He’s stood against the brunt of criticism from pundits and fans and kept the faith of his coach for the last four weeks. But on Saturday, in front of a homecoming crowd, he might be on the bench to open a game for the first time this season.

“We have to evaluate exactly who did what and evaluate in practice,” head football coach Mark Dantonio said following the loss to BYU.

It was a contrast to weeks prior, where Dantonio had effectively silenced any quarterback controversy by giving an unambiguous "yes" to questions of whether O’Connor would be starting the following week.

Now the starting tag, for the first time, remains clouded for O'Connor, a team captain.

“Damion Terry came into the season thinking he was going to take some reps,” Dantonio said. “It wasn’t out of the picture that we should see him.”

Though many have put emphasis on O’Connor’s woes as the harbinger of losses, Dantonio made it clear the losses were “all inclusive” with multiple personnel sharing blame.

“I’m not here to blame Tyler O’Connor for this,” Dantonio said. “It’s not his fault we lost.”

With pressure mounting, Dantonio has been forced to answer questions about his fledgling offense and the man under center leading the charge. The decision to send Terry in to spark the offense, however, was not one the junior quarterback expected.

“Honestly, I was in shock,” Terry said. “Third quarter coach (Brad) Salem just looked at me and said, 'get ready.'”

Terry took over in the fourth quarter with MSU trailing 17-7 hoping to impel the stagnant offense forward. He fumbled the first snap, but recovered for a one-yard gain, then connected twice on 11-yard passes.

Attempting to lead the comeback, he lofted a deep ball to a receiver smudged between two corner backs, resulting in an interception. He’d later lead a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, which saw him sneak the ball across the goal line.

O’Connor finished the game 7-of-11 for 58 yards, but has had trouble through the previous weeks, including three interceptions against Wisconsin in a lopsided 30-6 loss.

The decision to switch the quarterbacks came down to production, offensive coordinator Dave Warner, who has taken flak for what many consider conservative play calling, said.

“It was just a situation, a discussion basically was that as I mentioned the points on the board are really what the quarterbacks measured on: is he moving the team, is he getting in the end-zone?” Warner explained. “And again, it includes the whole football team, but everybody looks at the quarterback.”

As for the state of the quarterback position, Terry was unsure of whether the offense was headed for a quarterbacking battle.

“I honestly couldn’t tell you,” Terry said. “Coach (Dantonio) just decided to make the change real quick in the game and I was ready, but I honestly have no idea.”

O’Connor has been the starting quarterback for the entirety of the season thus far, completing 78-of-128 passes for 976 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions. He was widely considered former quarterback Connor Cook’s successor, though no official announcement was made until August.

“I’ve just been going into games ‘I’m number two, Tyler’s the number one’ and it’s been like that,” Terry said. “I’m just always prepared. Like I’ve been saying for awhile, coach Salem always stresses on us we always have to be ready.”

MSU last underwent a controversy in 2013, when Andrew Maxwell and Cook split time at quarterback, until Cook emerged in week five against Iowa.

Dantonio said he doesn’t want a “quarterback controversy” this time around but it remains to be seen who and what will emerge.