Iowa’s football offense: This bad, again this year? Seriously? Seriously???

I was on the southern side of the equator when Saturday night’s Iowa-Penn State football game began, and still wasn’t far enough away.

(That’s not for you to strongly endorse, by the way.)

After successfully taking on Kilimanjaro (the beer, not the mountain), I returned home to watch the Hawkeyes-Nittany Lions Sunday night out of morbid curiosity. Yeah, that was a little one-sided.

Penn State had 97 offensive plays to Iowa’s 33, which had to be seen to be believed. According to TruMediaSports, no other FBS team had 60 more plays than its opponent in the last five years.

Iowa’s 15:44 of possession was not any kind of record. Rutgers’ 12:10 against Michigan State in 2017 is believed to hold that distinction.

We can go on with the game stats, but what more really can be said about Iowa’s 76 yards and 4 first downs? Other than it’s usually how you get beat 52-0 or 66-0 rather than the merciful 31-0 score in Happy Valley.

“I can promise you we will get better after today,” Hawkeyes quarterback Cade McNamara said.

If that promise can’t be kept, the Hawkeyes will struggle with even the most-mundane of the many mundane foes remaining on its schedule.

That starts Saturday with Michigan State, which has been offensively challenged itself. The Spartans scored 7 points against Washington and 9 against Maryland in their last two games, both in East Lansing. They allowed 41 and 31.

None of Iowa’s remaining eight opponents are ranked. Either Illinois or Minnesota is the best of the five teams still to visit Kinnick Stadium, and neither is to be mistaken with Penn State.

But while coaches insist winning is the bottom line, those who fund their corporations, er, programs, want something a little more entertaining. Although, the fact Kinnick is sold out for the rest of the season after last year’s Hawkeyes were ranked 130th in the nation in total offense might suggest otherwise.

Although it really doesn’t, since much of the sales came after the influx of transfers that got people believing the offense was on the road to recovery. The biggest piece of that was the addition of McNamara, the starting QB of Michigan’s 2021 Big Ten champs.

McNamara had a quad injury in an August open practice, hasn’t been right physically since, and isn’t likely to get well if he continues to take the hits he did against Penn State.

This might be a good time for Iowa fans to drop Spencer Petras a note and apologize for all the unkind things they said about him last year. I’ll always wonder how well Petras could have played had his offensive line not been awful and how little his offense got from its wide receivers.

Yes, that was all under the head coaching of Kirk Ferentz and the offensive coordination of Brian Ferentz.

Petras did beat Penn State two years ago with what will stand as one of the most-remembered touchdown passes in recent Hawkeye history, the 44-yarder to Nico Ragaini.

McNamara and his teammates didn’t have the Kinnick wall of sound behind them Saturday in Beaver Stadium, and completed two passes to wide receivers all game for a total of 18 yards.

Since the end of Saturday’s game, there has been plenty of commentary about the fractured offense at Iowa since the 2021 season. Ya think?

But that’s only if McNamara, who has to believe the offense will get better because he is the guy taking the snaps, is right. I can’t see Iowa not winning its next two games, at home against Michigan State and Purdue, but it will be fool’s gold if the offense doesn’t start living up to its new QB’s promise.

For now, you’ve got to be kidding. Iowa is 131st of 133 teams in FBS total offense with fewer yards per game than last year’s team that finished 130th of 131. Granted, Saturday’s game skewed those numbers, but still … seriously?

What’s semi-amazing is that the Hawkeyes can still win the Big Ten West for the second time in three years if the defense carries it the way it did in 2021.

But would you want to take the current offense to Indianapolis to play Michigan or Ohio State or Penn State?

That’s a rhetorical question. You would want to take the current offense to Madison, let alone Wrigley Field or Lincoln.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com