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Kirk Ferentz discusses Iowa’s QB situation, whether Hawkeyes will turn permanently to Brendan Sullivan
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Kirk Ferentz responded to a question about whether Iowa would make Brendan Sullivan the permanent starter at quarterback following the Hawkeyes’ 40-14 win over Northwestern on Saturday.
“We’ll see on that. Permanent’s a strong word,” Ferentz said.
Cade McNamara played the entire first quarter and part of the second, going 7-of-13 for 73 yards while throwing an interception and taking a hard hit in the process. Sullivan, the former Northwestern signal caller, entered shortly after and played the rest of the way, finishing 9-of-14 for 79 yards with 0 touchdowns and interceptions while rushing for 41 yards and a touchdown on 8 carries.
Ferentz said that part of the reason McNamara came out was because he was feeling the effects of the second-quarter hit, but the plan was initially to rotate the 2 quarterbacks.
“We had already made the decision during the week that we were going to rotate Brendan a little bit. We thought 3-4 series, depending on how it played out,” he said. “It just worked out that way and he did a really nice job. Cade was shook up also after the hit he took.”
Iowa, who improved to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the Big Ten, faces Wisconsin in Week 10. We’ll see if Ferentz turns to Sullivan for this one or if McNamara remains the starter.