Todd Brommelkamp /1600 ESPN
If you were listening to my show Wednesday morning, you may have heard a few bars from a 1968 country classic.
Stand by your manAnd show the world you love him
Keep giving all the love you canStand by your man
The First Lady of Country Music, Tammy Wynette, recorded what is arguably one of the greatest country music ballads ever while in a relationship with the legendary singer George Jones.
The duo married in 1969…and divorced in 1975. She did not, in fact, wind up standing by her man. She put up with a lot, including famously discovering her then-husband had driven the duo’s riding mower to a liquor store after she had taken away his car keys.
Everyone, it turns out, has a breaking point.
What will prove to be Kirk Ferentz’s breaking point when it comes to turning from Cade McNamara to Brendan Sullivan under center? Will there be one?
We haven’t seen it yet but there’s a safe bet a riding lawnmower won’t be involved, unless Iowa can finagle some sponsorship dollars out of an implement dealership.
Following last Saturday’s road loss to Michigan State, Ferentz offered little in terms of hope for fans hoping to see a change made at the quarterback position.
On Tuesday, when repeatedly asked about McNamara and Sullivan ahead of Northwestern’s visit to Kinnick Stadium this weekend, Ferentz doubled down on backing the incumbent.
“I think probably the biggest thing is it’s easier to talk about putting somebody in a game than just doing it, especially at that position,” he said. “We’ve seen enough good things out of Cade to feel like he gives us our best chance out there.”
There did appear to be a bit of a hedge that followed, though most fans were likely too distracted by a growing white-hot rage to pick up on it.
“I think he’s done enough good things where we have confidence that he’ll play well Saturday, but we’ll also keep an open mind,” Ferentz said. “You have to.”
Tuesday I posed the following question to listeners: How many times in the last 20 years has there been an instance at Iowa where the No. 2 QB has proven to be the better option? That time frame took an obvious, though somewhat controversial option off the table in the form of 2002 Heisman Trophy runner-up Brad Banks. Banks was far from a polished play-caller in 2001 when he stood behind Kyle McCann on the depth chart. One year you’re running out of bounds before the first down sticks, the next you’re in New York being feted along with college football’s elites.
The obvious example within the last two decades came on the heels of an embarrassing loss to Tennessee in the 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl when a first-of-its-kind post-bowl depth chart helped Jake Rudock find his way to Michigan and allowed for C. J. Beathard, rumored to be contemplating a transfer, to take over in 2015. Several listeners offered up the 2008 campaign during which lefty Jake Christensen eventually lost out to Ricky Stanzi.
If you’re keeping score at home, that’s two examples in the last 20 years where the backup quarterback may have indeed been the better choice at the time. Applying superior performances by QBs in future seasons retroactively is a slippery slope, not that many examples stand out anyway.
This is not to be viewed as a thorough endorsement of Ferentz’s choice to continue starting McNamara. It does, however, lead one to an uncomfortable truth. More often than not, when Iowa rides up-and-down play from a seemingly average quarterback, that guy is the best option.
Is that an indictment of recruiting the position? A damning statement about the program’s lack of ability to develop quarterbacks once they’re on campus? Something else? Pick your poison. None of the answers are especially pleasing.
McNamara has been seen as Iowa’s most high-profile transfer portal addition in the era of college football free agency since arriving on campus last year. Injuries in 2023 limited him to five games and gave Ferentz and his staff cover during early season struggles. Rust, most likely. McNamara needed time to shake off the cobwebs.
No feather duster needed at this point. McNamara is what he is, and that’s a quarterback capable of managing offensive coordinator Tim Lester’s game plan and looking unspectacular on his best days. His worst days, like Iowa’s most recent game in East Lansing against the Spartans, overshadow his yeoman efforts like the prior week’s win over Washington.
Sullivan, like McNamara, is a fellow transfer. He arrived in Iowa City from Northwestern earlier this year and has been utilized primarily as a change-of-pace look inside the red zone. Ferentz probably deserves some credit for going along with that plan (presumably the brainchild of Lester) but he didn’t commit Tuesday to being open to trying Sullivan more often under center when the ball was spotted on any of the other 80 yard lines. Iowa twice faced third-and-one situations outside the red zone against the Spartans, sticking with McNamara in those moments.
“Yeah, you could make that argument, treat it like what we’ve done with the red zone,” Ferentz acquiesced. “You could make that argument. You could make it both ways.”
After fielding another quarterback-related question, Ferentz went on the defensive.
“I guess the best way I could say that is a week ago (after beating Washington) I didn’t hear a word on Monday about we didn’t play the quarterbacks right,” he said.
“You’ve got to look at everything, and usually it starts with the quarterback, play calling,” Ferentz continued. “But we’re assessing those things all the time, and if we had an exact answer that we knew was 100 percent, we’d be going with it.
“Let’s keep an open mind, keep playing and see what happens.”
Iowa heads into its homecoming game with Northwestern at 4-3 overall and 2-2 in Big Ten play. There will be no Big Ten championship game trip to Indianapolis, and the College Football Playoff, despite expanding to 12 teams for the first time, is out of the picture as well. [The fact it is very much still in play for another Iowa-based school may add to the angst felt by some Hawkeye fans.]
They’ll tell you otherwise — and to a man tried to Tuesday — but the Hawkeyes are playing for pride and nothing more at this point. Ironically it may be a different type of pride that has led them to this point, the type fans have become accustomed to seeing displayed by Ferentz in recent years.
Ferentz and Iowa have stood with McNamara through seven games. There’s no reason to believe they won’t still be side by side for six more, counting a second-tier bowl appearance.
Tammy Wynette died in 1998. She was just 55. In 1972, four years after giving her voice to “Stand By Your Man,” she sang the following words:
If practice makes perfectThen I’m near ’bout as perfect as I’ll ever be in my lifeSo I’ll just keep on fallin’ in love ’til I get it right
She was married five times, a number that included two husbands after Jones took the household John Deere for some Jack Daniels. She never did get it right, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Each marriage had its moments but ultimately ran its course. So it was on to the next option, hoping for better results but likely knowing while the last name may change, the end result would be the same. The men all had their flaws but the common denominator in each instance was the face staring back from the mirror each morning.
