SEATTLE — Marshall Lobbestael’s college career began months after he quarterbacked Oak Harbor High School to a Class 4A state football championship in the fall of 2006.
It ended on a slightly lower note Saturday night with a 38-21 loss to Washington in the Apple Cup at CenturyLink Field.
But in between Lobbestael squeezed a good many memories — some of them terrific, others not so pleasant — out of his Washington State football career.
“It’s been up and down, but it’s been a great five years,” Lobbestael said. “WSU means the world to me. It’s been a great place for me. I love WSU and I’m going to be a Coug for life.”
Against the Huskies, Lobbestael completed 29 of 42 passes for 344 yards and three touchdowns. He also tossed a fourth-quarter interception — a tipped ball that was picked off by UW safety Sean Parker — and was sacked seven times.
WSU’s offense started slowly, with the team’s first two drives losing a combined 9 net yards. Another possession late in the first quarter ended with a fumble.
But in the second quarter Lobbestael got the Cougars offense untracked. Trailing 14-0 early in the period, WSU moved 80 yards in 12 plays for a touchdown on one drive and 66 yards in eight plays for a TD on the next, making the score 14-14.
“We didn’t execute at the beginning of the game,” Lobbestael said. “But then I settled down, the offense settled down and we started moving the ball.”
After the Huskies moved out to a 28-14 lead midway through the third quarter, Lobbestael guided Washington State on another scoring drive, this one covering 66 yards in just three plays for a third touchdown.
But that was the extent of WSU’s offensive output for the game.
“And at the end of the day,” Lobbestael said, “it just comes down to execution. We wanted to stay ahead of the chains (by continuing to move the ball) and there were times we didn’t do that today.”
Lobbestael’s five years provided more losses than victories, and there were times he lost his place in the starting lineup to a younger quarterback. In fact, he started Saturday’s game only because of injuries to Jeff Tuel, the team’s top QB, and promising backup Connor Halliday.
But in his WSU finale “I thought he did some good things,” said Cougars head coach Paul Wulff. “And I’m proud of Marshall. He’s a fifth-year senior and he stayed with the program even though we brought in some young quarterbacks who are real talented.
“He could have left at any time, but I’m so proud with how he hung in there. He stayed with this football team to help us and he did a lot of good for this team in so many ways behind the scenes that a lot of people don’t understand.”
He is, Wulff added, “a great rock and a great leader, and a lot of our younger guys see that in him.”
Because this was his final collegiate game, Lobbestael took time to reflect on his years at WSU.
“When I left Oak Harbor, I knew that WSU was where I wanted to be,” he said. “But your career never goes as planned. I just feel that God has put me through a lot of ups and downs, and I’ve just learned how to come out of them on positive notes and negative notes.
“You don’t like to end it like this, but at the same time it’s made me who I am. So I’m very thankful and blessed for it.”
Statistically, Lobbestael left his name in the WSU record book. His three TD passes on Saturday put him ninth on WSU’s all-time list with 26, and he is eighth with 335 career completions and 10th with 603 career attempts.
Also, his 61.0 career completition percentage (208-for-341) is second to former WSU QB Timm Rosenbach (64.5 in 1988) among WSU’s all-time single-season leaders.
But the truest highlights, Lobbestael said, come from “the culture that’s in Pullman and the people I met there. Just being a part of ‘Coug Nation.’ It’s something that’s special.”
Even during moments of discouragement, “I couldn’t leave (the program). When people brought it up, I could just never see myself leaving. I wanted to stay and help the team however I could because that’s just what being a Coug is about, I feel.
“I fell in love with the program on my official (recruiting) visit,” he said, “and I’ll never fall out of love (with WSU).”
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