Early on, all was right in the world.
The Iowa Hawkeyes hit on a big pass play, a 36-yard touchdown to transfer wide receiver Seth Anderson from transfer quarterback Cade McNamara. Then, Iowa tacked on another 3-yard touchdown strike on fourth down from McNamara to fellow Michigan transfer in tight end Erick All.
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The party was on inside Kinnick Stadium! Until it wasn’t.
The Hawkeyes proceeded to punt on four of their next seven offensive possessions with McNamara in the fold. That stretch also featured a turnover on downs.
Iowa did tack on a 20-yard Drew Stevens field goal before the end of the first half and a 3-yard touchdown run from sophomore running back Kaleb Johnson to effectively put things away in the fourth quarter. But, the roaring offensive start proved to be at least temporarily a bit of a mirage.
The Hawkeyes wound up winning 24-14 over Utah State, which means that Brian Ferentz and the Iowa offense fell one point shy of the average his designated performance objectives call for in order for him to retain his job beyond the 2023 college football season.
As a result, Paul Myerberg included Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz among his Week 1 college football losers.
Iowa’s embattled offensive coordinator is coaching this season with a revised contract containing two performance-related incentives: For Ferentz to go back onto his previous two-year rolling contract, Iowa must win at least seven games in 2023 and, crucially, average at least 25 points per game. On the first part, Ferentz is off to a good start; the Hawkeyes topped Utah State in Saturday’s opener. But Iowa scored only 24 points, setting Ferentz just a slight nudge behind the curve. The post-Week 1 new number: Iowa will need to average 25.1 points the rest of the way to get Ferentz back on his original deal. – Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports.
Outlets around the country are tracking Brian Ferentz’s progress frantically. Both CBS Sports and Football Scoop are among those that already have trackers on Brian Ferentz and the Iowa offenses’s points per game progress.
While Iowa did indeed show some early progress, this will continue to be a storyline until the Hawkeye offense consistently proves that it isn’t.
Iowa could make a statement in its rivalry date at Iowa State this coming weekend. The Cyclones were among the nation’s top defenses a season ago, surrendering just 285.6 yards and 20.3 points per game. Those marks ranked fourth and 18th nationally.
The Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series kicks off at 2:30 p.m. on Fox from Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.
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