UW Husky football early game times announced, including change to Apple Cup

The modern landscape of college football continues to upend traditional expectations. For the first time in the game's 126-year history, the Apple Cup will be played on a Sunday.

Washington on Wednesday announced its kickoff times and broadcast partners for the first three games of the 2026 season, revealing the 118th Apple Cup has been pushed back to Sunday, Sept. 6, after initially being scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 5. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on NBC.

UW will host Utah State for a 12:30 kickoff a week later on Sept. 12 and will be shown on Big Ten Network. Washington's final nonconference game of the season, against FCS Eastern Washington on Sept. 19, will take place at 4:15 p.m., and will again be broadcast on Big Ten Network.

From a simple scheduling perspective, the Apple Cup moving to Sunday makes some sense. The NFL season won't kick off until a few days later, when the Seahawks host the New England Patriots on Wednesday, Sept. 9, in a rematch of the Super Bowl LX, leaving Sunday available.

And the Apple Cup will lead directly into the Shamrock Series game between Notre Dame and Wisconsin at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., also broadcast on NBC. Sunday's only other football game - the Music City Kickoff between Ole Miss and Louisville - also begins at 4:30 p.m., effectively guaranteeing the Apple Cup a national audience.

Additionally, the Apple Cup only recently returned to being played on Saturdays. From 2012-2021, UW and WSU met nine times. Seven of those games were on Fridays. The game has also been played twice on Tuesdays, most recently in 1983; 10 times on Thursdays, primarily in the 1910s; and even once on a Monday, a 21-0 UW win in Pullman during the 1935 season.

But the schedule change does continue to highlight the growing move away from college football tradition.

Playing the game on the opening weekend already reinforced the circumstances that made this cross-state rivalry a nonconference matchup between schools less than 300 miles apart. And the matchup still has an uncertain future. The current scheduling agreement between UW and WSU expires after the 2028 season.

Here's what you need to know:

* Game 1: UW vs. Washington State at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 6, on NBC

* Game 2: UW vs. Utah State at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, on Big Ten Network

* Game 3: UW vs. Eastern Washington at 4:15 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, on Big Ten Network.

Here's an updated look at UW's full 2026 schedule with all the times and dates that have been announced thus far:

Sept. 6 vs. Washington State | 1 p.m., NBC

Sept. 12 vs. Utah State | 12:30 p.m., Big Ten Network

Sept. 19 vs. Eastern Washington | 4:15 p.m., Big Ten Network

Sept. 26 vs. Minnesota | TV/Time TBD

Oct. 3 at USC | TV/Time TBD

Oct. 9 vs. Iowa (Friday) | 6 p.m., Fox

Oct. 16 at Purdue (Friday) | 5 p.m., Fox

Oct. 24 BYE

Oct. 31 at Nebraska | Time/TV TBD

Nov. 7 vs. Penn State | Time/TV TBD

Nov. 14 at Michigan State | Time/TV TBD

Nov. 21 vs. Indiana | Time/TV TBD

Nov. 28 at Oregon | Time/TV TBD

Seattle Times reporter Sofia Schwarzwalder contributed to this report.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 4:51 PM.