So much for this finally being the year the Cougars finally beat the Huskies in the Apple Cup.

Washington manhandled Washington State once again, and the Huskies won for the seventh straight year.

In the postgame news conference, WSU coach Mike Leach sniped at a reporter after losing to U-Dub for the seventh time in his eight seasons in Pullman.

Then three days later, Chris Petersen, who is 6-0 against the Cougs, announced he was stepping down as Huskies’ coach to “recharge.”

Other than that, a pretty boring weekend on Montlake.

Meanwhile, Boise State beat somebody last week, and will host somebody else on Saturday in the conference championship game.

As for the picks, Mark and Jason each went 2-0. Jason is 38-9 on college picks, 81-26 overall. Mark is 32-15 on college picks, 73-34 overall.

Jason can start to taste that prime rib the boss promised us this year.

Wait ... what?

COLLEGE

Hawaii (9-4) at Boise State (11-1)

Saturday, 1 p.m.

NELKE: Talk about setting the bar high. BSU is one stinker vs. BYU away from an undefeated season. Now, the Broncos have to hope Memphis and Cincinnati can find a way to beat each other this weekend, so Boise can go to a New Year’s Six bowl. Otherwise, the Broncos run the risk of repeating what happened last year, where the weather turned bad in the first quarter of their bowl game. Instead of figuring out a way to get the game in, organizers said the heck with it, packed up and went home. Thanks for coming.

Most schools would kill for an 11-1 season. Outside of southern Idaho, Boise’s near-perfect season has largely gone unnoticed. But no doubt other schools have noticed the job done in Bronco-land by Bryan Harsin, 63-16 in his sixth season in Boise.

’Tis the season for that, too.

As for this week’s game, Boise State already beat Hawaii eight weeks ago, 59-37 in Boise. Hawaii could make it interesting, but the outcome shouldn’t change — no matter which of their three quarterbacks the Broncos use.

BSU, 59-37

ELLIOTT: Earlier this week, some reports linked Harsin to Missouri ... While that hasn’t happened yet, it’s a wonder how the Broncos might convince him to hang around the Mountain West Conference. Boise State needs to take care of business at home this week in order to keep the dreams of a big bowl game alive. Otherwise, the Broncos might have to settle for some thick bacon at JB’s and maybe some barbecue chicken in the Meridian area.

BSU, 44-20