Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Analyzing Iowa's bowl situation plus the Hawks defense takes home quite a few honors

Episode Date: December 17, 2020

We spend the first part of the show analyzing Iowa's possible bowl options and what needs to happen for each of those scenarios to unfold before diving into the Big Ten Defensive awards that were announced yesterday. We provide a preview/prediction on how Iowa will clean house in the special teams awards before doing a review of the national awards Iowa Hawkeyes are up for.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back Hawkeye Nation to a Thursday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host Andrew Wade Excited to be back for another show today, and we have some great stuff to cover for you. If you liked my rant yesterday, there's going to be a little bit, one today probably, we're going to talk a little bit about

the bowl games that Iowa could go to, and a little bit about is there any chance at all that Iowa can make a New Year's Six Bowl. I know I talked a bit about this yesterday, but I want to dive a little bit deeper into that. We're also going to talk about the defensive awards because Iowa cleaned house. They did a fantastic job in the defensive awards section. We're going to give a little bit of a preview for the special teams awards and then go into the annual, the yearly awards, the national awards, I should say.

That's probably a better way of saying it because Iowa does have a few people that are up for nomination for that. So that's all on today's show. So it should be a pretty darn good show. So let's get into it. Let's start with the Iowa bowl game talk. And right now, really, what we're looking at is the Citrus Bowl versus the Outback Bowl. Now there is a tiny, tiny chance that Iowa could make a New Year's

six bowl, but let me walk you through the improbability of that happening. All right. Very improbable at this point. I mean, almost, I would say 0.1% because clearly the college ball playoff committee has no actual rhyme or reason for how in the hell they actually do things. playoff committee has no actual rhyme or reason for how in the hell they actually do things. It's kind of embarrassing when you look at the way they actually set up the college ball playoffs. And when I say that, just look at this, look at how backwards it is. Actually, I'm okay with Bama. I'm okay with Notre Dame and Clemson. One, two, three. I'm okay with Ohio state. If you're, if you're looking at the college ball playoff teams and you're saying the best teams, right?

Taking out games, the best teams, Ohio State deserves to be there. They are one of the best teams. I get that. Now, but clearly, you're not only looking at that. You care about the losses and the wins as well. So if you care about losses, then why is Cincinnati dropping despite not playing a single game? All right. Why is Florida dropping one spot after losing to LSU? One spot. LSU is freaking terrible. They lost. They dropped one spot after losing to LSU. I'm sorry, but Texas A&M, they have one loss. That's great. But they have not looked that great throughout the season. Iowa State,

I have nothing against Iowa. Iowa State's had a great season. Iowa State, I have nothing against Iowa State. Iowa State's had a great season. Good for them. I'm happy for them. I might piss off some people, whatever. Good for Iowa State. I think they need to probably shut up. They probably don't deserve to be sixth.

They lost to a Sunbelt team, a good Sunbelt team, but a Sunbelt team. They also lost to an unranked Oklahoma State team that isn't that great either. They barely beat a bad Baylor team. They destroyed a Kansas State team with a ton of people out due to COVID. Oklahoma is their good win. Oklahoma is 10th. And they have two losses as well. Loss to K-State and loss to Iowa State.

They also could have lost to Texas as well. And now that gets into another argument. Oklahoma is so high because the committee believes they have improved. It's kind of what I'm gathering, right? The committee believes they have improved. and Spencer Rattler has improved. All right, well, can that argument not be applied to Iowa? Iowa's 6-2. They've lost their two games by a combined five points,

and they have a Spencer frickin' Petras. Nothing against Spencer, but he ain't Spencer Rattler, I can tell you that much. He's not nearly on Spencer Rattler's planet at this point. And he has been a big reason why Iowa didn't win those two games. The fumbles hurt us against Purdue. Obviously Spencer and his interceptions hurt us against, you know, Northwestern.

So I just, I don't understand kind of what the logic is here. Indiana moved up a spot a week ago after not playing. They have one loss. Their only loss is against Ohio State. If you're judging losses and wins, then why isn't Indiana higher? I don't want Indiana to be higher, but why aren't they higher? I think Coastal Carolina is fairly ranked. USC, I feel like they just feel like someone from the Pac-12 needs to be up there. I agree with Northwestern. And North Carolina having three losses, including a loss to a terrible Virginia team, should not be there. I'm sorry Northwestern. And North Carolina having three losses, including a loss to a terrible Virginia team,

should not be there. I'm sorry, beating Miami was not impressive. Miami's not a good team. They barely beat NC State. They barely beat Virginia. They barely beat Virginia Tech. They got pummeled by Clemson. What the hell has Miami done this year? So, a three-loss North Carolina team is up here above Iowa. I think it's just ridiculous. And the point

of this holds my rant again. And I'm still obviously I'm just fired up about it. I'm a little upset. But Iowa has arguably the best defense in the nation. The only Power 5 defense not allowed a team to score more than 24 points the entire season. They've won every game except for Nebraska by double digits. They lost to 14th ranked Northwestern. What argument are you making?

