Falk leads Washington State to 37-32 win over Arizona State

Washington State coach Mike Leach earned himself a big fine and some harsh words from Arizona State coach Todd Graham after accusing the Sun Devils of stealing signs this week.

Even if the Sun Devils knew what was coming, they had a hard time stopping Luke Falk and the Cougars.

Falk threw for 398 yards and three touchdowns, helping Washington State hold off Arizona State 37-32 Saturday night in a game punctuated by heated words during the coaches' postgame handshake.

"I respectfully decline on grounds that I might be publicly reprimanded and fined, so any questions about them I really don't plan to answer," said Leach, who repeated the refrain four times.

Leach irritated the Sun Devils and Graham this week by repeating a comment from last season about Arizona State stealing signs. Washington and Oregon both used sheets to block their signs from Arizona State last season, so the sign-stealing accusations were nothing new.

But the Pac-12 came down hard on Leach for his comments this time, hitting the coach with a $10,000 fine. Graham retorted during the week and again during the postgame handshake, using a pair of expletives picked up by TV cameras that sent Leach walking away, but would not elaborate when asked about the encounter after the game.

"That's between me and him," Graham said.

Washington State (5-2, 4-0 Pac-12) had more trouble with Arizona State's defensive scheme in the first quarter, unable to get anything going as the Sun Devils dropped deep into coverage and forced Falk to throw underneath.

Once Falk adjusted, he picked the Sun Devils (5-3, 2-3) apart, leading the Cougars to 28 straight points, a run triggered by Robert Taylor's 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Falk hit Tavares Martin on a 9-yard TD late in the second quarter and Jamal Morrow on a 3-yard score in the third. The junior also laid the ball in perfectly for Gabe Marks, who became Washington State's all-time receptions leader, on a 52-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that put the Cougars up 37-21.

Falk completed passes to 11 different receivers and connected on 42 of 53 overall to keep Washington State tied atop the Pac-12 North Division with No. 5 Washington after its fifth straight win.

"We started off slow. That's on me," Falk said. "You've got to put the ball in play and give it to our playmakers, but ultimately we did a nice job of having a gutsy win and finishing the game."

Arizona State was down to its fourth-string quarterback after Manny Wilkins was injured on the opening drive and had four other starters out. The Sun Devils still managed to lead by 11 early and clawed most of their way back from a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

Tim White had a 70-yard touchdown on a punt return and Zane Gonzalez hit a 29-yard field goal to pull Arizona State within 37-32. But Falk and the Cougars ground down the game's final 4:36.

Wilkins ran for a 3-yard touchdown by hurdling a defender - his third hurdle of the season - before going out and freshman Sterling Dillon-Cole completed 7 of 16 passes for 86 yards in his place.

"Dillon did what he could do, he played with heart and all we had to do as an offense is keep him motivated and confident because you never know what can happen on the last series of the game," White said.

INJURED SUN DEVILS

Arizona State was banged up heading into Saturday and it only got worse as the game wore on.

The Sun Devils were missing two starters from their offense, Sam Jones and AJ McCollum, and safetyArmand Perry was out with a turf toe injury.

Wilkins did not play after the first series and linebacker Salamo Fiso, one of the keys to Arizona State's defense, had to be helped off the field in the fourth quarter.

THE TAKEAWAY

Washington State: The Cougars have come a long way since their 0-2 start to the season, keeping themselves on course for a season-ending showdown against the rival Huskies that could decide the Pac-12 North.

Arizona State: The Sun Devils' struggles against the pass continue and their offense could be in more trouble if Wilkins continues to miss time. Arizona State has lost three of four.

UP NEXT

Washington State plays at Oregon State next Saturday.

Arizona State plays at Oregon next Saturday.

Washington State holds on for 27-21 win over UCLA

 Over the past three weeks, Washington State has started conference play by taking down three of the teams expected to be at the top of the Pac-12.

The Cougars are rolling and they're winning with more than just Luke Falk's arm.

"Hey, we can do it other ways," Falk said.

Gerard Wicks rushed for a pair of 1-yard touchdowns, Jamal Morrow added another TD run, and Washington State won its fourth straight, 27-21 over UCLA on Saturday night.

The Cougars beat Oregon, Stanford and UCLA in consecutive weeks and validated their position as the other contender in the Pac-12 North along with Washington.

Wicks' first touchdown late in the second quarter gave the Cougars (4-2, 3-0 Pac-12) a 10-0 lead and his second 1-yard plunge pushed the lead to 17-7 midway through the third quarter. Morrow added a 3-yard TD run late in the third as the Cougars beat UCLA in consecutive years for the first time since 2006 and 2007.

