Falk vs Browning

[kougkurt]

When the game was on the line Falk drove his team for the winning TD
When the game was on the line Browning threw interceptions on 3 of the final 4 processions

One was a walk on
One a heralded 4* recruit

They have both started about the same amount of games

They have both been on campus for about the same amount of time Browning enrolled early.

#eyefortalent.

 

[wulffui]

#magicwalkon

 

[CougPatrol]

Love Falk. Wouldn't trade him for anyone. Browning is gonna be good too. Totally different QB.

UW is not the measuring rod for success.

 

[CougDave]

I'll take Falk but there is actually considerable difference in experience level between the two. Last year at this time, Browning was still playing high school football while Luke is three years removed from HS football and has actually been in school quite a bit longer (two full years vs one spring quarter).

 

[M-I-Coug]

Now let's take a look at Washington State vs. Colorado:

Washington State
Crystal Mountain
Alpental
Stevens Pass
Snoqualmie West
Snoqualmie Central
Hyak, (Snoqualmie East)
White Pass
Mt. Baker
Mission Ridge
Ski Bluewood
49 Degrees North
Mt. Spokane

Colorado
Vail
Copper
Breckenridge
Steamboat Springs
Winter Park
Arapahoe Basin
Beaver Creek
Aspen
Snowmass
Buttermilk
Teluride
Mary Jane
Loveland
Keystone
Wolf Creek
Creste Butte
Purgatory

The question is who is better?

 

[chinookpirate]

I'd take 3 years in a system with the same coaching staff, every time.

Falk getting thrown into the starting lineup last season... as a Leach prepared, competition winning, Thursday Night Football winning, #NEXTMANUP... and getting those reps, those game plans and practices going into the game as a Starter... followed by debrief's... Film... more development. and progression...more game plans... Followed by an entire off season, winter, spring, summer and fall developing... Knowing... YOU are the returning starter.

Browning was in the State HS playoffs.

 

[Fab5Coug]

When the game was on the line Falk drove his team for the winning TD
When the game was on the line Browning threw interceptions on 3 of the final 4 processions

One was a walk on
One a heralded 4* recruit

They have both started about the same amount of games

They have both been on campus for about the same amount of time Browning enrolled early.

#eyefortalent.

As has been pointed out, that is quite a stretch.

 

[SDCoug]

Now let's take a look at Washington State vs. Colorado:

Washington State
Crystal Mountain
Alpental
Stevens Pass
Snoqualmie West
Snoqualmie Central
Hyak, (Snoqualmie East)
White Pass
Mt. Baker
Mission Ridge
Ski Bluewood
49 Degrees North
Mt. Spokane

Colorado
Vail
Copper
Breckenridge
Steamboat Springs
Winter Park
Arapahoe Basin
Beaver Creek
Aspen
Snowmass
Buttermilk
Teluride
Mary Jane
Loveland
Keystone
Wolf Creek
Creste Butte
Purgatory

The question is who is better?

Montana. Shorter lines. Longer season.

 

[Cougsocal]

Falk proves that being intelligent is so so important for a QB. We have had some uber athletic QBs who went on to play in the NFL, one won a super bowl, but they were so slow in developing because they couldn't hold a candle to Falk in the brain power department, and had to be spoon fed how to play the position. If he was your typical 980 SAT Pac-12 QB, there is no way in hell we beat Arizona, Rutgers, Oregon or FUCLA, nor would we have been in a position to beat Sanford. As for Browning, who knows, he is a true freshman. However, he has a "Todd Marinovich" background, which does not bode well for him long term, athletically. No recruit in the conference has had more time and money spent on them in preparation to play D1 football.

 

[CrimsonDisciple]

You can't even compare the two. But when you do, all you can say is, chances are that Browning will never have 4 game winning drives in his career, let alone one year. Falk is beyond special.

 

[LoneStarsGhost]

The pressure is on Falk next year. Heisman talk, etc. Browning? He's got a huge upside. I'd like to think that Luke is just amazing and will kick ass next year before he goes to the NFL, but he is human. We'll see. In any event, the ride is fun and I take nothing for granted.

 

[jarvis1981]

Falk was levelled a copy of times in the UCLA game but came back and won in dramatic fashion.
I don't think Browning has had his clock rung yet and that is different that a shoulder injury or whatever he had.
Once he gets levelled (preferably in the Apple Cup), let's see if he hears footsteps and makes really bad decisions. Even worse than ones he has made recently.

