ASU looks for fast start against Idaho St.

The Arizona State Sun Devils have been looking forward to Saturday night for a long time.

How long?

Since last December, when they wrapped up a 5-7 season, one of the most disappointing in school history. Ranked 15th in The Associated Press preseason Top 25, ASU suffered an unimaginable home loss to UNLV and stumbled through a six-game losing streak, matching the longest in ASU annals.

The Sun Devils can't wait to put last year behind them. Their 2009 season kicks off with the college football equivalent of a layup — a visit by Idaho State, which plays in the Football Championship Subdivision's Big Sky Conference.

The Bengals went 1-11 last year and were outscored by a combined 494-256. They've lost 15 straight road games.

"The start of the new season is the start of our new beginning," ASU quarterback Danny Sullivan said after a recent practice.

Like his players, coach Dennis Erickson is eager to forget about 2008.

"That year is over with," Erickson said at his weekly campus news conference. "You can't talk about it any longer. Let's talk about this year.

"It's been a motivational tool for us, not just now, but in the winter conditioning and spring football and so forth over the summer and camp," Erickson said. "We want to prevent that from happening again, and we are the only ones that can control that, the coaches and the players."

Erickson this week announced that he had suspended "five or six" Sun Devils, but he wouldn't identify the players or say what they had done to draw the punishment.

As of Thursday, freshman linebacker Vontaze Burfict, one of the Sun Devils' most touted recruits in recent memory, was still waiting for the NCAA to confirm that he had qualified academically.

The Sun Devils probably won't learn much about themselves against Idaho State. But the game will provide a dry run for their quarterbacks and tailbacks.

Erickson named Sullivan, a 6-foot-4, 242-pound senior, as the successor to Rudy Carpenter, who started the last 43 games of his college career. Sullivan beat out sophomore Samson Szakacsy and true freshman Brock Osweiler.

Sullivan is the only one in that group who has taken a snap in college.

Last year, Sullivan played in every game, completing only 15 of 43 passes (34.9 percent) for 151 yards, and he had one touchdown pass and two interceptions. For his career, Sullivan is 40-of-87 for 409 yards, with three touchdowns and three interceptions.

Szakacsy has had problems with his throwing arm, and Erickson said this week that Osweiler would be the backup quarterback against Idaho State.

"We've got to have two quarterbacks, and if Samson keeps going back and forth, we just can't take that chance," Erickson said. "I thought that Brock, for being a freshman, did some awfully good things coming in the spring and where he is at right now. (Brock) is very talented, but like any freshman, he has a lot to learn and obviously he's going to have to learn it pretty fast."

Erickson also is looking for a tailback to emerge from a group that includes senior Dimitri Nance, senior Jarrell Woods, sophomore Ryan Bass and freshman Cameron Marshall.

"I wish somebody would jump right out, to be quite honest with you, but that has not quite happened yet," Erickson said.