Up in Syracuse, Doug Marrone named a starting quarterback (Greg Paulus). Out in Louisville, Steve Kragthorpe named a starting quarterback (Justin Burke). Today we find out if Greg Schiano can bring himself to do the same.

The Rutgers coach is notoriously cagey about personnel things. And he’s borderline fanatical when he thinks keeping those personnel things secret might give Rutgers a competitive advantage. The good thing, though, is that he’s pretty good-natured about the quirk.

Asked Saturday when he’ll unveil his two-deep, Schiano pointed at Sports Information Director Jason Baum and said, “When he tells me to.” Asked if he’ll put a starting QB on that two-deep, he again pointed at Jason and said, “Whatever he tells me.” Asked if Baum said yes, would he then resort to his favorite OR, Schiano laughed and said, “I know, OR’s a cop-out. OR’s non-committal.”

Not that that means he won’t do it. And really, in all fairness, he might not yet know who his starter is. After all the joking Saturday, Schiano more somberly said, “I have to talk to Kirk,” referring to quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca. “We’ll decide together, sometime around two in the morning on (gameday).”

Ultimately, it’s an interesting philosophical question. Fifth-year senior Dom Natale has consistently taken the majority of first-team snaps all through the spring and training camp. But he hasn’t done enough to officially slide true freshman Tom Savage out of the starting conversation. So my question is this: if most everything is close, do you go with the older, relatively more seasoned player – or the untested future?

Only one true freshman quarterback has ever led a Division I-A team to a national title, Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway in 1985. Out in LA, USC coach Pete Carroll’s decision last week to go with Matt Barkley and that untested future has set off shockwaves. Heck, Chris Dufresne thinks the two-time national title-winning coach is nuts.

So in a year that Rutgers could have the best offensive line of Greg Schiano’s tenure, and the best defense too, is starting a true freshman in a season-opener against defending Big East champ Cincinnati a little too risky?