I mean, you liked Wisconsin early season. They beat Wisconsin. Why is that considered a good win? Honestly, I think the issue is the big 10 looks weak because there's a lot of parody across the big 10. It's been an interesting season, but any team can be almost any team,

any given Saturday, which I think is actually something we haven't seen with the big 10 as much. This isn't a, this isn't your, you know, a nominal year. Typically when you get into big 10 play, these teams have three wins in non-conference

schedules. So these games, you know, that we're seeing a 7-5 Big Ten team or an 8-4 Big Ten team. Now we're just seeing 3-2 and 4-2 and 2-3, that kind of stuff. So it's tough to really get a gauge, but I don't think the Big Ten's honestly that bad this year. So it's frustrating. But the point is, for Iowa to get into a New Year's Six Bowl, it would be darn near impossible. Here's why. They would essentially need Oklahoma to get

smoked by Iowa State. And yeah, I say that because I feel like if Oklahoma beats Iowa State, Iowa State ain't dropping from six past 16. So you need Iowa State to beat Oklahoma pretty bad. You need Cincinnati to lose. Number nine, Cincinnati needed them to lose to Tulsa. That's a huge one. And that's an opportunity there. Georgia is playing Vanderbilt this weekend. There's no chance in hell that Vanderbilt wins, but that would be a good, that would be a good thing for Iowa as well. Indiana is not going anywhere. Coastal Carolina, they have a game against University of Louisiana Lafayette. If Iowa State beats Oklahoma and Coastal loses to Lafayette, I would, I don't understand how the committee could not put Louisiana Lafayette. If Iowa State beats Oklahoma and Coastal loses to Lafayette, I don't understand how the committee could not put Louisiana Lafayette above Iowa, but I think that the

committee is completely biased and they wouldn't. So that would be a good opportunity for Iowa as well. USC losing to Oregon. They play Oregon this week. That would be big. And Northwestern getting smoked by Ohio State would also be a big time thing for Iowa. Again, even that, if all those things happen, Iowa's just barely getting into the 11th, 10th spot, maybe. So basically what we're looking at is the Citrus Bowl and the Outback Bowl, and that also boils down to how does the committee favor Indiana and Northwestern? How does the committee favor Northwestern after losing most likely to Ohio State? If Northwestern drops behind Iowa,

then we're definitely looking at the Citrus versus the Outback Bowl. It depends on what they do with Indiana now. Does Indiana make a college New Year's Six Bowl? If they do, Iowa's in that Citrus Bowl. But if Indiana doesn't, then Indiana probably has that top spot to go to that Citrus Bowl. And we're looking at another year of the Outback Bowl. And the Outback Bowl is nothing to be upset about.

It's a good bowl. It's what Iowa's typically gone to. I think that's why it's frustrating. We would love to see Iowa at the Citrus Bowl. So if the committee continues to value Indiana the way they kind of have, and despite the fact that Indiana isn't playing a game, continue to value them, hopefully a few teams lose in front of them, that could help Indiana.

That also helps Iowa potentially get to the Citrus Bowl. And both those games have tie-ins to play the SEC. So if we're getting the Citrus Bowl, we're likely getting a top 25 ranked Missouri. Not a very good Missouri. They've come on strong this last couple weeks. They've gotten better. But if they get the Outback Bowl, they're getting Auburn. So either way, it's an opportunity for Iowa to take down an SEC team and in a matchup that Iowa should undoubtedly be favorited. I think the way Iowa's played football the last six weeks has been one of the most impressive displays of college football outside of a Bama or maybe a Notre Dame. I don't know. I mean, I just I feel like what I was done has just been truly, truly impressive.

And I think the college football playoff committee in a normal year, Iowa would honestly be favored by this committee. The idea of the committee was to value things outside of just your wins and losses. It was to say, are you a good program? Look at other things that statistics couldn't do. And I think what we're finding is the committee's biased. There are four teams in the sec in the top 10. The sec is a broken conference too. They're a great conference, The committee's biased. There are four teams in the SEC in the top 10.

