Luke Falk named Pac-12 Player of the Week

Washington State redshirt freshman quarterback Luke Falk was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week on Monday for his performance in WSU's 39-32 win against Oregon State. He is the second Cougar to take home the award this season, joining Connor Halliday who was named player of the week following the game against California.

Falk's 471-yard, five-touchdown effort against the Beavers made him a strong contender for the week. It probably didn't hurt that it came in his first career start. With Falk at the helm the Cougars averaged 6.1 yards per play and tallied four touchdown drives of at least 70 yards. WSU went three-and-out just once in 10 drives that didn't come before the end of halves. The Cougars also gained at least 50 yards on eight of those 10 drives. This wasn't a case of Falk hitting a few big plays to inflate his numbers, he methodically moved the Cougars up-and-down the field all game.

According to the release from the Pac-12, Falk's 471 passing yards are the most ever by a WSU quarterback making his first start. Falk beat out some impressive competition for the weekly award. Oregon's Marcus Mariota, OSU's Sean Mannion, UCLA's Brett Hundley and Arizona teammates Samaje Grant and Demario Richard were the other candidates. The Cougars join USC, Oregon and UCLA as the teams to have won Offensive Player of the Week multiple times this season.