Luke Falk watch: WSU’s Friday night game at Cal could set up historic homecoming

Washington State University’s Friday night game at California could set up Luke Falk for a historic homecoming on Oct. 21.

The Cougars’ Heisman Trophy-candidate quarterback needs 713 yards and nine touchdowns to set new Pac-12 career records in each category.

While that sounds like about two games worth of work for Falk, history says there’s potential to do some significant damage to those marks tonight in Berkeley.

The Cougars (6-0, 3-0 Pac-12) have the third-best passing offense (392.0 yards per game) in the nation, while Cal’s defense ranks 108th out of 129 against the pass. The Bears (3-3, 0-3) are allowing 264.0 passing yards per game.

Falk could set the career passing mark Friday night by having the second best game by a WSU quarterback against Cal in the last four seasons. In 2014, WSU’s Connor Halliday eviscerated Cal’s secondary by completing 49 of 70 passes for an NCAA record 734 yards and six touchdowns in a 60-59 loss.

Last year, Falk threw for 373 yards and five touchdowns in a 56-21 win over Cal. He threw for 389 yards and two touchdowns in a 2015 loss (34-28) at Cal.

The Pac-12 record for touchdowns is 116 and was set by former USC quarterback Matt Barkley. Former Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion’s holds the record for career yards, 13,600.

The Cougars’ Oct. 21 homecoming game is against Colorado and scheduled for 7:45 p.m.

This story was originally published October 13, 2017 at 7:30 AM with the headline "Luke Falk watch: WSU’s Friday night game at Cal could set up historic homecoming."