 

[CougEd]

Falk proves that being intelligent is so so important for a QB. We have had some uber athletic QBs who went on to play in the NFL, one won a super bowl, but they were so slow in developing because they couldn't hold a candle to Falk in the brain power department, and had to be spoon fed how to play the position. If he was your typical 980 SAT Pac-12 QB, there is no way in hell we beat Arizona, Rutgers, Oregon or FUCLA, nor would we have been in a position to beat Sanford. As for Browning, who knows, he is a true freshman. However, he has a "Todd Marinovich" background, which does not bode well for him long term, athletically. No recruit in the conference has had more time and money spent on them in preparation to play D1 football.

How many game ending/winning drives did Gesser, Bledsoe, Rosie, Rypien and Leaf engineer? Last play kind of stuff. One between them, if that? This kid is just built different. I can't imagine where this team would be with Bender or any other Qb which includes Halliday if he had one more year of eligibility. 4-6, 5-5?

 

[MikeFingLeach]

The pressure is on Falk next year. Heisman talk, etc. Browning? He's got a huge upside. I'd like to think that Luke is just amazing and will kick ass next year before he goes to the NFL, but he is human. We'll see. In any event, the ride is fun and I take nothing for granted.

I don't get why people insist Browning has huge upside. Rosen has huge upside. That is readily apparent within 5 minutes of game action. Browning might turn into a solid P12 QB, but nothing about him screams 'huge upside '.

 

[Coug1990]

I don't get why people insist Browning has huge upside. Rosen has huge upside. That is readily apparent within 5 minutes of game action. Browning might turn into a solid P12 QB, but nothing about him screams 'huge upside '.

His arm is not as strong as Rosen's. He came from a small school, so with good coaching, he does have a chance to improve a lot by his senior year. Rosen's upside is that he leaves after his 3rd or junior year.

 

[chipdouglas]

Slightly OT, but...

Somebody pointed out that Chris Petersen lost 12 games in 8 seasons at Boise State, for a record of 92-12 (0.885). At UW, Petersen has been around for less than 2 years and has already tied his loss total at 12 wins (12-12).

I actually think Petersen is a good coach, but he had serious tailwinds at Boise State. Dan Hawkins before him handed over a team that went 53-11 (0.828). Lest you think Petersen was always the man behind the magic at BSU (he was OC under Hawkins), Dirk Koetter before him went 26-11 (0.722). Petersen took BSU as high as they've been, but Koetter and Hawkins handed him the keys to a Bugatti. Compare to the rusty Pontiac Fiero with an exhaust leak that Mike Leach was handed.

Now that Petersen is left to his own devices, he's 0.500 at UW - a pretty good landing spot with good talent and good resources compared to many other schools even within the conference. But he can no longer depend on being a P12-caliber school playing a schedule featuring a weekly lineup of bodybag games, followed by a game or two a year where he has to open up the bag of tricks to take down a Power 5 school and then brag that they would be a top team in any conference.

It turns out that Power 5 conferences are a different animal. You can't survive here week in and week out on trick plays, and you will not escape USC or Furd or WSU or Cal without your very best effort. That was obviously not the case in the MWC, where you were quickly forgiven for only bringing your B-game to the Air Force home contest.

I'm confident he will get it together - and they will have fewer embarrassing moments (e.g., under Browning) - but he will never see Boise State-type success in the P12. He's an 8-win coach who played in a conference where a bag of hammers could go 0.500.

 

[dgibbons]

Slightly OT, but...

Somebody pointed out that Chris Petersen lost 12 games in 8 seasons at Boise State, for a record of 92-12 (0.885). At UW, Petersen has been around for less than 2 years and has already tied his loss total at 12 wins (12-12).

I actually think Petersen is a good coach, but he had serious tailwinds at Boise State. Dan Hawkins before him handed over a team that went 53-11 (0.828). Lest you think Petersen was always the man behind the magic at BSU (he was OC under Hawkins), Dirk Koetter before him went 26-11 (0.722). Petersen took BSU as high as they've been, but Koetter and Hawkins handed him the keys to a Bugatti. Compare to the rusty Pontiac Fiero with an exhaust leak that Mike Leach was handed.

Now that Petersen is left to his own devices, he's 0.500 at UW - a pretty good landing spot with good talent and good resources compared to many other schools even within the conference. But he can no longer depend on being a P12-caliber school playing a schedule featuring a weekly lineup of bodybag games, followed by a game or two a year where he has to open up the bag of tricks to take down a Power 5 school and then brag that they would be a top team in any conference.

