They say the first cut is the deepest.
Cuts two through 46 didn’t feel so good for the Arizona defense on Saturday in a 45-42 loss to Washington State, either.
It was death by a thousand razor burns, as Cougars quarterback Luke Falk displayed the precision of a diamond-cutter. It helped that the Wildcats’ defensive interior showed more cracks than a broken vase.
By halftime, Falk had 335 yards and four touchdowns on 30-of-38 passing. Entering the game, only one Arizona opponent — Colorado last week — had thrown for that much in a game, and 339 at that.
Falk finished with 514 yards on 47-of-62 passing, off his prodigious pace of the first half, but still enough to rack up the record for most passing yards in a game against the Wildcats.
“If you just go through the reads, the reads take you to the open throw,” Falk said matter-of-factly. “I was just thinking about doing my job and doing what it takes to get the win today. I thought the offensive line played their butts off and the wide receivers did a great job. Collectively it was a great game for us.”
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Of course, this is nothing new for a Mike Leach quarterback.
Falk entered Saturday with a 500-yard game, a 400-yard game and multiple 300-yard games this season. Just a sophomore with 11 starts under his belt, Falk has already thrown for more than 4,000 yards.
Against the Wildcats, it was all too easy.
Midway through the second quarter, he had completed 12 straight passes, almost as though Arizona was complicit in the affair.
“He does it, he’s pretty much done it the last three games,” wide receiver Gabe Marks said. “I think he’s just really good. I’m happy he’s throwing me the ball. He’s like the best quarterback ever, you know?”
Early in the game, Falk sliced the Arizona defensive interior, finding River Cracraft three times on the first drive for 23, 13 and 13 yards before capping the drive with a touchdown pass to Marks.
After their second drive failed, the Cougars struck again on their third possession, hitting passes of 31 and 6 yards before Falk found Marks for his second score.
For the game, Falk found 10 different receivers, nine for multiple catches, and all nine with 25 or more yards.
“They were just giving it to us,” Marks said. “We usually just run what we run and however they adjust how they play. River was getting open a lot and we were hitting him.”
Added Leach: “They played kind of loose, anyway. They’re a group that plays loose. They sometimes try to bait you into triggering the short stuff. I thought we did a pretty good job moving it around.”
Ultimately, maybe the last cut — completion No. 47 — was the deepest.
With just over two minutes remaining in the game, Falk found Marks for their fourth touchdown, their 10th such connection of the season.
Falk said Marks was his primary read, and after glancing toward the wheel route, he doubled back to his primary target, dancing open in the back of the end zone.
“He’s very calm and cool under pressure. I thought that was good. We could’ve scored some touchdowns before we find ourselves in a pressure situation. We really didn’t knock them out until the end.”
Yes, one last cut.
