 UI 28-17 Pullman 2000 UI 38-34 Pullman 2001 WSU* 36-7 Pullman 2002 WSU 49-14 Pullman 2003 WSU* 25-0 Seattle 2004 WSU* 49-8 Pullman 2005 WSU 38-26 Pullman 2006 WSU 56-10 Pullman 2007 WSU 45-28 Pullman 2008 No game 2009 No game 2010 No game 2011 No game References