Northwest Championship
Oregon Ducks
Oregon State Beavers
Washington Huskies
Washington State Cougars
SportCollege football
LocationPacific Northwest
First meeting1903
StadiumsAutzen Stadium
Reser Stadium
Husky Stadium
Martin Stadium
TrophyNone
Statistics
All-time seriesWashington, 33
Oregon, 16
Oregon State, 12
Washington State, 6
Largest victoryOregon, 172–62 (2008)
Longest win streakOregon, 7 (2008–2014)
Current win streakWashington, 2 (2022-present)
🌍
Locations of Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, and Washington State

The Northwest Championship was an unofficial[1] Division I FBS football rivalry series title earned by way of an undefeated sweep[2][3] of the other three fellow Pac-12 teams located in the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington.

Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, and Washington State first played each other in a round-robin format in the 1903 season.[4] As geographic neighbors and members of the former Pacific Coast Conference and current Pac-12 Conference North Division, each team has generally played the others annually.[5] Among the Ducks, Beavers, Huskies, and Cougars there exist three traditional football rivalries: Oregon–Oregon State, Oregon–Washington, and Washington–Washington State.

The feat's "Northwest Championship" moniker was coined by Rick Neuheisel, head coach of the 2002 Washington Huskies.[2][6][7] After a string of disappointing losses, he challenged his players to win the newly conceived title by defeating their northwest rivals in the season's remaining games.[8]

The Northwest Championship has been described as a "so-called",[9] "fictitious",[3] and "mythical"[10][11][12] title, invented by Neuheisel only to motivate his 2002 team.[13] Nevertheless, in the years following the Huskies' original claim of the title, other teams have continued to be cited as winning the Northwest Championship upon completing the sweep.[3][12] Due to Oregon and Washington's departure to the Big Ten as part of the 2021–2024 NCAA conference realignment, even though the Apple Cup and Civil War will continue, the Northwest Championship is unlikely to continue unless games between Oregon and Washington State or between Oregon State and Washington are scheduled in future seasons.[14]

Teams

The Northwest Championship involves the four Pacific Northwest teams currently playing football in the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference. Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, and Washington State generally play each other annually in a 6-game round-robin series.[15] Three of the six games are heated rivalry games, and all of the games represent some of the most-played college football series.[5][15]

Other Northwest teams

Since its introduction, it has been unclear if other football schools in the Pacific Northwest are eligible to win the Northwest Championship. Washington beat Idaho in 2002, but they were not mentioned in Neuheisel's conception of the title.[11] Boise State beat Oregon in 2008 and 2009, years where Oregon swept its in-conference northwest foes, and has been mentioned as potentially deserving a spot in the series.[16]

2002 Origin

Progress towards the 2002 Northwest Championship

In his fourth year as head coach, Neuheisel's 2002 team was floundering.[17] In early November they had a 4–5 record, 1–4 against Pac-10 opponents, and had lost 4 of the last 5 games.[17] The Huskies were at serious risk of a losing season, their first since 1976, and of missing a bowl game.[17]

Through rare[10] happenstance, Washington was scheduled to play the three other Pacific Northwest schools in order to end the season. Neuheisel, sensing an opportunity to motivate his team, declared that despite the thus far disappointing season the Huskies were still fighting to win the "Northwest Championship" by sweeping Oregon State, Oregon, and Washington State in their remaining games.[1][2][18]

It was a successful rallying cry, and the Huskies first beat Oregon State. The next week they won at Autzen Stadium, their first win against Oregon at home since 1996. The Huskies capped the season with a triple-overtime victory in Pullman over No. 3 Washington State in the Apple Cup, claiming the Northwest Championship with back-to-back-to-back wins over the other northwest schools.[19]

Trophy

No trophy is awarded to the Northwest Champion, and no organization grants the title.[10]

In 2002, the Huskies wore homemade t-shirts to mark their progress towards the Northwest Championship. The football undershirts had three blank boxes labeled for the other northwest schools, which the players checked off after each win.[1][8][19]

Results

The Washington Huskies were successful in claiming the newly coined Northwest Championship in 2002.[10] Since then, Oregon[20] and Oregon State[3] have both also won the title and been called Northwest Champions by local media. Washington State has yet to complete the sweep in the years since the title was named, but several times has been on the hunt going into the end-of-season Apple Cup.[21] The Washington Huskies swept the northwest schools for the final time in 2023, on the way to a 14—1 season.

