Iowa Coach Drops Blunt Statement About Cade McNamara

Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz made a blunt statement about quarterback Cade McNamara.

Oct 12, 2024; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes quarterback Cade McNamara (12) throws a pass against the Washington Huskies during the first quarter at Kinnick Stadium. / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

A lot of frustration is beginning to grow among Iowa Hawkeyes fans with the poor play of quarterback Cade McNamara. Following the team's loss last week against Michigan State, that frustration has reached a boiling point.

Many would like to see Brendan Sullivan get a chance to play and to see McNamara hit the bench. Nothing he has done on the field this season has warranted him staying as the starter.

Kirk Ferentz was not nearly as committed to McNamara this week as he has been in past weeks. It's clear that he's starting to acknowledge the quarterback issues the team is having.

As the team moves ahead to this week's game at home against Northwestern, Ferentz dropped a very blunt statement about his starting quarterback.

"Cade has to play better," Ferentz said.

Kirk Ferentz: "Cade has to play better."

— Chad Leistikow🆑 (@ChadLeistikow) October 22, 2024

Finally, he has acknowledged something negative about McNamara. The entire season has looked horrible from a passing standpoint.

So far this season in seven games, McNamara has completed 61.0 percent of his pass attempts for 944 yards, six touchdowns, and four interceptions. Those numbers aren't going to come close to cutting it for a starting Big Ten quarterback.

He has missed open throw after open throw. There have literally been zero reasons to believe that he can turn things around and start putting up better numbers.

Iowa has been lucky to be getting a monstrous season from star running back Kaleb Johnson. Without him playing at the high level he has played, the Hawkeyes would be in massive trouble.

However, the lack of production from McNamara has also been hurting Johnson's production. Opposing defenses have stopped respecting anything about the Iowa passing attack. They are focused solely on slowing down Johnson.

If McNamara has another game like he has been turning in for most of the season this year, he should be benched. There should be absolutely zero question about that.

Now that Ferentz has acknowledged his poor play publicly, he better be ready to make a change. The way McNamara is playing this season is inexcusable a change should be on the horizon.