"I was proud of our guys for sticking in there and playing tough like they did. Because the conditions and our opponent, you have to be tough," Washington State coach Mike Leach said. "We could have finished better but we had a lot of awful good stuff in between to make this happen."

UCLA (3-4, 1-3) played without starting quarterback Josh Rosen a week after he suffered shoulder and leg injuries against Arizona State. The shoulder was the problem on Saturday, as Rosen only attempted a couple of throws during pregame warmups before determining he couldn't go.

Backup Mike Fafaul, making his first college start, was 24-of-40 passing for 258 yards. Fafaul threw two touchdown passes to Darren Andrews and added a 5-yard TD throw to Jordan Lasley. Fafaul hit Andrews on a 22-yard TD in the third quarter and his 4-yard TD pass to Andrews with 3:17 left pulled the Bruins with 27-21.

UCLA got the ball back with 2:43 remaining after holding Washington State to a three-and-out. But on the first play Lasley was hit from behind by Dylan Hanser and fumbled. Washington State's Robert Taylor fell on the loose ball. The Cougars punted back to UCLA with under a minute remaining but Charleston White intercepted Fafaul to clinch the win.

"I'm just kind of still feeling it about the game, the loss. It doesn't matter to me how I play," Fafaul said. "I'd rather throw three interceptions and win the game than throw three touchdowns and (lose)."

Falk failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time in his career. He finished 28 of 48 for 261 yards on a cold, rainy night on the Palouse. Falk was intercepted in the end zone in the first half and fumbled an attempted pass in the third quarter that led to UCLA's first touchdown.

But Falk led three long touchdown drives, including an 18-play, 91-yard drive in the second quarter that was capped by Wicks' first touchdown.

It was a forgettable night for the Bruins that included a (minus) 1-yard punt from Austin Kent in the first quarter that led to a few choice words from coach Jim Mora. Aside from a promising debut by Fafaul, UCLA was bullied on the line of scrimmage and saw its defense give up more than 24 points in regulation for the first time this season.

"I'm obviously not doing a good job of getting the message through," Mora said. "The buck obviously stops with me. It should, as the head coach. All blame should be focused entirely, initially on the head coach. It's my job to make sure we get it right with everyone else. I'm accepting of that. I've been in this situation a lot of times. When you coach for a long time, you've got to fight your way out of it, that's all you can do."

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Washington State was already starting to pick up votes in last week's AP Top 25 and that's only going to increase. It would be a stretch to see the Cougars crack the Top 25 this week, but another win may do it.

FINALLY!

Washington State became the final FBS team in the country to make a field goal when Powell hit a 36-yard attempt midway through the first quarter to take a 3-0 lead. Powell had missed his first attempts of the season - one in each game. Powell made another 36-yarder in the fourth quarter.

THE TAKEAWAY

UCLA: The Bruins continued to have no running game on a night where the weather and circumstances with their quarterback called for having offensive balance. The Bruins rushed for 43 yards on 25 carries, the fourth time in five games UCLA failed to crack 100 yards rushing as a team.

Washington State: The Cougars continue to get big production from their trio of running backs. The Cougars rushed for 95 yards, but the trio of Wicks, Morrow and James Williams added eight catches for 65 yards.

UP NEXT

UCLA: The Bruins return home to host No. 21 Utah next Saturday, their next-to-last home game.

Washington State: The Cougars travel to Arizona State next Saturday, the first of two straight road games.

Falk's 4 TD passes lead Wash. St. past No. 15 Stanford 42-16

After opening the season with losses to lower-division Eastern Washington and Boise State, Washington State has staged a dramatic turnaround and is now overwhelming the Pac-12's recent powerhouses.

The Cougars followed a lopsided win over Oregon that was fueled by a dominant running attack with a thorough beating of No. 15 Stanford led by the play in the trenches.

Luke Falk threw for 357 yards and four touchdowns and the defensive line shut down Christian McCaffrey and the Cardinal offense in a 42-16 victory on Saturday night.

"We had to realize there's no good finesse teams in football," receiver Gabe Marks said. "Even the teams you guys like to call finesse teams, they really aren't. ... We had to come back to basics and just grind it out."

The Cougars (3-2, 2-0) held the Cardinal (3-2, 2-2) to 296 yards of offense and didn't allow an offensive score until the final play of the game. The offensive line managed to protect Falk well enough to allow him to find his receivers downfield.

Falk connected with Tavares Martin Jr. twice in the first half and added second-half TD passes to Marks andRiver Cracraft to help the Cougars follow up last week's 51-33 win over Oregon by ending an eight-game losing streak to Stanford. The Ducks and Cardinal have combined to win the past seven conference titles.

