Battle of the Palouse The Battle of the Palouse is an American college football rivalry game between the Vandals of the University of Idaho and Cougars of Washington State University . The two land - grant universities are less than eight miles ( 13 km ) apart on the rural Palouse ; Idaho ' s campus in Moscow is directly on the Idaho – Washington border , and Washington State ' s campus directly west in Pullman , linked by Washington State Route 270 and the Bill Chipman Palouse Trail . Series history . The first game was played in November 1894 and resulted in a win for Washington State . The Vandals ' first - ever forward pass was attempted against the Cougars in 1907 : it was completed for a touchdown from a drop - kick formation in the fourth quarter and led to a 5 – 4 victory . Washington State has dominated the local rivalry , holding a 71 – 16 – 3 ( ) lead . The record since 1926 is even more dominant , with a 56 – 5 – 2 ( ) advantage for the Cougars . The longest winning streak for Idaho was three games ( 1923 – 25 ) , and has only five victories since that three - peat ( 1954 , 1964 , 1965 , 1999 , & 2000 ) and two ties ( 1927 , 1950 ) to offset the 56 losses . The games were skipped in 1969 and 1971 , unfortunate for Idaho as the 1971 Vandals posted one of the best records ( 8 – 3 ) in school history , while WSU was 4 – 7 . The rivalry became increasingly one - sided as WSU dominated in the 1970s ( except for 1974 ) and the original series ended , following the 1978 game . From 1979 to 1997 , the game was played just twice ( 1982 , 1989 ) until the 10 - year renewal from 1998 – 2007 . Since their last wins in 1999 and 2000 , Idaho has been physically outmatched in most of the seven games ; the game has only been played once since 2007 , in 2013 . As two schools are in close proximity , from 1938 to 1968 there was a tradition called The Loser ' s Walk , where during the week following the game students of the losing school would walk from their own campus to the winners ' campus , then receive rides back home from the winning side . This has frequently been misreported as students walking back to their own campus immediately following the game . In 1954 , the walk made national news when about 2 , 000 students from Washington State College made the trek east from Pullman to Moscow after the Cougars lost to Idaho for the first time in 29 years . In a span of less than five months from November 1969 to April 1970 , both schools ' aged wooden stadiums ( Idaho ' s Neale Stadium and WSU ' s Rogers Field ) burned down due to suspected arson . The WSU – Idaho game in 1970 was dubbed the Displaced Bowl , which was held in Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane on September 19 . The Cougars won the game ( their only win that season ) , as well as the next ten against the Vandals . The 1970 game was the first in the rivalry played on AstroTurf , which was new to Joe Albi that season . In 1978 the NCAA split Division I football in two : I - A ( now FBS ) and I - AA ( now FCS ) . Washington State was in Division I - A as part of the Pac - 10 Conference and Idaho downgraded to I - AA as part of the Big Sky Conference , whose other football members moved up from Division II . In the late 1970s , I - A football programs were allowed 50 % more scholarships and twice as many assistant coaches as I - AA teams . During the years they were in different divisions , the schools met only twice ( 1982 in Spokane and 1989 in Pullman ) . In 1996 , Idaho moved back up to Division I - A in the Big West Conference , and Idaho and WSU rekindled their century - old rivalry . Since the rivalry was reinstated in 1998 , every game has been played at Martin Stadium in Pullman , except for the matchup in 2003 , which was played at Seattle ' s Seahawks Stadium . The game played on the Idaho side of the border was in 1966 , a come - from - behind 14 – 7 Cougar victory on a very muddy field to prevent a Vandal three - peat . Future of rivalry . After ten years of the renewed rivalry , Vandal head coach Robb Akey , previously WSU ' s defensive coordinator , said in 2008 that he preferred the game not be played every year , instead saying he would prefer it as a " once - in - a - while thing . " Only one game was played during Akey ' s tenure , in his first season in 2007 , and he was fired in October 2012 . The meeting in 2013 on September 21 was a one - year revival , but the future of the series under current Vandal head coach Paul Petrino is unclear . The next game is tentatively scheduled for 2016 in Pullman , on September 17 .