It was a tale of two halves for Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara in the No. 25 Hawkeyes’ 40-0 blowout over Illinois State inside Kinnick Stadium on Saturday.
McNamara spent much of the months leading up to this season opener healing his ACL tear suffered in Week 5 of last season and then competing with Northwestern transfer Brendan Sullivan for the starting nod.
And when he prevailed through that battle, doubts resurfaced about his abilities to execute and lead an offense on the field, some claiming he’s only starting under center due to his experience and others citing his “best game” last year being just 17-of-30 for 191 yards and two touchdowns.
In the first half, such doubts looked founded.
In tune with the offense as a whole, McNamara looked shaky. The first two drives resulted in three-and-outs — featuring off-target throws to tight end Luke Lachey and wide receiver Reece Vander Zee.
It looked like the 2021 Big Ten Champion needed to knock some of the dust off and get into a groove. But McNamara made his clean-up process simple. With new offensive coordinator Tim Lester literally in his ear via helmet communication and an iPad looming on the bench ready to remind him of his faults, McNamara took the criticism in stride.
“What we did really well as a unit was, that something bad happened, and then we would watch it on film, and we flushed it,” he said. “We weren’t overthinking it.”
The second quarter looked a bit more comfortable, as McNamara linked with Vander Zee for 18 yards on a throw right to his helmet and a scramble up the right center of the field to demonstrate some leg health.
“I wasn’t expecting to run as much as I did today, but it felt good,” McNamara said. “And some confidence was built with that.”
Still, it was 6-0 at halftime, doubts abounded concerning an offense that made so many changes and yet looked just like it did one season ago.
Come the start of the second half, that all quickly washed away.
That’s because the Hawkeyes sped up the tempo of the offense, not only opting for quick sets and snaps but also an aggressive play scheme. For example, 10 yards went to tight end Addison Ostrenga and 17 more went back to Vander Zee and into Illinois State territory.
McNamara found his patience in the pocket and located tight end Luke Lachey for a first down before rolling out and marking Vander Zee again, this time right at the waist level for a scooping catch and six quick points for a touchdown you would’ve missed if you’d blinked once.
“When stuff wasn’t going our way at the beginning, our tempo wasn’t very good,” he added. “And I think once we were able to gain some momentum and gain some tempo, that really set us up really good for the second half.”
The next time down, he proved the Iowa offense could be a force to be reckoned with this season as his patience allowed him to calmly scan the field for a beautiful dot to Northwestern transfer Jacob Gill that added six more to the board.
And two more plays from the end of the third quarter to the beginning of the fourth put a massive “wow” in almost every viewer’s lips.
The first came as he weaved out of a sure tackle in the pocket, scrambled left, and threw the ball cross-body on a gorgeous lead to tight end Zach Ortwerth for a 31-yard pickup.
“Once I was able to get out of the pocket and Ort was able to keep the play going, I was waiting on him to make a decision, whether it’s a block or if it was to take off,” McNamara said. “And he took off, and I thought it was a great decision, and all I had to do was just lay it out for him.”
McNamara said there’s no way he could’ve made such a play last year dealing with a lingering quad strain he suffered in August. Back then, he couldn’t even complete a full week of practice, but after Saturday, is more confident than ever in his mobility.
“There were a couple of times where I’m like, ‘Dang, I could’ve maybe stayed on my feet a little bit longer trying to make a juke, but I’ll play it safe for the first little bit,’” he said with a laugh.
The second eye-popper came on the very next play as he launched a prayer to Vander Zee for the former’s third and final touchdown pass of the day.
“I think moments like these, really picturing myself having moments like this is what got me through rehab,” McNamara, who suffered another major knee injury back with the Wolverines in 2022. “I think having to rehab a second time was really difficult because I was wondering what I didn’t do the first time. A lot of that motivation was wondering what it would be like to go out there and be 100 percent again.”
Lachey also dealt with a season-ending injury last season and can relate to the rehab process. For the tight end, it wasn’t even a question if McNamara’s mindset would waver while stranded on the sidelines.
“That’s competitiveness,” Lachey said of McNamara’s performance post-ACL surgery. “He’s so competitive in everything that he does and I don’t think you can ever tell him to stop playing. He’s going to keep rehabbing as hard as he can and help the team out.”
Where the blind eye stat-watching the first half would’ve seen “the same old, same old,” the second half concluded with McNamara resting out the last five minutes, apparently content with his 21-of-31, 251-yard, three-touchdown performance — his eyes now focused on the rival Cyclones making their way to Iowa City in one week’s time.