By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Something happened on the way to Cade McNamara being the answer for the Iowa football team at quarterback.

It never happened is what happened.

Almost two years after having energized Iowa fans with his decision to transfer from Michigan, McNamara is now leaving Iowa City with some fans probably saying good riddance.

The Cade McNamara experiment just didn’t work out, at least on the field.

Off the field, McNamara seems to be liked and respected by his Iowa teammates and coaches or they wouldn’t have repeatedly voted him a team captain. He was also friendly and respectful to the media.

McNamara’s problems were on the field where in 13 games as a starter for Iowa he only played well in short spurts, a quarter here or a half there.

He lacks mobility, caused largely from suffering two straight season-ending knee injuries, but he was also inaccurate as a thrower in many cases.

Again, it just didn’t work out.

Of course, the problems with Iowa’s passing attack go beyond just what McNamara did or didn’t do.

The receiver position needs a serious upgrade, and injuries have hampered the tight end position this season and last season.

At some point, though, the quarterback has to stand and deliver because so much is always riding on the performance of the quarterback.

McNamara never seemed to find a rhythm, or a comfort zone, in Iowa’s passing offense.

Routine passes often weren’t routine, and the running game could only do so much.

There was hope that first-year offensive coordinator Tim Lester would help to lift McNamara’s performance level as a passer, but that never materialized.

If you were to rank Kirk Ferentz’s worst decisions as the Iowa head coach, of course, with help from hindsight, investing so much time, energy and resources into landing Cade McNamara from the transfer portal should be near the top.

Illinois and Minnesota also landed quarterbacks from the portal in 2023 and 2024, respectively. But in each case, their quarterback has performed at a much higher level than McNamara has for Iowa.

Luke Altmyer’s performance at quarterback is one of the biggest reasons Illinois is 9-3 under head coach Bret Bielema.

Altmyer, who transferred from Mississippi in 2023, has passed for 2,534 yards and 21 touchdowns this season, while throwing just five interceptions.

Minnesota quarterback Max Brosmer, who transferred from New Hampshire prior to this season, has passed for 2,617 yards and 17 touchdowns, while throwing just five interceptions. He is also completing 66.8 percent of his passes.

Imagine if McNamara had come close to performing at that level and produced those kinds of numbers with how strong Iowa has been on defense and special teams.

Iowa led the Big Ten in rushing during the 2024 regular season, and while a potent running game often helps a quarterback play better, McNamara was never able to take advantage of it.

The Reno, Nevada native is now looking for his third and final college team to play out his career.

It’ll be interesting too see how much interest McNamara will generate in the portal as a seventh-year player, and in the wake of his experience with Iowa.

Much has changed since McNamara led an immensely talented Michigan squad to the 2021 Big Ten title, and to the college playoff that season.

In addition to his two knee surgeries, McNamara also lost the starting position at Michigan early in the 2022 season, and he hasn’t played for Iowa since suffering a concussion against Northwestern on Oct. 26 at Kinnick Stadium.

McNamara’s physical condition was sort of a mystery following his concussion.

Perhaps that was the only reason he didn’t start another game.

But on the other hand, Iowa seemed more than willing to play Brendan Sullivan and walk-on Jackson Stratton at quarterback down the stretch.

The fact that McNamara chose not to participate in the Senior Day ceremony prior to the Nebraska game last Friday was disappointing, and and a bad look for McNamara because Iowa has gone out of its way to appease him for nearly two years despite his mediocre play.

The best thing McNamara could do at this point is move on because it seems pretty apparent that Iowa has moved on from him, just like Michigan did in 2022.

Big-time college football is big business, and from a transactional standpoint, Cade McNamara didn’t hold up his end of the deal.

It isn’t personal.

It’s business.