That streak is in serious jeopardy this year as the Cardinal got blown out for the second straight game, losing in back-to-back weeks for the first time in six seasons under coach David Shaw. Stanford lost 44-6 at Washington last week. The Ducks are 0-3 in conference play.

"Stanford has been the class of the conference for a while now," Marks said. "Since I've been here, they've been a powerhouse. For us, these past two weeks have really been important to finally see the work pay off and realize our potential and becoming what we thought we would be."

Making matters worse for the Cardinal was the fact that last year's Heisman runner-up McCaffrey went to the locker room in the second half with an injury and didn't return to the game. McCaffrey came back to the sideline and had his helmet on, but didn't re-enter the game.

"There was no reason to put him in late in the game," Shaw said. "We just left him out. We'll see how he is during the course of the week."

THE TAKEAWAY

Washington State: The Cougars got their first win against a team ranked in the top 15 since knocking off No. 5 Texas in the 2003 Holiday Bowl. Falk stepped up in key spots, connecting on a 29-yard score to Martin on fourth-and-7 to make it 14-3 in the second quarter. After letting Stanford back into the game with an interception that Frank Buncom returned for a TD, Falk hit Marks for a score on third-and-goal from the 17 to make it 28-10.

Stanford: The Cardinal offense struggled to do anything as the offensive line was dominated in the trenches and Ryan Burns missed on chances for a few big plays. McCaffrey was held to 35 yards on eight carries and one catch for 5 yards. Stanford allowed four sacks after giving up eight last week and the only big play came on a 44-yard pass to Michael Rector on the final play of the first half. Shaw said the Cardinal missed four potential TD passes and the offense didn't reach the end zone until the final play. Even the usually reliableConrad Ukropina missed two field goals.

"So we've got to hit those opportunities." Shaw said. "You know, it's not just one of those. We've got to hit multiple. If those things are there, we've got to hit them."

MUSIC MAN

Cougars coach Mike Leach didn't want to blame a couple of false starts on the noise, even if he did say the public address speakers were especially loud.

"It was loud and it sounded good," he said. "I thought they played good music, too. I mean, some of the music I could do without, but I thought Stanford has great taste in music. Who would have thunk it?"

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Stanford should plummet again after dropping eight spots last week in the AP Top 25 poll .

UP NEXT

Washington State: The Cougars return home to host UCLA.

Stanford: The Cardinal take a break from conference play to travel to struggling Notre Dame (2-4).

Ground game carries Washington State over Oregon 51-33

 Luke Falk threw for 371 yards and Washington State scored six rushing touchdowns as the Cougars beat Oregon 51-33 on Saturday.

Jamal Morrow, Gerard Wicks and James Williams each ran for two touchdowns for Washington State (2-2, 1-0 Pac-12), which was coming off a bye week. Washington State defeated Oregon in double overtime last year, a game that sparked the Cougars' run to a 9-4 record.

Oregon (2-3, 0-2) has lost three straight games and held a team meeting earlier in the week to seek a turnaround.

Royce Freeman, who missed the last game with a leg injury, ran for 138 yards and three touchdowns for Oregon.

Washington State piled up 651 yards of total offense, including 280 on the ground, to 416 total yards for Oregon.

Falk completed 36 of 48 passes with one touchdown.

Oregon's Dakota Prukop completed 14 of 22 passes for 132 yards.

Washington State came in averaging 121 rushing yards per game.

THE TAKEAWAY

Oregon: The Ducks lead the all-time series 47-40-7, but are clearly not as formidable as in recent years. Their defense looks suspect.

Washington State: The Air Raid offense also has a ground attack this year. The Cougars appear to be rebounding from an 0-2 start, and have topped 50 points for two consecutive games. WSU, which beat the Ducks 45-38 in double overtime last season, notched consecutive wins over Oregon for the first time since 2002 and 2003.

UP NEXT

Oregon hosts No. 10 Washington

Washington State plays at No. 7 Stanford, which lost big at Washington on Friday.

Falk leads Washington State to 56-6 win over Idaho

 Luke Falk threw for 226 yards and three touchdowns as Washington State beat Idaho 56-6 on Saturday, a positive end to a tumultuous week for the Cougars.

James Williams rushed for 126 yards and a touchdown for Washington State (1-2), which won on a wet, windy day when the Air Raid offense was not working very well.

Idaho (1-2) struggled for the second straight week against a Pac-12 team, after losing at No. 8 Washington.

Falk threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Robert Lewis early in the fourth for a 35-6 lead, and the Cougars added three more touchdowns in the fourth.

