Well that was pretty fun! I don't know how you celebrated last night, but I'm sure you have a story to tell. Mine involves a lot of yelling, jumping up and down, pounding a coffee table, and then nearly flipping of said coffee table. It still doesn't seem real, especially since -- again, I'm sure like a lot of you -- I figured the game was over at 21-0.
This team's got some serious stones, though. I actually didn't doubt that, as these guys have proven resilient over the past season and a half; I just didn't figure the Cougars would really be able to ever catch up after spotting the Utes a 21-point lead. I figured it was a matter of probability.
And in some sense, I was right: The last time the Cougs did something like this was 1988, so yes, what they did last night was highly improbable.
But not impossible. And Connor Halliday, once again, had a lot to do with that. After getting off to a slow start (like the rest of the team), he finished with a flourish: In the second half, he completed 22-of-27 passes for 267 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions.
In all, he threw for 417 yards and four touchdowns as he continues to rewrite WSU's record book. With those touchdowns, Halliday took over the career lead for touchdowns by a WSU quarterback (78), surpassing Alex Brink's record (76). He also now is only about 1,000 yards away from passing Brink for the school yardage record -- or, in other words, about 2.5 games worth.
He also made sure he didn't fall off the pace toward some bigger records.
Here's a look at some more notes and stats, courtesy of WSU Athletic Communications.
Notes
- With Frankie Luvu making his collegiate debut, 22 players have now made their WSU debuts this season including 16 freshmen (5 true freshmen)
- WSU rushed for a season-high 80 yards
- Halliday threw for 417 yards, his 19th career 300-yard game and 10th career 400-yard game
- Halliday's career passing yard total sits at 9,749, trailing Brink's record of 10,913
- Halliday completed 39 passes, upping his career completion total to 860, breaking Brink's record of 848
- Halliday recorded his 13th career 4-TD game
- Sulaiman Hameed made his first career start, starting at free safety
- Gerard Wicks' 24-yard run was the longest by WSU this season
- Dom Williams caught his 15th and 16th career touchdown passes, tied for ninth-most in WSU history
- Vince Mayle caught his 11th and 12th career touchdown passes
- Mayle tallied his third career 100-yard game with 120 yards
- Mayle's 81-yard touchdown was the longest of his career
- River Cracraft matched a career high with nine catches for a career-high 126 yards, second-straight 100-yard game
- Wicks rushed for a season-high 56 yards
- Jamal Morrow rushed for a season-high 48 yards
- Jeremiah Allison made a career-high 13 tackles, second-straight double-digit tackle game.