Kirk Ferentz continues to see enough in Cade McNamara to continue starting him

There was a lot of excitement when quarterback Cade McNamara transferred from Michigan to Iowa, especially given the type of performance he had with the Wolverines. Iowa fans were hoping to have a guy who could finally breathe life back into the Hawkeyes' offense. However, since taking the field in an Iowa offense, McNamara has seemed a far cry from his first year at Michigan.

Fans called for head coach Kirk Ferentz to bench McNamara all season, but the longtime Iowa coach refused to do so and continues to support his quarterback. However, fans are confused about his latest reason for keeping McNamara behind center.

“It's easier to talk about getting someone involved in a game than it is to just do it, especially with (quarterback),” Ferentz said in his Tuesday press conference. “We’ve seen enough good things from Cade to feel like he’s giving us our best chance out there.”

While Ferentz is right, it seems much easier for us fans to simply bench a player than it is for the coaching staff. The fact that he says he has seen enough of McNamara to continue using him is puzzling.

McNamara continued to have lackluster performance this season, with only four games in which he threw for over 100 yards and only one game in which he threw for over 200 yards. He has just six passing touchdowns thrown in just three games this season, has eight interceptions and has thrown at least one in six of the Hawkeye's eight games.

The question now is: Does Brendan Sullivan look that bad in practice or is Ferentz just too stubborn to make the move?

Obviously, Ferentz isn't going to disparage McNamara in front of the media, and he has admitted that he needs to play better with the way he's been playing up to this point in the season. How can you not just make a change to see what? could happen? Ferentz will never know how Sullivan plays in a game until he allows him more than a few goal-line plays in the game.

Ferentz will continue to make himself an enemy of Iowa fans if he isn't willing to make a change soon. At this point, the Hawkeyes are just playing for a bowl game, and it's time to prepare for the future that won't involve McNamara. Throw Sullivan in there and see what can happen.