By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – To say or write anything that could be considered as praise for Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara is just asking for snark and negative feedback.

For example, in the second half of Iowa’s 38-21 victory over Troy on Saturday, I posted on X that McNamara had completed 15 of 18 passes to that point. There was no praise given to McNamara, just those statistics.

Iowa had just scored a touchdown on a two-yard shovel pass from backup quarterback Brendan Sullivan to tight end Addison Ostrenga when McNamara’s numbers were posted.

The first response said stats are misleading, and that even some of McNamara’s completions were from inaccurate throws, and that he missed many open receivers.

The second response said that McNamara honestly didn’t look very good at all and that many of his passes were still off.

McNamara is expected to make his ninth start as a Hawkeye when Iowa (2-1) faces Minnesota (2-1) in the Big Ten opener Saturday night in Minneapolis.

It will be just the third Big Ten game that McNamara has started for Iowa.

He played from start to finish in Iowa’s 31-0 loss at Penn State in the 2023 Big Ten opener, and to say that McNamara struggled would be an understatement as he only completed 5-of-14 passes for 42 yards.

He also started against Michigan State in the fifth game of last season, but then suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter.

During his time on the field in 2023, McNamara was far from impressive, totaling 505 passing yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions while completing 51.1 percent of his throws.

So far this season, McNamara has been wildly inconsistent.

He mostly struggled in the first half against Illinois State in the season opener, but then led five touchdown scoring drives on six possessions in the second half of Iowa’s 40-0 victory.

He was serviceable in the first half against Iowa State, but then only threw for 19 yards in the second half as Iowa lost 20-19 after leading 13-0 at halftime.

Against Troy, McNamara was highly efficient, completing 19 of 23 passes for 176 yards.

He didn’t throw a touchdown pass, but he also avoided throwing an interception.

He wasn’t spectacular, but he was steady, and yet, there still is a part of the fan base that is highly skeptical about McNamara’s ability to perform at an acceptable level.

The fact that he has had two straight season-ending knee injuries certainly weighs on the minds of some fans, and understandably so.

Until McNamara shows that he can stay healthy for an entire season, or at least for an extended period, there will be questions and concerns about his durability.

But more than anything, McNamara will have to play well against Big Ten opponents before the skeptics will even start to consider him in a positive light.

His two best games as a Hawkeye were against Illinois State and Troy this season.

No disrespect to either team, but they would hardly qualify as formidable opponents.

Iowa was so determined to land McNamara from the transfer portal late in 2022 that Kirk Ferentz allowed for improper contact to be made with a player before that player had entered the transfer portal.

Kirk Ferentz didn’t identify the player, but it was widely assumed that it was McNamara, who transferred to Iowa from Michigan late in 2022.

Kirk Ferentz missed the season opener against Illinois State as he served a self-imposed one-game suspension for committing a recruiting violation.

His suspension certainly didn’t help McNamara from a popularity standpoint because the naysayers and skeptics would say that Iowa has gone to great lengths to land a player that simply hasn’t produced, or held up his end of the deal.

The hope was that McNamara would be the missing piece for an Iowa offense that had sunk to a historically low level.

The thinking was that if McNamara were good enough to start for Michigan and lead the Wolverines to a Big Ten title as he did in 2021, then he would be a serious upgrade for Iowa.

However, that upgrade has yet to happen, party due to injuries.

Should McNamara play well against the Gophers on Saturday and Iowa comes away victorious, that would be a step in the right direction.

But it would take more than just one good performance against one Big Ten opponent to convince the naysayers that McNamara is the answer at quarterback.

Some believe that Brendan Sullivan is the answer at quarterback, and that belief is based partly on their disbelief in McNamara.

Sullivan took his first meaningful snaps as a Hawkeye against Troy, and though it was a small sample size, he helped to score a touchdown.

Sullivan started four games for Northwestern last season and then transferred to Iowa in June.

And now three games into the season, new Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester is figuring ways to get Sullivan more involved with goal-line packages.

“This week when we were talking about those situations, we just thought maybe it would be good to have that in our pocket,” Kirk Ferentz said of Sullivan’s role. “How much we utilize it or not utilize it, we’ll figure that out as we go.

“He did a good job during the week. That was part of our plan coming in, if the situation arose. If it’s going to help us in games, we’re going to do it.”

Kirk Ferentz was asked after the Troy game if there are ways to get Sullivan more snaps in the middle of the field, which would likely mean less playing time for McNamara.

“I mean, there’s no big conspiracy theory or purpose,” Kirk Ferentz said. “He has practiced well. He’s a really good athlete. We thought if he could give us or provide one more dimension, one more thing to the defenses to have to worry about, might have some benefit.

“There’s no big picture right now, but we are going to try to utilize any one of our guys any way we can if they can help us. That’s a good thing.”

Iowa has little margin for error in its quest to make the 12-team playoff field. A 10-2 record might be enough to make the playoff, but that would require winning eight of the nine conference games, which includes a game at Ohio State.

Assuming McNamara stays healthy, and on top of the depth chart, he will have at the least nine Big Ten games to help carve out his Hawkeye legacy.

His critics aren’t judging him too harshly when they question his durability, mobility and arm  strength because those are legitimate concerns at this point.

But to assume that Sullivan would be a better option is also a reach at this stage because we haven’t seen Sullivan play enough as a Hawkeye.

On the other hand, some fans have seen enough of McNamara to believe that he isn’t the best option.

The only way McNamara can prove them wrong is to play well against multiple Big Ten opponents.

Fair or not, that’s where it stands right now.

And it seems fair.