Washington State was expected to contend for the Pac-12 North, but opened the season with losses to FCS foe Eastern Washington and Boise State. That prompted coach Mike Leach this week to rip his Cougars as soft. Leach also complained that Pullman police seemed to be targeting his players, after four were recently arrested in three different incidents, which the police chief has denied.

THE TAKEAWAY

IDAHO: The Vandals, who have designs on qualifying for a bowl game this season, were coming off a 59-14 loss at No. 8 Washington. The Vandals and Cougars are located in towns just 8 miles apart and this was the 92nd meeting between the two closest neighbors in the FBS.

WASHINGTON STATE: Idaho has often been a cure for what ailed the Cougars. Washington State leads the series 72-17-3.

UP NEXT

IDAHO: Plays at UNLV on Saturday.

WASHINGTON STATE: Has a bye this week, and hosts No. 22 Oregon on Oct. 1.

Boise State holds on late for 31-28 win over Washington St

 On the verge of another win over a Pac-12 team on its home field, Boise State nearly crumbled in the final minutes.

Fortunately the Broncos did enough over the first three quarter to hold on.

Jeremy McNichols rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns, Tyler Hortonreturned his first career interception 85 yards for a touchdown and Boise State held on in the fourth quarter for a 31-28 win over Washington State on Saturday night.

Brett Rypien threw for 299 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown to Thomas Sperbeck, but was intercepted twice in the fourth quarter, giving Washington State chances until the final play when Luke Falk's desperation heave was batted down.

Boise State (2-0) won its 34th straight regular season non-conference home game, knocking off the last out of conference team to win on "The Blue."

"We did not face adversity in our first game. ... We got a chance to do that tonight," Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said.

Falk was 55-of-71 passing for 480 yards and four touchdowns, but it took three quarters before he could beat the Broncos throwing downfield, hittingTavares Martin Jr. on a 50-yard TD late in the third quarter that pulled the Cougars within 24-14. Rypien quickly answered, completing three straight passes for 68 yards before McNichols' second touchdown run pushed the Broncos lead 31-14 on the first play of the fourth quarter.

That proved to be enough - barely.

"There were definitely some uncharacteristic mistakes I made tonight," Rypien said. "But we won. We're 2-0."

Falk rallied in the fourth quarter, throwing touchdown passes of 14 yards - on fourth down - to Jamal Morrow and hitting Gabe Marks on a 33-yard TD with 4:17 left right after Rypien was intercepted to pull within 31-28. Washington State got the ball back with a minute remaining after poor clock management by the Broncos, but the Cougars had their own problems with the clock and settled for Falk's final throw that fell short.

Leach ripped into his team's toughness after the loss, saying the Cougars outplayed Boise State in every other category.

"We outperformed them in a ton of different ways but we're not tough enough," Leach said. "And as a football team we have to get (a lot) tougher and right now we're not very tough."

Washington State (0-2) was trying to match what it did in 2001 when the Cougars won 41-20 in Boise and rebound from being stunned by FCS power Eastern Washington in last week's opener. But the Cougars got off to an awful start with Falk getting intercepted on their opening drive deep in Boise State territory and watching Horton manage to stay inbound and sprint 85 yards to give the Broncos the early lead.

It was the first of six drives by the Cougars that reached Boise State territory and failed to end in points. The Cougars had a field goal attempt blocked, punted twice and turned the ball over on downs twice inside the Broncos half of the field, the last coming when Morrow was stuffed on fourth-and-1 at the 46 with 5:12 remaining.

TAKEAWAYS

Washington State: Any momentum from last year's nine wins and a bowl victory is gone for the Cougars. They were able to rebound a year ago after losing to FCS Portland State in the opener by winning at Rutgers, but an 0-2 start this year may be difficult to overcome with the upcoming schedule.

Boise State: The Broncos remembered how to win at home. Boise State lost its final two home games of last season, the first time losing consecutive home games since 1997. They made sure it wasn't three straight.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

The Broncos were on the edge of cracking the Top 25 last week. There's a chance the Broncos could slide in this week, although the fourth quarter rally by Washington State may have taken away some votes. Either way, if the Broncos can win at Oregon State in two weeks, they should be able to break through at that point.

UP NEXT

Washington State: The Cougars close out their non-conference schedule as Idaho makes the 8-mile trip across the state border to face the Cougars.

Boise State: The Broncos get the week off before facing a second straight Pac-12 school, traveling to Oregon State on Sept. 24.

LAST WORD

"It was a good test for us. It was nice to be able to see what we're made of early," Boise State linebacker Ben Weaversaid.

