MILLER: A deep analysis of Iowa's offense with Brendan Sullivan taking over at QB

One week really can make a huge difference.  

It’s not that Iowa bounced back after a very disappointing loss to string together a very good game; they have done that plenty of times during the Kirk Ferentz era and it’s one of the program’s calling cards.

I had a friend who doesn’t follow Iowa, who asked me if he should take Northwestsern +14 since Iowa looked so rough against the Spartans.  

“Not if you like money,” I said. 

Now, I didn’t tell him to lay the wood on Iowa -14, either, because of how inconsistent the offense has been this season.  But I was not of a mind to wager against the Hawkeyes last week, and they put forth an exciting offensive output in the second half after making a switch at quarterback.

Oh yeah, about that change at quarterback…in this space last week, I wrote the following:

Ferentz would also say ‘We have seen enough good things out of Cade to feel like he gives us our best chance out there.” As I have written before, I can play this game. I can give Kirk the benefit of the doubt and take him at his word that McNamara is the best quarterback on the roster. As such, that means that Iowa is just really, really bad at identifying and developing quarterback talent and has been for a long, long time. Ultimately, thisis where the program is.  They might not have a quarterback that would start for any other team in the league.  And before you say "Northwestern," remember that their coaches encouraged Brendan Sullivan to enter the transfer portal. It’s probably the reason why Iowa is offering JUCO QB’s as recently as last week.  

There is another side to this, now that we have seen Brendan Sullivan in extended action and his performance was competent to good; Ferentz has been stubborn during his coaching career.

That hardly makes him unique, as most coaches have a stubborn streak.

I can see a reality where Sullivan didn’t do much by way of throwing the ball to separate himself from McNamara in practice.  I can see a reality where McNamara actually threw the ball better in practice, or perhaps had a higher degree of ball security in practice.  

Ferentz’s teams typically field great defenses and special teams, and he is cut from the NFL cloth, where punting is not a four-letter word (to use a Ferentz quote from years gone by) and if Sullivan wasn’t as secure with the ball as McNamara was, McNamara would be the default starter.

Ferentz also said they had some packages in the game plan this week for Sullivan, but McNamara was injured during the game and didn’t have his helmet with him in the second half, which is often a telltale sign that the player is not available.  

Whether they really did plan to play Sullivan for extended drives or McNamara’s injury forced Ferentz to play Sullivan in the second half, Iowa’s offense scored 28 points in the third quarter, its highest-scoring quarter in a Big Ten game since 2017.  

As I tweeted during the game on Saturday, Sullivan’s throwing motion has a lot of shot put to it, and I don’t know that he is going to take the top off of the opposing defense any time soon, but neither was McNamara, based on what we had seen thus far this season.   

However…and this is a big however, Sullivan is likely going to allow this offense, and everything about it, to have a puncher's chance the rest of the way, and that’s because what he is capable of doing while running the ball himself.

We all saw him extend a few drives with his legs. Still, it’s more than just him…it’s what his running threat means to everything else, something I have been screaming about for the last several years, and why I have been vocal about Iowa not having quarterbacks who are not dual threats, or at least a threat to do something with their feet.

I have been critical of McNamara living in the zero- to five-yard passes area, but I think this is where Sullivan can do some damage. Why am I changing my tune on this relative to Sullivan, when it was a criticism of McNamara? 

If you have a quarterback who can run the ball, that gives the defense one more thing to think about, and it’s a significant thing.  

Opposing defenses have not had to genuinely account for an Iowa quarterback’s legs since CJ Beathard was under center.  While I am not saying that opposing teams will have to commit a player to spy on Sullivan, they have to be aware of him.  

Another thing Sullivan can offer is a legitimate decision for the opposing defense when Iowa uses zone-read plays. I remember chuckling when Iowa ran some of these with Ricky Stanzi, and most everyone who came after him.  For these plays to yield maximum benefits, the quarterback has to be a legit run threat.  Otherwise, there is no need to key on the quarterback during the zone read's handoff/fake handoff portion; just run straight for the running back.

With Sullivan, defenses cannot do that because he can keep the ball and make them pay.  

Another staple of Iowa’s offense is the bootleg game.  If you have a quarterback who can run once he gets out on the edge of the boot action, that gives you another option.  We saw that this past weekend when Sullivan threw to the short route option, and then he sprinted out ahead of the pass catcher and threw a lead block 30 yards down the field.  

I am not saying that will be a regular thing, but instead of the short, middle and deep tier routes being the only options on that play, you now have a quarterback who can option the short route defender due to the threat of Sullivan’s legs.  

All of these things can ‘decompress’ the area of the field you want to attack, which is from the line of scrimmage +10 yards, an area that has been more compacted than a two-year-old’s bowels after they have eaten a bag of cheese curds for the Hawkeye offense for the past seven years.

The wrinkle of Sullivan’s legs also forces the opposing defenders (namely the linebackers) to THINK instead of just react.  They have to think more because now the Iowa offense presents more threats.  When you have to think more, you are slower.  This is one of the reasons Iowa’s defense has been so spectacular for so long; each player knows their assignment, gap responsibility, and spatial responsibilities.  Therefore, they can react without having to analyze the action on the other side of the ball.

Iowa opponents have been teeing off against Iowa’s bread-and-butter offense since 2016. When they see the Iowa offensive linemen move laterally in concert, they know (more often than not) that it’s an outside zone play. Then the linebackers knife in at a 45-degree angle, shutting down the cutback lanes and causing Iowa to struggle.  

A quarterback who can run the ball and is seen as a legitimate threat to run the ball changes the calculus for playing against Iowa.  

It would be great to have a quarterback who can run the ball and stretch the defense with accurate mid- to long-range passes, but for right now, I am happy with the run threat part.

Do you know who else will be happy with this?  Tim Lester.  His preferential offensive design is to have a quarterback who can do some damage with his legs.  This will allow him to lean on some tried and tested plays that Cade McNamara simply could not pull off.  I’m not talking about ‘exotics’ here.

Please don’t read this as me saying Iowa is now a powerhouse on offense; they had a great second half against Northwestern, but they also looked competent against Washington a few weeks back.

I AM saying that I think Sullivan’s legs, and what that means to opposing defenses, give Iowa a chance to be consistently competent on offense…and that’s typically enough for Iowa to win most of the games it plays…and, perhaps, comfortably.