The Battle of the Palouse refers to an athletic rivalry in the northwest United States, between the Vandals of the University of Idaho and Cougars of Washington State University.
The two land-grant universities are less than 8miles apart on the rural Palouse in the Inland Northwest; Idaho's campus in Moscow is nearly on the Idaho–Washington border, and Washington State's campus is directly west in Pullman, linked by Washington State Route 270 and the Bill Chipman Palouse Trail. The two schools' most prominent rivalry was in football, but in later years it has shifted to men's basketball.
| Wide: | yes |
| Battle of the Palouse | |
| Team1: | Idaho Vandals |
| Team1logo: | Idaho Vandals logo.svg |
| Team2: | Washington State Cougars |
| Team2logo: | Washington State Cougars wordmark.svg |
| Sport: | College football |
| Firstmeeting: | November 17, 1894 WSC, 10–0 |
| Mostrecent: | September 2, 2023 Washington State, 42-32 |
| Nextmeeting: | August 30, 2025 |
| Total: | 92 |
| Series: | Washington State leads, |
| Largestvictory: | Washington State, 84–27 (1975) |
| Longeststreak: | Washington State, 20 (1928–1949) |
| Longestunbeatenstreak: | Washington State, 26 (1926–1953) |
| Currentstreak: | Washington State, 10 (2001–present) |
The first game was played in November 1894 and resulted in a win for Washington State. The game in 1898 was not played because Idaho had an ineligible ringer from Lapwai, David McFarland, a recent All-American from Carlisle.[1] [2] [3] The Vandals' first-ever forward pass was attempted against the Cougars in 1907: it was completed for a touchdown from a drop-kick formation in the fourth quarter and led to a
Washington State has dominated the local rivalry, holding a lead; the record since 1926 is even more dominant, with a advantage for the Cougars. The longest winning streak for Idaho was three games and has only five victories since that three-peat (1954, 1964, 1965, 1999, & 2000) and two ties (1927, 1950) to offset the 58 losses.
The games were skipped in 1969 and 1971, notably for Idaho as the 1971 Vandals posted one of the best records in school history, while WSU The rivalry became increasingly one-sided as WSU dominated in the 1970s (except for 1974) and the original series ended, following the 1978 game.[4] From 1979 to 1997, the game was played just twice (1982, 1989) until the 10-year renewal from 1998–2007. Since their last wins in 1999 and 2000, Idaho has been physically outmatched in most of the ten games; the game has been played three times since 2007, in 2013, 2016, and 2022.
As two schools are in close proximity, there was a tradition called Walkathon from 1938 to 1968; a week following the game, students of the losing school walked from their campus to the winners', then received rides back home from the winning side. This has frequently been misreported as students walking back to their own campus immediately following the game. In 1954, the walk made national news when about 2,000 students from Washington State College made the trek east from Pullman to Moscow after the Cougars lost to Idaho for the first time in 29 years.[5] [6] [7] [8]
In a span of less than five months, from November 1969 to April 1970, both schools' aged wooden stadiums (Idaho's Neale Stadium and WSU's Rogers Field) burned down due to suspected arson. The WSU–Idaho game in 1970 was dubbed the Displaced Bowl, which was held in Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane on September 19. The Cougars won the game (their only win that season), as well as the next ten against the Vandals.[9] This was the first in the rivalry played on AstroTurf, which was new to Joe Albi that season.
In 1978, the NCAA split Division I football in two: I-A (now FBS) and I-AA (now FCS). Washington State was in Division I-A as part of the Pac-10 Conference and Idaho downgraded to I-AA as part of the Big Sky Conference, whose other football members moved up from Division II. In the late 1970s, I-A football programs were allowed 50% more scholarships and twice as many assistant coaches as I-AA teams.[4] 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 in the Big West Conference, and Idaho 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 game played on the Idaho side of the border was in 1966, a come-from-behind Cougar victory on a very muddy field to prevent a Vandal three-peat.[10] [11]
After ten years of the renewed rivalry, Vandal head coach Robb Akey, previously WSU's defensive coordinator, said in 2008 that he preferred the game not be played every year, instead saying he would prefer it as a "once-in-a-while thing."[12] Only one game was played during Akey's tenure, in his first season in 2007, and he was fired in October 2012.[13] The meeting in 2013 on September 21 was a one-year revival,[14] and WSU in 2016. Because of the difficulty of scheduling as an isolated FBS independent, Idaho returned to FCS and the Big Sky in 2018. There was a meeting scheduled for 2020, but it was canceled due to complications arising from the COVID-19 pandemic; the teams played next in 2022, a 24–17 Cougar win. Future meetings are currently scheduled for 2025, 2027, and 2029.[15]
Since 1919
| Head Coach | Team | Games | Seasons | Wins | Losses | Ties | Pct. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ralph Hutchinson | Idaho | 1 | 1919 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Thomas Kelley | Idaho | 2 | 1920–1921 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Matty Mathews | Idaho | 4 | 1922–1925 | 3 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Charles Erb | Idaho | 3 | 1926–1928 | 0 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Leo Calland | Idaho | 6 | 1929–1934 | 0 | 6 | 0 | ||
| Ted Bank | Idaho | 6 | 1935–1940 | 0 | 6 | 0 | ||
| Francis Schmidt | Idaho | 2 | 1941–1942 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Babe Brown | Idaho | 3 | 1945–1946 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Dixie Howell | Idaho | 4 | 1947–1950 | 0 | 3 | 1 | ||
| Babe Curfman | Idaho | 3 | 1951–1953 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Skip Stahley | Idaho | 8 | 1954–1961 | 1 | 7 | 0 | ||
