As excited as I was for the Arizona State football season, I’m now just as baffled. Quick recap: Coach Dirk Koetter names senior Sam Keller his starting quarterback over sophomore Rudy Carpenter, who came on in the second half last season when Keller went down with an injury. Carpenter apparently has thoughts of transferring. Koetter meets with a player leadership group. Koetter names Carpenter starter ^[1]. Keller transfers to Nebraska ^[2].

Keeping up?

In a season of high hopes for the Sun Devils, I fear this one will anger the gods of karma. Why didn’t Koetter foresee this – that whichever QB wouldn’t start likely would want to transfer? Why wait until two weeks before the season to name the starter? If there’s going to be a fallout from the decision, let it happen in the spring. Although, in Koetter’s defense (kind of), who knew he was dealing with such prima donnas?

It’s pretty clear that if both threatened to transfer, Koetter would rather cut his losses and lose a senior as opposed to a sophomore with three more years of eligibility. We’ll never know why the sudden about-face, but it leaves me feeling that Koetter isn’t as in touch with his players as he should be.

And to think at the start of training camp, having two star quarterbacks seemed like such a great problem to have.