Cade

BigD

Well-Known Member
Struggled some first half but looked better the second half. The year he led Michigan to the big ten title and handily beat us he started out struggling his first three games that year. Then he lit fire on his fourth game. Would luv to see this against Penn State.

Also the offensive line looked improved on the run game. Again, hopefully that carries over to the Penn State game and the defense plays its best game of the year.
 
The few noticeably bad throws/decisions might have been him just pressing. He was timid on throws and skiddish on decisions. We've seen enough tape on him to believe this can improve.

He's still clearly limited on mobility, cutting, and running. Not a ton of reps in Fall.

I'd like to see him throw away the ball a little quicker.

We've wanted someone who will take some shots downfield. Granted, we want them on time and not 2 seconds late.

The upside is still there for me. He had a rough game, forced throws, and made some poor and late decisions. Hopefully with healing and more reps we see better. I still think we will.

Poor game from QB and the most points since Oct 2021, all but 2 offensive.. Not a great opponent. But miles better than last 2 years....
 
Concerned about McNamara's mobility. The Iowa "statue-in-the-pocket" QB prototype has not served us well for several years. I was hoping McNamara would present a new look with rollouts, scrambling, bootlegs, etc. But so far, not so much.
Cant beat PSU standing in the pocket waiting for our WR's to get open.
 
We've seen enough tape on him to believe this can improve.

We've also seen a lot of tape on Ferentz's QB development and it is bad. Under O'Keefe as the OC the QBs always got better except for Jake Christensen (and let us not forget that Drew Tate was injured his senior season so I'm tossing that one out). In the post-O'Keefe regime, QBs get worse every year.
 
Just stop with the dumb comments about Cade. I get it. After a few months as a Hawkeye and 3 whole games with an O line a work in progress, he hasn’t been a super star. No shit, Dick Tracy. SC incredibly labels Cade as a “QB that promised roll outs, scrambling, bootlegs, etc.” First, what the hell is etc.? An excuse for nothing else to say. He has shown up as advertised. He moves around in the pocket to improve his views of receivers and use his protection, and does it very well.
Most importantly, he has a track record as a starter for a blue blood program and has won a BT championship and led his team to the playoffs. Injury and a change in the role of the QB by his coaches sent him to Iowa, thank God .
He will do us proud .
 
What he can control is making poor throws, none of his picks have been a result of pressure.

But bad news, the line has been a work in progress for 5 years and won’t get better in conference play, the OC is still Brian and his targets don’t have elite speed or hands.

We brought him in the hopefully cover some of that up.
 
pedo st offense didn't look great today that game was all about turnovers
Yeah IL threw 4 picks. Allar looked human against IL barely 200 yrds no tds or picks. Not even 50% on completions. They didn't have any explosive plays against IL really. If Iowa just doesn't turn it over left and right we can play with them. Stop the run like usual and we'll keep the score in the 20s or fewer and give ourselves a chance.

We just can't win a shootout. And by not turning it over and giving them short fields we can prevent that from even being a thing.
 
You cannot overstate the injury factor. It cost him the last 2 weeks of camp and game week prep. Think of how many hundreds of reps in practice he did not get against a great D. He is still working into game shape and condition.

Second, his mobility is clearly hindered. The one time he took off and got a first down he was limping. Soft tissue injuries are usually managed and not healed during the season. From what I recall at Michigan, Cade was a decent runner and scrambler when needed, but he looks limited physically to me.

Iowa needs to adjust to what he can do. I hate to say it, but I would trend more conservative. Look for a lot of short hitches, screens and curls, BUT, have at least one max protect 9 route in each half to keep the safeties back.

Hope you get 1 explosive play in the running game and 1 in the passing game, but otherwise, control the ball through a short passing game.
 
You cannot overstate the injury factor. It cost him the last 2 weeks of camp and game week prep. Think of how many hundreds of reps in practice he did not get against a great D. He is still working into game shape and condition.

Second, his mobility is clearly hindered. The one time he took off and got a first down he was limping. Soft tissue injuries are usually managed and not healed during the season. From what I recall at Michigan, Cade was a decent runner and scrambler when needed, but he looks limited physically to me.

Iowa needs to adjust to what he can do. I hate to say it, but I would trend more conservative. Look for a lot of short hitches, screens and curls, BUT, have at least one max protect 9 route in each half to keep the safeties back.

Hope you get 1 explosive play in the running game and 1 in the passing game, but otherwise, control the ball through a short passing game.
I haven’t seen that type of offense in twenty-five years…………… lol. All joking aside what you’re suggesting would be the wise bet. Again, the big question will be that offensive line. I know sometimes lines can improve as the year goes on and there have been teams with poor lines on other teams that don’t improve as someone suggested in another post.

This past week we saw what appeared to be improvement on the offensive line what we just don’t know is if that had a lot to do with the competition level we played or if the line is getting better and stronger. I am voting for better and stronger

Why not be optimistic and hope for the best until proven otherwise. We have beaten Penn State a couple of times when we weren’t suppose to. This would be one of those games. If we get clobbered then the goal turns to winning the division. I don’t see anyone in our division that looks really good. I like our chances to win the West.
 
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I think the OL is clearly improving. They are already ahead of where they were last year. Well ahead. We appear to have found a competent RT and the rest of OL seems to be gelling a bit. We only played 6 guys, so there is a rotation at LG and the rest seem cemented in. I thought KF would rotate more this early, but he seems to have found his 5-6 guys.

That said, the quality of competition absolutely will be shown. PSU is going to have plays where they whip us. If Iowa can maintain some flow in the running game and keep the defenders in front of them on passing plays, they have a shot to keep improving. The biggest thing is that Cade needs to release the ball quicker. Presnap read, one quick read and then release the ball with conviction, on time, to the spot where your WR should be. No sacks, no INTs, don't beat yourself. Take what the D gives you.
 

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