Jacob Thorpe

PULLMAN – Of all the alumni who played football at Washington State, only the seniors who graduated in 1994 and 1995 – and any fifth-year seniors in 1933 – can say they went 2-0 in Pullman Apple Cups. On Saturday, the 14 members of Class of 2014 will have a chance to join that exclusive club.

TEMPE, Ariz. – On the first play of Saturday’s game Arizona State tried to pick on the new guy. It didn’t work. The Sun Devils sent running back D.J. Foster up the far side of the field, daring Marcellus Pippins to make a play in coverage against one of the Pac-12’s most dynamic players.

Once he got past the oh-so-brave hecklers who fought for jeering position alongside the Sun Devil Stadium tunnel, Luke Falk reflected on missed opportunities during a solitary journey back to the visitors’ locker room after Washington State’s 52-31 loss at Arizona State.

TEMPE, Ariz. – The last time Washington State won in Sun Devil Stadium, Jason Gesser had yet to lead the Cougars to a Rose Bowl and Mike Leach was just getting settled in as the head coach at Texas Tech. The Cougars haven’t been victorious in Tempe since 2001 and it’s a trend that is expected to continue today, with oddsmakers favoring the hosts by more than two touchdowns. “They have good players, they have explosive players like they always do and they play together pretty well,” Leach said.

PULLMAN – All Connor Halliday needed to break out of the melancholy that set in after his football season ended prematurely was the suggestion that perhaps he shouldn’t bother trying to come back. After checking out of Pullman Regional Hospital, Halliday returned to his parents’ home in Spokane, rehabbing the bones in his upper ankle that broke early in Washington State’s game against USC.

When Luke Falk found out that the football coaches at Idaho no longer considered him worth one of their scholarships, he felt too ashamed to tell his parents.