Change I Can Believe In

You wanted Brock Osweiler.

You cried for him with every wobbling pass, misguided dump-off and shoulder shrug from Danny Sullivan.

You cried foul when the touted freshman only ran four plays against Washington State after Dennis Erickson said he would get some action.

Arizona State fans, meet your new quarterback.

DE finally pulled the trigger on a switch that, in hindsight, probably could have come two or three weeks ago today when he announced that Brock is supplanting Danny Sullivan as the Sun Devils starting quarterback.

He’ll take the field with the first string this Saturday at Oregon with Samson Szakacsy backing him up if Sully can’t go at all. Erickson did say that Danny may get a chance to play if he’s healthy enough.

I let myself wonder briefly the extent to which Sullivan’s aching bicep had on the decision, but in the interest of trying to stay optimistic, I’m going to hope that it wasn’t much.

Sully sat out practice today while Osweiler took every snap with the first team. He’s got one more practice on Thursday and a walk-through to prepare for his first career start.

Forget that it’s Osweiler’s first start for a moment though; let’s get straight to the fact that his grand debut will take in the most hostile of hostile environments.

Autzen Stadium eats players alive. Ask Matt Barkley.

Brock’s first career start will be an ultimate test of his young mental strength. He already took in one complete half against a perennial conference power; a highly diluted 2009 version of USC, mind you; but he held his own.

He seemed cool in the pocket and light on his feet, especially on the touchdown drive; two traits that Danny has painfully lacked in his nine starts this year.

I’m excited about Brock getting the start and you should be too.

However, the voice of reason in me implores you to not get too comfortable or overconfident. Starting Osweiler doesn’t quite mean our Devils are going to go up to Eugene and steal a win from the still Pac-10 front-running Ducks.

It also doesn’t mean that he’s going to maintain the starting job for all three of the final games this year. For all we know, Danny could heal up by next week’s UCLA match-up and be right back on the field.

I hope that’s not the case on the latter, but I’d keep it in the back of your mind, especially if Brock struggles on Saturday night.

For now though, bask in the glow of what 99.9999% of Arizona State fans have plead for over the past nine weeks.

You wanted Brock? You got him. Now it’s up to him to prove why he should hang onto the spot.

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