Last year, Carson Beck was one of the preseason favorites for the Heisman Trophy. Then, he had a fairly disappointing season for the Georgia Bulldogs, despite securing the SEC Championship and a berth into the College Football Playoffs.
Then, Beck transferred to Miami and it is already paying its dividends. Already, he has re-entered the Heisman conversation and is currently tied for the second-most likely quarterback to bring home the highly coveted award.
With +1000 odds, Beck only trails Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer and is tied with Oregon's Dante Moore. With a Top 25 matchup on the horizon, Beck must do these three things to further cement himself as a future Heismn finalist.
Beck isn't regarded as a dual-threat quarterback, earning just 243 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns over his first four years of college football.
However, so far this season, he has run the ball twice for a loss of two yards and has yet to find the end zone with his legs. If he were able to find a hole and breakaway from the USF Bulls' defense this week, it could add rushing to his abilities as top-tier quarterback.
So far this season, Beck has completed just one true downfield pass, a 40-yard touchdown completion to CJ Daniels against Bethune-Cookman.
Beck has a great arm and he needs to lean into that against USF, which doesn't have the speed in its defensive secondary that the Hurricanes do in their receiving corps.
With targets being able to break past defensive backs, Beck must utilize his arm to prove that he can still throw a precise deep ball on a regular basis.
Despite collecting a 27-24 win over Notre Dame and a 45-3 win over Bethune-Cookman, Beck has earned just four touchdowns so far. Simply put, two touchdowns per game isn't enough for a Heisman Trophy-worthy season.
Oregon and Dante Moore have already found the end zone on six occasions and John Mateer has combined his ground and air game for seven total touchdowns this year.
Simply put, Beck has to use his experience and knowledge of the game to outpace those of the less-veteran quarterbacks like Moore and Mateer.
This week, Beck and the No. 5 Canes face the No. 18 USF Bulls on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 4:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on The CW Network.