Who will start at quarterback for Notre Dame on Saturday as the Irish renew their nearly century long rivalry with USC?
Will it be the starter from their last contest that was benched in the first half before being put back in to save the day after his replacement got hurt?
Will it be that replacement that had an extra week to heal up?
Or will it be the spark plug that helped save the day against Wisconsin and nearly engineered a comeback against Cincinnati but who didn’t see the field at Virginia Tech?
In terms of starting the answer appears to be Jack Coan while freshman Tyler Buchner will get work. Drew Pyne meanwhile must be a different player in practice than on game day or something because Brian Kelly indicated Monday that it’ll be unlikely to see Pyne against USC.
“I think from a quarterback standpoint, Jack Coan continues to be the guy that we feel like gives us the best chance to win. A mixture of him with Tyler Buchner, I think both of them.
Drew (Pyne) has done some really good things for us. If we feel like we’re in a situation where we need to call on him, we would. But I think right now, as we look at it, it’s probably in my mind, and I know Tommy’s, that Jack would start and we’ll continue to get Tyler more playing time.”
I can’t say I’m shocked by this but I’m not thrilled, either. Coan just led an epic comeback against Virginia Tech which was exciting but he also struggle mightily to start the game and has had plenty of issues at times this season.
I’m all for Notre Dame going about this and trying to win as many games as possible. They clearly see the future being more about Buchner than Pyne at this point which now makes me wonder what Pyne’s future in South Bend may be.
I do wish we’d see Pyne get more game reps or at least be told why he isn’t after he’s performed how he has in games, however.
Related:
Notre Dame-USC: fun facts about epic rivalry
Notre Dame injury update ahead of USC game