IOWA CITY, Iowa – Cade McNamara threw three second-half touchdown passes and No. 25 Iowa cruised to a season-opening victory without coach Kirk Ferentz, pounding Illinois State 40-0 on Saturday.
Ferentz served a one-game suspension imposed by the university for a recruiting contact violation that is under investigation by the NCAA. Assistant coach Seth Wallace ran the team in his absence. It was the first game Ferentz had missed in his 26 seasons as the Hawkeyes’ coach.
McNamara, who missed the final nine games of 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.
Kaleb Johnson rushed for 119 yards, including touchdown runs of 64 and 18 yards in the fourth quarter.
McNamara, who completed eight consecutive passes to open the second half, finished 21-of-31 passing for 251 yards.
It was the first game for new Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester, who is taking over a unit that finished last in the nation in total offense last season and averaged just 15.4 points per game, which ranked 129th out of 130 FBS teams.
Iowa posted 147 yards of total offense and two Drew Stevens field goals 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.
Iowa’s defense held Illinois State to 189 yards, sacking Tommy Rittenhouse four times. Rittenhouse was 10-of-20 passing for 119 yards.
BIG PICTURE
There were plenty of questions surrounding Iowa’s offense, and McNamara, heading into the season, and the second half provided some answers. Granted, it came against an FCS team, but it was an important first step of the season for the Hawkeyes, who host Iowa State next week.
UP NEXT
Illinois State: At North Alabama next Saturday.
Iowa: Hosts Iowa State next Saturday.
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