The Luke Falk Era begins at WSU with win over Beavers

In his first start in place of the injured Connor Halliday, Luke Falk threw for 471 yards and five TDs. (AP)

CORVALLIS – This story might be over the top when it comes to first impressions of Luke Falk’s starting debut in the Cougars’ 39-32 win over Oregon State at Reser Stadium on Saturday.

I told my kids that years from now, we might look back and remember his first start at Washington State after he goes on to his NFL career.

Falk completed 44 of 61 for 471 yards and five touchdowns. Bud Withers of the Seattle Times called him magnificent. Sensational works, too. And any other adjective you can come up with.

It’s also this – a very pleasant surprise, one that leads you to think the Cougars might not beat Arizona State in two weeks but certainly could beat the Dawgs in the Apple Cup in Pullman.

And it makes you think the Cougars, if they improve on defense, could return to a bowl game next year. I was losing hope and faith in the Cougs. We were 2-7 going into the Oregon State game and looked all the world headed toward 2-10 after Connor Halliday broke his ankle in the 44-17 loss to USC last week.

If Halliday hadn’t been hurt, he would’ve broken many passing records in his last three games, but we wouldn’t have known about Falk until next year.

The benefit of that unfortunate injury – Falk gets experience in 3½ games this year, which will help him next year. And we get to watch a quarterback, off of seven quarters of seeing him anyway, that might end up being one of the best to ever play the position at Washington State.

I read a comment at the end of Withers’ story from a reader who said: “I know it sounds crazy, but he reminded me a bit of Tom Brady.”

This will sound crazy, too, but I already like him more than Halliday, and I liked Halliday. He has poise, savvy, touch, as well as an ability to escape sacks and find receivers on the run. He has that clock in his head that lets him know when he needs to get rid of the ball.

It’s amazing to think he was this good in his first start on the road in a conference game, and I don’t care if the Beavers aren’t very good; neither are we, or better yet, neither WERE we. But now we might be halfway decent the rest of the year with Falk at quarterback.

He made one great throw after another. On some, he’d throw it just high enough to get it over a cornerback or a linebacker to hit his receivers on the numbers.

There was another, a 48-yard touchdown down the left sideline to Vince Mayle, when he got the ball to his receiver in stride, just before the safety arrived. It was fantastic.

Good Lord that was fun to watch, the whole game, hope restored right when it appeared all was lost. It showed up in the form of Luke Falk.

The Go 2 Guy also writes for SeattlePI.com and KitsapSun.com. You can reach Jim at jimmoorethego2guy@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @cougsgo.