No one saw the Washington State Cougars coming, but here they are.
Unranked to start the season, Wazzu remains outside of the national top 25 but is surging up the ranks of the Pac-12. The Cougars sit right behind the No. 8 Stanford Cardinal in the northern division, chasing a championship berth.
Led by quarterback Luke Falk, who reigns atop the Pac-12 in total offense, passing and touchdown passes, Wazzu storms into the Rose Bowl on Saturday searching for an upset. The Cougars almost had it against the Cardinal just two weeks ago – separated only by one missed field goal.
Falk is a competitor reminiscent of Cal quarterback Jared Goff, who led the Golden Bears to a historic season start before hitting a midseason slump. The two lead air raid attacks centered around the strengths of their arms. Both Wazzu and Cal rely heavily on a pass-oriented offense.
“They’re different, but they’re similar in that they’re going to go fast, they’re going to spread the field and they both got really good quarterbacks,” said coach Jim Mora.
Falk is supported by a strong receiving corps anchored around redshirt junior Gabe Marks, who has 69 receptions for 865 yards on the season with 11 touchdowns.
“I watch a lot of (Marks’) games, watch a lot of film, specifically on him so it’s gonna be fun to see him again,” said senior receiver Jordan Payton, who grew up in the Los Angeles area with Marks. “When you’re a competitor, you want to see how the other guys are doing and take little peeks at their game. Gabe is an extremely physical player. He’s always been that way. He’s always been highly competitive.”
While the Bruin defense will be preoccupied looking to contain Falk and Marks, the offense will look to avoid a situation similar to Colorado’s 114-play outing during UCLA’s last home game. The Buffaloes controlled the offense so significantly that the Bruin offense was barely on the field.
“I watched (Washington State) a few weeks back when they were playing Oregon,” said junior receiver Thomas Duarte on Tuesday. “They throw the ball a lot. (Coach) Mike Leach, he likes to go fast, and they play that tempo that everybody wants to play. Defensively, I haven’t really gotten anything on them yet, but I know they play hard and they play as a team and I’m excited to get started on them.”
No. 19 UCLA will be faced with a staunch Wazzu defense that specializes in limiting a pass offense, contradicting the playing style the Bruins exhibited last weekend when freshman quarterback Josh Rosen threw for 333 yards and two touchdowns.
