By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – To mark the midway point of the Iowa football team’s 2024 regular season, Mr. Optimist and Mr. Pessimist held a debate Saturday evening at an undisclosed location in or near Iowa City.

I wasn’t allowed to attend, but they were kind enough to give me the transcript and permission to share it with you.

 

Mr. Optimist: The Iowa football team has an 8-3 record in games that Cade McNamara has started at quadating back to last season. McNamara is also completing 63.2 percent of his passes this season and has only thrown three interceptions.

Mr. Pessimist: Cade McNamara is only averaging 132.3 passing yards per game this season, and he is 0-1 against Ohio State and Penn State as a starter dating back to last season with Iowa being outscored 66-7 in those two games

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa has rushed for at least 200 yards in five of six games this season.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa only had 47 rushing yards after three quarters against Ohio State and trailed 28-0 heading to the fourth quarter.

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Mr. Optimist: With Iowa losing to Iowa State 20-19 this season, it’s easy to overlook the fact that Iowa has won seven of the last nine games against the Cyclones.

Mr. Pessimist:  It’s easy to overlook that statistic because Iowa State has won two of the last three games in the series, with both victories coming at Kinnick Stadium.

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Mr. Optimist: Favored by just 2.5 points against Washington, the Iowa football team made a powerful statement by defeating a very talented Huskey squad by 24 points (40-16).

Mr. Pessimist: That same Washington squad lost 21-18 to the same Rutgers squad that Wisconsin just pounded 42-7 this past Saturday. Both games were played in Piscataway, New Jersey.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa is fortunate that it doesn’t have 6-0 Oregon, 6-0 Penn State or 6-0 Indiana on the 2024 regular-season schedule.

Mr. Pessimist:  Taking the path of least resistance is no way to make the 12-team college playoff.

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Mr. Optimist: There is no substitute for experience as shown this season by the performance of the Iowa offensive line, which has three senior starters and two junior starters, and by Phil Parker’s defense, which has five graduate starters and four senior starters.

Mr. Pessimist: The Iowa Swarm Collective had better be prepared to raise and spend a substantial amount of  NIL money this offseason or next season could be a struggle, even for Phil Parker’s defense.

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Mr. Optimist: New offensive coordinator Tim Lester deserves praise for re-energizing the Iowa running game, and for helping to make junior running back Kaleb Johnson a star on the rise.

Mr. Pessimist: Only once this season under Lester has Cade McNamara thrown for more than 200 yards in a game, and in three games this season, McNamara has thrown for fewer than 100 yards.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa has a respectable 14-6 record since the start of the 2023 season and has won 10 games in three seasons since 2019.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa lost to Penn State (31-0), Michigan (26-0) and Tennessee (35-0) last season by a combined score of 92-0, and is also 0-4 against Michigan and 0-2 against Ohio State since 2019.

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Mr. Optimist: Kaleb Johnson has rushed for 937 yards and scored 13 touchdowns in just 5 1/2 games this season, and he is on pace to break Shonn Greene’s UI single-season rushing mark of 1,850 yards, which Greene set in 2008.

Mr. Pessimist: I have a better chance of surviving a week alone in a rain forest filled with poisonous snakes and other animals that bite than Kaleb Johnson has of returning to college next season as NFL riches await him.

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Mr. Optimist: Iowa freshman punter Rhys Dakin is averaging a very impressive 44.6 yards on 30 punts this season, while kicker Drew Stevens has made 10-of-11 field-goal attempts this season, including four in the win over Washington.

Mr. Pessimist: Thirty punts and 11 field-goal attempts in just six games describes an offense that has struggled to finish drives, unless it’s touchdown runs by Kaleb Johnson.

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Mr. Optimist: It was impressive the way Iowa rose to the occasion against Washington in what was clearly a must-win for Iowa from a playoff standpoint.

Mr. Pessimist: Every game Iowa has left is a must-win from a playoff standpoint, and there is no guarantee that finishing 10-2 would be enough.

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Mr. Optimist: Kirk Ferentz has added to his legend by winning his 200th Big Ten game this past Saturday as he now ranks second all-time in Big Ten history behind Woody Hayes’ 205 wins for Ohio State.

Mr. Pessimist: Kirk Ferentz reached 200 wins in 321 games, while Woody Hayes reached 205 wins in 276 games.

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Mr. Optimist: After basking in the joy from having defeated Iowa the previous week, Ohio State obviously had a letdown at Oregon.

Mr. Pessimist: That might be the most delusional thing you’ve ever said in one these debates, and that’s saying a lot.

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Mr. Optimist: In Saturday’s win over Washington, redshirt freshman Dayton Howard and junior Seth Anderson became the seventh and eighth different wide receivers to catch a pass for Iowa this season. Howard’s first career reception resulted in a 33-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter, while Anderson had one catch for 27 years in his first game back from injury.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa still doesn’t have a wide receiver with more than 170 receiving yards or more than 16 catches this season.

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Mr. Optimist: This season marks the 20-year anniversary of Iowa’s 2004 Big Ten champion team that defied the odds by overcoming a rash of injuries at running back to win a share of the Big Ten title and 10 games overall; the 10th win coming on a game-winning touchdown pass from Drew Tate to Warren Holloway as time expired in the 2005 Capital One Bowl in what was Nick Saban’s last game as the LSU head coach.

Mr. Pessimist: Iowa hasn’t won a Big Ten title since then.