By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Cade McNamara proved in last Saturday’s 31-14 victory at Minnesota that a quarterback can throw for just 62 yards, including two yards in the second quarter, and still receive a pretty high grade – or at least an Iowa quarterback can.

All three of the Iowa’s football team’s coordinators met separately with the media on Tuesday as part of the bye week, and the lack of balance on offense was a hot topic for new offensive coordinator Tim Lester.

Four games in and Lester’s offense is averaging 250.2 rushing yards per game, but only 147.5 passing yards per game.

To the casual observer, it would be easy to believe, or assume, that McNamara performed poorly against the Gophers because of his low passing yards.

But that wasn’t the case, according to Lester.

“This is going to go against the popular opinion, I actually think the last game was one of his best games,” Lester said of McNamara, who transferred to Iowa from Michigan late in 2022. “Everything is about your feet and timing in the passing game. It was one of his best games, the last game.”

McNamara only completed 11 of 19 passes against Minnesota, but Lester pointed out that there were at least two drops and two pass plays in which the receiver didn’t run the correct route.

“I felt like actually one of his best games was last weekend throwing the ball, throwing it where we wanted it, Lester said. “A couple routes weren’t run exactly like they’re supposed to be, but I would have thrown it to exactly the same place.

“So, that’s part of the growing pains and the growing process. That’s what I have to grade to make sure that he is growing. So, I really think he’s getting better, he’s getting more comfortable. Early on it was hot and cold. I think he struggled a little bit in week two with his feet, better in week three and against a defense that made every quarterback that they had gone against look scared.

“I thought he did a really good job of getting rid of the ball. I think there was one decision where I think I would have done something different. I wish he would have gone somewhere else and that was his one sack that he took.”

Lester almost went out of his way to praise McNamara as if he was trying to squash any hint of a quarterback controversy.

Some fans, and some in the media, have been clamoring for Northwestern transfer Brendan Sullivan to play a bigger role at quarterback.

Sullivan is currently being used in goal-line packages, and the results have been positive.

But this belief, or hope, or wish, that Sullivan is threatening to take McNamara’s starting position appears to be misguided based on what Lester said Tuesday.

Lester explained why he didn’t throw downfield very often against Minnesota.

It apparently had nothing to do with not trusting McNamara. It was more a case of what was happening on the field.

The Gophers had no answer for the Iowa running game, which was led by Kaleb Johnson’s career-high 206 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

“I’ve called a game where I’ve called seventy passes, and I’ve called a game where I’ve called seventy runs,” Lester said. “We were just running the ball at a really high level, and we had a lead, and we just chose not to take that risk.”

Lester, by saying we, obviously meant Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, who is known for playing it safe on offense.

So, once Iowa built a lead in the second half against Minnesota, it was considered too risky to throw downfield, although Lester said Tuesday that he suggested a couple vertical routes, but was overruled.

“Shoot, I had a couple really good ones last weekend that we didn’t call because of the way the game was playing out,” Lester said of. “I wanted to call it and multiple times. I brought it up in a group forum and I got voted down a couple times.

“But yeah, the better we run the ball the easier it is to be explosive.”

Iowa’s only loss came against Iowa State in week two by a score of 20-19 at Kinnick Stadium.

McNamara only threw for 19 yards in the second half, but his problems apparently had more to do with his footwork than anything else.

“That was his issue in week two, probably his worst game as far as his footwork goes,” Lester said of McNamara. “When your feet aren’t set, you’re not an accurate thrower of the ball.

“So, I really thought he played a pretty good game on Saturday.”

Lester reminded the media on Tuesday just how little time he and the offensive players have been together.

He was hired to replace former offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz in late January.

McNamara still was recovering from his second straight season-ending knee injury when Lester was hired, while tight Luke Lachey was also recovering from a lower-leg injury that caused him to miss the final 11 games last season.

Sullivan also didn’t transfer to Iowa until just this past June, while receiver Jacob Gill also didn’t join the team until this summer after transferring from Northwestern.

Freshman receiver Reece Vander Zee wasn’t even on the team when Lester was hired.

“We didn’t get much of spring,” Lester said. “Cade wasn’t there. Sully wasn’t there. Luke, I think practiced one of two days. Gill wasn’t here. And Reece was going to senior prom. So, we started this about eight weeks ago and we’re still going and they’re working hard. So, I’m excited about where this is headed.”

Lester said the goal-line packages featuring Sullivan were installed to help address Iowa’s inability to score touchdowns in the red zone.

“Scratch where it itches, ” Lester said. “We were struggling inside the five. It is what it is. I do envision what I want it to look like when we do get down there. In the meantime, we’ve got to be efficient. Adding a running quarterback to the mix was going to help.”

Iowa has an extra week to prepare for its next game against Ohio State on Oct. 5 in Columbus, Ohio.

And while being one-dimensional on offense didn’t prevent Iowa from beating Minnesota, the Buckeyes are on a whole different level than Minnesota.

At some point, Iowa will almost certainly need its vertical passing attack to prevail.

“After last week, we’re closer than it looks,” Lester said of the passing game. “Let’s put it that way.

“So, that’s really a huge emphasis this week because this is a week where can, hopefully, bridge that gap faster than other weeks. Because we’ve got to get everything oiled up every week for our opponent.

“But this week, there is no opponent. So, our opponent is us. So, we are trying to speed the curve up as much as humanly possible.”