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PROVO, Utah (Oct. 2, 2006) - For the second time in three weeks—and the fifth time in his career—BYU quarterback John Beck has been named the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week. The Davey O'Brien Award candidate helped lead the Cougars (3-2, 1-0) to a convincing 31-17 victory over 15th-ranked TCU on Thursday in Fort Worth, ending the Horned Frogs' nation's leading 13-game win streak.
The 6-foot-1, 216-pound senior completed 23-of-37 attempts for 312 yards and three touchdowns, avenging last season's 51-50 overtime loss to TCU in Provo. The victory also gave the Cougars' their first road victory over a ranked opponent since 1997—the same year Beck quarterbacked the Mountain View High School (Mesa, Ariz.) junior varsity squad as a sophomore.
"You just don't know how perfect that quarterback was [Thursday] night," TCU head coach Gary Patterson told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Friday. "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."
After leading BYU to a 10-3 lead in the first half, Beck completed 11-of-18 attempts for 205 yards and three touchdowns to outdistance TCU in the final two quarters for the 14-point victory.
Throughout the game, Beck came up with several big plays. Holding a 3-0 lead in the second quarter, he led BYU on an 11-play, 82-yard drive that featured two critical plays. Facing a third-and-eight from the BYU 48-yardline, Beck found freshman McKay Jacobson for a 10-yard completion and an important first down. Four plays later, on fourth-and-one, Beck hooked up with Matt Allen for a 16-yard completion. Two plays later, BYU scored to extend its lead to 10-0 with 10:03 left in the second quarter.
The Cougars pushed the lead to 17-3 when Beck hit receiver Michael Reed down the sideline on third-and-10 for a 40-yard touchdown. Early in the fourth quarter, with TCU sneaking up on BYU's 17-10 lead, Beck connected with tight end Jonny Harline for a 21-yard gain on third-and-nine. Three plays later, Beck capped the six-play, 68-yard drive with a 26-yard completion to Allen for a touchdown that gave BYU a 24-10 lead with 12:33 left in the fourth quarter. On the Cougars' next possession, Beck sealed the victory after a 19-yard completion to Zac Collie on third-and-16. Three plays later, Beck lobbed a four-yard toss to Harline, who made a spectacular one-handed grab in the endzone.
With his performance, Beck passed John Walsh (8,390) and Robbie Bosco (8,400) to move into third place on BYU's all-time career passing list. The native of Mesa, Ariz., has 8,422 career passing yards. In addition, with three touchdown completions against TCU, Beck moved into a tie with Gifford Nielsen for seventh place on BYU's all-time touchdown completion list. Beck has 55 career touchdown passes.
Over just four games this season (he did not play against Utah State with a pair of sprained ankles), Beck leads the Mountain West Conference with 1,286 yards and eight touchdown completions, averaging 321.5 passing yards per game. Beck ranks fifth nationally, averaging 309.5 yards of total offense per game.
