Even though Iowa finally fired Brian Ferentz during the offseason, the Hawkeyes are already struggling to find any success on offense with just three weeks until the start of college football. Starting quarterback Cade McNamara was absolutely terrible during a scrimmage on Saturday and his backup wasn’t any better.
Everybody has a bad day here or there, but… it was rough.
To Iowa’s credit, it has won 10 games in three of the last five years and has not had a losing season since 2012. However, defense and special teams are the lone catalysts for the success. Offense is not.
The Hawkeyes averaged 15.43 points per game in 2023, and that includes a 41-point performance against Western Michigan. They averaged 17.69 points per game in 2022.
That doesn’t even begin to explain the incompetence.
Iowa ranked dead last in the FBS in total offense last season. 130th out of 130 teams!
As a result, Brian Ferentz was fired and replaced by former Western Michigan head coach Tim Lester. His Broncos teams out-paced the Hawkeyes in six offensive categories during his six-year tenure: pass yards per game, rush yards per game, total offense, completion percentage, yards per game, and points per game.
It will be interesting to see if he can revamp one of the all-time awful offenses because things are not looking up!
Iowa looked awful on Saturday.
Fans were invited to attend an open practice at Kinnick Stadium. They were not thrilled with what they saw from the offense. As is per usual.
Cade McNamara, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last season after transferring from Michigan, completed just eight of his 24 pass attempts for 20 yards. Six of his eight completions were checkdowns. He also threw a pick-six.
Cade McNamara survives kids day with no soft tissue injuries
— Blake Hornstein (@BlakeHornTV) August 10, 2024
Here's a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from saturday's open practice, and a look at how the Hawkeyes are utilizing pre-snap motion pic.twitter.com/1lID7K39Pt
Brendan Sullivan transferred to Iowa during the offseason after two years at Northwestern. The former three-star recruit is expected to serve as the backup to McNamara, but that could change.
Sullivan out-played the incumbent during the scrimmage!
There is only one problem… He wasn’t good either. Sullivan went 10-of-21 for 76 yards.
Brendan Sullivan wasn’t perfect on Saturday but did provide a few glimpses. Extended footage of his open practice performance in the link below: https://t.co/CdhvoTOVax pic.twitter.com/BRt571EnTZ
— Tyler Tachman (@Tyler_T15) August 11, 2024
The Hawkeyes did not score a touchdown with either of its two potential starting quarterbacks. Sound familiar?
All things considered, a singular bad scrimmage is not typically cause for concern. It happens. It’s usually no big deal.
However, for Iowa’s offense to be as bad as it was on Saturday after firing its offensive coordinator is more than enough reason to panic. Especially with the greatest punter of all-time no longer on the roster.