PISCATAWAY, N.J.—Through its first four games, Rutgers has been looking for a spark on offense.
After tweaking with the offense line and running the Wildcat excessively to try and jump-start an anemic offense, apparently all the Scarlet Knights needed was a change at quarterback.
In comes Chas Dodd and out go the offense struggles—with the exception of pass protection as five sacks were allowed.
Not what one would expect when inserting a true freshman for the injured Tom Savage, who Schiano said was grimacing when walking back after every throw in the warm-ups due to his injured throwing hand.
And when it mattered most, Dodd looked anything like a true freshman.
With 1:31 left and three time outs remaining with the ball on their own 38-yard line, the undersized Dodd came back on the field looking to snap the 24–24 tie.
“I saw a look in his eye when we were in the huddle and he looked very determined,” receiver Mohamed Sanu said. “So I was so confident that we were going to get the ball where we needed to get it, and he made a very big play.”
That play only needed one take as Dodd found Jeremy Deering down the left sideline for a 45-yard gain. The pitch and catch set up San San Te for the 34-yard field goal with 0:18 left to give Rutgers (3–2) the 27–24 win in the Big East opener on Friday night.
“Mainly I was just trying to stay focused and stay calm and stay collected,” Dodd said. Not an easy task in front of a crowd of 48,431 at Rutgers Stadium.
“That last drive, once we ended up kicking the field goal, just the emotion all came out and I can’t explain it.”
Harrison’s Big Night
After a first half filled with scoring where UConn led 24–17, the Knights held the Huskies scoreless in the second half. But it took the Knights until late in the fourth quarter to get back on the scoreboard.
On the first play from scrimmage with 4:02 left in the game, Dodd pump faked and then hit Mark Harrison down the left sideline for a 52-yard score.
“It was just a little stutter route, trying to get them to bite on it and then beat them outside,” Dodd said. “I saw him open up and once he caught it, I about beat him down to the end zone.”
Dodd finished the day with 322 passing yards—the most for any quarterback under head coach Greg Schiano in their first start—along with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
The Stratford, Conn. native Harrison recorded his first 100-yard game with his 112-yard, one-touchdown performance.
“Being against UConn it’s always big,” Harrison said. “When I go back home got something to talk about.”
Scoring Recap
Rutgers started the first half scoring with 8:49 left in the first quarter when Dodd hit Deering on a 3rd-and-14 for a 46-yard touchdown. Nick Williams answered for UConn (3–3) with a 100-yard kickoff return to tie the game 7–7.
Following a touchdown run by Mohamed Sanu out of the Wildcat and a field goal by Te, Rutgers was up 17–7.
Connecticut running back Jordan Todman answered the scores with a 66-yard touchdown run with 6:36 left in the half. Kashif Moore hauled in a 22-yard touchdown from Cody Enders a couple minutes later to give UConn its first lead.
Dave Teggert nailed a 17-yard field goal to close out the half to put the Huskies up 24–17.
Aside from the 66-yard run by Todman, Rutgers was able to contain UConn. However, they didn’t record a sack and they didn’t get a turnover until the final play of the game when Sanu—playing defensive back in a prevent defense—intercepted Enders’s final throw.
Schiano knows those three big plays in the first half could have been the game.
“At the end of the game, if you lose, well, it’s only three plays,” Schiano said. “Fortunately, there was a resiliency and a bunch of kids that hung together and chopped away, and we were able to come out with a victory.”
As for the impending quarterback controversy, one can only speculate who will start Saturday against Army at the New Meadowlands Stadium.
“We’ll deal with that during the week,” Schiano said. “We have two very good quarterbacks and that’s something that’s a blessing.”
Tune in every Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST on WRSU-FM as Matt Sugam co-hosts Scarlet Football Fever discussing Rutgers football as well as the N.Y. Jets and Giants
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