The Iowa football team had one of the best defenses in the country last season. In the Big Ten title game, they made life very difficult on the eventual national champion Michigan Wolverines, holding them to just 26 points. However, the Hawkeyes weren't able to muster up any points. Unfortunately for Iowa, that was a common occurrence last year. The defense played good enough to win, but the offense didn't hold up their end of the bargain.
One thing that did hurt the Iowa football offense was the early season injury to quarterback Cade McNamara. McNamara transferred over from Michigan, and his season didn't last very long as he tore his ACL in week five against Michigan State. However, McNamara is back this year with the Hawkeyes, and Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said that he is going to be the starting QB.
“None of you have seen him play full speed in an Iowa uniform,” Kirk Ferentz said at Big Ten Media Days on Wednesday, according to a tweet from Brett McMurphy. “No one is more eager than he is. Good news about the (ACL) injury, players come back w/no issue. We anticipate that.”
With Cade McNamara healthy, who knows, maybe this Iowa offense could be different this season. McNamara has won big in college football before with Michigan, and he is hoping to do the same with the Hawkeyes. Ferentz thinks that their offense can be good this year.
“We have the potential to be a good offensive team,” Ferentz said.
Obviously, the head coach of a football team isn't going to come out at media days a month before the season and tell everyone that he thinks their offense will be bad. Ferentz has faith in his unit to be better, but based off of the past few years, we will have to see it to believe it.
Iowa football has a new offensive coordinator
The injury to McNamara certainly hurt the Iowa offense last season, but another thing that hurt them was their offensive coordinator. Kirk Ferentz waited way too long to part ways with his son, offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz. It was crystal clear that the offense wasn't going to to succeed under Brian, but Kirk kept him with the team. Finally, Kirk made the decision that it was time to move on. It was obviously difficult to do as Brian is his son, but it was a move that had to be made.
Now, Iowa football has a new offensive coordinator, and it is Tim Lester. Lester was the head coach of the Western Michigan football team from 2017-2022, and then he was a senior analyst for the Green Bay Packers last year. He is now with the Hawkeyes, and Kirk Ferentz likes his background.
“Going through the search process was interesting,” Ferentz said. “Talked to a small, good group of people to visit with. Tim, his offensive background, expertise, he's been a coordinator. He comes with a wealth of knowledge.”
This season, Iowa will have their QB back and healthy, and they no longer have Brian Ferentz in charge of their offense. That's a good place to start in terms of improving the offense.
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