After putting up nearly 500 yards of offense against Illinois State, the Hawkeyes are feeling pretty good. The momentum from that performance has carried over into a good week of practice thus far as they prepare for Iowa State.
“This Tuesday was our best practice we’ve had in a while.” Iowa center Logan Jones said.
It was a tale of two halves for the Hawkeyes offense. Six points in the first half, 34 in the second. Quarterback Cade McNamara finished the day with 251 passing yards, three touchdowns, and some extra pep in his step.
“I’m glad Logan mentioned that, because we felt that as an offense,” McNamara said. “I think that goes with experience and confidence after being able to execute in a game. We’re just looking to do the same thing this week.”
Many expected the Iowa rushing attack to look good against an FCS opponent. It did, notching 241 yards on six per tote. But it was the success the passing game had in it’s first game that has head coach Kirk Ferentz excited about the prospects moving forward.
“It’s encouraging,” Ferentz said. “I think it’s combination of a lot of things. I thought the guys overall protected pretty well, that didn’t seem like that was an issue at all for us. Some of those plays that Cade made were under duress, not necessarily because of a breakdown, but those guys blitzed a lot. Had free rushers coming, I thought he handled that situation well too.”
Iowa will look to improve to 2-0 with Iowa State coming to Kinnick Stadium this Saturday.
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