Hlas: Beathard not a by-the-numbers standout

IOWA CITY — Should Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard at least be a fringe Heisman Trophy candidate?

If the 10-0 Hawkeyes can close their regular-season with wins against Purdue and Nebraska and then show the nation something in the Big Ten title game, why not?

Now, this isn't saying Beathard should win the thing if those things happen. But why wouldn't he then be in the circle of six or eight guys to be under the most consideration to attend the Heisman announcement in New York next month?

Obviously, it's not as if he hasn't had plenty of help in Iowa going 10-0. Lots and lots of help. It was LeShun Daniels, not Beathard, who had that 51-yard dash with 2:01 left for the touchdown that proved to be the winning points in the Hawkeyes' wild 40-35 win over Minnesota Saturday night, and it wasn't Beathard who did Daniels' blocking.

However, the quarterback again propped his team on his shoulders and aggressively, relentlessly insisted it continue scoring points, continue its winning ways.

If you just look at numbers, you see Beathard has 10 touchdown passes and an average of 204.4 passing yards per game. Stats goofs who vote for awards wouldn't give those numbers a second look.

Heck, Midwest stats goofs won't give Beathard's numbers a second look. Not after they've looked at those of Michigan State's Connor Cook, who has 21 TD passes and is terrific. You can't blame anyone who votes Cook first-team All-Big Ten.

But has Cook stood out more than Beathard this fall? Iowa's guy also has six rushing scores, and enough big plays by land and air to make the 2015 Iowa highlight video long enough to be a mini-series.

'Everybody looks for stats,' said Chuck Long, Iowa's Heisman runner-up in 1985. 'But you have to watch him play.

'The way he moves the football team. The way he runs the ball when things break down. He gets long runs, he's making plays with his feet.

'After this game, hopefully he's raised some eyebrows. This kid deserves to be in that All-American type of talk.'

Matt Millen, the former Detroit Lions' CEO, was the Big Ten Network's analyst for their telecast of Minnesota-Iowa. He said Beathard reminded him of Joe Montana, one of the NFL's all-time great quarterbacks.

The comment was mocked by many non-Iowa fans on social media. I don't know if Millen meant mechanically or physically. Let's presume he was talking about finding ways to win and leading your offense down those avenues, which Beathard has done time after time.

'He's just a winner,' Long said. 'A flat winner.'

Has any quarterback in America done a better job with the 2-minute offense? And Beathard has thrown just three interceptions among his 267 passes.

The reality is, he is a dark darkhorse at best for national honors. He didn't have a national name to start the season, and his low number of TD tosses keeps his name off most network chat shows. But his teammates think Beathard should be in the discussion.

'I'd put him on every list,' said Iowa wide receiver Matt VandeBerg. 'His leadership is unreal. It's unparalleled, I think, throughout college football.'

'He stands for everything that a tough college quarterback is,' Hawkeye center Austin Blythe said. 'He makes plays when he needs to, even when he's hurt. He made plays tonight that were crazy for a healthy quarterback.'

Two plays before Daniels busted off that long TD run, Beathard took a helmet to his hip and was down on the turf long enough to make a lot of people nervous. He eventually walked off. He missed the mandatory one play by rule because he had caused an injury delay, then returned to hand the ball to Daniels.

So now he has a hip pointer to add to his list of ouchies. The sneak, Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said, 'might be a play we have to take out of the playbook.'

That's similar to what Ferentz said about the naked bootleg after the Maryland game. That didn't stay gone for long.

'I think it's back in now,' Ferentz said. 'If he can run it, we're going to call it, believe me. But the sneaks might be off the board.'

Believe it when you don't see it.

Comments: mike.hlas@thegazette.com, (319) 368-8840

Twitter: @Hlas