It turns out that Power 5 conferences are a different animal. You can't survive here week in and week out on trick plays, and you will not escape USC or Furd or WSU or Cal without your very best effort. That was obviously not the case in the MWC, where you were quickly forgiven for only bringing your B-game to the Air Force home contest.

I'm confident he will get it together - and they will have fewer embarrassing moments (e.g., under Browning) - but he will never see Boise State-type success in the P12. He's an 8-win coach who played in a conference where a bag of hammers could go 0.500.

In the Mountain West there were 3-4 teams that you could beat down by halftime you were Boise State, and have your backups play 2+ quarters of football. Same is not true in the Pac-12 if you are uw, CU in the big XII or ASU in the Pac-10. Injuries mount up and you don't have a huge talent advantage.

 

[Cougsocal]

How many game ending/winning drives did Gesser, Bledsoe, Rosie, Rypien and Leaf engineer? Last play kind of stuff. One between them, if that? This kid is just built different. I can't imagine where this team would be with Bender or any other Qb which includes Halliday if he had one more year of eligibility. 4-6, 5-5?

Well, we know that Bledsoe was notoriously bad in "come from behind" situations, that was his biggest NFL knock. Brink had that wrap too. Rypien engineered the biggest come from behind victory in school history and the 1984 team was known as the "cardiac kids," but my 1984 memory is vague. Gesser put us in position to win several games in 2000, the three OT losses and the late TD against Idaho, but unlike Falk, we cosistently came up short in 2000. However, Gesser also made the biggest come back play in school history. In 1996 Leaf came up short consistently, as I recall, as well as against ASU and Michigan in 1997. Rosie's 1988 UW come from behind was epic, but the UCLA game winning score was generated by Utley, Dyko, Wulff, Fakima and Michalczik's dominance of the line of scrimmage.

But let's not forget, you have to be put in that situation by primarily weak defense late that can't hold a lead, or by your QBs own dumb play, and the timing has to be there. Rosen scored a few seconds too soon and should never have been in that situation in the first place. The only years I recall similar to this year were 2000 and 2005. In 2005 we went "0" fer, and in 2000 we went 1-4, but 2 of those losses were because of Wilaikul was truly a dreadful kicker.

No Cougar QB was this good this early, as I recall. The fact that Falk is able to do it, with such a limited skill set, below the neck, shows just how high his football IQ is. It is Unitas/Montana like, two of the all time best, who silimarly never won a game with "athletic ability."

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

How many game ending/winning drives did Gesser, Bledsoe, Rosie, Rypien and Leaf engineer? Last play kind of stuff. One between them, if that? This kid is just built different. I can't imagine where this team would be with Bender or any other Qb which includes Halliday if he had one more year of eligibility. 4-6, 5-5?

I tried to tell you he was very good and you wouldn't listen to me.

 

[bogusto]

Well, we know that Bledsoe was notoriously bad in "come from behind" situations, that was his biggest NFL knock. Brink had that wrap too. Rypien engineered the biggest come from behind victory in school history and the 1984 team was known as the "cardiac kids," but my 1984 memory is vague. Gesser put us in position to win several games in 2000, the three OT losses and the late TD against Idaho, but unlike Falk, we cosistently came up short in 2000. However, Gesser also made the biggest come back play in school history. In 1996 Leaf came up short consistently, as I recall, as well as against ASU and Michigan in 1997. Rosie's 1988 UW come from behind was epic, but the UCLA game winning score was generated by Utley, Dyko, Wulff, Fakima and Michalczik's dominance of the line of scrimmage.

But let's not forget, you have to be put in that situation by primarily weak defense late that can't hold a lead, or by your QBs own dumb play, and the timing has to be there. Rosen scored a few seconds too soon and should never have been in that situation in the first place. The only years I recall similar to this year were 2000 and 2005. In 2005 we went "0" fer, and in 2000 we went 1-4, but 2 of those losses were because of Wilaikul was truly a dreadful kicker.

No Cougar QB was this good this early, as I recall. The fact that Falk is able to do it, with such a limited skill set, below the neck, shows just how high his football IQ is. It is Unitas/Montana like, two of the all time best, who silimarly never won a game with "athletic ability."

THE "Cardiac Kids", the very first ones, happened in 1965, my first year of college, and came under Bert Clark with Tom Roth directing the offense at quarterback.