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.”
