Neither Jay Higgins nor Nick Jackson wanted the football. Jogging off the field amid a roaring Kinnick Stadium, the pair treated the pigskin like a hot potato, tossing it back and forth to each other with glee.
While that moment was all smiles, there were plenty of frowns among the Kinnick crowd hours earlier when the Hawkeyes and Wildcats mistook the football for a hand grenade. The apparent object for most of the first half was to give the other team possession – interceptions on back-to-back drives and four consecutive three-and-outs.
With less than a minute to go in the period and the score reading 7-5, this one looked like a baseball game all over again, even without a Wrigley Field backdrop. Even with Brendan Sullivan making his long-awaited substitution for starter Cade McNamara, this contest was shaping up to be far from a World Series classic.
“Here we go again. One of these weird games we end up in sometimes,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said in his postgame press conference.
Yet soon enough, this duel on the diamond reformed itself into a track meet. It could be due to Hawkeye track and field athlete Kalen Walker clocking in at 4.15 in the 40-yard dash halftime spectacle. Or, more simply, the prowess of running back Kaleb Johnson combined with Sullivan’s mobility to make the Hawkeye offense nearly unstoppable.
Logging four-straight touchdown drives, 355 yards of offense, 5.4 yards per play, and of course, another 40-point outburst, the 2024 Iowa team looks unrecognizable to last year’s edition. Yes, one of those major differences is three losses instead of two.
But even with lofty goals like making the College Football Playoff now out of reach, the Hawkeyes aren’t calling it quits just yet. If anything, Iowa is proving that perhaps there’s reason to continue watching – so long as it commits to its change under center.
Standing at the podium for his postgame press conference, Sullivan said he didn’t assume himself as the starter going forward. Nor should he have. That responsibility lies with Ferentz, and the head coach dodged commitment as it were yet another hot potato.
“We’ll do what’s best for the team,” he said. “It wasn’t we were benching Cade, we were going to give Brendan a chance, too. He’s done some good things. Gives us a chance to look at him. He did a lot of really good things today, a lot of things he’ll get better at, too. That’s encouraging. Hopefully, we have two guys we can win with.”
I really hope this QB rotation talk is all cloak-and-dagger deception from Ferentz. While McNamara had the longest completion of his Iowa career with a 42-yard dime to wide receiver Seth Anderson, the Michigan transfer kept making decisions a 24-year-old senior shouldn’t make.
Even though he was hit as he threw, McNamara shouldn’t have been attempting the pass to Luke Lachey in the first place, as the tight end was blanketed by defensive back Theran Johnson, who would run the ball back 86 yards for a score.
Earlier in the game, McNamara had another underthrown ball that should’ve been intercepted if not for a penalty on the Wildcats. If the quarterback hadn’t been shaken up on a hard hit, he would’ve gone back in the game? The way Sullivan’s first few drives were going – all three-and-outs – he could’ve.
I can only imagine the boos of disapproval.
But starting with the final drive of the first half, the Sullivan-led offense took a stride and never looked back.
Neither should the Iowa coaching staff.
McNamara is a great leader for this team – left tackle Mason Richman said the quarterback would still be a captain regardless of his place on the depth chart – but Sullivan has advantages the Hawkeyes need to take advantage of if they want to make the most of this season.
Having a true dual-threat QB is a positive for any offense, and for Iowa, it may as well be a godsend. Defenders can’t just key in on Kaleb Johnson, they have to keep an eye on Sullivan, leaving them either in the wrong place or wrong footing for the running back to breeze past. On Johnson’s 41-yard score, the Wildcat linebackers pause just for a moment before the handoff is made, and that hesitation proved costly.
Even in situations where the defense does recognize a QB keeper, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Sullivan can still win a foot race, gliding past a Northwestern linebacker and lineman on his six-yard scoring rush. He gives Iowa an offensive versatility it’s never had this season – outside of the red zone, of course.
Take for example the 4th-and-1 situation late in the third quarter, when Sullivan kept the ball himself and churned out three yards on a rush up the middle. If McNamara had been in the game, the ball would have gone to Johnson, and the Wildcats would know it, too.
For better or worse, Sullivan makes the Iowa offense more unpredictable. Could he try to play hero-ball and take a sack rather than throw the ball away? Probably. But that’s what an experienced quarterback like McNamara is here for. Sullivan offered praise for his teammate’s knowledge.
“It’s been awesome. Ever since I got here it’s been amazing,” Sullivan said of McNamara. “He’s helped me grow as a human being, let alone a football player … He’s played at two Big Ten programs at a high level, so just listening to him and soaking up every chance I can get to hear what he has to say.”
The starting quarterback job for Iowa shouldn’t be a hot potato. Hand it to Sullivan and let him prove his abilities for not just next week, but 2025 as well.