CJ Beathard will start Taxslayer Bowl

[ihawkeye]

dude. its not true. that's exactly why it does not make sense. the guy on twitter had no grounds for tweeting what he tweeted. He's just a guy with a device and an idea.

Next you'll tell me Santa isn't real either. Great..... just great!

 

[MelroseHawkins]

dude. its not true. that's exactly why it does not make sense. the guy on twitter had no grounds for tweeting what he tweeted. He's just a guy with a device and an idea.

Yea. I'm real suspect about this. I'm with ya. That's kind of what I wanted from my post. That it just wouldn't make sense so is probably not true.

 

[drew003]

This doesn't F'en make sense. Why now. krist, you might as well start Rudock now & play CJ in the game. If true, this shows how bipolar this coaching staff is. So, you took one QB & crushed his mind all year, and now you crush the other QB (starter) in the last game.

I'm not against CJ starting by any means and he should have gotten more PT over the course of the year, but doing this the last game and potentially crushing Jake's confidence just doesn't make much sense to me.

I think it could be explained. KF was uncomfortable with playing two QBs during the season. He believes that an offense needs a single QB for continuity, stability, and cohesiveness. Jake was this year's team's predetermined QB1--that was the locker room culture throughout spring and fall camp.

KF was committed to having a QB competition for a short period after Pitt, but concerned how that would affect stability and locker room expectations/culture. Jake comes out strong against Indiana and that convinces Kirk to tie his hitch to Ruddock for the season as he had planned. As the season plays out, he sees that Jake is giving him average production, but the offense would still bog down for long stretches and struggle vertically. But KF is not a flexible man, and his decision was made after Indiana, because he thought the team needed clarity on who its QB would be.

The season is now over. The bowl game is essentially an exhibition, and there are 3 weeks a of practice before the game. KF, in his mind, is no longer bound by his decision after Indiana, because stability/cohesiveness factors that KF thought bound him to Jake are no longer in play. KF now gets to make a "second" decision about who his QB should be. And this time he selects CJB to get the first crack at securing the QB1 position.

Is this how every coach makes decisions, no. It it plausible this is how KF might think, I think so.

 

[83Hawk]

I think it could be explained. KF was uncomfortable with playing two QBs during the season. He believes that an offense needs a single QB for continuity, stability, and cohesiveness. Jake was this year's team's predetermined QB1--that was the locker room culture throughout spring and fall camp.

KF was committed to having a QB competition for a short period after Pitt, but concerned how that would affect stability and locker room expectations/culture. Jake comes out strong against Indiana and that convinces Kirk to tie his hitch to Ruddock for the season as he had planned. As the season plays out, he sees that Jake is giving him average production, but the offense would still bog down for long stretches and struggle vertically. But KF is not a flexible man, and his decision was made after Indiana, because he thought the team needed clarity on who its QB would be.

The season is now over. The bowl game is essentially an exhibition, and there are 3 weeks a of practice before the game. KF, in his mind, is no longer bound by his decision after Indiana, because stability/cohesiveness factors that KF thought bound him to Jake are no longer in play. KF now gets to make a "second" decision about who his QB should be. And this time he selects CJB to get the first crack at securing the QB1 position.

Is this how every coach makes decisions, no. It it plausible this is how KF might think, I think so.

There is NO WAY CJ starts barring injury or something else that would keep Jake from playing.

Why? Because of the uproar if CJ plays well and wins the game. It would make Kirk look like a fool for playing Jake all season, and he is NOT going to put himself in that position.

 

[drew003]

There is NO WAY CJ starts barring injury or something else that would keep Jake from playing.

Why? Because of the uproar if CJ plays well and wins the game. It would make Kirk look like a fool for playing Jake all season, and he is NOT going to put himself in that position.

I think you are greatly overestimating the degree to which KF cares what the fans think. This is the same man who stuck a clearly worse Jake Christiansen into a game despite Stanzi's success, losing Iowa the game, and then defended his decision in the media by saying he made a "gut call." And he did all of that without that lifetime contract he obtained after winning the Orange Bowl. This is also the same man that his coined the phrase "that's football" as cover from answering any difficult question with any cogent analysis.

KF might not start CJB, but it certainly won't be because he's afraid of the fan reaction.

 

[ThunderHawk]

Well...I'm still on the Ferentz bandwagon...because...well...I am a sucker.

I would love to CJ start the bowl game...but a little bit of me would be pretty ticked off at Kirk...how would that rationale work? He's not good enough to play at all with a stagnant offense in 1st half of Wisky or 2nd half of Nebraska....but is good enough to start the bowl game? WHAT?

But at the end of the day...while the offense left a lot to be desired this year...I still maintain this year was a defensive problem...Everyone knew if Iowa got the ball back against Wisky we were going to win that game...and then the offense gave the defense a lead with less than two minutes left vs the Huskers....the facts are, when the bright lights were on...the Iowa defense wilted.

DEVIL'S ADVOCATE:

Perhaps Kurt decided that he was going to let this season be Riddick's to rise or fall with.

Season's over.

If Sunshine is starting in the bowl game, Riddick is over too.