Duke baller-turned-Syracuse quarterback Greg Paulus was benched during the Orange’s 34-13 loss to West Virginia, but, according to head coach Doug Marrone, he remains his starter at the position.
While Paulus certainly struggled on the field -- he completed five of nine passes for 30 yards and an interception -- it was the fact that the QB couldn’t convey to his coach exactly why he was struggling that seemed to lead to his taking a spot on the bench.
“I just didn’t feel comfortable with the way that Greg was responding to questions that I was asking him, we were asking him, on the sidelines,” Marrone said. “I don’t know what the right word is. But I told Greg he’s our quarterback. He will start versus Akron. We will get him settled down in this bye week, which will be good for us.”
“Why would you do this? Why would you do that? It’s just not characteristic of what my experience with Greg has been in the past. Therefore, I felt uncomfortable about the situation and made the switch, knowing that Greg is still our starting quarterback. We’ll move on from here.”
Sophomore Ryan Nassib, who was the presumptive starter before Paulus transferred, was certainly more productive stats-wise than the starter, throwing for 120 yards and two touchdowns after he replaced Paulus at halftime.
Of course, the Mountaineers were up 27-0 at the time of the switch, so view Nassib’s numbers as you will.