Kirk Ferentz ‘expecting’ Cade McNamara to play vs. Utah State, but will be game-time decision

IOWA CITY — Iowa football will “take it right up to game time” when deciding on quarterback Cade McNamara’s status against Utah State, but head coach Kirk Ferentz now is “expecting him to play.”

Ferentz’s comments on his weekly radio show followed “two good days of practice” from McNamara.

“Based on what I’ve seen in the last two days, I’m optimistic,” Ferentz said Wednesday evening. “But we’ll have to see what happens.”

Iowa is a heavy favorite in Saturday’s game against Utah State, with more challenging games looming Sept. 9 at Iowa State and Sept. 23 at No. 7 Penn State.

“Really what it boils down to, in my opinion, is can he play effectively?” Ferentz said earlier this week. “And then second thing … is that going to knock him out for three weeks if he does play? So we just have to be smart about that.”

McNamara suffered the muscle injury as he scrambled during the 11-on-11 portion of Iowa’s Aug. 12 open practice. He returned to practice late last week after about a two-week absence.

Ferentz had already said McNamara was cleared medically to play.

“The thing we have to judge as we go along is how effective can he be?” Ferentz told reporters Tuesday.

Should McNamara experience any setbacks, Deacon Hill is listed as Iowa’s No. 2 quarterback.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com