The Iowa Hawkeyes rolled to an important 40-14 bounce back victory over Northwestern on Saturday from Kinnick Stadium.
Iowa (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) came alive in the second half to morph a 12-7 lead at the break into an emphatic win. The Hawkeyes got a spark from someone that the fan base has been pining for, too.
After graduate quarterback Cade McNamara threw an 85-yard pick-six to Northwestern defensive back Theran Johnson, Iowa turned to junior backup quarterback Brendan Sullivan.
Though Iowa had a trio of three-and-outs on his first three series, Sullivan and the Hawkeye offense got rolling after that.
Sullivan directed a five-play, 52-yard touchdown drive before halftime to give the Hawkeyes their lead at the break. It was capped by junior running back Kaleb Johnson’s 26-yard rushing touchdown.
Then, the floodgates opened in the third quarter.
Sullivan engineered three more touchdown drives in the third quarter, including Sullivan’s 6-yard touchdown run. Johnson added two more touchdown runs of 41 and 25 yards.
Sullivan finished 9-of-14 passing for 79 yards and added 41 yards on the ground.
Afterwards, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz was asked what prompted the quarterback switch to Sullivan and if Sullivan is now Iowa’s permanent starting quarterback moving forward.
“Yeah, we’ll see on that. Permanent’s a strong word. It’s like super glue or whatever. We had already made the decision during the week that we were going to rotate Brendan in a little bit. Thought third or fourth series depending on how it played out, so it just worked out that way. And then he did a really nice job. Cade was shook up also after the hit he took,” Ferentz said.
Ferentz was also asked if Sullivan’s mobility opened up things for Johnson and the Hawkeye offense.
“Yeah, that’s the clear contrast. I think that’s one of Brendan’s strengths is he’s a really good athlete and really good at that. And then the other thing is, he commanded the game, which is, no matter what your style is as a quarterback, you have to do that. It was a really good outing and I think we got into a little flow in the second half.
“That was certainly encouraging. There’s give and take with everything you do, but really, really happy with the way he stepped in. I thought he played with great poise. I didn’t think too much about it, but, playing his former team, you always worry about emotions a little bit. Didn’t worry too much about it, but it didn’t seem to be a factor either,” Ferentz said.
Sullivan has been working red zone and goal line packages for Iowa during the course of this season. After getting his first extended look, Ferentz discussed staying the course with Sullivan during a slow offensive start and how Sullivan has worked to be ready for this opportunity.
“We’re going to have three-and-outs. That’s part of it, too. We’re playing good teams. These guys are feisty on defense. They played and made it hard on us. We knew it was going to be that way. When it’s 7-5, I’m like, here we go again, one of these weird games we end up in sometimes.
“Yeah, can’t say enough about Brendan because he got here in June. Tim got here first of February roughly. He was really playing catch-up not being here this spring. There’s a lot to learn, a lot of words, all those kinds of things. He’s worked hard at that.
“Same thing about Jacob. Those guys jumped in there and did a really good job being focused on the right things. They both have good work ethics and they’re mature guys, which I think helps, too. He’s experienced.
“Fun fact. Brendan was actually the losing pitcher in this game last year. Today he’s the winning pitcher. How much does that happen? Interesting. On different teams. Both were the right way, too, by the way,” Ferentz said.
With Ferentz noncomittal on whether or not Sullivan is Iowa’s full-time starter moving forward, he was asked if he would be okay rotating Sullivan and McNamara.
“We did it in ’81. You weren’t alive. It worked out OK.
“I mean, yeah, we’ll do what’s best for the team. Going back to the point earlier about the rotation. It wasn’t we were benching Cade, we were going to give Brendan a chance, too. He’s done some good things. Gives us a chance to look at him.
“He did a lot of really good things today, a lot of things he’ll get better at, too. That’s encouraging. Hopefully we have two guys we can win with,” Ferentz said.
Iowa returns to action next week with its rivalry date versus Wisconsin.
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