To start the second half, Iowa fans saw the long-awaited quarterback swap to backup quarterback Alex Padilla. After falling to No. 2 Ohio State 54-10, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz shared why the Hawkeyes finally made the switch to Padilla.
“Just, yeah, cumulative. I just think at that point it was the best thing to do and, you know, but, again, it was a tough situation for either quarterback probably for an assessment,” Ferentz said.
Spencer Petras exited the game 6-of-14 passing with a pair of interceptions—one that was returned for a touchdown—and just 49 yards. He led one first-half scoring drive that ended with a 49-yard Drew Stevens field goal.
Unfortunately for Iowa fans, Padilla didn’t do any better. The 6-foot-1, 200 pound native of Greenwood Village, Colo., native completed just 5-of-10 passes for 32 yards and the Hawkeyes were shutout in the second half.
Two of his first three snaps from scrimmage to start the second half resulted in Hawkeye turnovers. The first snap was a fumbled exchange between he and center Logan Jones and then an off-target pass for tight end Sam LaPorta was deflected and intercepted by Ohio State safety Tanner McCalister.
“Well, you know, the snap thing, I’m a line coach. So, you know, everywhere I worked, they always blame the center, but I blame both guys. You can’t win games if you can’t get the center exchange. I know it was practiced at halftime, those two guys, and they practiced in practice. And then, the other one, there’s nothing you can do there. I mean, nothing Alex can do. But, again, it was a series of issues today. Not just those two plays,” Ferentz said.
Asked how he felt Padilla handled himself following the two early turnovers, Ferentz had this to say about the
“Well, you know, I thought both quarterbacks tried to compete and do their best out there, and so we’ll look at the tape tomorrow and see what we can do, but Alex as I’ve said has practiced well and he’s totally invested. Just like Spencer is. Again, it was a tough situation for him to enter the game, so we’ll just take a look at it tomorrow and see what we think,” Ferentz said.
The Hawkeyes haven’t made a determination on who will start this week versus Northwestern just yet, or at least Iowa isn’t sharing that information with the release of its weekly depth chart. Both Petras and Padilla were listed atop this week’s depth chart.
After falling to the Buckeyes, Ferentz said he and the staff would need to look at the film before making any decision on whether Petras or Padilla would start against Northwestern.
“Well, we’ll talk about that tomorrow, but again this is a tough assessment, too. Tough opponent and things weren’t going real well. You’re looking up at a score that’s a little bit lopsided. That makes it even that much tougher. We’ll see what the film looks like and go from there,” Ferentz said.
Iowa hosts Northwestern at 2:30 p.m. from Kinnick Stadium on Saturday for a Homecoming date. It’s the 12th time that the Hawkeyes have hosted Northwestern for a Homecoming game. Iowa is 7-4 in those games against Northwestern and 16 of its last 21 Homecoming contests dating back to 2000.
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