Cade… what have you gotten yourself into? Epic PSU-Iowa stats
Look at some of these nutso stats from the Iowa “game” (using that word euphemistically) last night:
**Iowa had the same number of turnovers as first downs (four)
**Penn State scored just two more points than Iowa had offensive plays (31 to 33)
**Penn State had more rushing attempts (57) than Iowa had passing yards (56)
**Iowa’s total rushing yards (20) were nearly matched on one rush by Penn State running back Nicholas Singleton (19 yard long)
**Iowa had six total fumbles (four lost)
**Penn State QB Drew Allar nearly had as many passing attempts (37) as Iowa QB Cade McNamara had passing yards
**Iowa posted a total of 20 rushing yards on 17 attempts (0.8 yards per attempt)
Brian Frerentz has turned a functional QB like Cade into hawkpoop. Yeah I knkw they were down their beat TE and both RBs… but srsly. And now Brian is waaay behind his 25 pt/game threshold… if Daddy Kirk even lets him finish the year. Oh who are we kidding, he probably will get a job promotion this week for effort.
Btw… if this is not a new level of a “Rutger” then it should be.
September 24th, 2023 at 6:36 PM ^
Have you watched McNamara in that same offense? He's arguably been worse
September 24th, 2023 at 7:04 PM ^
I think Cade was serviceable and not more. And I too lost a lot of respect for him based on how he carried himself vis a vis JJ both before and after losing his job.
But no better than Spencer Petras--that's just mean. Are we no more than brutes?
September 24th, 2023 at 7:31 PM ^
Anyone is better than Petras.
Petras shouldn’t start on a D3 team.
September 24th, 2023 at 3:02 PM ^
"deserves" is just an eight-letter word. Nobody deserves anything. We can probably agree he should do what's best for himself -- and I really think staying at Michigan and continuing to develop, albeit from the bench, would have been that. NFL scouts have no problem finding good talent hidden on the depth chart behind a great talent. But they do have a problem drafting quarterbacks who take too many hits and regress behind a bad offensive line.
September 24th, 2023 at 3:02 PM ^
This proves even further that this is almost entirely a schematic issue
Or it could simply mean that Michigan had a great deal of talent in 2021, which allowed us to mask Cade's weaknesses - and which are now more fully on display.
September 24th, 2023 at 3:04 PM ^
Cade's weaknesses are human physiological weakness. Get hit too much and you can't throw things quite as straight.
Cade is a very good quarterback who got benched by a great one. And then he made a mistake transferring to Iowa and is getting physically punished for it.
September 24th, 2023 at 3:10 PM ^
Lol, guess we've found Cade's burner account.
September 24th, 2023 at 3:24 PM ^
The problem with that line of reasoning is that he looked mediocre last year when he took the field for us (14-25, 180 yards, TD, INT) against two cupcakes (CSU and Hawaii) that JJ lit up.
He was better in 2021, but we didn't ask that much of him. He averaged 184 yards per game and produced 16 TDs (15 passing, one rushing) in 14 starts.
Playing for Iowa isn't doing him any favors, but there's probably a reason why Iowa was the best offer he could find.
September 24th, 2023 at 11:48 PM ^
Let’s not forget. The lone to pass was a 61 yd screen thrown behind the line of scrimmage to Roman. There was a pick overturned on review.
His stat line could’ve very easily been 13-24 119 0 tds and 2 ints
September 24th, 2023 at 5:29 PM ^
Did you watch iowa's backup QB? Woof
September 24th, 2023 at 1:34 PM ^
It will be an interesting conversation at the McNamara Thanksgiving dinner table: "dad, remind me why it was a good idea to transfer?"
September 24th, 2023 at 3:17 PM ^
If the article is to be believed, his dad wanted him to transfer before the 2022 season.
That seems like it was a good idea. He would have had his pick of teams, some with really good OL and some with NIL exceeding what Iowa could deliver.
Cade’s dad seems like he correctly assessed the situation and gave advice that would have avoided a lot of angst
September 24th, 2023 at 3:49 PM ^
It's hard to imagine the incumbent starting QB of a Big Ten champion just leaving like that. That would be a pretty odd look.
September 24th, 2023 at 1:37 PM ^
Cade isn’t what he thinks. He’s a game manager at best at this level. Take away UM’s oline and RBs and he’s not going to win anything on his own for Iowa.
September 24th, 2023 at 2:00 PM ^
This is the correct answer. Cade needs high-level pieces around him -- especially at RB -- and an excellent OL in order to succeed.
September 24th, 2023 at 2:39 PM ^
He's not even a great game manager. At Michigan he turned the ball over in basically every big game. At Iowa, where basically every game is a big game (bc the never blow anyone out) he's got 4 TDs to 3 INTs and 8 sacks. He just bad. Michigan was able to hide him with a great offensive line and run game, and he still almost cost us wins (Nebraska comes to mind).
September 24th, 2023 at 9:24 PM ^
I am by no means a Cade fan, but he started playing at a time where a Michigan QB couldn't even make an accurate throw 15-20 yards downfield. When I think of a Michigan QB that was a turnover waiting to happen, that's Shea Patterson. Mcnamara if I remember right had 6int's for the season. He was a poor man's Brian Griese in my book.
