Cade McNamara is happy it wasn’t just easy sledding offensively throughout the entirety of the Iowa Hawkeyes‘ season opener against Utah State.
“I mean, overall, I think we left a lot out there to be honest. I think there’s a lot of guys on this team that feel that we left something out there. Just playing the game, we started off really hot and then we had a pretty long stall.
“This is still like the first time that all of us are in a game situation. There’s so many new guys on this team that this is our first game playing together, for us to have a feel. To be honest, I’m kind of excited that we were able to see some adversity for the first time. I didn’t want it to be just a cakewalk and for us to just see a bunch of success,” McNamara said.
"To be honest, I'm kind of excited that we were able to see some adversity for the first time. I didn't want it to be just a cakewalk."
QB1 Cade McNamara liked how @HawkeyeFootball handled itself in Week 1. pic.twitter.com/5srCPmkG2m
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) September 3, 2023
After a pair of touchdown passes to wide receiver Seth Anderson and tight end Erick All on their first two drives, Iowa had a turnover on downs, a pair of punts, a field goal to end the first half and then two more punts on its next six drives.
McNamara elaborated on why it’s important for this group that Iowa went through these mid-game offensive doldrums in its opener.
“It’s important for us as a new group that’s trying to connect even more in game situations for us to have to deal with things like that. And I think at the end of the day, we could feel that we need to score on this drive. Like, it’s been, the defense has been on the field for too long.
“For a guy like Mason Richman to bring the guys up and get us motivated and for a guy like Luke Lachey to come up with just a huge catch when this team needed it most, I think, yeah, we struggled a little bit, but I also think there was a lot of good that came out of that,” McNamara said.
Thanks to Lachey’s big catch on 3rd-and-11, Iowa extended the aforementioned fourth quarter drive. The Hawkeyes capped the 10-play, 68-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run from Kaleb Johnson that effectively iced the contest.
The Hawkeyes can hang their hat on that response. They can also take something positive away from the early offensive explosion.
“Gosh, I was so fired up. I mean, we had the exact look we wanted. And, to be honest, I was kind of surprised that that play was called that early. I was expecting maybe a play-action or something, but, when Brian called it and we got the look that we wanted, I was just so fired up to be able to hit that and Seth made a great play on it,” McNamara said.
McNamara ended his day 17-of-30 passing for 191 yards with two passing touchdowns. He and the Hawkeyes will be looking for more of the explosives and less of the lulls as they shift forward into their annual rivalry date.
It’s an Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series Showdown that McNamara says he understands the importance of.
“Yeah, I mean, there’s been plenty of discussion that I’ve had with my teammates, especially the guys that are from Iowa and I know how much this game means to us,” McNamara said.
Iowa kicks off from Jack Trice Stadium against Iowa State at 2:30 p.m. on Fox.
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