Life without Jake Rudock playing quarterback for the Iowa football team looks pretty much the same as life with him behind center.
At least it did on Saturday.
Nothing against new starting quarterback C.J. Beathard, but the offense he directed during Saturday’s scrimmage at Kinnick Stadium didn’t look any different or any better than it did with Rudock behind center for Iowa the past two seasons.
Most of Beathard’s completions came on short passes over the middle or to the sideline. He tried a few times to throw downfield, but with little success.
Iowa fans are hoping, and in some cases assuming, the offense will be more explosive and unpredictable with Beathard now playing quarterback instead of Rudock. What I witnessed on Saturday was far from explosive or unpredictable.
It was similar to Iowa’s offense in each of the past three seasons.
But that shouldn’t come as a surprise, because unlike at quarterback, there hasn’t been a change at offensive coordinator where Greg Davis is entering his fourth season at Iowa.
The ball might get to receivers faster with Beathard playing quarterback, but the routes still look the same with Davis calling the plays. It still seems as if Davis is content with throwing shorter passes in which the receivers are expected to gain yards after the catch.
That approach makes sense if you have a stable of speedy receivers, who excel at making defenders miss in space. Iowa doesn’t have that, though. Iowa’s receivers as a group appear average at best.
Combine that with an offensive line in which both tackles have to be replaced and there is reason to be concerned about Iowa’s potential on offense no matter who plays quarterback.
Iowa has three receivers in its 2015 recruiting class. So there is help on the way, although, it’s asking a lot from a first-year player to make a significant contribution.
It’s fair to assume that Beathard grew as a leader during spring practice. The offense belongs to him now that Rudock has quit the team and is headed to Michigan to play as a graduate student next season.
“He’s made a lot of progress,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said of Beathard after Saturday’s scrimmage. “This has kind of allowed him to grow a little bit and empowered him to be more of a leader. I think he’s embraced that.
“And for us to have a good football team, he’ll need to do that and I think he’s aware of that.”
Beathard was optimistic after Saturday’s scrimmage, which should come as no surprise. He understands the offense and has had plenty of time to earn Davis’s trust.
“Our relationship has grown in the four years since I’ve been here,” Beathard said. “I think we feel good right now as an offense. Obviously, we’re nowhere near where we’d like to be.”
My concern with Beathard is that a quarterback is usually only as good as his supporting cast. Iowa has some nice pieces on offense, including receiver Tevaun Smith, center Austin Blythe and running back Jordan Canzeri. But are there enough quality pieces to contend for a Big Ten title?
From what I saw Saturday, the answer is no. Beathard and his offensive cohorts only scored one touchdown and it came against the third-team defense. The offense still was credited with a 29-28 victory under a scoring system that makes about as much sense as Algebra did to me in high school.
In fairness, it was just one practice against a defense that had the luxury of knowing many times what play the offense was running.
“After 15 days, our defense might know our offense better than the offense does, quite frankly,” Ferentz said. “It happens in camp, too, when you work against each other extensively. That’s nothing to be alarmed about.”
But on the other hand, other teams don’t seem to have problems scoring touchdowns on offense in the spring while facing their own defense. So perhaps there is something on offense to be alarmed about.
I entered Saturday’s scrimmage thinking Iowa would win six or seven games next season, and nothing I saw, especially on offense, changes my opinion.