September 24th, 2023 at 2:51 PM ^
Take away the UM line and stable of great RBs and JJ likely starts to look very pedestrian as well.
I get that Cade and Erick rubbed some people the wrong way on their way out. Does anyone really fault All for leaving after UM told him the medical staff here wouldn’t clear him to play? Does anyone really expect to keep two starting QBs on a roster for more than 1 season? With the portal and NIL, the obvious answer is that someone is going to lose the competition and there is no reason for anyone to sit and wait for another opportunity with one team that may never come.
Cade and Erick deserve to never have to pay for a drink in Ann Arbor should they ever find themselves there again. Everyone can second guess and nitpick their decisions and attitudes if they want, but they were very large pieces of the first Championship team UM had in almost 20 years and they earned plenty of love for that.
September 24th, 2023 at 3:39 PM ^
I would charge both of them double for anything they want to buy just for their comments in the press about the program and coaches. I may not let McCarthy in at all for the way treated JJ in 2021.
September 24th, 2023 at 3:54 PM ^
Take away the UM line and stable of great RBs and JJ likely starts to look very pedestrian as well.
Except that our run game was pretty iffy the first two weeks and he played lights out. Acting like these two QBs are the same is ridiculous. JJ will have a long pro career.
Look, I'm appreciative of everyone on the 2021 team, but I feel no particular love for those two after how they chose to go out. The 2021 season is part of Cade's legacy, but so is quitting on his teammates the following year. I don't fault him for transferring - that's understandable - but do fault him for being a bad teammate in 2022 - as a team captain, no less.
September 24th, 2023 at 1:42 PM ^
I'm waiting for the Brian Ferentz Watch bit that someone has been putting up here lately. I'm also an Iowa fan and B Ferentz is just managing to reach new lows. The crazy thing is: He was an excellent offensive lineman and he coached some of Iowa's great lines of the past ten years or so. And even the line is terrible now. The one thing he's supposed to be an expert in is also a disaster. Iowa also has no concept of how to design and execute a standard college football pass play. It's crazy how basic it is and they can't do it.
Poor Cade. He should've known. I actually hope he transfers out. Brian Ferentz could make Tom Brady look like goddamn Bubby Brister.
September 24th, 2023 at 1:54 PM ^
Do you, as an Iowa fan, think this is the plan?
1. Keep stinking up the joint because bad stinky is better than terrible stinky in the rest of the Big Ten Worst.
2. Get blown out in the Big Ten Championship
3. Sonny gets to add division championship coach to his resume, and "retires."
4. Then Daddy retires as division champion coach AND before divisions end, which means he'd lose the benefit of being in a bad one.
September 24th, 2023 at 2:14 PM ^
I really have no idea what their plan is haha. But, that could be it - Iowa fans and the coaching staff - tend to limit themselves. Though the fans complain about the offense, they're kind of comfortable with the niche Iowa and Ferentz have carved out for themselves: fight for tough, ugly wins with incredible defense and special teams and hopefully juuuussst enough offense. And maybe they don't think they can recruit on a level to generate a potent offense? But, the offensive philosophy is blowing up in their face now. If they had an even passable offense (sorry for the pun), they might be a legitimate B1G contender and certainly favorites to win the West.
I don't understand this mindset. Their biggest rivals Wisconsin and Nebraska right next door have had a lot of success. I don't see why Iowa doesn't think they could replicate that (probably not the 90s Husker dynasty but there's no reason they can't make a dark horse run at a national title once every 15 years or so).
I think maybe they just hoped Brian would be like a mediocre OC but not an outright disaster? And then if no one noticed, they could just make him the HC when his old man retired. But the Ferentzes have had a stranglehold on the athletic dept and that has put Iowa in a really tricky situation now.
September 24th, 2023 at 2:18 PM ^
[moved and deleted]
September 24th, 2023 at 7:48 PM ^
I think maybe they just hoped Brian would be like a mediocre OC but not an outright disaster? And then if no one noticed, they could just make him the HC when his old man retired
This. It's the Bowden disease. Bobby Bowden installed his son as OC after Richt left for the UGA HC gig with seemingly the same goal...and the same results, an atrocious offense and program spiraling into mediocrity because Bowden couldn't fire his failson. Bowden suffered for his loyalty to coaches like Mickey Andrews and Chuck Amato, but at least they had produced when FSU was on top. Bowden's kid did nothing to earn that
September 24th, 2023 at 1:43 PM ^
Unbelievable, however I will reserve further comment until after we play at Happy Valley on Nov.11th.
September 24th, 2023 at 1:46 PM ^
Season stats through four games:
459 passing yards
50 percent completion rate
Four TD’s, three picks.
September 24th, 2023 at 2:21 PM ^
Also- I just started reading Go Iowa Awesome's recap and Adam Jacobi (actually a friend of mine) wrote this:
"The game stats belong in a snuff film." That's pretty on the money.
