Falk Pac-12 player of week; WSU-ASU game at 10 a.m.
PULLMAN — Washington State quarterback Luke Falk was so impressive in his first start that the Pac-12 media named him the conference’s offensive player of the week, the Pac-12 announced on Monday.
Falk led the Cougars (3-7, 2-5 Pac-12) to a 39-32 win at Oregon State (4-5, 1-5) on Saturday, completing 44 of 61 passes for 471 yards and five touchdowns without throwing an interception. With Falk behind center the Cougars converted eight of 13 third-down opportunities and put together four touchdown drives that covered 70 or more yards.
The redshirt freshman quarterback became WSU’s starter when Connor Halliday was injured in WSU’s Nov. 1 game against USC. He is the second Cougar to earn the honor this season after Halliday won the award on Oct. 6 following WSU’s 60-59 loss to California. In that game Halliday sent an NCAA single-game record with 734 passing yards along with six touchdowns.
Arizona State’s Lloyd Carrington was named the conference’s defensive player of the week after recording eight tackles, a sack, forcing a fumble and returning an interception for a touchdown in No. 9 ASU’s 55-31 win over Notre Dame. Kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn of UCLA was named the Special Teams Player of the Week after making three field goals and five extra points in UCLA’s 44-30 win at Washington.