Historical results have been compiled for prior years by the school athletic departments, local media, and fans of the football programs.[4][21]

The four teams first met in a six-game round-robin fashion in the 1903 season.[4] This was also the first season in which any of the teams played all three of the others.[15]

Season Northwest Champion[15] Game 1 Game 2 Game 3
1903Washington5–0 Oregon Agricultural6–5 Oregon10–0 Washington Agricultural
19044
19054
19063*
19073*
19084
19093*
19104
19115Washington34–0 Oregon Agricultural29–3 Oregon30–6 Washington State
1912Washington9–3 Oregon Agricultural30–14 Oregon19–0 Washington State
19135Washington47–0 Oregon Agricultural10–7 Oregon20–0 Washington State
1914
19153*
19165
19175Washington State26–3 Oregon6–0 Oregon Agricultural14–0 Washington
19183*
19195
19204
19215
1922
1923Washington14–0 Oregon Agricultural24–7 Washington State26–7 Oregon
1924
19253*
19264
19274*
19285
19294*
19304*
19314*
19324*
19334*
19345
19354*
1936Washington19–7 Oregon State7–0 Oregon40–0 Washington State
1937
1938 Oregon State13–6 Washington7–6 Washington State14–0 Oregon
1939 Oregon State13–7 Washington13–0 Washington State19–14 Oregon
1940Washington10–0 Oregon19–0 Oregon State33–9 Washington State
1941
1942
19430*
19440*
194512
1946 Oregon State13–12 Washington State13–0 Oregon21–12 Washington
1947Oregon6–0 Washington12–6 Washington State14–6 Oregon State
1948Oregon33–7 Washington State13–7 Washington10–0 Oregon State
1949 Oregon State7–3 Washington35–6 Washington State20–10 Oregon
1950Washington35–6 Oregon State27–12 Oregon52–21 Washington State
1951Washington State26–13 Oregon State41–6 Oregon27–25 Washington
1952Washington49–0 Oregon38–13 Oregon State33–27 Washington State
1953
1954Oregon26–7 Washington26–14 Washington State33–14 Oregon State
1955
1956
1957
1958Washington State6–0 Oregon7–0 Oregon State18–14 Washington
1959Washington13–12 Oregon13–6 Oregon State20–0 Washington State
1960Washington30–29 Oregon State7–6 Oregon8–7 Washington State
1961 Oregon State14–6 Washington State3–0 Washington6–2 Oregon
1962
1963Washington34–7 Oregon State26–19 Oregon16–0 Washington State
1964 Oregon State9–7 Washington24–7 Washington State7–6 Oregon
1965Washington24–20 Oregon28–21 Oregon State27–9 Washington State
1966 Oregon State41–13 Washington State24–12 Washington20–15 Oregon
1967
1968 Oregon State35–21 Washington16–8 Washington State41–19 Oregon
1969 Oregon State10–6 Washington38–3 Washington State10–7 Oregon
1970Washington29–20 Oregon State25–13 Oregon43–25 Washington State
1971
1972Washington State31–14 Oregon37–7 Oregon State27–10 Washington
