Iowa football rewind: Iowa’s explosive second half, Luke Lachey’s productivity

IOWA CITY — Tim Lester already has done something no other offensive coordinator has done at Iowa in the last 45 years.

He became the first Iowa offensive coordinator in the Kirk Ferentz or Hayden Fry eras to lead his unit to 400-plus yards of total offense and more than 30 points in his first game.

To be more specific, Lester’s offense accumulated 492 total yards and 40 points against Illinois State. The next-best offensive coordinator debut during the Ferentz and Fry eras was when Bill Snyder’s Iowa offense had 389 yards and 26 points against Indiana in 1979.

Perhaps even more remarkably, what Iowa did in the second half alone — 345 yards and 34 points — was better than what the Hawkeyes did in each of Brian Ferentz, Greg Davis and Ken O’Keefe’s entire first games as offensive coordinator.

Luke Lachey’s quietly productive day

True freshman Reece Vander Zee captured headlines with his impressive Hawkeye debut, but tight end Luke Lachey quietly put together an impressive performance in Saturday’s win as well.

Cade McNamara targeted Lachey eight times, and the star tight end had six catches for 63 yards.

Lester’s play-calling set up McNamara and Lachey with plenty of favorable short-to-medium-distance opportunities, and Lachey certainly took advantage. He gained almost half of his yardage — 30 of 63, to be precise — after the catch.

One of the two incompletions to Lachey was an off-the-mark throw by McNamara on a third-and-6 in the first quarter.

The other could have been a touchdown with a better throw from McNamara. Lachey was ahead of the linebacker and defensive back covering him, but he had to slow down to get to the underthrown ball.

Had McNamara’s deep throw been a little deeper, we presumably would have been talking about career-high numbers for Lachey on Saturday.

Lachey made an impact in other areas that do not show up in the box score as well. As a McNamara pass ricocheted off Connor Colby’s helmet and hung in the air, the 6-foot-6 Lachey knocked it away from four Illinois State defenders vying for an interception.

  Buy Photo

Iowa’s offensive line, Cade McNamara withstand heavy blitzing

Illinois State had a heavy dose of blitzing on Saturday, with Pro Football Focus tracking blitzes on 22 of his 32 dropbacks.

Looking back at recent history, it is no surprise to see Illinois State Coach Brock Spack try to heavily pressure McNamara. The ex-Michigan quarterback’s completion percentage when blitzed in 2023, according to PFF, was 40.5 percent. When he wasn’t blitzed, that rose to 59.6 percent.

But Iowa — both the offensive line and McNamara — handled the blitzing well on Saturday.

McNamara went essentially the full game without taking any sacks — a first for him as a Hawkeye — and had a 12-yard scramble (which ended in a headfirst dive).

Had it not been for an illegal motion penalty, he would have had a 20-yard scramble in the second quarter as well. It was an impressive show of his mobility as he evaded multiple Illinois State defenders in the backfield with ease.

“I wasn't expecting to run as much as I did today, but it felt good,” McNamara said after the game. “Some confidence was filled with that.”

In the 22 dropbacks when he was blitzed, he completed 72.7 percent of his passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns, according to PFF.

McNamara, appearing in his first game since last year’s season-ending knee injury, improved as the game progressed. After going 8-of-17 in the first half, he was 13-of-14 in the second half.

McNamara’s improvement — both in-game and since last year — was especially on display when he connected with tight end Zach Ortwerth for a gain of 31 at the end of the third quarter. The sixth-year quarterback withstood pressure, threw on the run and placed it perfectly to Ortwerth for the big play.

“I was kind of waiting for (Ortwerth) to make a decision — whether it was to block or if it was to take off,” McNamara said. “He took off, and I thought it was a great decision. And all I had to do was just lay it up for him.”

Strong start for T.J. Hall

It is hard to ask for much more from cornerback T.J. Hall’s first career start on Saturday.

Hall most notably recovered the fumble forced by fellow defensive back Sebastian Castro in the first quarter. His recovery set up a 41-yard Drew Stevens field goal that gave the Hawkeyes an early 3-0 lead.

In coverage, he allowed only one completion on six targets to his receivers, according to PFF. That included four targets to top Illinois State wide receiver Daniel Sobkowicz.

Other notes

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

Sign up for our curated Iowa Hawkeyes athletics newsletter at thegazette.com/hawks.