The day after Thanksgiving I received a text from a friend saying, “Two touchdowns for Brock so far!” This, I knew, meant Kalispell’s Brock Osweiler was in at quarterback for Arizona State University.
I turned the game on between ASU and UCLA and watched Osweiler finish decimating the Bruins’ defense. He tacked on two more touchdown passes and a touchdown run to bring his day’s touchdown total to five. For the game, he threw for 380 yards on 27-of-36 passing and no interceptions.
Osweiler is usually the backup quarterback but starter Steven Threet had gone down with a concussion. And with one game remaining this season – against rival Arizona on Thursday – Osweiler has secured the starting position, according to media accounts coming out of Arizona.
After the Sun Devils’ 55-34 victory over the Bruins, UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel praised Osweiler, who is a sophomore.
“Their quarterback was outstanding,” Neuheisel said. “Osweiler, when he came in, we couldn’t find a formula to stop him.”
ASU head coach Dennis Erickson also called Osweiler’s performance “outstanding” and was quoted in the Arizona Republic as saying the sophomore has “earned” the starting job. Threet, even if doctors say he’s fine to play, will be on the sidelines.
“Steve may be cleared (to play), but at best, he’ll be our back-up,” Erickson said.
The game between ASU and Arizona will be televised on ESPN at 6 p.m. MST Thursday night. It might be your last chance to see Osweiler play football this year, unless ASU sneaks into a bowl game. But if you miss Thursday’s game, you can always watch Osweiler play basketball. Osweiler recently announced his intentions to join the basketball team. It’s certainly been an exciting few weeks for the Kalispell native.