C.J. Beathard’s career comes to a painful ending in Monday’s Outback Bowl
By Shawn Gibbs
TAMPA, Fla. – A battered and bruised C.J. Beathard sat beneath the bowels of humid Raymond James Stadium trying to put his Iowa career into perspective and contemplating his future following a 30-3 loss to Florida in the 2017 Outback Bowl on Monday.
“My last game as a Hawkeye and whether you win or lose, I’m going to miss the heck out of these guys, every last one of them,” Beathard said.
After a 12-0 regular season in 2015 that showed a crafty sometimes nimble, but always gutty Beathard, it was Iowa’s inability to demonstrate any kind of passing game, a recurrent virus plaguing the 2016 season that made one last final cameo as Beathard and his likely heir apparent, true Freshman Nate Stanley combined for 7-24 passes for just 55 yards and 3 interceptions.
For about a quarter-and-a-half, the Iowa defense did its part with two takeaways in the first two Florida possessions, Sophomore safety Brandon Snyder’s interception of former Purdue quarterback Austin Appleby and a juggling gift bestowed to, who else, Senior Desmond King while lying on his back to put the Iowa offense on the Gator 27.
After an 11 yard Akrum Wadley run, the Iowa drive stalled and the Hawkeyes were forced to settle for a 36 yard Keith Duncan field goal to give the Hawkeyes a 3-0 lead.
The pivotal moment in the game came midway through the second quarter. With the score tied 3-3, Iowa drove from its own 36 to the Florida 7-yard line, behind the running tandem of Wadley and senior LeShun Daniels,Jr. Beathard escaped from the pocket and narrowly missed breaking the plane of the goal line while suffering an apparent hamstring injury in the process. A Daniels run on 4th-and-1 went for a loss of two and Iowa turned the ball over on downs. Iowa never got that close to the Florida goal line again.
Two series later, Florida broke the game wide open on a swing pass from Appleby to running back Mark Thompson that saw Thompson break 5 Iowa tackles for a record setting 85-yard touchdown as Florida led 10-3 at halftime.
After Iowa’s Keith Duncan missed a 30-yard field goal, the Gators tacked on another touchdown, this time Appleby to tight end DeAndre Goolsby to make it 17-3 and a shaky Iowa offense began to show signs of desperation.
On the ensuing Iowa series Beathard was picked off the first of two times by Outback Bowl MVP, freshman Chauncey Gardner, Jr. and Beathard appeared to reaggrivate his hamstring trying unsuccessfully prevent Gardner from scoring as the Gators increased its lead to 24-3.
“I was trying to catch him and I realized there was no chance that I could catch him.” Beathard said. National commentators and social media wondered whether the senior quarterback would come out of the game. “I wasn’t going to do that, especially being my last game, maybe if it had been a different game, possibly, if I could stay in and play in the game I was going to.” Beathard said. For his part, Coach Kirk Ferentz let Beathard make the decision. “He thought he could go back and play, which he always does, but then secondly, when he was playing, certainly he was limited in what he could do.” Ferentz said.
Beathard would go on to throw two more interceptions, narrowly avoiding another pick-6 before finally giving way to Stanley late in the 4th quarter.
Following the defeat, Beathard began looking towards the next level and a possible NFL roster spot.
“That’s the goal, that’s my plan, I am going to start training for the Senior Bowl and then start training for the combine.” Beathard said. “I hope this hamstring can heal up pretty quick to be physically ready for the Senior Bowl, it’s hard to say whether I’ll be able to run right now”.
Coach Ferentz praised his senior quarterback’s continued toughness.
“We’ve had a lot of tough guys come through the University of Iowa and play football, at least in my 27 years, and he’s right up there at the top.”
Looking ahead to next season, Beathard shared some words of wisdom and gave an early assessment of Freshman Nate Stanley: “You get better every year and especially with an offense that is a mental game, I was way lower than he was at this point in his career. You are going to make mistakes along the way, but take them and run with them.” If any of the underclassmen quarterbacks can start with the leadership, grit and determination of Beathard, Iowa fans have reason for hope in 2017.