The Grand Finale of A Quiet Warrior at Washington State
It’s that time of the year where people take an opportunity to renew their minds. Spring is a time where most people shake off that grumpy winter mood and enter to a time of joy and excitement. From Spring break road trips to summer vacation plans, the new year officially starts in the Spring. However; in most colleges; the academic year officially end in the Spring as students get ready for final exams, graduations, study abroad, etc. In college football, it’s a mixture of both. Spring time in college football officially starts the new year as former players either graduate or head to the NFL while the returning and new players get prepared for the new season. One of the returning players is currently working his tail off up in a small town east of Seattle Washington, hoping to get the national respect he deserves. In 2017, this young man is on pace of passing over 11,000 yards and 100 Touch downs. At the end of the 2017 season, he will not only go down as the best millennial quarterback in school history, but he will also go down as the best quarterback that ever played for Mike Leech. If it wasn’t for this young man, Mike Leech might have been fired before the 2016 season. If this young man would have decided to declare for the 2017 NFL Draft, he would have been the first quarterback drafted, but he chose to return to school for another year. This season is the Grand Finale of The Luke Falk Era for the Washington State Cougars. Now is the time for America to wake up and witness the best quarterback in college football.
Falk always been a “Quiet Warrior”
From playing football in a small town known as Logan, Utah to being rejected by Florida State, then having to turn his back from The Ivy League, and now playing in the shadows of big name quarterbacks such as Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson, DeAndre Francois, Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Jake Browning, J.T. Barrett, and the names go on. This is the year where The Quiet Warrior will rise above the shadows because it’s just impossible overlook a quarterback putting up big numbers every year. In 2015, Falk passed for 4,561 yards and 38 Touchdowns. However, it wasn’t only his numbers that caught the PAC 12’s attention, it was also his competitive spirit. On October 3, 2015, he dueled with Jared Goff to the very end in a close 34-28 lost. Goff threw for 390 yards and Falk threw for 389 yards. In the same season, he put a scare on Oregon & Stanford who were powerhouses in the PAC 12 North at the time. In the Oregon game, he passed for over 500 yards with 5 TDs to beat the Ducks in Overtime, and Stanford who was ranked in the top 10 at the time, needed a heroic effort from Kevin Hogan to beat Falk and The Cougars 30-28. Despite An 8-4 record in 2015, America was still fast asleep on The Quiet Warrior while the PAC 12 finally woke up.
In 2016, all of Western America was alert about The Quiet Warrior.
Boise State & Eastern Washington’s upset victory over the Cougars early in the season served as evidence. After those two loses, The PAC 12 fell back asleep on the Quiet Warrior. What they failed to realize is that when someone is a competitor, he will never stop trying until it’s all said and done. Luke Falk and The Washington State Cougars bounced back as he led them to an eight-game winning streak and a virtue tie for 1st place in the PAC 12 North Division with arch-rival Washington. Unfortunately, America fell back asleep after the Cougars two game losing streak to Colorado & arch-rival Washington. In those two games, the Quiet Warrior tried his hardest to compete, but his offensive linemen were losing the battle up front and his receivers were unusually dropping his passes. What made matters worse was the loss of Rivercraft to close the season. Despite the rollercoaster season, Falk’s numbers were similar from a year before passing for 4,468 yards and 38 TDs.
2017 is new year which means a fresh start for The Quiet Warrior & The Washington State Cougars. When it comes to PAC 12 supremacy, many believe that USC & Washington are the favorites; followed by Stanford, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Arizona, & Arizona State. However; Washington State fans should not fret, because in the Grand Finale of the Quiet Warrior Era in Wazzu, he’s going to fight till the end. Once the entire team possess the same competitive spirit, America will take notice of something special that is brewing out of that small town that’s over 280 miles east of Seattle.
Writing by:
A.W. Wulah
Colorado Media School
Graduate Class of Spring 2017
