Northwest Championship

Unofficial American football title From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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. The Washington Huskies won 33 "championships" of the region, just one shy of the 34 won by the other three programs combined.

SportCollege football

LocationPacific Northwest

First meeting1903

StadiumsAutzen Stadium
Reser Stadium
Husky Stadium
Martin Stadium

Quick facts Sport, Location ...

Northwest Championship
Statistics
Oregon Ducks Oregon State Beavers Washington Huskies Washington State Cougars
Sport	College football
Location	Pacific Northwest
First meeting	1903
Stadiums	Autzen Stadium Reser Stadium Husky Stadium Martin Stadium
Trophy	None
All-time series	Washington, 33 Oregon, 16 Oregon State, 12 Washington State, 6
Largest victory	Oregon, 172–62 (2008)
Longest win streak	Oregon, 7 (2008–2014)
Current win streak	Washington, 2 (2022–2023)

200km
124miles

Washington State

Washington

Oregon State

Oregon

Locations of Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, and Washington State

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 title is not without precedence though as the 1897 Oregon Agricultural Aggies football team, precursors to the Oregon State Beavers, declared themselves "Champions of the Northwest" after defeating both Washington and Oregon, though they did not play Washington State that season.^[9]

The Northwest Championship has been described as a "so-called",^[10] "fictitious",^[3] and "mythical"^[11]^[12]^[13] title, invented by Neuheisel only to motivate his 2002 team.^[14] 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]^[13] 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.^[15]

Teams

The Northwest Championship involved the four Pacific Northwest teams that played football in the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference. Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, and Washington State generally played each other annually in a 6-game round-robin series.^[16] Three of the six games were heated rivalry games, and all of the games represented some of the most-played college football series.^[5]^[16]

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.^[12] 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.^[17]

2002 Origin

In his fourth year as head coach, Neuheisel's 2002 team was floundering.^[18] In early November they had a 4–5 record, 1–4 against Pac-10 opponents, and had lost 4 of the last 5 games.^[18] The Huskies were at serious risk of a losing season, their first since 1976, and of missing a bowl game.^[18]

Through rare^[11] 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]^[19]

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.^[20]

Trophy

No trophy is awarded to the Northwest Champion, and no organization grants the title.^[11]

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]^[20]

Results

The Washington Huskies were successful in claiming the newly coined Northwest Championship in 2002.^[11] Since then, Oregon^[21] 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.^[22] 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]^[22]

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.^[16]

More information Season, Game 1 ...

