Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Washington State vs. Arizona: Five Cougars to know

The Wildcats will have to try to slow down a talented offensive team

The Arizona Wildcats are hosting the Washington State Cougars this weekend. The Cougars are looking to repeat their 2013 performance when they were able to knock of the Wildcats in Tucson. Here are five players that could make that possible.

Luke Falk, QB, #4

Like all Mike Leach quarterbacks, Luke Falk has monster numbers. He's fifth in the entire country in passing yards (2371), and not only leads the Pac-12 in passing yards, but completion percentage (72.3%), passing attempts (325), completions (235), and passing touchdowns (21) as well. Despite the sheer number of passes he's thrown this year, he's only been picked off four times. All in all, Falk is right up there with Jared Goff as the best quarterback in the Pac-12. Needless to say the struggling Arizona secondary will have a tough time stopping Washington State's air raid.

Gabe Marks, WR, #6

Luke Falk's main target is Gabe Marks. Marks leads the Pac-12 in receptions (49) and is second in the conference to USC's JuJu Smith-Schuster in receiving yards (620). He has six touchdown catches too. Naturally, he's had some huge games this season. He had 14 (!) catches for 146 yards and a touchdown in WSU's win over Rutgers, 10 catches for 141 yards and a touchdown against Cal, and eight catches for 111 yards and two touchdowns against Oregon. In fact, in WSU's last three games, Marks' lowest yardage total is 95! Expect him to get over the 100-yard mark against the Wildcats.

Dom Williams, WR, #80

When your QB averages 395 passing yards per game, you're going to have a lot of receivers with gaudy numbers. Aside from Marks, Dom Williams is another one of Falk's favorite targets. Believe it or not, he's fourth in the conference in receptions (36) and third in the conference in receiving yards (526). Despite being WSU's number two receiver, Williams has 159 more receiving yards than Cayleb Jones -- Arizona's leading receiver.

Against Oregon State last week, Williams had 11 catches for 158 yards and two touchdowns. This will be his third time playing against Arizona. In 2013, Williams had seven catches for 75 yards in the Cougars' 24-17 win. Then in last year's matchup he had seven catches for 40 yards.

Shalom Luani, S, 18

Luani leads the Cougars in interceptions with three, and is coming off a two-interception, 11-tackle game against Oregon State. One of his two picks was a game-sealing went for six. It resulted in him being last week's Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week. He was also the guy that had the game-winning interception in the Cougars' stunning win in Eugene. Picking off errant passes isn't the only thing Luani does, though He's a hard-hitting safety that is seventh in the conference in solo tackles (33) and tied for second in forced fumbles (2).

Nevertheless, Anu Solomon -- assuming he starts -- has to be careful when throwing in Luani's direction.

Peyton Pelluer, LB, #47

Peyton Pelluer is the leading tackler for the Cougars, and is fourth in the Pac-12 in total tackles (54). While he has yet to record a sack this year, he certainly fills up the stat sheet in other areas. He has six tackles for loss, two pass deflections, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery.



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