1973Washington State21–14 Oregon13–7 Oregon State52–26 Washington
1974 Oregon State23–9 Washington17–3 Washington State35–16 Oregon
1975Washington27–17 Oregon35–7 Oregon State28–27 Washington State
1976Washington24–12 Oregon State14–7 Oregon51–32 Washington State
1977Washington54–0 Oregon14–6 Oregon State35–15 Washington State
1978Washington34-0 Oregon State20–14 Oregon38–8 Washington State
1979Washington21–17 Oregon41–0 Oregon State17–7 Washington State
1980[22]Oregon34–10 Washington20–10 Washington State40–21 Oregon State
1981Washington17–3 Oregon56–17 Oregon State23–10 Washington State
1982
1983Washington State24–7 Oregon27–9 Oregon State17–6 Washington
1984Washington19–7 Oregon State17–10 Oregon38–29 Washington State
1985
1986Washington38–3 Oregon28–12 Oregon State44–23 Washington State
19875Oregon29–22 Washington31–17 Washington State44–0 Oregon State
19885
1989Washington20–14 Oregon51–14 Oregon State20–9 Washington State
19904*
1991Washington29–7 Oregon58–6 Oregon State56–21 Washington State
1992
1993Washington21–6 Oregon28–21 Oregon State26–3 Washington State
1994
1995Oregon26–7 Washington State24–22 Washington12–10 Oregon State
1996Washington33–14 Oregon42–3 Oregon State31–24 OT Washington State
19975
19985
1999Washington[23]34–20 Oregon47–21 Oregon State24–14 Washington State
2000[24]
20015
20025 †Washington41–29 Oregon State42–14 Oregon29–26 3OT Washington State
2003Washington38–17 Oregon State42–10 Oregon27–19 Washington State
2004 Oregon State29–14 Washington38–19 Washington State50–21 Oregon
2005Oregon45–21 Washington34–31 Washington State56–14 Oregon State
2006
2007 Oregon State29–23 Washington52–17 Washington State38–31 2OT Oregon
2008Oregon45–10 Washington63–14 Washington State65–38 Oregon State
2009Oregon52–6 Washington State43–19 Washington37–33 Oregon State
2010Oregon43–23 Washington State53–16 Washington37–20 Oregon State
2011Oregon43–28 Washington State34–17 Washington49–21 Oregon State
2012Oregon51–26 Washington State52–21 Washington48–24 Oregon State
2013Oregon45–24 Washington62–38 Washington State36–35 Oregon State
2014Oregon38–31 Washington State45–20 Washington47–19 Oregon State
2015
2016Washington70–21 Oregon41–17 Oregon State45–17 Washington State
2017Washington42–7 Oregon State38–3 Oregon41–14 Washington State
2018
2019Oregon35–31 Washington37–35 Washington State24–10 Oregon State
20204
2021Oregon26–16 Washington38–24 Washington State38–29 Oregon State
2022Washington24–21 Oregon State37–34 Oregon51–33 Washington State
20237Washington36–33 Oregon[25]22–20 Oregon State24–21 Washington State

