College football is finally back on the Palouse.

After a thrilling season for the WSU football team last year, in which the Cougars (9-9, 6-3) finished third in the Pac-12 North and defeated Miami, Florida, in the Sun Bowl 20-14, the team is looking to come out of fall camp with a bang that fans will not miss.

Redshirt junior quarterback Luke Falk is set to kick off his dark horse Heisman Trophy campaign and lead WSU in its season-opening game versus the visiting Eastern Washington Eagles.

“We don’t have an easy game, every team that we play is good, and obviously Eastern Washington is one of the best in their division,” linebackers Coach Ken Wilson said. “We need to be ready to play.”

Falk was recently added to Maxwell and Bednarik Award Watch Lists, which are widely touted as premier awards given to the best quarterback in the nation. His addition to the list is a byproduct of playing in Head Coach Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense that lead the Football Bowl Subdivision in passing yardage per game last year.

The Air Raid has proven to be an effective offensive strategy to maximize the abilities of WSU wide receivers. Leading wideout redshirt senior Gabe Marks broke loose for 1,183 yards and 15 touchdowns last season and now sits 10th all-time in Pac-12 history in career receptions with 227.

However, finding open receivers means nothing without an accurate quarterback.

Falk proved he is one of the nation’s most efficient and accurate passers last year when he threw for 78.7 percent completion rate in his first full season as the team’s starter. He threw for 38 touchdowns and only threw eight picks in the 2015 affair.

With Falk gearing up for a high flying season, the FCS Eagles are going to do everything in their power to slow the emerging star quarterback from connecting with receivers in the endzone. EWU is known for being defensively-minded behind Head Coach Beau Baldwin.

Leach said in an interview with the Pac-12 Network that they will plan on making adjustments to tweak their game but they will have to see come game time what calls will best suit the match ups they face.

Freshman wide receiver Renard Bell prepared for what he hopes to be his collegiate debut and played an outstanding scrimmage against the third and fourth-string teams in Thursday’s practice.

Linebackers Coach Ken Wilson, said that “He was like a little bug running around out there. We had guys trying to tackle him and they would just miss.”

Inside receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard echoed Wilson, saying that, “We recruited him for that reason, so he could come in and flash.”

WSU has won all three prior meetings with EWU and is again the heavy favorite as a betting 23.5-point favorite as of Thursday night.

Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. Saturday at Martin Stadium. The game will be broadcasted live by the Pac-12 Networks.