Kirk Ferentz evaluates Brendan Sullivan's performance in Music City Bowl

The Music City Bowl was a tale of two halves for the Iowa Hawkeyes on offense. That effort, which head coach Kirk Ferentz entrusted to quarterback Brendan Sullivan, ended up coming up just short in the end for the Hawkeyes.

After the game, Ferentz broke down what he saw from Sullivan’s performance, highlighting how well the first half went for him and the offense when things were working well.

“Said it right there in a nutshell,” Kirk Ferentz said. “I thought he played really well in the first half and we had a rhythm. He had a rhythm.”

Iowa finished with 24 points in the loss to Missouri. That comes in a season where the Hawkeyes averaged 27.7 points per game. However, 21 of those points came during the first half of the game with the offense struggling to replicate that success in the second half.

Kirk Ferentz added that because Brendan Sullivan is such a competitive player that at times it can be difficult to use his energy to your advantage. That creates that kind of hot and cold-effect.

“I don’t mean this in a critical way. One of Brendan’s strengths is his competitiveness. He really cares. Not suggesting other quarterbacks don’t or our other ones that we’ve had don’t,” Ferentz said. “But that’s — he’s really wound tight. So part of the challenge for you him playing — this is not just quarterbacks, but anybody. You know, you have to be able to bottle that enthusiasm and the energy sometimes and make it work for you and not against you. I think when he gets running hot a little bit sometimes, it kind of gets out of whack there a bit.”

Brendan Sullivan finished the game by completing 14 of 18 passes for 131 yards a touchdown and an interception. With that, he finished the season completing 71.7 percent of his passes for 475 yards and three touchdowns to go with three interceptions. It was his junior season and his first season with Iowa.

“Saw some improvements certainly, some progress,” Ferentz said. “You know, he went out there and just played as hard as he possibly could. He’ll keep improving. We’re optimistic about that, and he’s a tremendous young person.”

Next season, Iowa is currently set to return Brendan Sullivan. Meanwhile, Hank Brown is transferring into the program from Auburn. Three quarterbacks, James Resar, Marco Lainez, and Cade McNamara are all in the portal to leave the program. Jimmy Sullivan is also coming into the program in the Class of 2025, so it will be a new-look quarterback room next season for Iowa.