September 24th, 2023 at 1:46 PM ^
The original post failed to mention that PSU had the ball for 45 minutes to Iowa's 15. This is a remarkable achievement since the Nittany Lions were not actually trying to keep the ball away from the Hawkeyes.
One day, we hope, the real story behind the past 3 years of Iowa offensive woes become fully discussed. Someone in Iowa City must have the details.
Maybe someone at the Iowa Writer's Workshop will use it as inspiration for some deep seated complex tale of families, nepotism, family business, and a failure to evolve and adapt to a changing modern world.
September 24th, 2023 at 3:56 PM ^
Fuck. I'm applying just to have a crack at writing that.
September 24th, 2023 at 8:22 PM ^
A mix of King Lear + Succession + Friday Night Lights. The way everyone in the Iowa media, and the AD office gingerly steps around any discussion about the clear failings of the offense is striking. Ostensibly it is "out of respect for all that Kirk Ferentz has done" but to an outsider it seems they literally are afraid of pointing out reality to him.
A good twist is that Kirk is not the bad guy but actually is forcing his son to stay in the role to punish him for some deeply buried past transgression.
September 24th, 2023 at 1:50 PM ^
Iowa has a vicious case of nepotism and Peter principle.
September 24th, 2023 at 1:55 PM ^
I hope they keep that up for a few more years.
September 24th, 2023 at 1:56 PM ^
His decision reminds me of a time when I got angry and quit my job. I could be found the next day sitting at the kitchen table muttering, "What have I done?"
September 24th, 2023 at 2:01 PM ^
Just think how bad the stats would be without Cade.
September 24th, 2023 at 2:05 PM ^
I don't think the human mind is built to imagine that degree of suckiness.
September 24th, 2023 at 2:23 PM ^
Thus far in his Iowa tenure he has shown himself to be no better than the Petras/Padilla combination. Some (a lot?) of that is scheme and personnel, but it also seems apparent that he's not the QB he thought he was, in addition to being even more limited athletically than usual due to his preseason leg injury.
September 24th, 2023 at 3:10 PM ^
Did you watch the game? I watched the first half and Cade played well -- there just wasn't much for him to do. Several times he made a great play when the offensive line just didn't block anyone and Cade managed to get the ball out of bounds to avoid the sack. He had another one where he ran for twenty yards on a scramble, that was like half of Iowa's rushing total for the game. Eventually late in the second quarter he just started missing throws (that he made earlier and were dropped by the receivers anyway.) At that point he had already taken so many hits anybody would be throwing inaccurately. He's got no offensive line, he has no receivers and his running backs are bad too. He's the only football player on the offense.
He's a very good quarterback who had an NFL future (as a backup) but now he's regressing from the physical punishment he's taking.
September 24th, 2023 at 3:33 PM ^
I watched it off and on. I'll just have to disagree with your premise that's he's a very good QB. He looks like a replacement-level signal caller within the P5 ranks.
September 24th, 2023 at 3:39 PM ^
Several times he made a great play when the offensive line just didn't block anyone and Cade managed to get the ball out of bounds to avoid the sack.
OMG, how did that play not make all the sports highlights? Amazing stuff!
September 24th, 2023 at 2:56 PM ^
Yikes. That's just gross.
I respect you for bringing it up though.
September 24th, 2023 at 2:02 PM ^
I'll always be grateful for 2021. Given Cade's chilly (at best) attitude toward up-and-coming JJ and his seeming repudiation of the team concept in 2022, though, he gets no sympathy from me.
Cade, you made your bed, now you can sleep in it.
September 24th, 2023 at 2:05 PM ^
Iowa had a big game last week. But this goose egg drops PPG from 28.33 to 21.25.
September 24th, 2023 at 2:16 PM ^
Does this include points scored by Iowa’s defense?
September 24th, 2023 at 2:22 PM ^
Yeah, I used total points (85).
September 24th, 2023 at 2:27 PM ^
Total points is the measuring stick in Brian's contract, probably because they knew he'd never achieve that point total with just offensive scores.
September 24th, 2023 at 3:21 PM ^
I just ran the numbers for tomorrow’s Iowatch!
19 PPG from the offense
September 24th, 2023 at 2:11 PM ^
I feel a little vindicated. I had thought this probably wasn't gonna go well for him. Cade was an ok QB for us and in going to Iowa he was leaving behind what helped him here- a good OL and a good running game. Now he's in Brian Ferentz hell.
I guess if he wanted a guaranteed starting job, Iowa might've been his best option to stay at the P5 level
September 24th, 2023 at 3:01 PM ^
I will admit I expected the Iowa offense to be vastly improved with Cade managing the offense for them. I am sorely disappointed for Cade that he has been unable to perform. I know he’s still a bit hobbled with a leg injury, but that’s clearly not the only reason for his struggles. As others have mentioned, a bad O line and no RBs to carry some of the load add to the impediments that Cade seems incapable of overcoming on that team.
September 24th, 2023 at 3:13 PM ^
Matt Stafford couldn't win that game -- Cade is a very good QB but he was conned by the Ferentzes on how incredibly bad that Iowa offense is.