Connor Halliday named Pac-12 Player of the Week

Connor Halliday is producing such eye-popping numbers on a weekly basis that to some they don't even stand out anymore. A 500-yard passing game is fairly absurd, even in the current age of college football, yet Halliday threatens that every week. While some may be numb to his huge games, when you set a FBS passing record with 734 yards, it still draws attention. Halliday was named Pac-12 offensive Player of the Week on Monday.

Based on numbers alone, Halliday would have had a strong case to be named Pac-12 POW every week this season. Rationalizing the winners is often a futile exercise, but he wasn't passed over this week, despite WSU losing the game. When you complete 49-of-70 passes for 734 yards and six touchdowns while not committing a single turnover, it's hard to overlook those numbers, regardless of the outcome of the game. Even with the pass-happy trend of college football, Halliday became just the 15th player in FBS history to throw for more than 600 yards in a game and he needed only three quarters to accomplish that feat.

This is the second time Halliday has earned Pac-12 POW honors. He first earned the award as a redshirt freshman in 2011 when he threw for 494 yards against Arizona State. As crazy as that performance was, his passing total against the Sun Devils was 240 yards shy of what he shredded Cal for. For some quarterbacks, 240 yards is a decent game.

There was little doubt the Pac-12 POW was going to come from the WSU-Cal game be it Halliday or Jared Goff. Vince Mayle and his 263 receiving yards had a decent case too. Cal's Trevor Davis -- he of two kick return touchdowns -- took home special teams player of the week honors.