ASU Football: Drew Pyne named as starter for USC game

TEMPE, Ariz. — Kenny Dillingham has named Drew Pyne as the starting quarterback for Saturday’s game against USC. The Notre Dame transfer will be making his first start for the Sun Devils. It will only be the fourth game of the season, but this will be ASU’s third different quarterback starter, thanks to injuries.

Drew Pyne will start against USC

Pyne struggled in his Arizona State debut last weekend against Fresno State. The redshirt sophomore threw for 52 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions. To make matters worse, he fumbled twice as well. Yep, that’s four turnovers. That can’t happen again if Arizona State wants a chance at pulling off an upset, and Pyne knows that.

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham took responsibility for turnovers from his quarterbacks against Fresno State. Going into the game last weekend, Dillingham rolled the dice and decided to split reps between Trenton Bourguet and Drew Pyne in the first half.

This was something Dillingham had been adamant against for weeks, but after Jaden Rashada’s injury, there was no clear-cut starter. The hope was to give both of the quarterbacks an opportunity and then to see who ran away with it.

Unfortunately, Trenton Bourguet got injured on his second drive, and Pyne left the game with an injury in the second half.

“One of the reasons I don’t like that (splitting reps) to be honest,” Dillingham said. “Is, it forces kids to play very conservative or forces kids to press… when you press, you turn the ball over.”

The Sun Devils had an astounding eight turnovers, which is completely unacceptable for a college football team.

“I think a lot of the mistakes on gameday this last week are my fault,” Dillingham continued. “I put our guys in a situation to try to make plays, try to force plays because they’re trying to stay on the field.”

Will Pyne have more success this week without the pressure of splitting reps, in addition to Dillingham taking over the role as offensive play caller?

Pyne’s previous success against the Trojans

Pyne has certainly shown he’s capable of dicing up USC’s defense. Last season for Notre Dame he threw for 318 yards and three touchdowns against the Trojans. He was a clean 23/26 passing, and only threw one interception. His quarterback rating was 221.6, Pyne’s second-highest of his career.

He will certainly have less protection thanks to a beat-up offensive line on Saturday, and the USC defense has seemingly improved off last season. However, one thing is for sure. Drew Pyne has the talent and capability to be successful against USC.

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