'Happier' Quentin Moore looks forward to healthy Apple Cup
How fatherhood — and last year's recovery from a freak knee injury — have changed the tight end's outlook.
SEATTLE — Though he did what he could to leave this bitter feeling in 2024, Zach Durfee can acknowledge reality: even as a Minnesota native who began his career at a Division II school in South Dakota, the senior edge rusher knows the pain of losing an Apple Cup.
Durfee knows pain, period, having battled turf toe injuries on both feet last season. He tried to play through it against Washington State, but lasted only about a half, he said, of the Huskies’ 24-19 defeat to the Cougars at Lumen Field.
And so his memories of this rivalry, the 117th version of which will be played Saturday at Martin Stadium in Pullman, are “not very fond. Frustrating. Especially (because) I was playing hurt that game. Just a gross feeling when I think of it.”
Which he has this week, and more than he expected.
“I just tried to flush it,” Durfee said. “But you see video clips or clips from the game, it just ignites a fire in you. Makes you angry.”
Junior center Landen Hatchett, a native of Ferndale, Wash., similarly offered: “Just kind of having that feeling all year of not having the trophy with us and leaving that sour taste in our mouth … obviously we don’t want it, but it’s also motivating for this year.”
Maybe it stung more, though, for one Husky who didn’t — and couldn’t — play in the game.