Always difficult to predict, the Apple Cup has taken on next-level inscrutability with the move to September. Which of the three versions of Washington State will be on display Saturday afternoon at Martin Stadium? Is Washington worthy of its status as a three-touchdown favorite after two wins over outmanned opponents?

But there are a handful of known components ahead of the latest installment. For instance, we know the 117th matchup won’t be the last — and that the 118th, 119th and 120th editions are under contract.

Beyond the 2028 matchup in Husky Stadium, there is nothing on the books. The long-haul future of the Apple Cup is steeped in uncertainty.

In that regard, the rivalry reflects the landscape — and we don’t mean the rolling hills of the Palouse or snow-capped peaks of the Cascades.

Changes to the structure of college football’s regular season and postseason, recalibrations of conference scheduling strategies, a barrage of legal challenges and the economic revolution across the NCAA have created a stew from which something new will arise.

But nobody knows exactly what it will look like and when it will form.

We can’t state with complete certainty that the Big Ten schedule will clear space for the Huskies to play three non-conference games per season in the 2030s because we don’t know if there will be a Big Ten in the 2030s. The conference could break apart if the top brands join their peers in the SEC and create a super league.

Forget conference affiliations. A decade from now, the Huskies and Cougars might be competing in different classifications altogether.

Fortunately for those who cherish the Apple Cup and view college football as a regional sport at its core, the Huskies and Cougars have time to figure it out. The five-game contract, which was signed two years ago, expires with the 2028 matchup at Husky Stadium.

The schools have two or three years to assess the situation before facing a logistical deadline with their 2029 schedules.

But will they know enough by then to commit to a long-haul series? The future of college sports might not be entirely clear at that point because so many of the media rights contracts holding everything together run into the early 2030s.

Based on known elements, it’s reasonable to conclude the Huskies and Cougars will be in position, by 2027-28, to sign a short-term extension of their agreement — something that runs through the 2030 season, for example.

(That’s exactly the situation one state south. Oregon and Oregon State meet Saturday in Eugene, but there will be no Civil War next season — the respective schedules won’t allow it. The schools reportedly are discussing a renewal of the rivalry starting in 2027 that would last into the early 2030s.)

Which brings us to the second issue: Will the Huskies and Cougars want to extend the series if they have the opportunity?

The overarching reason to continue is clear and obvious: The Apple Cup is good for college football in the state, just as it has been since the first meeting in 1900.

But each campus has reasons to consider ending the series, as well.

For example, the rivalry limits Washington’s ability to schedule home-and-home series with opponents from the SEC, ACC and Big 12 that have national appeal.

For budget purposes, the Huskies, like many of their peers in the Power Four, aim to play seven home games each season. In odd years, when they have five Big Ten home games, the schedule allows for one non-conference road game. In even years, when they have four Big Ten home games, they must play all three non-conference games at home.

If Washington commits to playing Washington State in home-and-road fashion, it can’t schedule a home-and-home series with Power Four schools — the math doesn’t work. Every game that isn’t the Apple Cup must be played in Husky Stadium.

And looking out, you can already see an issue: The Huskies have a home-and-home series with Tennessee on the books in 2029-30.

They have five conference home games scheduled in ’29 and will visit Knoxville. But that’s also the year when the Apple Cup rotation would put the game in Pullman, meaning UW would have just one non-conference home game (Boise State) for a total of six dates in Husky Stadium.

Can they make the budget work? Perhaps. But it’s a complication, for sure.

The issues for WSU are not financial — the Apple Cup works well from that standpoint because it guarantees the Cougars a home sellout every other year and provides them with a high-level opponent to sell as part of the Pac-12 media rights package.

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But as success increasingly depends on the amount of NIL money and revenue sharing plowed into the roster, the Cougars face an accelerating competitive disadvantage relative to Washington. (The Huskies will have seven times the amount of conference revenue flowing into their coffers each year.)

It’s easy to envision WSU not only losing the Apple Cup each year but getting embarrassed in a way the Cougars have rarely been embarrassed in the past.

Is that the best outcome for the program? For the university?

Many WSU fans want the series canceled because of what they view as Washington’s treasonous decision to leave for the Big Ten, which decimated the Pac-12 and tossed the Cougars (and Oregon State) into a desperate scramble for survival.

That would be the wrong reason — and fortunately, WSU’s administration was wise enough to secure the current extension. Since that decision, in the fall of 2023, the landscape has changed radically. And it will continue to shift and evolve as the 2020s come to a close.

The Apple Cup is a treasure worth saving, even if the process requires unprecedented contortions of the schedule and the rivalry becomes the season opener for both teams.

But just as there are no guarantees the Big Ten will exist a decade from now, the Apple Cup could be subject to forces beyond the control of either school.

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