WSU Football: Connor Halliday Tied WSU Records of Bledsoe, Leaf and Brink vs Arizona

Nov 16, 2013; Tucson, AZ, USA; Washington State Cougars quarterback Connor Halliday (12) throws a pass during the second quarter against the Arizona Wildcats at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

There have been several prolific quarterbacks in the history of Washington State Football. For the more recent Cougar fans, Drew Bledsoe, Ryan Leaf and Alex Brink are the names you most remember among the greats.

Of course if you are a more veteran Coug fan, names like Jack Thompson, Mark Rypien, Clete Casper and others begin to pop up, but today, it’s about the past 25 years or so. More importantly for this piece, it’s mostly about right now.

With the Cougs having possible designs on their first bowl game since 2003, there’s one player in particular who’s rising up the record books again. Quarterback Connor Halliday marched into Arizona Stadium over the weekend and calmly took the Cougars to 5-5 in a terrific performance, completing 39-53 for 319 yards and two touchdowns.

On his final throw of the game, Halliday shook a lot of record books up.

• First and foremost, his 25 yard touchdown strike to Isiah Myers gave the Cougs their first season with at least five wins since 2006 and again, brought WSU a step closer to it’s first possible bowl game since the 2003 Holiday Bowl vs Texas.
• Second, Halliday tied Alex Brink and Ryan Leaf atop the Cougar leader board for career 300 yard passing performances with 12.
• Lastly, he tied Drew Bledsoe at fifth with his 46th career touchdown toss.

That’s darn good company folks, regardless of the offense and regardless of the competition. Here’s to another big game this weekend to get the Cougars bowl eligible at home against Utah.