Washington State Football: 3 takeaways from upset loss at Cal

3. Luke Falk said “Adios!” to his Heisman dreams

It was a crushing performance by veteran quarterback Luke Falk as Washington State fell hard on the road. Falk put up decent numbers for most quarterbacks, going 28-of-43 for 286 yards on the night. Not everything was his fault, in the end, but he certainly shoulders a fair share of the blame in the Cougars loss

But he also threw five interceptions and suffered nine sacks as nothing went right in Berkeley. One of those sacks resulted in a fumble that was returned for one of Cal’s touchdowns on the night. It was the sort of performance that will erase any goodwill that gets built up over a career of standout showings.

Over the past few weeks, noise has drummed up advocating for Falk as a contender for the Heisman Trophy. Aside from struggling against Boise State in an overtime shootout early in the season, Falk came into Week 7 as one of the most consistent quarterbacks in the country. But Cal exposed the passer as a fraud in the race for college football’s most outstanding player.

Now Falk will struggle to even be named among the top quarterbacks in the Pac-12. No longer in the Heisman race after a huge disappointment on Friday night, Washington State’s quarterback needs to regroup quickly and focus all his efforts on team goals. Individual awards are out of reach at this juncture.