DawgmanRadio: Our Apple Cup Pregame Show!

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - got up bright and early this morning to offer their thoughts on the highly-anticipated matchup today between No. 4 Washington and Washington State in the 115th Apple Cup, and the last one played as members of the Pac-12 Conference. And there is so much at stake, especially for the Huskies. They have a chance to be the first Pac-12 team to ever go unbeaten through a full conference season. 

But to start, the guys talked about the extension this week agreed to by both schools to extend the rivalry through 2028, starting with the 2024 game at Lumen Field on Sept 14, 2024.

After that, it's on to the game preview. The first part was dissecting the Washington State offense versus the Washington defense. How will UW contain Cameron Ward? And without much in the run game for the Cougars, can the Huskies load up on stopping Ward? Who will be available at safety for the Huskies? And what will the battle in the trenches look like?

They take a quick break to handle some business, and then the talk moves to the Washington offense and what the WSU defense can do to stop the Huskies on that side of the ball. How involved will Jalen McMillan be today in the game plan? Will Dillon Johnson be available at all? And after being able to neutralize Utah and Oregon State in terms of pass rush, will the Huskies be able to do the same versus Washington State's edge players? And how big a game do the guys think Michael Penix Jr will have considering he's in the thick of the Heisman race? 

When it comes to the beginning of the game, what will the Huskies do if they win the coin toss? There are differing viewpoints on this one; should they take the ball with the thought of scoring and immediately putting the visitors behind, or should they defer and get the Husky Stadium crowd behind the UW defense to try and get an early stop to create momentum that way?

Scott then provides a recruiting update, as there will be a number of top recruits on campus, including a couple of committed players as well as a couple of players for the 2024 recruiting class that are committed to other Power 5 schools. And then there's always a ton of 2025 and 2026 recruits that will be on the sideline too.

And with the transfer portal opening up, what is the balance of high school signees to transfers for Washington's 2024 recruiting class?

The guys finish with some final thoughts on today's game, as well as Washington's tough overtime loss to San Diego State in men's hoops and what they have to look forward to with the rest of their non-conference schedule.

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