Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz told the Coast to Coast radio show on Tuesday night that junior quarterback Jake Rudock remains the Hawkeyes’ starter, but, yes, sophomore C.J. Beathard will play.

Ferentz told the Sirius XM College Sports Nation channel that the two-QB process will be “something we’ll just have to work through.”

“The bottom line is Jake did a great job last year, he won the job outright and was our starter all season long,” Ferentz said. “He led us to eight wins and played really great down the home stretch where we won three straight. People always kind of love the second guy, so it’s one of those deals.

“Jake has done a good job this year. He is still our starter, but, obviously, when C.J. has had the opportunity, he’s gone in and played very well. He played very well at Pittsburgh and played did a good job last week for us on the road. It’s the first time I’ve really been involved in a situation like this where we’ve got two guys who we think are really good players. They both deserve to play. We’ll just have to figure that out as we go along.”

Ferentz made reference to 2001, when returning starter Kyle McCann and Brad Banks, then a first-year player from a Mississippi junior college, shared the job.

“That’s the only time we’ve been really close to this type of situation,” Ferentz said.

Braden Gall, one of the show’s hosts, asked Ferentz about the differing personalities.

“It might be safe to say that C.J. shoots from the hip a little bit more,” Ferentz said. “But I don’t want to insinuate that he doesn’t prepare, because he prepares very well. He just hasn’t played as much. He’s very much invested. He’s a mentally tough guy, a physically tough guy. The ball comes out really quickly.

“Jake is extremely well-prepared and he has been since he began camp starting a year ago. He’s a very cerebral guy. He’s a good thrower, also.”

Ferentz talked about the deep ball that Rudock had picked off at Pitt, the one that WR Damond Powell accidentally flipped into the arms of a Pitt defender for an interception. That was a mega-contrast with the one-handed reception that Powell made in the second half that went down as a 62-yard gain in Beathard’s stats.

“It’s interesting how after that ballgame the perception was that one guy throws the ball deep and the other guy doesn’t. Perception is a really interesting thing too look at sometimes.”****

Chris Childers, the other host, asked about the mental aspect, pointing out that Rudock probably began the season without having to look over his shoulder.

Is this even a discussion if Rudock doesn’t suffer the hip injury in the first half against Pitt? Probably not. Beathard got one series before Pitt and that came in the first half against Ball State in week 2. After Iowa State, Ferentz was asked twice about Beathard playing in games. He covered it both times in nine words, with the second being on his radio show and a flat simple “no.”

So, this probably isn’t a conversation without the injury.

“We went into the season saying we would play C.J. in every game and we haven’t done that, but we have played him,” Ferentz said. “The bottom line again is [they’ve played him] because he’s a good player.

“Jake, to me, has done nothing to lose his starting job. He’s done everything possible to keep it. He’s played very well. Unfortunately, he got hurt in Pittsburgh and couldn’t play in the second half. That’s why C.J. went into the game. C.J. did a great job. Jake could’ve played last week, but he would not have been full speed. It would not have been fair to put him out there, in my mind. If we had to bring him in to clean up, we could’ve done that. You don’t want to put a player out there if they don’t have a chance to perform the way they’re capable of.

“Our hopes are that he’ll be full speed. Fortunately, we have a bye week right now. He’ll be full speed. I expect him to be our starter a week from now. How we break it down from there is to be determined. He hasn’t done anything to dimish his value in our eyes. We all love the guy. We have total respect for him. The good news is we have total confidence in both players. I’m not sure I could’ve said that about C.J. eight months ago, but right now, I think everybody feels great about both guys.”

**** — I asked Ferentz about the perception that he doesn’t like to play young players (it wasn’t about QB, I don’t count CJB as young. He’s a third-year sophomore). This was a follow-up to a question about freshman running back Jonathan Parker, who had two fumbles against Ball State and then rebounded Saturday with four touches for 94 yards. But I did say in the question that there is the perception about younger players like Parker and like CJB, so it was kind of about QB and, so now, I understand the answer a little better.

“I’m not worried about peoples’ perceptions, I’m worried about our football team getting better.”

Fair enough.

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