Bemidji State Athletics/Brent Cizek
Bemidji State QB Connor Carver
Thirty-six carries for 335 yards sounds like the workload of a running back whose offensive coordinator has completely lost faith in the forward pass. Bemidji State’s Connor Carver did it as a quarterback, running for four touchdowns while breaking a school record that had stood for nearly 40 years.
Carver averaged 9.3 yards per carry as Bemidji State beat Minot State 37-19 on Saturday, personally accounting for 335 of the Beavers’ 405 rushing yards. The official box score shows Bemidji State attempted only three passes all afternoon, which feels less like offensive balance and more like the coaching staff realizing the quarterback had become an unstoppable running back and deciding not to interrupt him.
Connor Carver Had A Running Back Workload At Quarterback
Rainy conditions forced Bemidji State to drastically alter its normal offensive approach.
The solution was apparently: Connor, you’re the offense now.
Carver carried 36 times while the rest of the team combined for only 22 rushing attempts. He produced touchdown runs of nine, 10, 20, and 47 yards and also ripped off a 52-yard gain while the Beavers repeatedly shoved the ball back into his hands.
Bemidji State finished with 20 of its 22 first downs coming on the ground.
That is not subtle.
Carver’s 335 yards shattered the program’s previous single-game record of 319, set by running back John Gronski in 1987. Even better, Gronski was actually in attendance for homecoming while somebody playing an entirely different position erased his record.
The Bemidji State recap notes that Carver became the first Beaver to rush for more than 300 yards in a game since Jalen Frye put up 316 against Minot State in 2019.
Apparently, Minot State has a recurring problem with Bemidji State players deciding to become Derrick Henry for an afternoon.
The Quarterback Did Not Even Attempt A Pass
This might be the weirdest piece of the entire stat line.
Carver officially attempted zero passes.
Bemidji State’s three throws came from Bart McAninch, who completed one for 13 yards and threw an interception. So Carver was technically listed at quarterback while spending his Saturday doing almost nothing quarterbacks are normally expected to do.
He simply took the ball and ran…over and over and over again.
Thirty-six carries is a massive workload even for a feature back. Only a handful of players at any level of college football will touch the ball that many times in a game, and most of them are not listed under “QB” on the roster.
Carver also came within one rushing touchdown of tying Bemidji State’s single-game record of five.
There are dual-threat quarterbacks, then there is whatever this was.