The Brendan Sullivan era begins for Iowa football

This story has been updated with new information and quotes.

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

Sulllivan’s entry into a precarious situation for the Iowa football team drew rousing cheers from the Kinnick Stadium faithful. And although the first three series with No. 1 as Iowa’s QB1 were three-and-outs, Sullivan ultimately injected juice into a team and stadium that desperately needed it.

Iowa scored 37 consecutive points after Sullivan entered Saturday’s game, including five touchdowns in a span of 15:12 of game clock, to help the Hawkeyes unleash their pent-up frustrations on visiting Northwestern, 40-14, before a happy Homecoming crowd of 69,250.

“That third quarter was awesome. It was fun being a part of that,” Sullivan said. “I was grateful to be a Hawkeye today.”

Sullivan, who transferred to Iowa from Northwestern in June, showed why so many outsiders were intrigued by his skill set in a critical 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.

To that point, Sullivan’s relief of Cade McNamara at quarterback had been pretty underwhelming. Nine plays, zero first downs and similar to what the first-half offense looked like a week ago in a disheartening 32-20 loss at Michigan State.

But Sullivan’s first play on the drive, which started from Iowa’s 48-yard line with 1:22 before halftime, was a 9-yard quick out to Dayton Howard for nine yards and out of bounds. Sullivan then scrambled for eight and again smartly got out of bounds. Two effective plays in just 10 seconds.

“It was huge. We always talk about get the first first down,” Sullivan said. “Once you do that, the guys get started rolling.”

A subsequent 6-yard pass to Zach Ortwerth left the clock still running, but that, too, was the right play. Take what the defense gives you and keep moving. Sullivan then quickly and coolly raced out of bounds for three yards to set up third-and-1 at Northwestern’s 26 with the clock stopped.

“Some of those plays, he’s able to turn an incompletion into five or six yards,” Iowa offensive lineman Mason Richman said. “Which is huge for us, especially on first and second down.”

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 everything to do with Sullivan at the same time. In that moment, it felt like there was no turning back from a new Hawkeyes quarterback.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz stopped short of naming Sullivan his starter, referencing that McNamara got shaken up on an earlier roughing-the-passer flag. Ferentz also shared that the plan coming into the game was to give Sullivan a first-half series, no matter how McNamara was doing. But once Sullivan got the reins, Ferentz was pleased with what he saw.

“He did a lot of really good things today, a lot of things he’ll get better at, too,” Ferentz said. “That’s encouraging. Hopefully we have two guys we can win with.”

After Iowa emerged from the halftime locker room, Sullivan looked even better. That was a really good sign.

His rollout pass to Johnny Pascuzzi traveled only a few yards in the air, but it was so effective that it gained 40 yards – with Sullivan sprinting downfield to throw a block on Northwestern 212-pound defensive back Devin Turner, a former Wildcat teammate. Pascuzzi rumbled to the 6-yard line.

“(Offensive line) coach (George) Barnett said he talked to Sully. It was a good, not great block,” Richman said, smiling. “Good for a quarterback. He’s got to get that guy to the ground.”

More good, though: Sullivan scored on the very next play – using his legs to reach the end zone, just inside the right pylon to deliver Iowa a 19-7 lead that suddenly felt insurmountable.

Sullivan’s final passing line was 9-for-14 for 79 yards; considering more than half of his yardage was on one short bootleg pass, it was hardly a show-stopping line. He also rushed for 41 yards on eight carries.

Thanks in part to Kaden Wetjen’s sensational 85-yard punt return, Iowa logged a 28-point third quarter – its highest-scoring period since a 31-point second-quarter outburst at Maryland in 2021.

Northwestern’s only points on Saturday came from its defense and special teams. If not for those hiccups, Iowa might have pitched 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 major rivalry game against Wisconsin, next week at Kinnick. And they have a new quarterback in charge in Sullivan.

Cade McNamara’s final play Saturday was a long time coming

McNamara’s first-half statistics looked decent for a while. He started 6-for-8 for 69 yards, including the season’s longest passing play of 42 yards to Seth Anderson. Iowa even scored points on its first possession for the first time this season, garnering a 24-yard Drew Stevens field goal to go up, 3-0.

But McNamara was off-target on his throws from the get-go. A third-and-goal fade pass to Luke Lachey was badly overthrown and never gave his receiver a chance. He threw a wounded-duck interception that was wiped out by a roughing-the-passer call, but replays showed there was no contact before McNamara released the ugly-looking ball.

The play before McNamara’s fateful pick-six looked like a rookie quarterback. He rolled right and had plenty of room to run but decided to run backwards and flip a 4-yard gain to Lachey. That was a great example of making nothing out of something.

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

McNamara’s final stat line for the day: 7-for-13, 73 yards and one interception. McNamara has accounted 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 at Iowa, but if it is, the Michigan transfer’s acquisition will be remembered as a disappointment.

