With Ohio State’s season opener less than two weeks away, its quarterback competition between Kyle McCord and Devin Brown remains too close to call.

“As honestly as I can say it, there’s not one that won the job, and there’s not one that’s lost the job,” coach Ryan Day said Monday. “There’s been times over this camp where I felt like one was going to take over, and the other one came back. It’s like a horse race. One would pull away and the other would catch up.”

Day spoke 12 days before the season starts Sept. 2 at Indiana, which is when he announced in previous competitions that Justin Fields and C.J. Stroud had won the job. The McCord-Brown battle has always been regarded as closer than those two.

“Our staff feels confident in both, which is exciting,” Day said. “This is two good players getting after it. I think they’re making each other better.”

Day said that he polled his staff after Saturday’s scrimmage and said it was “split almost right down the middle.” He said both quarterbacks graded as champions in the scrimmage, including leading the team to touchdown drives in the two-minute drill.

Day said the competition could extend into the season, with both players possibly playing against Indiana.

“They’re both playing very well,” Day said. “We have confidence in them. You don’t know until you get into the game exactly what you have. Practice is good. Practice gives us a snapshot of what you’re going to see in the game. But once you start getting tackled and you’re in (stressful) situations, that’s a whole ‘nother thing.

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“We’re trying to figure it out one day at a time. I’ve been in situations – not very many – where you don’t have a quarterback, and that’s not a good feeling. We’re going to have a quarterback, and we may have two. If they (both) deserve to play, they’re going to play.”

McCord, a junior, was Stroud’s backup last season. He has started one game in his career, a victory over Akron his freshman year when Stroud had an injured shoulder.

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Brown, a redshirt freshman, did not attempt a pass last year while seeing brief action in two games.

Both have had ample reps in camp. Ohio State has used two fields and intermingled starters and backups to maximize snaps to evaluate.

“In the run game, I think they have a pretty good handle on what we're doing,” Day said. “In the passing game, I think they've done a nice job of making good decisions. They're getting more and more comfortable being in the pocket and getting the timing of the passing game, and that’s not something that just happens.”

Day said he has been watching closely to see how teammates respond to each quarterback.

“Kyle has built relationships in the locker room outside of the Woody (Hayes Athletic Center) for three years, and he’s got a good group of guys who really rally around Kyle," he said. "They believe in him. They trust in him. They know who he is.

“Devin in the last six months has really stepped up in that area. He’s got a lot of juice. He takes command on the field. You can feel that when he’s out there. Right now, I think if you asked our players, they believe in both guys.”

Day said if the competition remains deadlocked, McCord would likely take the first snap against Indiana because “you’d probably go with the guy who has been in the program longer.”

But Day hopes someone does separate himself.

“You want to figure out who has the highest ceiling, who can develop more,” he said. “I think that does play into consideration, but you’re not going to do that at the risk of losing games.

“I know in my heart this thing is going to work itself out. But I’m proud of the way the guys are competing. If I felt any other way, I’d say it. But now they’re going to have to keep pushing through and competing. If it goes into the season, it goes into the season. Usually, when you get into games, you start to see somebody pull away.”

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OSU QB battle between McCord and Brown could continue into season