PULLMAN, Wash. _ On Senior Day at Martin Stadium, 25th-ranked Washington State beat No. 18 Stanford, 24-21, to notch its first home win over the Cardinal since 2007, and stay alive in its quest for the Pac-12 North title.
It also completed an undefeated 7-0 home record for the Cougars _ a first in program history.
In a must-win game for both teams, the Cougars prevailed on the strength of their defense _ which held the nation's leading rusher, Bryce Love, to a season-low 69 yards on 16 carries, then got a huge interception by Frankie Luvu.
Luvu, a senior, picked off Stanford quarterback K.J. Costello with 15 seconds left in the game to preserve the victory and snap the Cardinal's five-game win streak.
Falk rebounded from his benching against Arizona last week to finish strong in his final appearance at Martin Stadium, breaking Sean Mannion's Pac-12 passing record.
The Cougars' senior quarterback went 34 of 48 for 337 yards with three touchdowns, though, he also threw one costly interception that Stanford linebacker Bobby Okereke returned for a touchdown in the third quarter.
This one was an entertaining back-and-forth encounter that featured several nail-biting moments for both sides. But ultimately, the Cougars prevailed.
Trailing Stanford, 21-17, in the third quarter after Okereke's ran his interception back 52-yards for the score, WSU's offense went through a perplexing dry spell, punting twice. The defense kept things close though, forcing consecutive three and outs to get the offense the ball back with 11:52 left in the fourth.
Slowly, but steadily, the Cougars offense emerged from hibernation to mount its best drive of the afternoon.
With Stanford only rushing four men and dropping everyone else into coverage, WSU's running backs got some work. James Williams peeled off up the middle for a 12-yard gain, then later picked up another 9. Tay Martin was resplendent on the outside, hauling in a 17-yard pass on a crossing route, then caught a short ball for 3 yards and a first down.
Falk hit Jamal Morrow up the middle for 20 yards, then it was Morrow again, open in the flat, picking up 16 to get the Cougars to the Stanford 11.
Then, there it was, first-and-10, Falk hit Jamire Calvin in stride on another crossing route and the freshman receiver took off for the end zone, front flipping over the goal line for an 11-yard touchdown that allowed WSU to retake the lead _ 24-21.
That 11-play, 94-yard drive burned 4:56 of clock. WSU's offense would come out once more, but could not produce.
So with 35 seconds left, it fell to the defense to ice the win.
On first down, Nnamdi Oguayo pounced on Costello and dragged him down by the leg as he threw it away.
On second down, Costello's pass to his tight end fell incomplete.
Third down proved to be the Cardinal's undoing _ Costello's pass fell into Luvu's waiting arms and electrified the sellout crowd at Martin Stadium.
Through Stanford's first three offensive drives, WSU's defense managed to bottle up Bryce Love, the nation's leading rusher.
Love gained only 14 yards on his first six carries through the end of the first quarter.
But then came the run that seemed inevitable if you've watched any of Stanford's games this year. Love took the handoff, plunged up the middle, shucked an attempted tackle by Dylan Hanser, and then plain outran the Cougars defense and a diving last-ditch tackle from Jalen Thompson and zipped to the end zone for a 52-yard score.
The touchdown put Stanford up 7-0 with 14:06 left in the second.
Perhaps Stanford's score motivated the WSU offense, because the Cougs, who'd punted to end their first three offensive drives, came right back with a touchdown that sparked a 17-0 rally.
Back-to-back 11-yard passes from Falk got the Cougars past midfield for the first time all afternoon, and a nifty 24-yard run by Jamal Morrow got them to the Stanford 12 to set up Falk's touchdown strike to Tavares Martin Jr.
That drive settled WSU's offense. With the Cougars' defense forcing a three-and-out on terrific back-to-back stops for loss, Falk went back to work.
On first down, Falk spun a beauty of a deep ball to Martin Jr. for a 39-yard pickup. Two completions later, Falk broke Mannion's Pac-12 career passing record with an 8-yard pass to Jamal Morrow.
The Cougs' senior quarterback followed that with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Renard Bell that gave WSU its first lead of the day _ 14-7 _ and so excited one Coug fan that he hopped the end zone railing and dropped his trousers to moon the TV cameras before they managed to cut away.
In his second start of the year, Stanford's Costello went 4 of 9 for 53 yards in the first half, and was sacked twice. Daniel Ekuale got his first sack of the season on Senior Day, while Justus Rogers got his first career sack after winning an open-field one-on-one match up with Costello.
Love, who returned to Stanford's starting lineup after missing last week's game with an ankle injury, was held to a season-low 69 yards on 16 carries. He had 65 yards on 10 rush attempts in the first half, though 52 of those came on his touchdown run. That spoke volumes of the Cougar defense when you consider that Love entered the game averaging 120.9 first half rushing yards per game this season.
WSU added a 41-yard field goal from Erik Powell on the opening drive of the third quarter to extend its lead to 17-0.
That's when things got kind of fluky.
Stanford's next score came on a bizarre fumble recovery. The ball slipped out of Costello's hand as he tried to throw, hitting the turf and bouncing up, Costello recovered the ball on its rebound, and with WSU's defense having bit on the fumble, Costello took off and ran 14 yards into the end zone untouched.
WSU coach Mike Leach challenged the ruling, contending that Costello's arm was going forward when the ball came out, and that it was an incomplete pass instead of a fumble returned for a touchdown. But the referee upheld the ruling upon review.
The Cougars couldn't quite get a first down on their next drive, so on fourth-and-1 from the 34, the punt team took the field _ only to trot back off after Stanford committed an illegal substitution penalty that cost it five yards and gave WSU a first down.
In hindsight, the Cougars would have been better off punting there. Facing fourth-and-1 again on this renewed set of downs, WSU set up at its own 49, and this time elected to go for the conversion. That decision proved costly when Stanford's Okerere stepped in front of a ball meant for Calvin to intercept Falk and run it 52 yards back to the house to put Stanford back on top, 21-17.
