Iowa blows out Illinois State while coach Kirk Ferentz serves suspension

The Iowa Hawkeyes looked sharp after they emerged from the locker room for the second half of their season opener.

Hawkeyes quarterback Cade McNamara threw three touchdowns in the second half to help lift Iowa to a 40-0 victory over Illinois State Saturday. 

For the first time in more than two decades, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz was not walking up and down the sideline. Ferentz missed the game due to a one-game suspension.

The punishment stemmed from violations during McNamara's recruitment. Iowa wide receivers coach Jon Budmayr was also suspended. An NCAA investigation remains ongoing.

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Assistant head coach Seth Wallace stepped in for Ferentz Saturday.

"What they did today, under these circumstances, was pretty cool," Wallace said of the Hawkeyes' performance.

McNamara, who missed the final nine games last season with a knee injury, threw touchdown passes of 7 and 19 yards to freshman wide receiver Reece Vander Zee. He also tossed a 31-yard TD pass to Jacob Gill to help the Hawkeyes pull away after leading 6-0 at halftime.

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"The first half was just the norms of the first game," Wallace said. "The second half is probably a better indicator of what kind of team we are."

McNamara said the second half was built on Iowa’s last possession of the first half, when the Hawkeyes went 49 yards in 10 plays to set up Drew Stevens’ second field goal of the game.

"I think we really started to gain some momentum at the end of that second quarter, when we were able to go on a decent drive," McNamara said. "We weren’t able to finish with a touchdown. When stuff wasn’t going our way at the beginning, our tempo wasn’t very good. And I think once we were able to gain some momentum and gain some tempo, that set us up really good for the second half."

McNamara, who completed eight consecutive passes to open the second half, finished 21-for-31 passing for 251 yards. He also had one carry for 12 yards and had a 20-yard scramble in the first half called back because of a penalty.

"Today felt really good to be actually healthy and run around a little bit," said McNamara, who injured a quadricep during training camp last season. "I wasn’t expected to run as much as I did today, but it felt good. And, you know, some confidence was built with that."

Iowa's new offensive coordinator, Tim Lester, will likely remain in the spotlight throughout the season. Ferentz's son, Brian Ferentz, handled the offensive coordinator duties in 2023. Lester will now be tasked with turning around a unit that finished last in the nation in total offense last season.

Iowa posted 147 yards of total offense in the first half, but it had 180 yards and 11 first downs in the third quarter. The Hawkeyes finished the game with 492 yards of total offense.

Illinois State coach Brock Spack pointed to the game's first two quaters when he assessed his team's defeat.

"Where the game was lost, in my opinion, was in the first half," Spack said. "Iowa made some mistakes with penalties and so forth. And we weren’t able to come back and make some plays. We did some great things in the first half, but we needed a little help."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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