Washington State Football 2017: 3 Bold predictions vs Washington in the Apple Cup

1. Luke Falk lights up the Washington secondary

The Washington secondary lost a dearth of talent to the NFL a season ago. Kevin King, Sidney Jones and Budda Baker are all gone. That’s three elite members of the secondary missing and a worthy excuse for the Huskies to have taken a step backward against opposing passing games. However, somewhat miraculously, the Huskies’ secondary has seemingly gotten better.

Washington allowed 182.9 yards per game through the air a year ago. That’s down to 168.4 yards per game in 2017. That’s a truly remarkable and commendable improvement with one glaring caveat. They haven’t faced any elite passers yet. The closest Washington has come to facing a great quarterback was half a game against Josh Rosen earlier this year. That appearance was cut short as Rosen left the game with an injury.

Beyond Rosen they’ve faced UCLA’s backup quarterback, Oregon’s backup quarterback, Utah’s backup quarterback, and the putrid passing offenses of Oregon State, Stanford and Arizona State. Luke Falk is on an entirely different level. Falk leads the Pac-12 in touchdown passes and is second in total passing yards. The Washington secondary isn’t going to be ready for a quarterback of this caliber.