JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
Yes, we have debated this topic at the water coolers, cafes, message boards, talk radio and every other form of communication known to Hawkeye fans: Will Iowa’s two quarterback system work?
To me, this is not a long term solution. I feel Kirk Ferentz believes it’s a near term necessity, something he owes to Jake Rudock; another chance to lead the team to wins and score more points. But now, he also owes “significant minutes’ to CJ Beathard. I put quotes around “significant minutes’ because that is a term Kirk used on his Wednesday night radio show, saying that each quarterback would see “significant minutes’.
Marc Morehouse of The Gazette made a pretty good observation over a week ago when Greg Davis said at his presser that both quarterbacks would play. It was along the lines that CJB has earned his way into significant playing time…to look at that as a positive. It caused me to give pause and think it through a little more.
Go back to the spring…CJB didn’t look so hot. Then in the fall, Rudock emerged as the clear starter, Kirk’s words. There was no doubt, but Ferentz said CJB would get some time, something Iowa at least verbally committed to back in the spring.
CJB played that one series against UNI, then nothing against Ball State or Iowa State. He didn’t see the field again until the second half of the game at Pitt and perhaps only then because Rudock had suffered a hip-pointer near the end of the first half. Still, CJB took the ball and ran (threw) with it, leading Iowa to a comeback win, a rare road comeback where the Hawkeyes had trailed by double-digits in the second half on the road. Next up against Purdue, another road contest and another double-digit deficit, CJB struggled early but played well in the second half (not unlike Drew Tate in 2004) and made some ‘deposits’ in Kirk’s trust bank.
We all see the arm, the release, the talent. He’s also a quicker runner than Rudock, but Ferentz sees far more reps than we do in practice and if he is still a bit at odds with the execution, be it based on the players, the offensive philosophy or a blend of both, he is simply not yet ready to make that defining decision of ‘Beathard is our quarterback’.
I can respect that, and do respect Ferentz…even though I might not always exhibit patience in the moment.
So Iowa is stepping out into a brave new world of two quarterbacks in the same game for a bit…but I am certain that this cannot go beyond the next two games…or rather, if it does go beyond Iowa’s next bye week, it won’t be a good thing for this football season. Iowa needs one of these two quarterbacks to win the job definitively and the fact that it’s an open discussion, for real, seven weeks into the regular season, leads me to put my money on CJB winning the job by the time the calendar rolls around to November.
His play has made this a legit question, discussion and battle…it’s not because Jake Rudock has been horrible, because he hasn’t. It’s just that CJB has shown up in real games, two road games, and has led Iowa to two wins. It doesn’t matter the circumstance (injury) under which CJB has had that chance…it only matters that when he got that chance, he performed just as good as Rudock has, at worst.
At his best, he has made throws we haven’t seen from an Iowa quarterback in at least 14 years (Jon Beutjer in 2000) or even farther back to Chuck Long and Chuck Hartlieb in the mid to late 1980’s.
So back to the question I asked in the headline; will playing two quarterbacks work for Iowa?
The answer is yes, but the question needs to be amended to ‘Will playing two quarterbacks lead to Iowa settling on one by November 1st’?
I think that will happen…if it doesn’t, this team just won’t be that good.
To me, this is not a long term solution. I feel Kirk Ferentz believes it’s a near term necessity, something he owes to Jake Rudock; another chance to lead the team to wins and score more points. But now, he also owes “significant minutes’ to CJ Beathard. I put quotes around “significant minutes’ because that is a term Kirk used on his Wednesday night radio show, saying that each quarterback would see “significant minutes’.
Marc Morehouse of The Gazette made a pretty good observation over a week ago when Greg Davis said at his presser that both quarterbacks would play. It was along the lines that CJB has earned his way into significant playing time…to look at that as a positive. It caused me to give pause and think it through a little more.
Go back to the spring…CJB didn’t look so hot. Then in the fall, Rudock emerged as the clear starter, Kirk’s words. There was no doubt, but Ferentz said CJB would get some time, something Iowa at least verbally committed to back in the spring.
CJB played that one series against UNI, then nothing against Ball State or Iowa State. He didn’t see the field again until the second half of the game at Pitt and perhaps only then because Rudock had suffered a hip-pointer near the end of the first half. Still, CJB took the ball and ran (threw) with it, leading Iowa to a comeback win, a rare road comeback where the Hawkeyes had trailed by double-digits in the second half on the road. Next up against Purdue, another road contest and another double-digit deficit, CJB struggled early but played well in the second half (not unlike Drew Tate in 2004) and made some ‘deposits’ in Kirk’s trust bank.
We all see the arm, the release, the talent. He’s also a quicker runner than Rudock, but Ferentz sees far more reps than we do in practice and if he is still a bit at odds with the execution, be it based on the players, the offensive philosophy or a blend of both, he is simply not yet ready to make that defining decision of ‘Beathard is our quarterback’.
I can respect that, and do respect Ferentz…even though I might not always exhibit patience in the moment.
So Iowa is stepping out into a brave new world of two quarterbacks in the same game for a bit…but I am certain that this cannot go beyond the next two games…or rather, if it does go beyond Iowa’s next bye week, it won’t be a good thing for this football season. Iowa needs one of these two quarterbacks to win the job definitively and the fact that it’s an open discussion, for real, seven weeks into the regular season, leads me to put my money on CJB winning the job by the time the calendar rolls around to November.
His play has made this a legit question, discussion and battle…it’s not because Jake Rudock has been horrible, because he hasn’t. It’s just that CJB has shown up in real games, two road games, and has led Iowa to two wins. It doesn’t matter the circumstance (injury) under which CJB has had that chance…it only matters that when he got that chance, he performed just as good as Rudock has, at worst.
At his best, he has made throws we haven’t seen from an Iowa quarterback in at least 14 years (Jon Beutjer in 2000) or even farther back to Chuck Long and Chuck Hartlieb in the mid to late 1980’s.
So back to the question I asked in the headline; will playing two quarterbacks work for Iowa?
The answer is yes, but the question needs to be amended to ‘Will playing two quarterbacks lead to Iowa settling on one by November 1st’?
I think that will happen…if it doesn’t, this team just won’t be that good.
