newjerseynewsroom.com

BY MATT SUGAM

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

PISCATAWAY – Kyle Flood said earlier this week that he still expects the quarterback competition to go into training camp. If there’s one thing Saturday’s scrimmage did, it was solidify that fact.

After Chas Dodd had the slight edge in the first scrimmage, Gary Nova had it in the second. But on a day that was dominated by the defense, neither quarterback looked spectacular.

The two would split reps in the hour and 45 minute scrimmage that included situational football with redzone drives. Nova would finish 6 of 12 for 66 yards and an interception. Dodd would finish 4 of 16 for 34 yards and two fumbled snaps. Practice would be shortened and the two minute drill wasn’t even run after center Dallas Hendrikson cut a finger on his snapping hand and needed stitches.

While Flood admitted the defense had the better day, he couldn’t say which quarterback was better.

“Until I watch it with coach [offensive coordinator Dave] Brock and [quarterbacks] coach [Rob] Spence, it’s hard to tell what the issues may have been. Whether it’s a quarterback issue or a receiver issue — a bad decision. Those are the things you can’t see down here on the field,” Flood said. “I was not on the headset asking those questions just because in a scrimmage when you’re putting in the ones and the twos and the threes, it’s my job to control the scrimmage more than anything.“

Even though it appeared Nova’s one interception was due to the receiver not finishing his route, the quarterback shouldered the blame.

“Just got to check it down. Not force the ball,” Nova said. “Just check it down and get on to the next play.”

Despite the miscue, Nova was feeling much better about this performance than the one in the first scrimmage two Saturdays ago.

“I feel like I felt really confident out there and I felt like everything was just going smooth on my part and the mental aspect of the game,” Nova said. “Obviously we didn’t do what we wanted to do today and we’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’ll just get back to it on Tuesday.”

Dodd did not feel the same about his day. And despite the fact that the defense had six sacks on the day, he felt such miscues were more on the offense.

“I think it was more us,” Dodd said when asked about the defense winning the scrimmage. ”They did a good job. I’m not going to take credit away from them. They had a good day, but again, if we execute better and we do the things we’re supposed to do it’d be different results. So I think more of it’s on us.”

Neither quarterback is sure where the competition is at after the scrimmage. Dodd isn’t sure if he took a step back and Nova doesn’t know if he took one forward. And both don’t seem too concerned with it at this point, well aware that the battle will rage on into the summer.

But in one week spring practice concludes with the spring game. And based on the first two scrimmages, the defense has the clear edge. So is there any concern about the offense coming out flat for the spring game?

“That’s not going to happen,” Nova said. “We can’t afford to. We have to be able to come out here and hit the ground running.”

For more Rutgers football coverage follow Matt Sugam on Twitter @MattSugam and on Facebook.