Why Tim Lester felt Iowa-Minnesota was Cade McNamara’s best performance

Tim Lester sees something growing in Cade McNamara.

With the Iowa Hawkeyes on a bye week, it is time for the coordinators to meet with the media. Tim Lester took the podium yesterday and he was not shy about displaying how he feels quarterback Cade McNamara played against Minnesota.

Against the Golden Gophers, McNamara went 11-of-19 passing for 62 yards on the day. He had no touchdowns and no turnovers. Despite the shortage of yards, Tim Lester said that he felt this was McNamara’s best game yet this season.

“This is going to go against the popular opinion, but I actually think last game was one of his best games. Everything is about your feet and timing in a passing game. It was one of his best games last game. Now, we weren’t…I had him I think at 11-of-13. I know you guys probably had him higher than that. I know we had two drops. We had two great reads, great throws, routes weren’t run right. We had one throwaway. I called a bad ball, called a bad play. He threw it away, which was a good decision.

“That’s what I grade. Can you operate this offense on time? That was his issue in week two. Probably his worst game as far as his footwork goes, which when your feet aren’t set, you’re not an accurate thrower of the ball. So, I really thought he played a pretty good game on Saturday. He got us in and out of blocking schemes, changed the Mike points all the time, he re-racked one from when they slid the front.”

“So, I felt like he did, actually one of his best games was last weekend throwing the ball, throwing it where we wanted,” Lester said about McNamara.

On the year, McNamara is 64-of-102 passing, a 62.7% completion percentage and a touch higher than his career mark of 61.3%. He has thrown for three touchdowns, all of which came in Iowa’s season-opener against Illinois State, and two interceptions, both of which came against Iowa State.

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