Despite frustrating day, Kirk Ferentz sticks with Spencer Petras as Iowa’s starting quarterback

IOWA CITY — Spencer Petras took a snap in the shotgun formation on third-and-9 in the fourth quarter. A little more than five minutes stood on the clock.

He fired a throw to redshirt freshman Alec Wick about 15 yards downfield.

The pass was too low. The walk-on had plenty of space and made quite the effort to bring it in, but the efforts were to no avail.

The crowd booed as Petras left the field on another fourth down.

Slightly different versions of that same sequence happened again and again in Saturday’s 7-3 win over South Dakota State.

Sometimes the receiver was different. Or the formation was different. Or the distance was different. But fans kept seeing the same frustrating outcome.

“When we get stopped on third down and they’re booing, I feel the same way,” Petras said. “I wish we converted the third down.”

Head coach Kirk Ferentz made it clear, though, that he has “total confidence” in Petras as his starting quarterback.

Ferentz does not “anticipate any changes at this point,” he said afterward, when asked whether Petras will be the starter in Week 2 against Iowa State.

“Our job collectively right now is to get better,” Ferentz said. “He's got some ownership. We all have ownership — every coach, every player — and that's our job to get better week to week.”

Petras’ first-half performance may have prompted some coaches to make a quarterback change. He was 6-for-15 with one interception and no touchdowns going into intermission.

But Ferentz stuck with his starter. He said the reason for keeping Petras out there for the second half “would probably be the same category as a lot of stuff I saw last year.”

“Spencer has practiced well. I thought he was doing a good job out there, but we didn't support him enough. We weren't clean enough, and that's something we're going to have to be better at next week.“

Petras had a better second half, but his final stats still won’t wow anyone. He was 11-for-25 with the one interception and still no touchdowns.

The fifth-year senior from San Rafael, Calif., attributed the subpar performance to getting “out of rhythm a little bit.”

“That's where I need to make the plays to get us back into rhythm,” Petras said. “There were a few locations — like four, I don’t know off the top of my head — that just aren’t acceptable.”

Iowa’s offensive woes went beyond just quarterback. The offensive line struggled to protect Petras or give much space for Iowa’s running backs to run.

“I don’t think this is representative of our offense at all,” Petras said.

Third-down scenarios were especially troublesome for the Hawkeyes, with only four conversions on 17 attempts. It didn’t help that Petras was 1-of-10 on third-down throws.

This isn’t Petras’ first time having to move past a rough performance. In 2021, he completed 57 percent of his passes and had 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

In the second half of 2021 — after the Penn State win — Petras had one touchdown, seven interceptions and only one game with a completion percentage north of 55.

Perhaps the one upside of his past tribulations, though, is knowing not to dwell too much on the disappointing outcomes.

“None of us have the Time Stone like it’s ‘Avengers’,” Petras said earlier in the week, referencing the item in the Marvel movies that allows people to time-travel.

“I wish I did. That would be great. But, yeah, when stuff like that happens, you’ve just got to move forward.”

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