Cougar Corner Blog
Friday, November 03, 2006
Unitas Golden Arm Award Finalist, John Beck
John Beck, standout quarterback for BYU has been named as one of 5 finalists for the 2006 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. The award will be presented to the nation's top senior college quarterback by the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation. Beck is joined by Houston's Kevin Kolb, Notre Dame's Brady Quinn, Ohio State's Troy Smith and Michigan State's Drew Stanton as finalists for the award. All of which were selected by a committee of football experts from across the United States.
According to BYUCougars.com:In his final season at BYU, Beck has led the Cougars to a 6-2 record through eight games, including a perfect 4-0 mark in league play. Sitting atop the Mountain West Conference with a two-game lead in the standings, Beck is the league's all-time touchdown completions leader with 67, including a league-high 20 TD completions this season. He also leads the MWC in passing with 2,068 yards and ranks fourth nationally with a 295.43 yards-per-game average -- the highest per-game average of any senior quarterback in the country. He is also the nation's most accurate senior quarterback, connecting on 70.87 percent of his attempts.
Beck, who will graduate in December with a degree in communications., has been named the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week four different times this season, including after last week's 33-14 win at Air Force. Beck completed 23-of-31 attempts for 258 yards and three touchdowns against the Falcons. He posted a completion percentage of 74 percent en route to his fifth three-touchdown performance of the season, including his fourth straight game with three or more touchdown completions. The Beck-led offense engineered points in six of the seven drives he played on the day, including a 14-play, 81-yard drive to mark the fourth straight game BYU has scored on its opening drive.
"He's the best I've ever played against--and that goes against Cal's old quarterback (Aaron Rogers) and (former Utah quarterback) Alex Smith," Air Force safety Bobby Giannini said. "He looks you off, he knows defenses and he's just an excellent quarterback."
Following the Cougars' 52-7 victory over UNLV on October 21, Beck was named the Cingular All-America Player of the Week. He connected on 18-of-23 attempts for 250 yards and four touchdown passes in just three quarters of play. A week earlier, Beck completed 16-of-21 attempts for 267 yards and a season-high four touchdowns in under three quarters of play in BYU's 47-17 win over San Diego State. He finished the game with a career-high efficiency rating of 245.9, marking the highest rating by a BYU quarterback since Steve Sarkisian posted a 260.8 rating against Rice in 1996.
San Diego State head coach Chuck Long said his secondary was tested against the Beck-led offense.
"We were facing a great quarterback and an excellent offense," Long said after BYU's 30-point win. We had a lot of you secondary in there. What a baptism that is--playing against one of the best QB's in the country."
On October 2, Beck was named the Mountain West's top offensive player after guiding the Cougars to a dominating, 31-17, victory over 15th-ranked TCU in Fort Worth to end the Horned Frogs' nation's leading 13-game win streak. Beck completed 23-of-37 attempts for 312 yards and three touchdowns. The win marked BYU's first on the road over a ranked opponent since the 1997 season. After leading BYU to a 10-3 lead in the first half, Beck came back to rack up 205 second-half yards on 11-of-18 attempts to outdistance TCU.
"You just don't know how perfect that quarterback was," TCU head coach Gary Patterson said at the time. "I said before the ballgame he was the best quarterback we'd faced since last year when we faced him, and it's still true. The guy's a good player."
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