Iowa State Football: QB Brock Purdy has earned elite status
There are a lot of reasons why Iowa State football is headed to the Big 12 title game and the elite play of QB Brock Purdy is one of them.
If you are going to win championships at any level of football, you need good, even great quarterback play. And right now, Iowa State football is getting exactly that from Brock Purdy.
In fact, saying that he’s been good is an understatement, especially after another stellar performance that saw him complete 20-of-23 passes Saturday for 247 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 38 yards and a score for good measure.
While you may have just become familiar with Purdy’s name this season as Iowa State football has surged to a top-10 ranking and a spot in the Big 12 championship game, he’s been getting it done in Ames for the past three years.
On 991 career pass attempts, Purdy is completing 66 percent of his throws. He has thrown 60 touchdown passes compared to just 22 interceptions and he has 17 rushing TDs to boot.
The former three-star recruit out of Arizona, who wasn’t even ranked in the top 800 of his class, has 11 300-yard passing games for the Cyclones and 8,504 yards. Additionally and maybe most importantly, Purdy is 22-11 as a starter — at Iowa State.
The 6-foot-1 signal caller has beaten Texas twice and also Oklahoma. He’s also on the doorstep of delivering a conference championship and in regards to his status as an elite quarterback, his head coach, Matt Campbell, didn’t hesitate to agree. Here’s what he told 247 sports:
"“Elite. I think he’s been incredible. I think we’ve played like he’s played down the stretch and that’s what you expect from a junior that’s played a lot of football here and who’s maybe one of the great leaders of all time in the history of the school. And he has played as close to what he’s capable of playing in every game down the stretch. It’s been really fun to watch him but he’s the difference. He’s really special.”"
Ever since the second half at Baylor, a game in which he tossed three second-half touchdowns to rally Iowa State football from 14 down to win, Purdy has taken his game to an entirely new level.
Just over the last three weeks, Purdy has completed a ridiculous 77 percent of his passes to go along with an average of 265 yards per game. He’s also throw seven touchdowns, ran for another and tossed at least three scores in three of his last four games, all without a turnover.
Purdy has thrown three or more touchdowns 10 times in his Iowa State career and three of those have come in the last month.
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Combine that with the incredible running game centered on Breece Hall and a defense that’s allowing just 21 points a game in the Big 12 and you can see why the Cyclones have a very real shot at winning their first conference title since the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship back in 1912.