QB battle: ASU’s Emory Jones, Trenton Bourguet to compete for starting job

TEMPE — There is officially a quarterback battle at Arizona State.

Following ASU’s 15-14 loss to Stanford — where the Sun Devils failed to score a point in the second half — interim head coach Shaun Aguano announced on Monday that there is no longer a true starting QB in Tempe.

Aguano also added that he may wait until as late as Friday before naming who will be under center at Colorado between Emory Jones and Trenton Bourguet.

“Going forward, and you’ll see it out there, it’s an open competition, a true open competition for both of those guys,” Aguano said Monday. “I’m still going to pick the best guy who will get us that win. … It is a true competition these next three days and we’ll see how that plays. There is no true starter right now.”

Jones looked to have put all quarterback controversy ideas to rest with his first half performance in Palo Alto.

Arizona State led Stanford 14-6 at halftime behind the QB’s 111 yards on eight of 12 passing (66.7%) and this dime of a touchdown pass to wide receiver Elijhah Badger.

pic.twitter.com/6DZPIqmc0O https://t.co/tKI58VdbT7

— Jake Anderson (@jwa1994) October 22, 2022

But despite throwing for more yards in the second half (116) without an INT, the quarterback was 6-for-13 (46%) and couldn’t help help

Jones was inches away from delivering a game-winning touchdown pass in the dying seconds of the game, but the throw was just too close to the sideline for Badger to keep a foot in bounds while making the one-handed grab.

Emory Jones should have led Elijhah Badger more inside. Allow your star WR to adjust to the ball without needing to use one-handed acrobatics. The clock stops on a first down, so no need to hug the sideline.

Huge missed opportunity to build a win streak for Arizona State. pic.twitter.com/mknL7dAMBF

— Cole Topham (@HamAnalysis) October 22, 2022

Jones also ran for 46 yards on nine carries, but four sacks chopped his net yards down to just 27 on the day.

“There’s some good things that he did,” Aguano said of his performance. “There’s some decision-making that was questionable I thought. There was some inconsistency I thought in the second half a little bit. Overall, I thought he did OK.”

Through seven games this season, he has put up five passing TDs and 1,347 yards on 62.5% passing to go along with four interceptions. Jones has added 54 yards and four scores on the ground, but again, that metric is skewed because sacks count against rushing yards in college football.

The competition, Bourguet, made the most of his only opportunity in non-garbage time of a game in his college career.

In the 45-38 win over then-No. 21 ranked Washington, Bourguet tossed three touchdown passes and 182 passing yards on 71% passing (15-for-21), with his lone mistake being one interception.

INJURY UPDATE

Aguano said starting left guard LaDarius Henderson (finger) “will probably take one or two more weeks” to recover from the finger injury he sustained against Washington and kept him out of the Stanford game. ASU is relatively healthy otherwise.

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