McNamara’s stats in 13 games over two seasons at Iowa: 150-for-262 (57.2%) for 1,522 yards (117.1 average) with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Ferentz pushed back on the idea that Sullivan was now Iowa’s “permanent” starter, so it’s very premature to say we’ve seen the last of McNamara as a Hawkeye. Still, it’d be a shock if Sullivan isn’t the starter against Wisconsin.

“I didn’t see it as a demotion as much as (that) Brendan has been doing a good job (and) we want to learn more about him,” Ferentz said. “We feel like we’ve grown with both of them. Keep our fingers crossed.”

The defense returns to have its day

As mentioned, there was some frustration simmering from last week’s performance at Michigan State. And perhaps no play epitomized the defense’s joy Saturday like the tipped-pass interception that was collected by all-American linebacker Jay Higgins.

His buddy, Nick Jackson, batted a Jack Lausch pass on third down, and Higgins inexplicably came up with the football out of a crowded heap of players. The pinball interception was reminiscent of the late Tyler Sash’s improbable interception of an Indiana pass in 2009, in that it required a replay to see exactly what happened.

Because they made the play together, Higgins and Jackson made the executive decision to conduct their postgame interviews together.

So, Jay, what did you see on that play?

“He got to the quarterback, and I was going to get 0.5 of the sack,” Higgins mused of Jackson. “I was trying to take 0.5 away from him.”

But how on earth did Jay catch that ball, Nick?

“He’s Jay Higgins, are you serious? How is he not going to catch it?” Jackson said. “Any time you need a play, you go to Jay Higgins. It’s cool when you have a play like that with your roommate, your best friend. … To have that moment with one of your best friends, it’s awesome.”

To that, Higgins jumped in: “That’s going to make me cry, guys.”

This Higgins turnover set up seven Iowa points, with Johnson immediately rewarding the turnover with a 25-yard touchdown run.

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

This certainly qualified as a bounce-back performance that the defense sorely needed, especially after defensive end Deontae Craig referenced the lack of effort displayed vs. Michigan State. Iowa even forced Northwestern to punt eight times, which led to Wetjen’s big day in the punt-return game (four returns, 111 yards).

“Coach (Phil) Parker preached effort and toughness this week,” free safety Quinn Schulte said. “That’s what we were trying to do, get 11 hats to the ball.”

The first-half MVP for Iowa was punter Rhys Dakin

And there’s zero debate about that. The punter from Down Under was magnificent, rewarding Kirk Ferentz’s decisions to punt from near midfield four times. Dakin pinned Northwestern at its own 6-yard line three straight times, then dropped one at the 5 as if to show off on the fourth boot with 1:46 left in the first half.

“Pretty impressive, especially for a young guy,” Ferentz said. “That was good.”

Dakin, a true freshman who has the unenviable task of succeeding Ray Guy Award winner/cult hero Tory Taylor, has really turned a corner in his game since Big Ten Conference play began. He was the national special teams player of the week at Minnesota, and based on Saturday’s first half he would be deserving again.

Though the yardage stats won’t tell the full story (41.8-yard average in the first half), Dakin’s ability to corner a challenged Northwestern offense was huge. If any one of those kicks had resulted in a touchback, the game changes.

The first punt actually led to a Schulte interception that set Iowa up at Northwestern’s 26 with a 3-0 lead. But McNamara’s pick-six unraveled that success. Off Dakin’s next punt, Iowa defensive end Max Llewellyn wrestled Northwestern quarterback Lausch in the end zone for a safety. Llewellyn’s sack just barely got the two-pointer and marked the Iowa defense’s fourth consecutive year with a safety – 2021 at Nebraska, 2022 vs. South Dakota State (twice), 2023 at Wisconsin and vs. Illinois, previously.

And on Dakin’s final first-half punt, Iowa still had three timeouts to burn. Northwestern helped out by calling three straight runs, probably impacted by giving up a late-first half sack-fumble last week vs. Wisconsin. So, Iowa got the ball back in prime field position, its own 48, down 7-5.

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

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

Some injury concerns cropping up

Iowa played much of the second half without tight end Luke Lachey, which would be a major loss going forward if he can’t play against Wisconsin. Iowa is already without No. 2 tight end Addison Ostrenga, who will be out for a while, Ferentz said. Ostrenga still had his right arm wrapped close to his body Saturday, indicating a potential collarbone or shoulder injury.

Ferentz said Lachey could have returned in an emergency.

“I think he’ll be OK,” Ferentz said. “Fingers crossed.”

More concerning was that wide receiver Reece Vander Zee, who has started every game for the Hawkeyes as a true freshman, tried to go but it was too painful, Ferentz said. His right foot was in a boot during the game.

Iowa also was without linebacker Kyler Fisher (illness) and defensive back John Nestor (hamstring), who were surprise additions to the injury report. The starting cornerback opposite Jermari Harris on Saturday was Deshaun Lee, who didn’t play last week at Michigan State. True freshman Jaylen Watson played cornerback in Iowa’s dime package, indicating he might be the next man in at corner.

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