COLLEGE FOOTBALL REPORT / WEEKDAY UPDATE : AROUND THE NATION : Indiana to Start Freshman Quarterback

Redshirt freshman Chris Dyer will start at quarterback for Indiana against Michigan State Saturday, Indiana Coach Bill Mallory said.

“I think he deserves a chance,” Mallory said.

The decision puts sophomore Trent Green on the bench after starting most of the season.

Green started in last week’s 45-19 loss to Michigan, but Dyer led the Indiana offense the final three quarters with a performance that apparently boosted his stock.

“Not playing for two weeks and coming in, I think Dyer did a lot of pretty good things,” Mallory said. “He made some mistakes. He had two interceptions. You can see the reason for both of them: The one, he got the ball up a little high to try to get it over the linebacker. The other, he didn’t do a very good job of the read on the pass. That resulted in the interception.

“These are things he hopefully gained some experience from, but overall I thought he did a good job of making some things happen. He showed us some good play. We saw on the positive side a lot of pretty good things there.”

Both quarterbacks have held the starting job, only to lose it. Dyer was listed No. 1 all summer, but Green took the job away from him before the season.

“Both are character people,” Mallory said. “They both want to play, but they’ve been very supportive to one another. That comes under the category of character.”