Season	Northwest Champion^[16]	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
1903	Washington	5–0 Oregon Agricultural	10–0 Washington Agricultural	6–5 Oregon
1904⁴
1905⁴
1906³*
1907³*
1908⁴
1909³*
1910⁴
1911⁵	Washington	34–0 Oregon Agricultural	29–3 Oregon	30–6 Washington State
1912	Washington	9–3 Oregon Agricultural	30–14 Oregon	19–0 Washington State
1913⁵	Washington	47–0 Oregon Agricultural	10–7 Oregon	20–0 Washington State
1914
1915³*
1916⁵
1917⁵	Washington State	26–3 Oregon	6–0 Oregon Agricultural	14–0 Washington
1918³*
1919⁵
1920⁴
1921⁵
1922
1923	Washington	14–0 Oregon Agricultural	24–7 Washington State	26–7 Oregon
1924
1925³*
1926⁴
1927⁴*
1928⁵
1929⁴*
1930⁴*
1931⁴*
1932⁴*
1933⁴*
1934⁵
1935⁴*
1936	Washington	19–7 Oregon State	7–0 Oregon	40–0 Washington State
1937
1938	Oregon State	13–6 Washington	7–6 Washington State	14–0 Oregon
1939	Oregon State	13–7 Washington	13–0 Washington State	19–14 Oregon
1940	Washington	10–0 Oregon	19–0 Oregon State	33–9 Washington State
1941
1942
1943⁰*
1944⁰*
1945¹²
1946	Oregon State	13–12 Washington State	13–0 Oregon	21–12 Washington
1947	Oregon	6–0 Washington	12–6 Washington State	14–6 Oregon State
1948	Oregon	33–7 Washington State	13–7 Washington	10–0 Oregon State
1949	Oregon State	7–3 Washington	35–6 Washington State	20–10 Oregon
1950	Washington	35–6 Oregon State	27–12 Oregon	52–21 Washington State
1951	Washington State	26–13 Oregon State	41–6 Oregon	27–25 Washington
1952	Washington	49–0 Oregon	38–13 Oregon State	33–27 Washington State
1953
1954	Oregon	26–7 Washington	26–14 Washington State	33–14 Oregon State
1955
1956
1957
1958	Washington State	6–0 Oregon	7–0 Oregon State	18–14 Washington
1959	Washington	13–12 Oregon	13–6 Oregon State	20–0 Washington State
1960	Washington	30–29 Oregon State	7–6 Oregon	8–7 Washington State
1961	Oregon State	14–6 Washington State	3–0 Washington	6–2 Oregon
1962
1963	Washington	34–7 Oregon State	26–19 Oregon	16–0 Washington State
1964	Oregon State	9–7 Washington	24–7 Washington State	7–6 Oregon
1965	Washington	24–20 Oregon	28–21 Oregon State	27–9 Washington State
1966	Oregon State	41–13 Washington State	24–12 Washington	20–15 Oregon
1967
1968	Oregon State	35–21 Washington	16–8 Washington State	41–19 Oregon
1969	Oregon State	10–6 Washington	38–3 Washington State	10–7 Oregon
1970	Washington	29–20 Oregon State	25–13 Oregon	43–25 Washington State
1971
1972	Washington State	31–14 Oregon	37–7 Oregon State	27–10 Washington
1973	Washington State	21–14 Oregon	13–7 Oregon State	52–26 Washington
1974	Oregon State	23–9 Washington	17–3 Washington State	35–16 Oregon
1975	Washington	27–17 Oregon	35–7 Oregon State	28–27 Washington State
1976	Washington	24–12 Oregon State	14–7 Oregon	51–32 Washington State
1977	Washington	54–0 Oregon	14–6 Oregon State	35–15 Washington State
1978	Washington	34–0 Oregon State	20–14 Oregon	38–8 Washington State
1979	Washington	21–17 Oregon	41–0 Oregon State	17–7 Washington State
1980^[23]	Oregon	34–10 Washington	20–10 Washington State	40–21 Oregon State
1981	Washington	17–3 Oregon	56–17 Oregon State	23–10 Washington State
1982
1983	Washington State	24–7 Oregon	27–9 Oregon State	17–6 Washington
1984	Washington	19–7 Oregon State	17–10 Oregon	38–29 Washington State
1985
1986	Washington	38–3 Oregon	28–12 Oregon State	44–23 Washington State
1987⁵	Oregon	29–22 Washington	31–17 Washington State	44–0 Oregon State
1988⁵
1989	Washington	20–14 Oregon	51–14 Oregon State	20–9 Washington State
1990⁴*
1991	Washington	29–7 Oregon	58–6 Oregon State	56–21 Washington State
1992
1993	Washington	21–6 Oregon	28–21 Oregon State	26–3 Washington State
1994
1995	Oregon	26–7 Washington State	24–22 Washington	12–10 Oregon State
1996	Washington	33–14 Oregon	42–3 Oregon State	31–24 ^OT Washington State
1997⁵
1998⁵
1999	Washington^[24]	34–20 Oregon	47–21 Oregon State	24–14 Washington State
2000^[25]
2001⁵
2002⁵ †	Washington	41–29 Oregon State	42–14 Oregon	29–26 ^3OT Washington State
2003	Washington	38–17 Oregon State	42–10 Oregon	27–19 Washington State
2004	Oregon State	29–14 Washington	38–19 Washington State	50–21 Oregon
2005	Oregon	45–21 Washington	34–31 Washington State	56–14 Oregon State
2006
2007	Oregon State	29–23 Washington	52–17 Washington State	38–31 ^2OT Oregon
2008	Oregon	45–10 Washington	63–14 Washington State	65–38 Oregon State
2009	Oregon	52–6 Washington State	43–19 Washington	37–33 Oregon State
2010	Oregon	43–23 Washington State	53–16 Washington	37–20 Oregon State
2011	Oregon	43–28 Washington State	34–17 Washington	49–21 Oregon State
2012	Oregon	51–26 Washington State	52–21 Washington	48–24 Oregon State
2013	Oregon	45–24 Washington	62–38 Washington State	36–35 Oregon State
2014	Oregon	38–31 Washington State	45–20 Washington	47–19 Oregon State
2015
2016	Washington	70–21 Oregon	41–17 Oregon State	45–17 Washington State
2017	Washington	42–7 Oregon State	38–3 Oregon	41–14 Washington State
2018
2019	Oregon	35–31 Washington	37–35 Washington State	24–10 Oregon State
2020⁴
2021	Oregon	26–16 Washington	38–24 Washington State	38–29 Oregon State
2022	Washington	24–21 Oregon State	37–34 Oregon	51–33 Washington State
2023⁷	Washington	36–33 Oregon^[26]	22–20 Oregon State	24–21 Washington State
2024⁴*
2025⁴*

* 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.

More information Team, Sweeps ...

Northwest Championship
Team	Sweeps^[16]
Washington	33
Oregon	16
Oregon State	12
Washington State	6

More information Team, Streak ...

Longest Streaks
Team	Streak^[16]
Oregon	7
Washington	5
Oregon State	2
Washington State	2

References

[1]
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]
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]
"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]
"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]
"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]
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]
Welsch, Jeff (January 2003). Tales from Oregon State Sports. Sports Publishing. pp. 1–10. ISBN 978-1-58261-706-0. Retrieved January 3, 2008.
[10]
"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.
[11]
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.
[12]
Johns, Greg (September 18, 2005). "Beating Idaho Has Never Seemed Sweeter". Kitsap Sun. Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. 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.
[13]
Kirkpatrick, Cliff (November 22, 2011). "Civil War presser". Lebanon Express. Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2022. Both teams are going for the mythical Northwest championship. They defeated Washington and Washington State this season.
[14]
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.
[15]
Thamel, Pete (August 4, 2023). "Oregon, Washington officially leave Pac-12 for Big Ten". ESPN. ESPN Enterprises, Inc. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
[16]
Game results on Winsipedia:
Oregon

Oregon State

Washington

Washington State
Results of the 6-game round-robin series:
Oregon–Oregon State

Oregon–Washington

Oregon–Washington State

Oregon State–Washington

Oregon State–Washington State

Washington–Washington State
[17]
Sleeper, John (October 29, 2004). "Dawgs have given Ducks reason to do some quacking". Kitsap Sun. Archived from the original on September 5, 2023. 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.
[18]
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.
[19]
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.
[20]
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.
[21]
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."
[22]
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
[23]
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.
[24]
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
[25]
"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.
[26]
Washington and Oregon rematched in the 2023 Pac-12 Football Championship Game, with Washington winning 34–31.

Other Northwest teams

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