By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The most obvious takeaway from the Iowa football team’s 27-24 loss to Missouri in the Music City Bowl is that quarterback play, or the lack of it, continues to be the biggest problem on offense.

It’s the one thing that is preventing Iowa from being a legitimate contender more than anything else.

Kirk Ferentz did have some clock management issues in the bowl game and was overly conservative with his decision making, especially in the second half. He seemed to be coaching not to lose more than to win, which he has been known to do during his 26 seasons as the Iowa head coach.

Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester also made some questionable play calls in the second half.

But of course, it’s easy to judge and to second-guess with hindsight on your side.

Maybe Kirk Ferentz became conservative, or some might say paranoid, because he wasn’t convinced that Brendan Sullivan could make enough plays at quarterback to risk taking chances.

Sullivan came out firing in the first half against Missouri, completing 8-of-9 passes for 88 yards. He also ran for 31 yards in the first half, highlighted by an incredible scramble near the Missouri goal line in which he reversed field and eluded multiple defenders before taking a vicious hit at the 1-yard line.

Iowa would go on to score its third touchdown of the first half on the next play and led 21-14 at halftime.

In the first half, Brendan Sullivan showed signs of being the answer for Iowa at quarterback, at least for next season since he only has one more year of eligibility.

But the Northwestern transfer also took a beating due to his physical playing style, and then he struggled in the second half after Missouri had made some defensive adjustments.

“It was a tale of two halves for sure,” Sullivan said. “We were pretty successful in the first half, but (Missouri) definitely had us figured out a little more in the second half. The end of the story is you can’t turn the ball over. I think that’s what cost us the game. It’s something I’ve got to take and live with. It just can’t happen.”

Kirk Ferentz had this to say about Sullivan’s hot-and-cold performance in the bowl game.

“I thought he played really well in the first half. We had a rhythm; he had a rhythm,” Kirk Ferentz said. “I don’t mean this in a critical way. One of Brendan’s strengths is his competitiveness. He really cares. Not suggesting other quarterbacks don’t or our other ones that we’ve had don’t, but he’s really wound tight.

“So part of the challenge for you playing him — this is not just quarterbacks, but anybody. You know, you have to be able to bottle that enthusiasm and the energy sometimes and make it work for you and not against you. I think when he gets running hot a little bit sometimes, it kind of gets out of whack there a little bit.”

That seemed to be Kirk Ferentz’s way of saying that Sullivan sometimes gets so fired up that he lacks the poise and decision making that’s needed from your quarterback.

Sullivan is clearly a better runner than passer and defenses will defend him with that in mind.

Where he struggles the most is throwing from the pocket, and if it’s still a problem at this stage, you wonder if it can be fixed

Sullivan’s performance in the Music City Bowl ultimately left more questions about Iowa’s future at quarterback than answers.

With just three starts under his belt as a Hawkeye, and since he struggled in two of those starts, both of which resulted in losses, Brendan Sullivan still hasn’t shown enough, or accomplished enough, to feel good about him being the starter.

You could also argue that he hasn’t been given enough of a chance to prove himself, but he has started three games and he saw considerable playing time against Northwestern after McNamara was injured.

Sullivan also started eight games for Northwestern over two seasons, so there is a decent sample size to judge his performance and potential.

Sullivan was arguably Iowa’s best option this season, but that isn’t saying much because Cade McNamara, who started the first eight games, rarely played well this season, while fourth-team walk-on Jackson Stratton stepped up when needed, but the passing offense was limited with Stratton behind center due to his lack of experience.

Redshirt freshman Marco Lainez suffered a thumb injury and wasn’t available when McNamara and Sullivan were both out with injuries late in the season.

Lainez has since entered the transfer portal, along with McNamara and true freshman James Resar, who came to Iowa as a quarterback before switching to receiver midway through the season.

That currently leaves Brendan Sullivan, Auburn transfer Hank Brown and incoming freshman Jimmy Sullivan as the three quarterbacks on scholarship, assuming they all stick around this spring and summer.

