Big Ten having ‘ongoing conversation’ about future scheduling of Oregon-Oregon State, Apple Cup rivalries

The Big Ten has not made any decisions regarding the viability of Oregon playing Oregon State or for the Apple Cup to continue being played at the end of the regular season, but the conference has not ruled it out either.

The status of the two Pacific Northwest in-state rivalries, which date back to 1894 and 1900, respectively, has been in question since three weeks ago, when Oregon and Washington announced they would be joining the Big Ten beginning next year.

“We haven’t had too detailed a conversation with either of the two institutions about that,” Big Ten chief operating officer Kerry Kenny said. “All we’ve said early on is we understand that there are local conversations that you all need to engage in and we’re supportive of learning from those conversations as they play out and then having that be a factor in what type of schedule model that we create.

“Obviously in the Big Ten we’ve had great success with rivalry weekend at the end of the season with a lot of games that have been there for many years, Michigan-Ohio State, Wisconsin-Minnesota, etc. We want to do what’s best for the collective group of our 18 schools, but we understand that we need to make sure that all of our schools are providing input into what types of local or traditional rivalries that we need to take into account as we build out what’s best for the model. It’s still an ongoing conversation, but something we want to be good partners and understand what’s important for our new institutions.”

Both UO and UW have repeatedly stated their desire to continuing playing their in-state rivals in all sports, including at home and away. Doing so, including at the end of the regular season, would not necessarily be a prohibitive challenge to the Big Ten as it also adds UCLA and USC, which traditionally end their seasons against Cal and Notre Dame, respectively, every other year.

Last week, OSU athletic director Scott Barnes the school had not decided whether to continue playing Oregon, and earlier this month Washington State athletic director Pat Chun recognized the anger of Cougars fans about continuing to play Washington but said he and WSU president Kirk Shulz have to “to make sound financial decisions for the athletic department” when deciding whether to continue playing the Apple Cup.

Should Oregon State wish to continue the rivalry, Oregon will need create openings in its nonconference schedules to add OSU as an opponent before 2029. UO’s nonconference schedules are full though 2028, while Washington has at least one opening from 2024-30 if WSU elects to continue the Apple Cup.

Oregon State and Washington State continue to deliberate their future conference affiliations, with the Mountain West and American the most likely destinations if the ACC ends up adding Stanford and Cal.