Washington State adds Idaho to 2033 schedule, pays $550,000 guarantee

Washington State did more than pencil in a future opponent. By adding Idaho to its 2033 schedule at Martin Stadium in Pullman and agreeing to a $550,000 guarantee, the Cougars kept one of the Northwest’s most recognizable football relationships alive while giving the Vandals a cash return that matters in the FCS economy. The Sept. 3, 2033 matchup is the first confirmed nonconference game for either school that season, which gives it a rare kind of scheduling weight for a game so far in the future.

The draw is not just the check. Washington State and Idaho first met on Nov. 18, 1894, and the series has long outlived the conferences, divisions and coaching staffs that have come and gone around it. After Washington State’s 13-10 win on Aug. 30, 2025, the Cougars lead the series 74-17-3. Idaho’s last victory in the rivalry came in 2000, a 38-34 finish that now stands as a marker of how long the Vandals have been chasing a breakthrough in the matchup. The 2025 meeting was the 93rd overall between the schools.

For Idaho, games like this sit at the intersection of business and identity. A $550,000 guarantee is real money for an FCS program, but the value goes beyond the payout. Playing Washington State puts the Vandals back into a rivalry that still carries recognition across the Palouse, with Pullman and Moscow separated by about nine miles. Martin Stadium sits on the Washington State campus, which only sharpens the local feel of a series that has remained relevant even when the schools have spent long stretches in different competitive lanes.

The 2025 game offered a reminder of why the matchup keeps getting attention. It aired on The CW, both teams entered that season with new head coaches, and the result stayed close enough to preserve the feeling that this series can still matter in the moment, not just in the record book. Washington State’s 11-game winning streak in the rivalry underlines the imbalance, but it also shows why Idaho’s presence on the calendar still has value: every meeting brings a built-in audience, a regional story line and a measuring stick that reaches well beyond one Saturday in Pullman.

In an era when FBS schedules are often stripped of old regional ties, Washington State keeping Idaho on the books for 2033 says something important about the Northwest football ecosystem. The money helps Idaho, the familiarity helps Washington State, and the rivalry itself keeps the FCS visible in a part of the country where history still sells.