Quarterback mystery wheel keeps spinning round and round at Iowa, especially this week

The next quarterback at Iowa usually is the best one.

That may not feel the case for many this week, with either Cade McNamara or Jackson Stratton starting with Brendan Sullivan out for this week and next with an ankle injury.

The people immediately and warmly welcomed McNamara here after he announced in December 2022 that he was transferring from Michigan to Iowa.

How happy were the people? After the starter for 2021 Big Ten-champ Michigan came to Iowa following a 2022 season in which the Hawkeyes’ offense appeared broken, Kinnick Stadium was sold out for 2023.

McNamara had four touchdown passes and three interceptions over five games last season, suffered a season-ending injury after not being healthy when he did play, and retained the faith of the people going into this season.

McNamara has six TDs and five picks over eight games this year. He no longer the people’s choice when he left the Oct. 26 game at Northwestern with what was diagnosed at halftime as a concussion. The people had wanted backup Brendan Sullivan, got him, and liked what they saw.

The offense had some juice with Sullivan at the helm. He gained yardage running with the ball — something Iowa hadn’t had from a QB in many moons. But his only 100-yard passing game in three games of heavy use was in a 20-17 loss at UCLA.

Jackson Stratton, who replaced Sullivan at UCLA and almost rallied the Hawkeyes to victory in the same season he was a scout team linebacker, will start if McNamara can’t. McNamara has been cleared to play, but “cleared” isn’t “ready,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday.

“Everything’s clearly cloudy,” Ferentz said at his weekly press conference Tuesday, and multiple times.

Stratton’s career college passing totals are 7 completions in 23 attempts for one touchdown and two interceptions. That would be quite an 11th-game starter, no?

Normally, the people are hot for the next guy. Remember when the people wanted to see more of Peyton Mansell (eight pass attempts for Iowa in 2018)? He threw for 10 TDs and 12 interceptions over three subsequent years at Abilene Christian.

Remember when the people were hot for Tyler Wiegers, a four-star recruit in 2014? He threw a total of six passes over his four years at Iowa, went to Eastern Michigan with a college degree in his hip pocket, and had 11 touchdown tosses as a grad transfer.

He is now Dr. Tyler Wiegers, a resident physician for Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He won.

Remember when the people were hot for recruit Deuce Hogan? He passed for 8,192 yards and 100 touchdowns in Texas high school football.

Hogan threw a total of one pass for the Hawkeyes, transferred to Kentucky and threw seven there, and has been at New Mexico State this year. He completed 6 of 18 passes for 31 yards with two interceptions as a reserve there, and suffered a season-ending broken collarbone in September.

Remember when the people were hot for Joey Labas? He played in the 2022 Music City Bowl for Iowa because Alex Padilla, whom the people were hot for when Padilla backed up Spencer Petras, entered the transfer portal before the bowl.

Iowa won that game, 21-0. Labas threw 24 passes without a pick. He came back to Iowa in 2023 and didn’t throw a pass as Deacon Hill replaced McNamara, then transferred to Central Michigan.

Labas passed for 342 yards in his debut at CMU, but had five interceptions in a loss to Florida International the following game. He hasn’t played since Oct. 12 when he suffered an arm injury that required surgery.

Hey, remember Petras? He caught a lot of flak from the people, didn’t he? He played with some of the least-dominant offensive lines Iowa has featured in the Kirk Ferentz era.

Petras averaged eight touchdown passes per year in three seasons as Iowa’s starter. At Utah State this year, he has 17. He is eighth in the nation in passing yards per game with 286, and will play in the postseason Hula Bowl all-star game in January.

Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes may want to pull a quarterback or two out of the transfer portal as soon as it swings open on Dec. 9. They’ve got to get hit it big sometime, right?

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