SDSU football coach John Stiegelmeier is going with the hot hand at quarterback for Saturday's game at Minnesota.

Stiegelmeier said redshirt freshman Thomas O'Brien will get the start against the Gophers, after leading the Jacks to a pair of fourth quarter touchdown drives in last week's 34-15 loss to Southern Illinois.

Senior Ryan Crawford started Saturday's game against the Salukis, but was lifted in the third quarter in favor of O'Brien after 15 of 29 passes for 147 yards and an interception, which was returned for a Salukis touchdown.

After that play, the SDSU student section could be heard chanting for O'Brien to come into the game. O'Brien was 16 of 25 for 181 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

The Jacks are 4-2 in games Crawford has started this season. He missed three games with a knee injury, and the Jacks were 3-0 with O'Brien under center.

O'Brien has completed 65.4 percent of passes he's thrown this season for 925 yards and seven touchdowns against three interceptions. He has a quarterback rating of 138.3. Crawford has completed 64.3 percent of his passes for 1,059 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions, with a quarterback rating of 136.2.