Mike Elko Was Asked About Possibly Benching QB Conner Weigman After Week 1 Struggles

After a disappointing loss to Notre Dame in the season opener, a lot of blame has been placed on quarterback Conner Weigman, who went just 12-of-30 for 100 yards and two interceptions.

This week, Elko was asked if benching Weigman was ever an option in his mind. Here's what he had to say. Per On3:

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“I don’t know that it’s in anybody’s best interest to just pull the plug on a kid the second things aren’t going well. I just don’t know that that’s human nature,” Elko said. “I don’t know that anybody wants to get fired on their job the first time it doesn’t go exactly how they hoped it would, who doesn’t get a second day? We’re dealing with 18 to 21-year-olds. You do the best you can.”

“We felt Conner was going to give us a chance to win the game,” Elko said. “I did. All the way to the end and, honestly, with the game tied one of the best throws he made all night was to Le’Veon Moss who unfortunately didn’t stretch forward and we wound up half a yard short. Even all the way through that last throw before they took the drive to take the lead, I still felt like Conner was going to go out there and put it together and give us a drive. He had just led us down the field to tie it.”

“So, never really crossed our mind to go in a different direction,” Elko concluded.

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