​After Jeremy Hecklinski’s excellent performance against Washington, there’s even more fuel to the discussion about Iowa’s starting quarterback job.Hecklinski, who started in place of the injured Hank Brown, went 14-of-19 for 202 yards with three touchdowns and led the Hawkeyes to a decisive 41-24 road win on Oct. 9.There has been near-constant measurement between the two. A good performance by Brown doesn’t just mean a good performance by Brown. It also means comparing him to Hecklinski. The same goes the other way around.While part of the story from Washington is the fact that Iowa put on an offensive clinic, it’s also about whether Hecklinski did enough to keep the starting job and how to weigh his body of work versus Brown’s.But those who get wrapped up in that debate might actually be missing the more important point.Iowa has not one, but two quarterbacks who have shown they are capable of leading the team to victory.“We felt like we had two good guys,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Now we’ve seen them both out on the field do some good things. So it’s a really good situation to have.”The race between Brown and Hecklinski has been a long and winding road, stretching back to last season, when they competed for the backup job. It took game action this season for the starting quarterback job to be resolved. After three games, Brown was officially named the starter.It would’ve been easy for Hecklinski to check out mentally or sulk in disappointment. But that wasn’t the case.“As I said last week about Jeremy, his preparation has been really good the last couple weeks,” Ferentz said. “I think that showed up last Saturday (against Ohio State). I said six weeks ago, I felt like we had two guys that have improved a lot and are good quarterbacks.”When Brown suffered an AC joint sprain in his right (throwing) shoulder against Ohio State, Hecklinski stepped right in and delivered Iowa’s lone touchdown-scoring drive of the game. He went a perfect 5-of-5 passing with a touchdown.That carried over into Washington.After starting 2-for-7, Hecklinski completed his final 12 passes of the game, three of which were touchdowns. He didn’t make any head-scratching decisions, nor did he commit any turnovers, something Ferentz covets. Hecklinski’s passes looked clean, crisp and confident. It was reminiscent of his Kids’ Day at Kinnick performance, when he diced Iowa’s secondary in an intersquad scrimmage. This time, he did it against Washington on a bigger stage.“(Offensive coordinator Tim Lester) says it all the time: Shooters shoot,” Hecklinski said. “I’m going to go out there and shoot my shot every time I can. Nothing to lose. Let’s go win this game.”Iowa has reached the halfway mark of the season with an overall record of 5-1. There’s still so much this Hawkeye team can accomplish, including making the College Football Playoff. Iowa got through a demanding three-game stretch — Michigan, Ohio State and Washingto