IOWA CITY — The fans were booing the new-look Iowa offense in the first quarter of the first game, a 40-0 season-opening throttling of Illinois State. Really, they were.
After showing what he and the Tim Lester offense are capable of this week, though, Cade McNamara just might have given the notoriously boisterous Kinnick Stadium crowd what it's been asking for all along: an offense to believe in.
McNamara didn't mention the boos in his postgame conference after Iowa's victory over the Redbirds. He clearly didn't let them affect him during the game, either, finishing with a 21-for-31, 251-yard, three-touchdown performance in the win and putting an exclamation point on his road back from last season's quad injury and subsequent season-ending torn ACL.
"Picturing myself having moments like this is what got me through rehab," McNamara said. "What it [would be] like to possibly go out there as 100% again."
If that's not 100%, God help the rest of the Big Ten, because McNamara's second-half stats almost beggar belief for an Iowa quarterback: 13-for-14, 177 yards, and all three of the aforementioned scores. His QB rating for the second half? A mere 269.8.
That? That'll do just fine, in Iowa City or any other stadium in the country.
"I'm super excited for Cade; he's come a long way after the injury," said tight end Luke Lachey, himself a returnee from a 2023 season-ending leg injury. Lachey finished with 63 yards and a game-high six catches in the win.
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After showing what he and the Tim Lester offense are capable of this week, though, Cade McNamara just might have given the notoriously boisterous Kinnick Stadium crowd what it's been asking for all along: an offense to believe in.
McNamara didn't mention the boos in his postgame conference after Iowa's victory over the Redbirds. He clearly didn't let them affect him during the game, either, finishing with a 21-for-31, 251-yard, three-touchdown performance in the win and putting an exclamation point on his road back from last season's quad injury and subsequent season-ending torn ACL.
"Picturing myself having moments like this is what got me through rehab," McNamara said. "What it [would be] like to possibly go out there as 100% again."
If that's not 100%, God help the rest of the Big Ten, because McNamara's second-half stats almost beggar belief for an Iowa quarterback: 13-for-14, 177 yards, and all three of the aforementioned scores. His QB rating for the second half? A mere 269.8.
That? That'll do just fine, in Iowa City or any other stadium in the country.
"I'm super excited for Cade; he's come a long way after the injury," said tight end Luke Lachey, himself a returnee from a 2023 season-ending leg injury. Lachey finished with 63 yards and a game-high six catches in the win.
Iowa 40, Illinois State 0: Cade McNamara Turns Boo-Birds to Believers
Cade McNamara may have given Kinnick Stadium what it's always been asking for: an offense to believe in.
