If Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz and his offensive staff know which direction they’re planning on heading in terms of the starting quarterback versus Northwestern, he’s not ready to tip his hand just yet.
“The quarterback situation, we haven’t made a decision yet. I’m not sure when we will. We’ll let both guys work with the ones, rotating them in and out and playing that out and making a decision here during the week, kind of going from there,” Ferentz said during his Tuesday press conference.
Both Spencer Petras and Alex Padilla played at No. 2 Ohio State during the Hawkeyes’ 54-10 loss. Petras finished his day 6-of-14 passing for 49 yards with a pair of interceptions, one of which that was returned for a touchdown by Buckeyes linebacker Tommy Eichenberg. Meanwhile, Padilla completed just 5-of-10 passes for 32 yards and he was intercepted once as well.
Petras was also sacked and fumbled and Padilla mishandled a quarterback-center exchange with Logan Jones that resulted in another takeaway for Ohio State. Suffice it to say, the results weren’t great against the Buckeyes.
With both quarterbacks’ struggles against Ohio State, it means the evaluation isn’t a simple one.
“Really wasn’t much good Saturday, in general. Didn’t matter who was in there. So that’s part. Everything is part of the evaluation to answer your question. What we saw in practice, things we saw on Saturday and the past. Keep pushing forward. It’s not like we have a scientific formula. We’ll see how the week plays out,” Ferentz said.
Ferentz hopes to make a decision and then stick with it. Still, he’s not ruling out the possibility that multiple quarterbacks could play versus Northwestern.
“We’re not planning on rotation at this point. But anything’s possible. Not going to rule it out. But preferably wouldn’t want to do that. And whoever starts hopefully not looking over their shoulder. We also have to get it going offensively and show some production, too. So hopefully whoever is in there can help us do that. That’s the team goal. And there’s I guess a balancing act that goes on with it because you don’t want to make a decision based on one play. Something like that. We’ll kind of see. Make a decision and ride with it for a little bit,” Ferentz said.
Conceivably, Iowa might take the decision right up until the final buzzer.
“We haven’t made a decision yet. Today and tomorrow are big work days for us. We’re not going to do anything between now and then. We’ll see how we feel coming off the field and maybe take it to Friday. We’ll see,” Ferentz said.
Regardless of which direction the Hawkeyes ultimately go, the sum of Iowa’s parts need to be better collectively.
“For quarterback play, it’s really complex. So it’s not a simple equation. Those guys out there are just humming, but usually if a guy is humming means he’s getting good teamwork and good help around him, too. There’s a lot that goes into good quarterback play, just like every position,” Ferentz said.
It would be a welcome sight if Iowa finally gets some sort of a spark from the quarterback position. The Hawkeyes return home this week to Kinnick Stadium for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff against Northwestern for Homecoming.
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