There is always the chance that Stratton could also be put on scholarship, and there is also the chance that Hank Brown could emerge this spring as the quarterback of the future.

Brown started two games for Auburn this season, so his body of work is much smaller than Brendan Sullivan’s body of work.

Brown also has three seasons of eligibility, whereas Sullivan only has one.

The question with Sullivan at this stage is whether he has reached his ceiling, or is there still room for improvement after four years in college?

Sullivan was effective when Iowa used him in goal-line packages as a change of a pace to McNamara.

But Brendan Sullivan didn’t transfer to Iowa to provide a change of pace as a backup.

Tim Lester has to keep looking to upgrade the quarterback position in the transfer portal, but that’s a lot easier said than done under the current circumstances.

It would almost certainly take a lot of convincing and salesmanship, and a lot of NIL money, to land a proven quarterback from the portal.

But even that would be no guarantee as shown with Cade McNamara, who struggled as a Hawkeye despite being a proven quarterback at this level.

Iowa quarterbacks have struggled since 2020, partly due to a lack of skill players and to a mediocre offensive line.

But that isn’t the case anymore.

Iowa led the Big Ten in rushing this season and featured one of the top running backs in the country in junior Kaleb Johnson, who led the conference in rushing with 1,537 yards and with 21 rushing touchdowns, which set a UI single-season record.

Johnson opted out of playing in the Music City Bowl, but his two replacements – redshirt freshman Kamari Moulton an sophomore Jaziun Patterson –  combined for 170 rushing yards.

Sophomore Terrell Washington Jr. also made an impact in the Music City Bowl as both a running back and receiver, while freshman receiver Jarriett Buie showed some promise in the bowl game with three receptions.

And while Jacob Gill had a costly drop in the fourth quarter of the Music City Bowl, he was clearly Iowa’s best receiver this season.

The Iowa offensive line also made huge strides this season, especially in run blocking.

As great as Kaleb Johnson was this season, he also benefitted from some huge hoes, as did all the Iowa running backs.

In just one season with Lester as the offensive coordinator, the Iowa offense has gone from being a punchline and a national laughingstock to a respectable unit.

The offense that struggled mightily to score points before Lester arrived helped Iowa score at least 40 points in four games this season and more than 30 in six games.

It would be fair to say that the offense took a step forward this season, but the quarterback position didn’t.

The tight end position also seems to have been overlooked in the passing game at times this season, which seems odd considering Iowa’s success with developing tight ends.

Football is considered the ultimate team sport in which multiple players on offense, defense and special teams work together for a common goal.

But with any football team, the quarterback has the biggest influence and can be the difference between being good and real good.

Iowa finished 8-5 this season, which is better than average but nowhere close to being real good.

Hayden Fry became a Hawkeye legend by averaging eight wins in a season, but a lot has changed since he last coached more than a quarter century ago.

Eight-win seasons aren’t what they used to be with many teams now playing 13, 14 or even more games in a season.

Iowa has combined to play 27 games just in the past two seasons, winning 18 of them.

However, against ranked opponents, Iowa has now lost nine straight games.

Kirk Ferentz has given no hint that he is even considering retirement at this point, even though he will be 70 by the start of next season.

He was on course to being the oldest head coach in college football until North Carolina recently hired 72-year-old Bill Belichick as its head coach.

It has been suggested that Kirk Ferentz is only sticking around long enough to break Woody Hayes’ record for all-time Big Ten wins. Kirk Ferentz has 204 career wins as a Big Ten head coach and needs one more to tie Hayes.

But it seems unfair and misguided to say that Kirk Ferentz is only coaching for himself and because he wants to break a record.

And for those saying that Kirk Ferentz should be forced to retire, it just doesn’t work that way, at least at Iowa.

Kirk Ferentz doesn’t deserve to be fired and it’s silly even to suggest it under the circumstances.

But he does owe it to the fans to fix the quarterback position, and to add more talent at wide receiver, with help, of course, from Tim Lester.

And the sooner the better because patience is running thin.