THE Iowa Hawkeyes were able to put together a 29-13 victory over the Maryland Terrapins on Saturday afternoon despite entering the game with major distractions.

The main distraction was Iowa’s quarterback situation, as the Hawkeyes were forced to roll with Jackson Stratton thanks to Cade McNamara and Brendan Sullivan both being sidelined.

McNamara’s status was particularly murky, as the initial consensus was that he would return to his starting job once it was revealed that Sullivan would be out for the season with an ankle injury.

However, confusion over McNamara’s availability made things, as head coach Kirk Ferentz would say, “troublesome”, and he was ultimately not medically cleared to play due to a concussion that he suffered. he suffered on October 26.

Regardless, Iowa emerged victorious despite Stratton going 10 of 14 for 76 yards. Kaleb Johnson won the day, as usual, rushing for 164 yards and a touchdown on 35 carries. Kamari Moulton also rushed for 114 yards, including 68 for a touchdown.

But even with the game running smoothly (for the most part), you just felt like the Hawkeyes were lacking.

Maryland isn’t a good football team, so beating the Terrapins isn’t really a good barometer for how well Iowa played.

Because I’ll be honest: If the Hawkeyes faced even a decent ballclub on Saturday, they very well could have lost with all the opportunities they missed.

Iowa had to settle for five field goals and Moulton fumbled in the red zone early in the first quarter. This should have been a much wider margin of victory than 16 points.

Yes, the defense held serve, but, again, this is Maryland we’re talking about here.

The 2024 season has been a series of inconsistencies for the Hawkeyes. They entered the season full of promise, but it didn’t pan out the way they hoped.

It’s reached a point where it almost feels like Iowa needs to put an end to this. The Hawkeyes don’t have a quarterback. They have no weapons in the passing game. Their defense isn’t as stingy as last season.

Iowa is 7-4, but it hasn’t been able to put together a consistently strong stretch of football throughout the year. Fans are frustrated and just playing a mundane bowl game won’t satisfy them.

Things need to change in Iowa City because what the Hawkeyes are doing right now isn’t working. The offense needs an overhaul. No more getting around the problem under center and with wide receivers.

The problem is, it’s not the NFL. You can’t just sign a bunch of free agents, make trades, and sign players overnight. This is going to involve a drastic change in recruiting, and Iowa will have to somehow recruit some big names through the transfer portal.

I don’t want it to rain on the parade. The Hawkeyes won, and that’s great. Be proud of the children who show courage in the face of all adversity.

But man, it sure has been a pedestrian season.

Iowa closes things out against Nebraska next week.