IOWA CITY -- Kirk Ferentz knows, after 26 years at the helm in Iowa City, what questions about the Hawkeyes quarterback mean.
"It means you are not playing well enough to be undefeated or scoring as much as you would like," Ferentz said on Tuesday. "A week ago, I didn't hear a word on Monday about we didn't play the quarterbacks right. If you win and score points, typically things are well."
The Iowa head coach's assessment on the cause for the questions of his quarterback position rings true.
The Hawkeyes rank 74th nationally in scoring offense with just 27.9 points per game and 103rd in total offense with 346.9 yards per game.
Through the air, Iowa's effectiveness plummets to 128th nationally with only 136.9 passing yards per game. Only Michigan (128.3 yards per game) fares worse in the Big Ten.
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On Saturday, Iowa's passing game woes hit a new low as quarterback Cade McNamara went 11-of-23 for 150 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Following the 32-20 loss, McNamara said he needed to play better. The graduate senior expanded on his postgame comments on Tuesday and described his self-assessment process.
"I am my biggest critic," McNamara said. "I know exactly when I mess up or when I should have done something better. That is just the standard I have always held myself to."
Ferentz also spoke honestly and critically of McNamara's play against Michigan State.
"Cade has to play better," Ferentz said. "Really nothing on offense was good enough for us to be -- we dug a hole that was too deep, quite frankly, and everybody had a hand in it, but offense certainly has responsibility.
"Cade is going to have to throw the ball a little bit more accurately. I mentioned about the makeables, whether it's him or anybody else, if he's got a chance to give us better production, that's what we need."
McNamara's struggles coupled with the fact that Iowa remains 7-for-7 in the red zone with six touchdowns and one field goal when second-string quarterback Brendan Sullivan enters the game. Ferentz faces a situation ripe for quarterback-centric questioning.
Despite the questions and Ferentz's assessment of his play, McNamara remains the starter at quarterback for Iowa's matchup against Northwestern on Saturday -- though he did not shut the door completely on Sullivan.
"We've seen enough good things out of Cade to feel like he gives us our best chance out there," Ferentz said. "... He's done enough good things where we have confidence that he'll play well Saturday, but we'll also keep an open mind. You have to. We have to do better than we did the first 30 minutes the other night.
"We'll keep an open mind, but I have confidence in both of them, quite frankly, and when Brendan gets an expanded role or if he gets an expanded role, I think he'll do well.
"There's never a 100% answer."
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University of Iowa Athletics Beat Reporter
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