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Yes, this has to be frustrating for a fan base, to say the least. Rutgers has a new coaching staff and a new offense, but here are the Scarlet Knights in Week 2 of a new season and they're facing the same lingering questions about their quarterback situation.

Chris Laviano will start again when they play their home opener against Howard, and while that won't make many of the paying customers happy, head coach Chris Ash is right not to change quarterbacks now. Why? There are plenty of reasons, but here are three big ones:

1. He held an open competition. Laviano was the best quarterback (although not by much) during spring practice and the best quarterback (by a bigger margin) during training camp to win the starting job. What kind of message would it send if he pulls the plug already? Would you want to play for a coach who abandons his players after one game against the No. 14 team in the country?

2. He doesn't have a better option. Zach Allen arrived here late, and remember, he had been converted to a wide receiver at his last stop at TCU. No one pushed harder for Hayden Rettig last season than me, but he has now had three coaching staffs assess him and reach the same conclusion that he's not good enough. It speaks volumes that Giovanni Rescigno, a distant fourth on the depth chart when the summer began, is now the backup, and he's not ready, either. Neither is true freshman Tylin Oden.

3. He just installed a new system. This was never going to be an easy transition for offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer, taking players chosen for a pro-style offense and teaching them how to play the spread. He doesn't need to rattle that further by changing quarterbacks already, because if the opener is any indication, they'll have enough challenges this fall.

This is how I'd handle it if I were Ash: Start Laviano in the next two games, both at home and against (he would hope) inferior competition, but also give another quarterback at least one series to get his feet wet. Laviano and this offense should gain confidence against Howard and New Mexico, and then the big boys return to the schedule.

If Laviano can't build on that and show better decision making and ball protection against Iowa on Sept. 24? That's when Ash should make the change, assuming that Allen (or somebody else) is ready to take the reins. Yes, that means making a change before the Scarlet Knights play powerhouse Ohio State, but that's the harsh reality of the Big Ten schedule.

So how long will Ash stay the course? Based on his comments on Monday, it appears that one key factor -- avoiding turnovers -- largely will decide if Laviano keeps the starting job.

"There were goods and there were bads,'' the Rutgers head coach said. "The No. 1 negative on Chris is he did not have good ball security. He put the ball in harm's way, and he needs to get that fixed. That's a big deal. We talked a lot about that in the decision making process to name Chris the starter.

"Chris has earned the right to be the starter here based on what he's done from spring and summer and throughout training camp, but he needs to protect the football."

Maybe that means, should Laviano continue to cough up the football in these next two games, that Ash will consider a change. But I'm guessing that he'll give the starter a longer leash given that it's still early September and his players are still learning this offense.

That won't make some fans happy. But -- for now -- it's the right call.

LISTEN: Episode 2 of NJ.com's Rutgers Football podcast

Rebuilding Rutgers: From The Ashes takes you inside the new football regime. This episode introduces and unravels The Spread, an increasingly popular offense Rutgers is running for the first time.

Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.