The offensive numbers over the past three seasons for the Iowa Hawkeyes have been abysmal.
Entering this 2023 season, there was hope Michigan transfer quarterback Cade McNamara could revitalize this Hawkeye offense.
Obviously, those hopes were dashed when McNamara suffered a second and this time season-ending non-contact injury early in Iowa’s 26-16 win over Michigan State. McNamara was lost for the season that night to a torn ACL, but he and the Hawkeye offense hadn’t been particularly effective to that moment.
The week before against then-No. 7 Penn State, McNamara completed 5-of-14 passes for 42 yards in a 31-0 blowout loss. Iowa finished with 76 yards of total offense, and the Hawkeyes were shut out for the first time since Oct. 14, 2000, which was an identical-score 31-0 loss versus Illinois.
All of that is to say, the offense wasn’t performing great before McNamara went down with injury. Since he’s been lost for the season? Well, that’s not been good either.
Last week against Minnesota, Iowa mustered 12 yards of total offense in the second half and 127 yards of total offense in the 12-10 loss to the Gophers. It’s the second time in as many seasons the Hawkeyes have lost a game in which their opponent didn’t score an offensive touchdown.
By now, most everyone knows about the designated performance objectives for Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz. To avoid his contract being terminated, the Hawkeyes need to win at least seven games and average 25 points or more per game.
So far, not so good at all. Iowa has scored only 156 points through eight games. That’s an average of just 19.5 points per game.
For Ferentz to fulfill those designated performance objectives, Iowa would need to score 169 points over its next five games, or average 33.8 points per game. If the Hawkeyes make it to the Big Ten Championship game, Iowa would need to score 194 points over its next six games, which equates to an average of 32.3 points per game.
As a result, Ferentz’s name is alongside other names in college football for all the wrong reasons. College Sports Wire’s Patrick Conn has Ferentz headlining his midseason hot seat update, placing Ferentz in the hottest of hot tiers.
Ferentz is in Conn’s Tier 5 hot seat rankings: “Sleeping in the Coffin.” Ouch.
Sound the alarms. Brian Ferentz had goals for his team which were to win seven games and average 25 points in each of their games this season. Right now, he has achieved neither and the latter looks almost impossible. At 6-2, it is likely that Iowa will win a seventh game. But, to achieve the 325 points needed to keep his job, Brian’s unit needs a total of 169 points. Given that the team has only scored 156 through eight games, you can all but guarantee that his goose is cooked. — Conn, College Sports Wire.
Losing his starting quarterback and his top two pass-catchers, tight ends Luke Lachey and Erick All, has been a costly blow to Ferentz and the Hawkeye offense. But the results weren’t good with all of them healthy either.
Barring some sort of offensive renaissance or awakening over the final five or six games, it just doesn’t seem plausible Ferentz and Iowa will meet the 25 points per game objective. According to his contractual amendments, that means Iowa will be in the market for a new offensive coordinator. It feels like an offseason with plenty of items in flux is approaching.
For the time being, Iowa and Kirk Ferentz are searching for some fashion of offensive answers to perhaps help the Hawkeyes close with four straight wins and a trip to Indianapolis and the Big Ten Championship game.
Iowa is 6-2 (3-2 Big Ten) and can still make this a highly successful season with a nice stretch run despite one phase continually not holding up its end of the bargain.
The Hawkeyes return to play on Nov. 4 at 2:30 p.m. versus Northwestern (3-4, 1-3 Big Ten) with the game set to stream on Peacock.
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