Iowa QB McNamara (ACL) out rest of season

• Blake Baumgartner, ESPN Staff WriterOct 3, 2023, 03:17 PM ET

Iowa senior quarterback Cade McNamara will miss the rest of the 2023 season with an ACL tear in his left knee, coach Kirk Ferentz revealed Tuesday.

“It is bad,” Ferentz said. “Not positive. I was suspicious of that the other night. He’s got an ACL injury, so that’s going to have to be repaired. He’ll be out for the season, stick with the group, be encouraging and continue to belong of our team.”

McNamara, who had actually been dealing with a quad injury given that fall camp, left Saturday’s 26-16 triumph over Michigan State early in the very first quarter.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated He completed 3

of 5 passes

for 46 backyards before leaving. He could not put any weight on his leg, needed to be helped off the field and was eventually replaced by sophomore Deacon Hill.In relief of McNamara, Hill, who transferred from Wisconsin after last season, had 11-of-27 passing for 115 yards with a goal and an interception versus the Spartans.”Deacon stepped in and did a genuine good task,”Ferentz said.” Not a big surprise.

We have actually seen excellent enhancement with him the last 8 weeks. But Cade’s missed out on a great deal of practice time, so that’s helped [Hill] progress a bit.”McNamara, who led Michigan to the Big 10 title and the College Football Playoff in 2021, tossing for

2,576 yards and 15 touchdowns, entered into the program in the middle of high expectations after the Hawkeyes’ offense had a hard time for much of the 2022 season.In four-plus games this season, he had tossed for 505 lawns with 4 goals and 3 interceptions.”It’s just a truly difficult break– thinking about

the last two years for him, “Ferentz stated. “He’s had more of his share of barriers and challenges from a health perspective. Your heart goes out to men when they’re combating tough to head out and have an opportunity to complete and don’t have that chance due to health difficulties. But the bright side is he needs to be fine once the healing is over. A hard deal for him.”Ferentz included that he thinks McNamara’s “objective”is to return to Iowa for his last year of eligibility in 2024 and said he hopes McNamara will be one hundred percent healthy

by June after having surgery next week.Iowa’s offense ranks second-to-last in the FBS in balancing 240.8 yards per game, and its 133.8 passing backyards per game sits 3rd worst in the country.The Hawkeyes(4-1, 1-1 Big Ten West)host Purdue( 2-3, 1-1 Huge Ten West)on Saturday.