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    • The Brendan Sullivan era begins for Iowa football
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    The Brendan Sullivan era begins for Iowa football

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

    IOWA CITY – With 9 minutes, 25 seconds left in the second quarter against his former team, the Brendan Sullivan era began in Iowa.

    Sulllivan’s entry into a precarious situation for the Iowa football team drew huge cheers from fans at Kinnick Stadium. And although the first three series with the No. 1 as Iowa’s QB1 were three-and-out games, Sullivan ultimately brought juice to a team and a stadium that desperately needed it.

    Iowa scored 37 consecutive points after Sullivan entered Saturday’s game, including five touchdowns in 15:12 of game time, to help the Hawkeyes overcome pent-up frustration in a 40-14 win at Northwestern in front of a happy homecoming crowd of 69,250 To give spectators free rein.

    Sullivan, who transferred to Iowa from Northwestern in June, showed why so many underdogs were intrigued by his skills in a crucial two-minute drill late in the first half with the Hawkeyes trailing 7-5.

    Or more like a 43-second drill — because that’s how long it took Iowa to score a touchdown and take a 12-7 lead it would never relinquish.

    Up until that point, Sullivan’s relief of Cade McNamara at quarterback had been pretty disappointing. Nine plays, zero first downs and similar to how the offense looked in the first half a week ago in a discouraging 32-20 loss to Michigan State.

    But Sullivan’s first play of the drive, which started from Iowa’s 48-yard line with 1:22 left before halftime, was a 9-yard quickout to Dayton Howard for nine yards and out of bounds. Sullivan then fought back for eight and again got out of bounds smartly. A 6-yard pass to Zach Ortwerth left the clock running, and Sullivan coolly ran three yards out of bounds for a third-and-1 at Northwestern’s 26-yard line with the clock stopped.

    On the next play, Kaleb Johnson rolled into the end zone with an impressive-looking 26-yard touchdown run that had nothing to do with Sullivan, but at the same time had everything to do with Sullivan. In that moment, it seemed like there was no turning back from a new Hawkeyes quarterback.

    Iowa came out of the halftime locker room and Sullivan looked even better. His rollout pass to Johnny Pascuzzi flew just a few feet into the air, but was so effective that it gained 40 yards – Sullivan sprinted downfield and threw a block to Northwestern’s 212-pound defensive back Devin Turner, a former Wildcat Teammates. Pascuzzi rumbled to the 6-yard line, and Sullivan scored from there – using his legs to reach the end zone just inside the right pylon to give Iowa a 19-7 lead that suddenly seemed insurmountable.

    Sullivan’s final passing line was 9 of 14 for 79 yards; He also ran for 41 yards on eight carries. Thanks in part to Kaden Wetjen’s sensational 85-yard punt return, Iowa scored 28 points in the third quarter – its highest point total since a 31-point second-quarter outburst at Maryland in 2021.

    Northwestern’s only points on Saturday came from its defense and special teams. Without those hiccups, Iowa might have posted a shutout a week after failing to force Michigan State to punt on 11 possessions.

    The Hawkeyes (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten Conference) now turn their attention to a big rivalry game against Wisconsin next week in Kinnick. And with Sullivan, they have a new quarterback at the helm.

    Cade McNamara’s final appearance on Saturday was a long time coming

    McNamara’s first-half stats looked decent for a while. He went 6-for-8 for 69 yards, including the longest pass play of the season of 42 yards to Seth Anderson. Iowa even scored points on its first possession for the first time this season, scoring a 24-yard field goal from Drew Stevens for a 3-0 lead.

    But McNamara missed his target from the start on these throws. A third-and-goal fade pass to Luke Lachey was badly negated, giving his receiver no chance. He threw a wounded-duck interception that was negated by a roughing-the-passer call, but replays show there was no contact before McNamara unleashed the ugly-looking ball.