| Dee Andros | Idaho | 3 | 1962–1964 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Steve Musseau | Idaho | 3 | 1965–1967 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Y C McNease | Idaho | 1 | 1968–1969 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Don Robbins | Idaho | 3 | 1970–1973 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Ed Troxel | Idaho | 4 | 1974–1977 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| Jerry Davitch | Idaho | 1 | 1978–1981 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Dennis Erickson (a) | Idaho | 1 | 1982–1985 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Keith Gilbertson | Idaho | 0 | 1986–1988 | |||||
| John L. Smith | Idaho | 1 | 1989–1994 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Chris Tormey | Idaho | 2 | 1995–1999 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Tom Cable | Idaho | 4 | 2000–2003 | 1 | 3 | |||
| Nick Holt | Idaho | 2 | 2004–2005 | 0 | 2 | |||
| Dennis Erickson (b) | Idaho | 1 | 2006 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Robb Akey | Idaho | 1 | 2007–2012 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Paul Petrino | Idaho | 2 | 2013–2021 | 0 | 2 | |||
| Jason Eck | Idaho | 1 | 2022– | 0 | 1 |
| Head Coach | Team | Games | Seasons | Wins | Losses | Ties | Pct. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gus Welch | Washington State | 4 | 1919–1922 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Albert Exendine | Washington State | 3 | 1923–1925 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Babe Hollingbery | Washington State | 17 | 1926–1942 | 16 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Phil Sarboe | Washington State | 6 | 1945–1949 | 6 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Forest Evashevski | Washington State | 2 | 1950–1951 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Al Kircher | Washington State | 4 | 1952–1955 | 3 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Jim Sutherland | Washington State | 8 | 1956–1963 | 8 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Bert Clark | Washington State | 4 | 1964–1967 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Jim Sweeney | Washington State | 6 | 1968–1975 | 6 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Jackie Sherrill | Washington State | 1 | 1976 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Warren Powers | Washington State | 1 | 1977 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Jim Walden | Washington State | 2 | 1978–1986 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Dennis Erickson | Washington State | 0 | 1987–1988 | |||||
| Mike Price | Washington State | 6 | 1989–2002 | 4 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Bill Doba | Washington State | 5 | 2003–2007 | 5 | 0 | |||
| Paul Wulff | Washington State | 0 | 2008–2011 | |||||
| Mike Leach | Washington State | 2 | 2012–2019 | 2 | 0 | |||
| Nick Rolovich | Washington State | 0 | 2020–2021 | |||||
| Jake Dickert | Washington State | 1 | 2021– | 1 | 0 |
| Wide: | yes |
| Battle of the Palouse | |
| Team1: | Idaho Vandals |
| Team1logo: | Idaho Vandals logo.svg |
| Team2: | Washington State Cougars |
| Team2logo: | Washington State Cougars wordmark.svg |
| Sport: | College basketball |
| Firstmeeting: | January 13, 1906 Washington State, 28–11 |
| Mostrecent: | November 6, 2023 Washington State, 84–59, in Pullman |
| Nextmeeting: | November 11, 2024 Pullman, Washington |
| Total: | 277 |
| Series: | Washington State leads, |
| Largestvictory: | Washington State, 109–61 (November 18, 2021) |
| Longeststreak: | Washington State, 12 (1915–1917) |
| Currentstreak: | Washington State, 5 (2018–present) |
Although the Battle of the Palouse in football waned by the 1980s, Idaho and Washington State men's basketball teams have played each other annually since 1906 in a series that continues.[20] [21] From 1922 through the season, both were members of the Pacific Coast Conference, and both were independents for the next several years after it disbanded.[22] [23] Four games per season were played in these years, sometimes five; during the Gus Johnson season of 1962–63, Idaho won four of five.
Washington State has a lead in the series through the November 2023 game in Pullman, which the Cougars won three of the previous four; the Vandals' win in December 2014 was their first over the Cougars since 2002 and the first in Pullman
The rivalry in basketball reached its peak in the early 1980s, when alumnus Don Monson was Idaho's head coach and WSU was led by The game in early December 1982 at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow established a new attendance record of 11,000 for an Idaho home game; the Vandals won in overtime for their third straight win over the Cougars and 37th consecutive win Idaho was coming off a season in 1982 in which it was ranked in the top ten and reached the Sweet Sixteen (and Monson was named Kodak coach of the year). The Cougars went on to finish second in the Pac-10 in the 1983 regular season,[24] and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, falling to #1 seed Virginia in Boise to finish at Both coaches left at the end of the season; Monson for Oregon and Raveling for Iowa.
Since 1950: Washington State leads,
The "Battle of the Palouse" is also contested in men's and women's basketball,[26] women's volleyball,[27] and women's soccer.[28]
In women's basketball, WSU leads at ; the most recent meeting was in December 2008, a Cougar win in Moscow.[29] In soccer, Idaho began its program in 1998 and the teams first met in 1999. They have played twelve times, most recently in 2015, and the Cougars have won eleven straight; the sole Vandal victory came
In volleyball, Washington State leads the series through 2019.[30] [31] The series started in 1976, and they often met multiple times per season in the first decade. In recent years, the series has been played as part of invitational tournaments hosted by the schools:[31] [32] Since 2000, WSU leads [30]
In baseball, the rivalry was at its strongest in the 1960s, when both made multiple appearances in the NCAA postseason. Idaho discontinued its program, after the 1980 The Vandals won the final meeting in the series in late April to end the Cougars' 13-year unbeaten streak at (forty wins and two ties due to