Kirk Ferentz asked if he considered quarterback change during Iowa’s loss to Michigan State

Kirk Ferentz was asked after Iowa’s 32-20 loss to Michigan State if he had thought about benching quarterback Cade McNamara in favor of Brendan Sullivan.

“No, no real discussion on making a switch. But, I mean, basically we didn’t do anything well enough to win tonight, and (quarterback play) would be included,” he said.

While Ferentz didn’t put McNamara at full fault for the loss, it wasn’t a great outing for the Hawkeyes’ signal-caller, who was just 11-of-23 for 150 yards. He also threw a touchdown and an interception.

The Iowa head coach reiterated that it was a collective effort that did his team in. The Hawkeyes were outgained 468-283 and yielded 212 yards on the ground on 39 Spartans carries. They were also 5-of-11 on third down opportunites.

Iowa now has lost 2 of its last 3 games, failing to capitalize on a 40-16 win over Washington the previous week. It dropped to 4-3 on the year and 2-2 in the Big Ten ahead of a Week 9 home game at Kinnick Stadium against Northwestern.

And in the leadup to that game, there will be plenty to work on beside QB play, said Ferentz.

“We’re going to have to do better in a lot of areas,” he said. “We’ll look at the film and see what it looks like.”

Sydney Hunte