    The play before McNamara’s fateful pick-six looked like a rookie quarterback. He rolled to his right and had plenty of room to run, but decided to run backwards and pass to Lachey for a 4-yard gain. This was a great example of making something out of something.

    Then came the 85-yard interception return touchdown for Northwestern on a throw a quarterback can’t make. McNamara forced a third-and-4 throw from Lachey that was scooped up by the Wildcats’ Theran Johnson, who returned the turnover into the south end zone for the score.

    McNamara’s final stats for the day: 7 of 13, 73 yards and one interception. McNamara was responsible for all seven of Iowa’s turnovers this season – five interceptions, two lost fumbles (both against Ohio State). We’ll see if this is the end of the McNamara experiment in Iowa, but if it is, the Michigan transfer acquisition will be remembered as a disappointment.

    McNamara’s stats in 13 games over two seasons at Iowa: 150 of 262 (57.2%) for 1,522 yards (117.1 average) with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

    The defense returns to have its day

    As mentioned, last week’s performance at Michigan State was a bit frustrating. And perhaps no play on Saturday embodied the joy of the defense more than the tipped pass interception by All-American linebacker Jay Higgins.

    His buddy Nick Jackson picked off a pass from Jack Lausch in the third period, and Higgins inexplicably invented the football out of a crowded group of players. The flipper interception was reminiscent of the late Tyler Sash’s improbable interception of an Indiana pass in 2009, in that a replay was required to see exactly what happened.

    That Higgins turnover resulted in seven Iowa points, with Johnson immediately rewarding the turnover with a 25-yard touchdown run.

    Last week against an average Michigan State team, the Hawkeyes totaled 468 yards, the most Phil Parker’s group had since the Wisconsin game in 2019. On Saturday, Iowa held Northwestern to a meager 159 yards and zero offensive points.

    This was certainly a comeback performance that the defense desperately needed. It even forced Northwestern to punt eight times.

    The first half MVP for Iowa was punter Rhys Dakin

    And there is no debate about that. The player from Down Under was superb, rewarding Kirk Ferentz’s decision to poke four times from near midfield. Dakin held Northwestern three straight times at its own 6-yard line and then dropped one at the 5-yard line as if to show off on fourth down with 1:46 left in the first half.

    Dakin, a true freshman who has the unenviable task of succeeding Ray Guy Award winner/cult hero Tory Taylor, has truly turned his game around since the Big Ten Conference began. He was the National Special Teams Player of the Week in Minnesota, and based on Saturday’s first half, he deserved it again.

    Although the yardage stats don’t tell the whole story (41.8-yard average in the first half), Dakin’s ability to corner a challenged Northwestern offense was tremendous. If one of those kicks would have resulted in a touchback, the game changes.

    The first punt actually resulted in an interception by Quinn Schulte, giving Iowa a 3-0 lead at Northwestern’s 26. But McNamara’s pick-six ruined that success. On Dakin’s next punt, Iowa defensive end Max Llewellyn wrestled with Northwestern quarterback Lausch in the end zone for a safety. Llewellyn’s sack barely made it two-pointers and marked the fourth straight year with a safety for the Iowa defense – 2021 at Nebraska, 2022 against South Dakota State (twice), 2023 at Wisconsin before.

    And on Dakin’s final punt of the first half, Iowa had three timeouts left. Northwestern helped by scoring three straight runs, likely a result of giving up a sack fumble late in the first half against Wisconsin last week. So, trailing 7-5, Iowa got the ball back to first field position, its own 48.

    Iowa parlayed that good field position into a five-play, 52-yard drive capped by Kaleb Johnson’s 26-yard touchdown run and a 12-7 halftime lead.

    Average field position in the first half: Northwestern, own 14-yard line; Iowa, own 45. If that’s not a winning statistic, then you get the point.

    Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has worked for The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network for 30 years. Chad is the 2023 INA Sports Columnist of the Year in Iowa and NSMA Co-Sports Writer of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s texting group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.

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    Madoc Meredith
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