Time for a late drive

PULLMAN – The defense had done all it could. Now it was up to Washington State University’s offense.

Trailing 27-20 with 2 minutes, 3 seconds left Saturday, the Cougars had 80 yards of Martin Stadium turf between them and a tying touchdown.

Fail and WSU would be 0-3 with five of its next six games on the road.

Instead, the Cougars tied the game with 28 seconds left and defeated Southern Methodist 30-27 in overtime.

Talk about unexpected. Nothing the Cougars’ offense had done in the previous 58 minutes indicated it could march down the field and score.

When the drive started WSU had 193 yards in total offense, 308 less than SMU. But the Cougars were prepared.

“That’s a scenario you practice quite a bit,” WSU offensive coordinator Todd Sturdy said of the final regulation-time possession.

That was part of the predrive message he had for quarterback Marshall Lobbestael, who up to that point was 17 of 42 for 159 yards. But there was more.

“I just reminded him of the situations that will come up during the drive,” Sturdy said. “Just relaxing, taking what the defense will give you.”

The defense gave the short stuff. Two throws for 14 yards got some momentum going. Then Lobbestael found Johnny Forzani for 21 yards to put the ball in Mustangs territory.

Two incompletions and a short gain left WSU with a fourth-and-7 from SMU’s 42 with less than a minute left. The Cougars had no choice. Lobbestael dropped and tried to hit Jared Karstetter, his connection on a big-pass play at the end of the first half that came over defensive back Sterling Moore.

This time Moore made sure Karstetter couldn’t catch the ball, but his overzealous defense brought a pass interference call and first down at the SMU 34.

“I saw pass interference,” WSU coach Paul Wulff said. “It definitely was.”

With the new life, Lobbestael rifled a bullet to Jeffrey Solomon for 15 yards and a first down at the 19. WSU killed the clock with 42 seconds left, then Lobbestael found Daniel Blackledge for 12 yards to the 7.

On first-and-goal Lobbestael tried to hit Forzani in the back of the end zone, but the junior couldn’t get a foot down. So Lobbestael looked for the next call.

“When Coach Sturdy called the last play … that was something we ran in fall camp, last spring, and we ran it a lot as players in the summer,” Lobbestael said. “He knew that we knew it, but it necessarily wasn’t in the game plan.”

Maybe it should have been.

Karstetter slipped inside Moore, went to his knees and caught the scoring strike with 28 seconds left.

Nico Grasu’s extra point tied it and, after a couple of SMU plays went nowhere, the teams went to overtime.

“I think I was able to stay on an even keel because I hadn’t been performing too well earlier in the game,” said Lobbestael, who hit 7 of his 10 passes on the final drive. “I sort of owed it to the rest of the offense, because they were playing really well.”

Running game stalled

Lobbestael had an icebag strapped to his elbow after the game – his left elbow, which would seem to be the wrong one.

The sophomore quarterback’s right arm could have used the treatment after he threw 52 passes, easily a high in the Wulff era, as the Cougars shelved their running game – though not necessarily on purpose. Having averaged 139 yards rushing through the season’s first two games, WSU managed just 37 against SMU.

After falling behind 17-0 in the second quarter, WSU called 15 consecutive pass plays until Dwight Tardy got dragged down for a 1-yard loss midway through the third period. James Montgomery got 2 more on the next possession, but a Cougar running back didn’t take another handoff until WSU was trying to position itself for the winning field goal in overtime.

There were several contributing factors.

“A lot were checks at the line, audibles I was making – and sometimes I should and sometimes I shouldn’t have,” Lobbestael said. “Sometimes the situation called for a pass, other times I had one or two bad reads pre-snap that caused us to get out of run plays we should have left on.”

Wulff also pointed out that an early injury to guard B.J. Guerra necessitated a juggle in line personnel – the Cougs having lost their two starting guards, with freshman Tyson Pencer getting his first action at left tackle.

“(SMU) did a good job of stretching out our stretch run play,” Wulff said. “We probably should have run the ball more inside and we tried to at times. And I’ll be honest, James and Dwight are nicked up. James had 55cc of fluid drained from his knee on Monday or Tuesday and he’s not 100 percent, and Dwight’s battling an ankle injury. But we probably weren’t run blocking as well as we should, either.”

Washington State’s offense came in without starting left guard Zack Williams, who suffered a high ankle sprain against Hawaii. Then, on the game’s fourth play, Guerra limped to the sidelines. The diagnosis: a sprained medial collateral ligament.

Brian Danaher, who started in Williams’ spot, moved over to the other side of center Kenny Alfred. Steven Ayers slid inside to left guard and Pencer took his place at left tackle.

For most of the game, the Cougars struggled to run the ball and pass protect. But in the second half they did better, especially on the latter.

“We need to make our adjustments sooner,” Alfred said. “We came out a little bit too tight and we need to be able to relax.”

Not Tuel time

The plan was to find playing time for freshman quarterback Jeff Tuel, but Tuel never warmed up.

The decision not to play Tuel was predicated in part, according to Sturdy, on the injuries up front. With Guerra and Williams out, the Cougars were going with a somewhat makeshift offensive line.

“We had some issue in the protection,” Sturdy said. “(And) he’s a young player. Besides, Marshall is competing, battling. I didn’t feel it was the right situation (to go to Tuel).”