Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says McNamara ‘needs to play better’

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said today that quarterbacks Cade McNamara and Brendan Sullivan are both performing well in practice, but Ferentz is not making a quarterback change for Saturday’s game against Northwestern.

“The game competition really plays a smaller role. The guys who are playing, of course, have concrete examples, and the guys who aren’t playing, you know, you’re projecting a little bit, and that’s part of the deal,” Ferentz said this afternoon during his weekly press conference. “Usually there’s never a 100 percent answer, but I think they’re both doing a good job and Cade needs to play better…Cade needs to throw the ball a little more accurately.”

Ferentz told reporters he had confidence in Sullivan, who transferred to Iowa from Northwestern, but McNamara is the starter.

“It’s easier to talk about bringing someone into the game than just doing it, especially at this position,” Ferentz said. “We’ve seen enough good things, I think, from Cade to feel like he’s giving us our best chance out there…We’re confident he’ll play well on Saturday, but we’ll also keep an open mind. You need to.”

Ferentz said the Hawkeyes’ offense and defense need to focus on the details of what went wrong at Michigan State as they prepare for this week’s game against Northwestern.

“It was tough to watch the tape on Sunday…A couple of things that stood out offensively: Third downs, you know, we’re 0-5 in the first half, so I think we really couldn’t sustain any drives overall We had a few negative yardage plays, something that really didn’t happen to us very often. Then it was just a difficult game defensively overall,” said Ferentz. “…We are playing against a team that we have great respect for and that have proven that they are capable. (They had) a really good win at Maryland a couple weeks ago, and Maryland just got a big win. I mean, it’s week to week and you really have to focus on it, and the teams that do that best are probably the teams that will be the most successful.”

The team’s defensive errors were “untypical,” said Ferentz. The Hawkeyes currently rank 83rd in passing yards allowed per game. “I look at it a little more collectively, but yeah, I mean clearly, (Michigan State) wasn’t a good night – over 400 yards and it’s physical, but sometimes it’s communication and everyone’s on the same page, and that’s it, what defines defense.” All about it. All 11 guys are on a string, if you will, and so if you move someone out of position, you could create gaps and give up some plays,” Ferentz said. “…The biggest thing we have to do is pay attention to what we can do in detail and technique and try to keep up with this opponent.”

Saturday’s Iowa-Northwestern game in Iowa City is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.