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Ryan Leaf slams Mike Leach for benching Luke Falk

Washington State Cougars quarterback Luke Falk

One of the strangest things that happened all weekend in college football was Washington State head coach Mile Leach benching quarterback Luke Falk. The fact that Falk was given some time on the bench wasn’t the most shocking aspect of it all, either. The most shocking thing was that his replacement, sophomore Tyler Hilinski, remained in the game the rest of the way, despite the fact he threw four interceptions.

Many watching the game were perplexed at the sight of seeing Falk, one of the most decorated quarterbacks in college football, pacing the sidelines like a caged lion. Especially because, while Hilinski was entertaining in a morbid kind of way, he wasn’t exactly helping the Cougars win, either. In the end, they lost by 21 points, and Falk never got back into the game after being benched in the second quarter.

One of the people who watched the game and couldn’t believe what he was seeing is former Washington State quarterback and NFL bust Ryan Leaf. He was highly critical of the entire situation.

After the game, Leach addressed the situation.

“I wanted Falk to see the field,” Leach said, per The Spokesman-Review, “because we weren’t pushing the ball down the field. And then Hilinski was hot, so we stayed with Hilinski. I think Hilinski does a good job of bouncing around, pushing the ball downfield, but he gets wreckless. Falk tries to way over-analyze everything to the point where that can be counterproductive,” Leach said, “so if I could slice the two of them in half and mold them into one guy, we’d probably have been in a pretty good situation today. At least on offense.”

When asked who would be starting in Week 10 against Stanford, Leach wouldn’t say either way.

It’s really strange seeing one of the most productive quarterbacks in the past few years in the doghouse, more than halfway through his senior season. Falk has thrown 23 touchdowns and seven interceptions all year long, passing for 2,576 yards while completing 68 percent of his passes.

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