QB burned a bit in trial by fire

PULLMAN – His coach liked his poise, but the last word for Marshall Lobbestael on Saturday evening was accountability.

His first start at quarterback at Washington State was far from a success – the Cougars were buried by Oregon 63-14 – and the freshman from Oak Harbor, Wash., was quick to note why.

“You can’t turn the ball over,” he said. “Three turnovers are too much, no matter if it’s my first start or my 10th start. Any turnover – offense or defense – changes the pace of the game.”

This game was three snaps old when Lobbestael tried to run from Oregon’s pressure and had the ball stripped from him by Brandon Bair. Nick Reed of the Ducks recovered at the WSU 28-yard line, and Oregon had a touchdown and the lead for good five plays later. On the ensuing kickoff, Kenny Rowe knocked the ball away from WSU’s Chris Ivory and Jairus Byrd recovered – and three plays later the Ducks led 14-0.

Later, Lobbestael would throw a pair of third-quarter interceptions, and though the cause was long lost by that point, he didn’t take it easy on himself.

“Turnovers are a momentum swing,” he said. “If you give them three from one person, that is too much for any offense.”

And yet offensive coordinator Todd Sturdy seemed far from disappointed in Lobbestael’s first start.

“I was proud of Marshall,” Sturdy said. “I thought he did some really good things. It’s the first time he’s been put into a situation where he had to prepare (as the starter) for a Pac-10 game and all the pressure that goes along with that, and I thought he handled it very well.”

Lobbestael completed 22 of 41 passes for 192 yards and touchdowns to Jeshua Anderson in the second quarter and Michael Willies with 1:19 to play. He also engineered a 14-play, 82-yard drive that ate up nearly seven minutes and included three third-down conversions, one by penalty.

“That drive,” he said, “is a preview of our offense and what it can do.”

Lobbestael said he never felt overwhelmed but sometimes a little “mixed up – like I didn’t have enough time to get a good pre-snap read. But that will come with more film study and being more familiar with things.”

Though the Cougars threw the ball more than coach Paul Wulff wanted, it was because they never established a productive running game – not because of the score or the tenor of the game.

“We wanted to be careful not to just throw (Lobbestael) to the wolves,” Wulff said. “We have a whole season ahead of us, and we need him next week.”

Huddle up

The Cougars did add one significant wrinkle to the offense this week: They huddled.

Though Wulff had suggested upon his hiring that fans would never see the WSU offense huddle, he hadn’t anticipated being down to his third-string QB – and a redshirt freshman – by the fifth game of his tenure.

“We did go into a huddle today,” said Sturdy. “As coaches we thought that was going to be a benefit to Marshall. And it helped, it helped a lot. We’ll have to see (how much they continue to use it).”

Inaction Jackson

You wouldn’t think a 1-3 football team would have much of an issue with hunger or motivation, but safety Alfonso Jackson suggested that might have been the case Saturday.

“We came out slow, sluggish,” he said. “I was overhearing a coach in warm-ups saying we seemed pretty flat. And a couple guys admitted to me that was the case. Me, I’ve never played as sloppy as I played today. It was a total train wreck for me. A lot of my teammates on the sidelines agreed we were all playing that way.”

There were any number of low moments, but Jackson’s nadir probably came early in the third quarter when Jaison Williams caught a screen pass and ran right through a Jackson tackle for a 33-yard touchdown that made it 42-7.

“I had three or four of those which is just unacceptable,” he said.

Positively unacceptable

When Brandon Gibson decided to return to WSU for his senior season instead of entering the NFL draft, he was hoping to end on a positive note.

Through the first five games, there have been some individual highlights. But the team aspects? Not what Gibson was hoping for.

“This losing stuff has got to end,” he said. “I’m getting tired of it.”

Gibson did his best to keep the Ducks at bay, wriggling free often enough in the Oregon secondary to catch 10 of Lobbestael’s passes.

Though none of those resulted in a score, they were good for 103 yards, giving Gibson 11 career 100-yard-plus games, tying him atop the Cougar all-time list with his position coach, Mike Levenseller.

Gibson, who also moved up the WSU career lists in receptions (155; to third) and reception yardage (2,481; second), didn’t catch either of Lobbestael’s scoring passes.

It’s obvious the redshirt freshman quarterback was looking for Gibson, launching 13 of his throws toward the senior.

“Marshall and I talked a lot and all his reads are directly to me,” Gibson said. “I have no problem with that. If I have to be the fire-starter and get everything going, that’s fine. I want to be that guy.”

Unexpected hit

In a game of big hits, none was bigger than one delivered by, believe it or not, a quarterback.

Oregon reserve QB Chris Harper was out in front of LeGarrette Blount on a third-quarter run.

Harper, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound freshman, peeled back as Harper neared the sidelines in front of the Oregon bench and zeroed in on WSU’s Kenny Dunn.

Dunn, intent on chasing down Blount, didn’t see Harper, who met the 5-11, 218-pound senior linebacker with a forearm just under the helmet, rocking Dunn to his back.

Dunn bounced back up and was in on the next tackle – on Harper.

Injury update

The injury bug bit WSU again, with starting receiver Daniel Blackledge suffering a left shoulder injury on the Cougars’ second possession. It was enough to keep him from returning. He was replaced by Jared Karstetter, who snared an 8-yard pass late in the first quarter for his first collegiate catch.

Starting defensive end Kevin Kooyman (ankle sprain) and linebacker Cory Evans (hamstring) didn’t play.