While the Apple Cup always matters, this one carries extra weight at the Huskies look to assure bowl eligibility. Meanwhile the Cougars are sitting on 8 wins and attempting to position themselves for an upper-tier bowl, though you know they'd love nothing more than to end Washington's bowl streak.
It's the Apple Cup, which means I don't need to remind anyone of the stakes here - bragging rights always matter. And for the first time since 2003, the Cougars are ranked and the Huskies aren't. While WSU fans are reveling in their first season with at least 8 wins since that 2003 campaign and giddy at finding themselves above Washington the Pac-12 standings, history hasn't been particularly kind to the Cougars when they've been ranked and the Huskies haven't - in the three other times that's happened, they lost two (in 2002 & 2003) and tied once (in 1942).