Notre Dame played three quarterbacks during Saturday’s loss, and it was not due to injury. Jack Coan started the game, with Tyler Buckner coming in at times to get the offense going. With the Irish down 17-0 at half and the Irish offense doing little to nothing in the first half, Brian Kelly made the call to switch to Drew Pyne. Buckner would be tossed in the second half for a play, but it was Pyne’s offense in the second half. So after a game where you play three different QBs and don’t win, there is obviously a question at that position.

Jack Coan is a very good college QB, but because he is not a mobile QB, he has no chance with the offensive line in front of him. There is no run game and he’s been sacked way too much. It’s unfortunate that Coan came to Notre Dame in the one year that the Irish don’t have a stellar line in front of him. With even an above average offensive line, Coan could do great things for this team; it’s just not happening this year. Tyler Buckner is still the future QB of Notre Dame, but people forget that he’s been out of football for a full year because the state of California cancelled high school football last year due to Covid. There is a big learning curve for him that he is slowly getting the hang of, and while Buckner should still see some time as the season goes, I do not see him starting this Saturday.

During Brian Kelly’s weekly press conference, he said that the staff knows who’s going to start this Saturday vs Va Tech but did not tell us who that would be. For anyone that watched only the last two games that Notre Dame played, the answer is simple – it has to be Drew Pyne. He was the one who stepped in when Coan went down vs Wisconsin and got the offense going. Pyne was the one who came in last week in the second half vs Cincinnati when the Irish offense was doing zero in the first and got the Irish back in position to try and win that game. Notre Dame came up short, but the offense looked a whole lot better in the second half.

The 2021 season is not lost, and far from over. In order to still win out and get to a New Year’s six game, Brian Kelly needs to make the change and give the starting QB spot to Drew Pyne. The Irish have three QBs on the roster who can play at a high level, but Pyne is the one who has shown he is the best of the three for this team, this season.