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ORLANDO, Fla. — It was one thing for head coach Kyle Flood to stick with quarterback Gary Nova as Rutgers choked away its best shot at a BCS bid with this late-season tailspin.

It was another thing for Flood to stay with the sophomore last night in the Russell Athletic Bowl when his offense became so scared to pass, it started meekly handing off on third-and-long in the fourth quarter of a tie game.

But what happened after this 13-10 overtime loss to Virginia Tech was something else entirely. There was Flood, cameras rolling after an embarrassing offensive performance on national television, making the kind of dumbfounding statement that makes you question his leadership. This was the exchange:

Q: Are you confident in Nova as you starting quarterback going into the spring or will you open the competition?

A: I’m confident in Gary as our starting quarterback.

That, in eight words, was the scariest development for Rutgers last night. Forget losing the bowl game, as ugly as it was. If the head coach can’t see, after the way his offense finished the season, that he needs to at least reevaluate the player lining up behind center?

Then soon it’ll be time to reevaluate the head coach.

Loyalty in a quarterback is a good thing. Blind loyalty can ruin a team. Nova completed just 17 of 40 passes for 129 yards, wasting a valiant performance from the best defense in school history. He turned the ball over twice, his one interception leading directly to the Hokies’ only touchdown.

If that wasn’t enough to make Flood at least consider a change at the most important position on the field, especially given Nova’s shaky play leading up to the bowl game, this program is in trouble.

“Nothing I saw from him made me feel like I should make any change,” Flood said last night, which means he was either protecting his young player or he was watching something else.

Maybe Nova becomes the answer. Maybe the way he regressed in the final third of this season when the competition improved can be reversed with more work in the offseason. He has two years of experience and that shouldn't be tossed aside no matter how poorly he played last night.



Still: If you're the coach of a team that played this poorly on offense most of the season, you must explore every option. That means the other quarterbacks on the roster, the incoming freshman, even available junior college transfers. Nothing should be guaranteed to anyone.

Even Rex Ryan gave Greg McElroy a shot, and the Jets owe Mark Sanchez $8.25 million next season. Flood was unwilling to send backup Chas Dodd into the game despite his history of stealing unlikely victories in the past.

Flood’s reasoning?

"I don't believe in just throwing things against the wall to see if they work," he said. "Gary is our starting quarterback. He is the one who takes the starting reps during the week. And as we get into the game, we have to trust that his experience and our coaching will make him a little better in the game."

That certainly didn't happen last night. Spotted a 10-0 lead thanks to a defensive touchdown and benefitting from excellent field position throughout the first half, Rutgers did nothing.

This is not all on Nova. The running game, even before running back Jawan Jamison left with an ankle sprain, gained just 67 yards on 39 attempts. The pass protection, facing a Virginia Tech defense that kept blitzing, was helpless, too, and first-year offensive coordinator Dave Brock hardly distinguished himself with his boom-or-bust play-calling.

What happened in the second half was inevitable: The defense finally bent, giving up an early fourth-quarter field goal. And then it broke, but only after a Nova interception set up the Hokies on the Rutgers 21-yard line. Tech quarterback Logan Thomas made the play that Nova could not, finding receiver Corey Fuller with a pretty over-the-shoulder throw that tied the score.

Even then, Rutgers had nearly 11 minutes left. Even then, the Scarlet Knights would get five possessions to kick a game-winning field goal. They only managed one first down — and, immediately after that, Nova fumbled the snap from center to give the ball back to the Hokies.

“I don’t lose confidence — I never lose confidence,” Nova said when asked about his performance. When told that Flood would not open the competition this spring, he added: “I think I’ve earned it, but to have coach express it like that, it’s great.”

Clearly, he needs to improve his humility along with his accuracy. But he’s a college sophomore. The coaches are the ones paid the money to put players in a position to win, and after a solid start, Flood heads into his second season with a three-game losing streak.

If what happened during that stretch isn’t enough for him to at least reevaluate his quarterback, then there will come a time in the not-so-distant future when Rutgers will be reevaluating the head coach.

Steve Politi: spoliti@starledger.com; Twitter: @StevePoliti