* Years in which no sweep was possible due to no single team playing all three of the others.

5, 4, 3 Number of games played, of the possible 6-game round-robin series. If no annotation, all 6 games were played.

12, 0 The series was disrupted by World War II, with only Washington fielding a team in 1943 and 1944. In 1945 each team played the others twice, for a total of 12 games.

7 After winning the Northwest Championship in the regular season, Washington also won their rematch with Oregon in the 2023 Pac-12 Football Championship Game.

† The "Northwest Championship" name was coined in 2002.

Northwest Championship
Team Sweeps[15]
Washington33
Oregon16
Oregon State12
Washington State6
Longest Streaks
Team Streak[15]
Oregon7
Washington5
Oregon State2
Washington State2

References

  1. 1 2 3 Maisel, Ivan (November 25, 2002). "Tale Of Two T-Shirts". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2022. Washington is content with its unofficial Northwest Championship. "It had to be enough," quarterback Cody Pickett said Sunday. "Everybody left us for dead. We had to rally around something."
  2. 1 2 3 Condotta, Bob (November 21, 2012). "Ten years ago, Huskies won a wild Apple Cup in Pullman". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 8, 2022. Washington [...] had meandered through the first three-quarters of the season at 4-5 before Neuheisel said his team's new goal was to sweep its last three games against Oregon State, Oregon and WSU and win what he coined the "Northwest Championship." Washington had two-thirds of that title in hand as it headed to Pullman.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Beavers will have to wait to learn bowl fate". The Associated Press. November 22, 2004. Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2022. Oregon State also bagged the fictitious Northwest Championship, created by former Washington coach Rick Neuheisel to inspire the Huskies. The title goes to the team that beats all of the Pac-10 teams in the Pacific Northwest.
  4. 1 2 3 "Husky Traditions" (PDF). University of Washington Athletics. 2003. Retrieved January 16, 2022. Since 1903, the first year in which the four teams all played each other, the Huskies have managed to sweep all three opponents and capture the Northwest Championship 28 times, including that first 1903 season. The series has been interrupted at times due to scheduling. The longest stretch of Northwest Championships (five) was put together by Husky teams from 1975-1979. Washington's 28 "Northwest Championships" leads the four schools. Oregon State is second with 10 sweeps while Oregon has six and Washington State five.
  5. 1 2 "Washington at Arizona – Huskies travel to Arizona for key Pac-10 contest". gohuskies.com (Press release). University of Washington Athletics. November 1, 1999. Archived from the original on July 19, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2022. Dawgs vs. the Northwest: Washington is off to a 2-0 start this year in its quest to claim the Pacific Northwest Championship. The Huskies have scored victories against Oregon (34-20) and Oregon State (47-21) and will face Washington State Nov. 20 in Husky Stadium. Some of Washington's oldest and longest rivalries are against the other three northwest Pac-10 schools. The Huskies have faced Oregon 93 times, Washington State in 91 games and Oregon State on 84 occasions. Washington owns the advantage in all three series. The Huskies lead the Ducks 56-32-5, Washington State 58-27-6 and Oregon State 54-26-4. Combined, Washington has a 168-85-15 (.655) record against its northwest rivals.
  6. ↑ Jude, Adam (October 12, 2018). "For No. 7 Huskies, slim playoff hopes (and Northwest pride!) on the line Saturday at rival Oregon". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 8, 2022. Let's pause and give an overdue shoutout here to Rick Neuheisel, whose genius (genius?) creation of the "Northwest Championship" has long strummed the emotional strings of fans' hearts from all parts of the region, from Ashland to Zillah, from the Puget Sound to the Willamette Valley, from the Palouse to Corvallis. Thank you, Rick.
  7. ↑ Sixkiller, Sonny; Condotta, Bob (2004). Sonny Sixkiller's Tales from the Huskies Sideline. Sports Publishing LLC. p. 131. ISBN 1582614075. Just behind beating USC was beating Northwest rivals. We didn't call it the Northwest Championship back then—Rick Neuheisel came up with that a few years ago. We always talked about beating them; we just didn't put a name to it. We had pretty good success doing that when I was in school—we went 3-0 against Oregon State and 2-1 against Oregon and Washington State.
  8. 1 2 Kercheval, Ben (April 1, 2019). "How the Arizona Hotshots ended their losing streak to become the AAF's hottest team". CBS Sports. Retrieved January 8, 2022. "We just found something to play for. We had games against Oregon State, Oregon and Washington State, so we created a 'Northwest Championship.' We found a rallying cry. We had little shirts with check marks on them," he said. "And we knocked them all off." ... At Washington, Neuheisel found the best way to motivate his players was the perfect storm of playing their top three rivals in successive weeks.
