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Washington State’s Luke Falk nabs Pac-12 Player of the Week, breaking Khalil Tate’s streak

Washington State quarterback Luke Falk (4) throws a pass as he is chased by Stanford linebacker Peter Kalambayi (34) during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Pullman, Wash. Falk won Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week Monday afternoon. (Young Kwak / AP)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

PULLMAN – Luke Falk broke the Pac-12’s all-time record for passing yards on Saturday against Stanford and on Monday, the Washington State quarterback put an end to what perhaps has been the conference’s most impressive streak in 2017.

Ending a four-week reign by Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate, Falk was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season Monday afternoon. Tate had set a Pac-12 record by winning it every week dating back to Oct. 9.

The award isn’t anything new to Falk, either. WSU’s fourth-year starter, who has just three or four more games in a Cougar uniform, was named the Player of the Week after his first career start in 2014 at Oregon State and won it for the sixth time on Monday.

Falk had already broken Sean Mannion’s conference record for career passing yards – the WSU QB is now at 13,801 – by the time he engineered the 94-yard touchdown drive that allowed the Cougars to beat then 18th-ranked Stanford, 24-21, at Martin Stadium.

On the drive, Falk completed six passes for 75 yards, including an 11-yard dart to Jamire Calvin for the go-ahead touchdown.

“We’d been on the verge of scoring every time we had the ball, really, because we’d changed the field quite a bit throughout the course of the game,” WSU coach Mike Leach said. “…We figured we were on the verge of scoring, not just that time but several times. It was kind of business as usual, really.”

Falk finished the game 34-of-48 passing for 337 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. His last two starts have been polar opposites. In the previous game at Arizona, Falk had completed 13 passes for just 93 yards before he was pulled late in the second quarter and replaced by Tyler Hilinski.

Leach yanked his starter because he thought Falk spent too much time “overanalyzing” the game. But Falk didn’t look as stiff in the pocket on Saturday and played a clean game other than a pick-six in the third quarter.

“I thought he played better, I thought he was more relaxed,” WSU coach Mike Leach said. “Just played a nice, crisp aggressive game I thought.”

In addition to the Pac-12 record for career passing yards, Falk also owns those for total offense (13,453), pass completions (1,327), pass attempts (1,931) and 300-yard games (28). He enters the week second in Pac-12 history with 115 career touchdown passes, trailing only Matt Barkley’s record of 116.