Gubrud leads Eastern Washington over Washington State 45-42

Opponents of Eastern Washington's football team can try to focus on stopping receiver Cooper Kupp, but coach Beau Baldwin said that won't be enough to beat the Eagles.

"We have a lot of great players on this offense," Baldwin said after Eastern Washington of the FCS upset Washington State 45-42 on Saturday.

Kupp, last year's FCS offensive player of the year, caught 12 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns.

But quarterback Gage Gubrud threw for 474 yards and five touchdowns.

Washington State, which lost to Portland State of the Football Championship Subdivision in its opening game last year, could not stop the Eastern Washington offense, which produced 606 yards.

Eastern Washington, which came in as three-touchdown underdogs, also upset Oregon State of the Pac-12 three years ago.

"I just learned there is no fear" in this team," Baldwin said. "This was the enjoyment of all the labor and all the work."

Gubrud, making his first start, completed 34 of 40 passes and was intercepted once. He also ran for a touchdown to ice the game.

"We knew we could do this the whole time," Gubrud said.

Kupp's two touchdown receptions in the third quarter put EWU ahead for good.

"It feels awesome to come out in the first game and do what we did," said Kupp, who was passed over by Washington and Washington State. "The mentality is that we are the better team."

Washington State rebounded from the loss to Portland State last year to finish 9-4.

"Eastern Washington's first-level guys are as good as our first-level guys," Washington State coach Mike Leach said. "They beat us in all three phases of the game."

"We need to play better football," said WSU receiver Gabe Marks, who caught 10 passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns.

But cornerback Marcellus Pippins said it was too soon to panic.

"This is just one game," he said. "We've got a lot more games to go."

In the first half, the teams combined to score touchdowns on seven consecutive possessions.

The streak started when Luke Falk threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Marks and the Cougars led 7-0 midway through the first quarter.

Eastern Washington replied with Gubrud's 14-yard touchdown pass to Antoine Custer Jr., to tie the game at 7-7.

Washington State came right back with a 58-yard drive, capped by Falk's 27-yard scoring pass to Kyle Sweet for a 14-7 lead.

Eastern Washington replied with another touchdown, this time on a 6-yard pass from Gubrud to Sam McPherson. On this 75-yard drive, Kupp caught one pass for 11 yards, rushed the ball once for 14 yards and threw a 22-yard pass.

Washington State came right back, scoring on a 2-yard pass from Falk to Marks.

Eastern Washington tied the game at 21-21 when, on the first play of its subsequent possession, Kupp caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from Gubrud.

Jamal Morrow's 5-yard touchdown run put the Cougars ahead 28-21, and ended the scoring streak as EWU punted on its next possession.

But Eastern Washington's Mitch Fettig intercepted a Falk pass, and Jordan Dascalo kicked a 48-yard field goal as time expired to cut Washington State's lead to 28-24 at halftime.

Kupp caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Gubrud on the opening drive of the second half to put the Eagles ahead 31-28. That gave him 58 career touchdown passes, tying the FCS record set by David Ball of New Hampshire. He broke the record on EWU's next drive, with a one-handed catch of Gubrud's 7-yard pass in the end zone, giving the Eagles a 38-28 lead.

Marcellus Pippins intercepted Gubrud in the end zone to end another EWU scoring threat.

Erik Powell missed a 38-yard field goal attempt for Washington State midway through the fourth.

Gerard Wicks caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Falk with 4:42 left in the game for Washington State's first points of the second half, cutting EWU's lead to 38-35.

But Eastern Washington marched down the field, with Gubrud scoring on a 30-yard bootleg with 1:39 left for a 45-35 lead.

Wicks scored on a 3-yard touchdown run for Washington State with 14 seconds left. Their on-side kick attempt was recovered by the Eagles.

Coach Mike Leach has lost all five of his season openers at Washington State.

THE TAKEAWAY

Eastern Washington: Gubrud, a sophomore, played spectacularly in his first career start. Kupp has made a specialty of out-classing Pac-12 defensive backs. Last season, he caught 15 passes for 246 yards at Oregon. Two years ago he caught three touchdown passes against Washington. As a freshman, he caught five passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns against Oregon State.

Washington State: The Cougars finished 9-4 last year, but will have to play better in a tough Pac-12 to match that this year.

UP NEXT

Eastern Washington plays at FCS powerhouse North Dakota State next Saturday

Washington State plays at Boise State on the blue turf next Saturday.

COOL HAND LUKE

Falk completed 41 of 51 passes for 418 yards and four touchdowns. He was intercepted once.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Washington State received plenty of votes in the preseason Top 25, but likely won't get many in the next poll.