  9. ↑ "Husky Traditions". Columns, the University of Washington Alumni Magazine. 2003. Retrieved January 18, 2022. However, a late-season sweep of the so-called Northwest championship last year is proof Washington has the makings of a solid defense.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Condotta, Bob (October 12, 2004). "Huskies eyeing mythical Northwest title". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 8, 2022. Fans of other schools cried that the Northwest Championship was strictly mythical, just another devious Neuheisel ploy. But the Huskies didn't care, and proudly laid claim to it again last year when, in the midst of one of the most chaotic seasons in school history, the lone highlight was beating Oregon State, Oregon and Washington State by a combined 61 points.
  11. 1 2 Johns, Greg (September 18, 2005). "Beating Idaho Has Never Seemed Sweeter". Kitsap Sun. Retrieved January 8, 2022. No, you don't win any prizes for beating the Idaho Vandals. Not if you're the big, bad Washington Huskies. The neighbors from the east didn't even deserve a spot in Rick Neuheisel's mythical Northwest championship a few years ago.
  12. 1 2 Kirkpatrick, Cliff (November 22, 2011). "Civil War presser". Lebanon Express. Retrieved January 8, 2022. Both teams are going for the mythical Northwest championship. They defeated Washington and Washington State this season.
  13. ↑ Miller, Ted (October 27, 2003). "UW, Ducks renew rivalry". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved January 16, 2022. The UW then went on to upset third-ranked Washington State and claim the Neuheisel-invented "Northwest Championship.
  14. ↑ Thamel, Pete. "Oregon, Washington officially leave Pac-12 for Big Ten". ESPN. ESPN Enterprises, Inc. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Game results on Winsipedia: Results of the 6-game round-robin series:
  16. ↑ Sleeper, John (October 29, 2004). "Dawgs have given Ducks reason to do some quacking". Kitsap Sun. Retrieved January 8, 2022. Braxton Cleman wore a homemade T-shirt that declared the Huskies the prime candidate for the "Northwest Championship," whatever that is (does Boise State have a vote?), and had Oregon and Oregon State checked off as the conquered masses.
  17. 1 2 3 Moseley, Rob (November 12, 2002). "Dog days for the Huskies". The Register-Guard. Retrieved May 30, 2022. With a convincing win over Oregon State last Saturday, Washington is 5-5 overall and 2-4 in the Pac-10 Conference. Entering their game against Oregon on Saturday at Autzen Stadium, the Huskies are still alive for a bowl berth and still have a chance for a winning season.
  18. ↑ Armstrong, Ken; Perry, Nick (2010). Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime, and Complicity. Bison Books. pp. 138–139. ISBN 978-0803228108. Neuheisel learned everyone's name. He picked up their lingo, and invited players to his house to jet-ski, and found ways to motivate that sounded corny but somehow worked, like lumping the games against WSU and the Oregon schools into what he called the Northwest Championship.
  19. 1 2 Jude, Adam (October 5, 2016). "Silence was Golden, and purple: Remembering when UW last won at Oregon in 2002". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 8, 2022. That completed what Neuheisel had dubbed the Northwest Championship, with the Huskies closing out the season with successive victories over Oregon State, Oregon and WSU (after losing to USC, Arizona State and UCLA the three weeks prior). Neuheisel even had T-shirts made up with blank boxes to check off after each win. [...] The Huskies wore those T-shirts as they marched back onto the Autzen Stadium turf for their postgame brouhaha.
  20. ↑ Hunt, John (October 16, 2007). "'Apparently' it's Husky Week". The Oregonian. Retrieved January 17, 2022. There's also the mythical "Northwest championship" to play for, which Reed brought up. "I do know that this is a game that we get excited for, probably more so than most of the other Pac-10 games," [Oregon defensive end Nick] Reed said. "Because it's a Northwest rivalry and we got to win the Northwest championship."
  21. 1 2 Thorpe, Jacob (November 23, 2015). "WSU eyes northwest championship". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved January 17, 2022. Washington State heads into Apple Cup week ranked No. 20 in both major polls and has a chance to win the northwest crown for the first time since 1983. The Cougars have already blown out the Beavers and have upended the Ducks. Now they just need to beat the 5-6 Huskies to be the undisputed kings of the Pacific Northwest hill
  22. ↑ Allen, Karen (November 16, 1980). Written at Corvallis, Oregon. "Ducks' 40–21 win satisfies almost everybody". Statesman Journal. Salem, Oregon. Retrieved October 11, 2022. It brought Oregon a "Northwest championship"—wins over Washington, Washington State, and Oregon State—for the first time since 1954.
  23. ↑ Miller, Ted (November 16, 1999). "Grandma has Big Interest in Apple Cup". Seattle Post–Intelligencer. The UW is going for the Northwest championship, having already beaten Oregon and Oregon State
  24. ↑ "Around the Pac–10: Taking a shot?". The News Tribune. Tacoma. October 6, 2000. Retrieved October 14, 2022. Oregon State coach Dennis Erickson had a wry response this week when asked whether he thought it was important for Oregon State to win Saturday and try to capture the so-called Northwest championship among OSU, Oregon, Washington and Washington State.
  25. ↑ Washington and Oregon rematched in the 2023 Pac-12 Football Championship Game, with Washington winning 34–31.
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