The SEC is a broken conference too. They're a great conference, but they're not four teams in the top 10 good. I think that's ridiculous. The college ball playoff committee clearly has some bias in there. Honestly, what I would like to see, let's do away with that. Honestly, the BCS wasn't that bad. Let's do a situation where we have six teams in the college ball playoff. We have the five conference winners and we have the group of five, the top ranked group of five team. And I think we should also put some metrics in there as well. Let's use, you know, maybe the college ball playoff committee counts for 50% and the BCS counts for 50% or whatever

that, you know, that formula was just because there, there does seem to be a lot of human error and bias, which can happen. I understand that. But in a normal year, I feel like that actually benefits Iowa. For some reason, it hasn't this year. Iowa got off to a slow start. They've came on strong. That should benefit them. It benefited Oklahoma, but not this year. Either way, we're looking at a Citrus Bowl versus an Outback Bowl, and it depends on where Indiana stands, in my personal opinion. So we're going to be covering all that as this weekend plays out. Before we get into segment number two, I do want to quickly remind you, we had a fantastic recruiting class.

Every single commit signed with Iowa, which is fantastic. We're going to go more in-depth on that probably next week, not this week. There's a lot of stuff kind of happening this week. Coming up, though, on segment number two, we're going to hop into the defensive awards and what we expect for special teams awards. Before we get into that, though, if you're anything like me, you're going to hop into the defensive awards and what we expect for special teams awards. Before we get into that though, if you're anything like me, you're constantly on the go. You're moving around, you're doing stuff, you're always busy. Sometimes you just need to take a second to chill. Take a second and relax. And when I need to chill, there's no better way to chill than

sitting on my couch, putting on the TV, watching an Iowa game, and grabbing myself the only beer out there that's actually made to chill. And that is an ice cold Coors Light. Coors Light is cold lagered, cold filtered, and cold packaged. It's literally made to chill. And it's as crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies. Believe me, I'm out here in Colorado. I know what crisp and refreshing is like. And Coors Light is it. There's nothing better than cracking open that ice cold, crisp, and refreshing Coors Light when you had a long day and just need to take a moment to unwind. Coors Light is the one, though, that I choose and I need to unwind, so you should probably do it too.

So when you want to hit reset, reach for the beer that's made to chill. Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door at get.coorslight.com. That's right, folks. Have it delivered straight to your door at get.coorslight.com. And as always, celebrate responsibly out there. This message is brought to you by Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado. And just a reminder, we do have shows every single day of the week. We have a show dropping tomorrow.

We're going to be breaking down the Iowa versus Gonzaga game. Lots of stuff to cover there. A huge non-conference battle for Iowa. Fran McCaffrey talked to the media. We're going to be giving some thoughts on his quotes as well. So be tuned into that on tomorrow's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Today, though, on segment number two, we're going to get into the defense awards because the defensive awards, the yearly defensive awards in the Big Ten because Iowa cleaned

house. I absolutely love saying that. Iowa did a fantastic job of taking care of business in the big 10 this year. And it all started with their defensive line, which is arguably a spot where we thought was going to be kind of an issue. Um, we lose a Japanese, we lose a Riley reef, you know, we lose a Cedric Lattimore. Those are guys that were big time. You know, they did a great job of solidifying the defensive line. The only guy we were returning as a starter was Chauncey Golston. And yet, this defensive line actually got better.

It got better. And let me tell you about this defense because, man, it has been fun to watch them. And that defensive line has come up huge, absolutely huge when it mattered the most. So let me tell you about who won some of these fantastic awards. First and foremost, shout out to the main man, Davian Nixon. He got player of the year, defensive player of the year going to Davian Nixon. And we kind of called it, we talked about it yesterday. We said there is a good chance he could be defensive player of the year. He has the highlight plays. He has the statistics. He has had an absolutely phenomenal year.

The dude has just been balling out. And what we didn't expect, though, is Chauncey Golston got first team as well. Chauncey Golston next to him getting first team honors, which was huge. What I really didn't expect, though, was Zach Van Valkenburg. Taking home second team honors for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Transfer student. What a story that is playing at a D2 school transfers to Iowa and then comes on and gets second team all big 10

that's huge I thought Nick Neiman could have slid into that second team spot he doesn't but he does slide into the third team spot for the coaches he gets third team all big 10 Jack Kerner also got third team all big 10 by the coaches love seeing that on the media side Jack Kerner got a little bit more love Jack Kerner you know again I think he was he was first in the big 10 in interceptions he got second team all big 10 along with again Zach Van Valkenburg Chauncey Golsan Davey Nissen also got first team all big 10 and no Iowa guys on the third team all big 10 media team so Nick Neiman taking home third team, all Big Ten media team. So Nick Neiman taking home third team honors, fantastic stuff.

Jack Kerner, second and third team honors. Jack and Valkenburg, second team honors on both sides. Honorable mentions from the group. Let me quickly pull up Dane Belton, Riley Moss on the coaches side. And on the media side, we have Nick Neiman, Seth Benson, Riley Moss, Matt Hankins, Dane Belton. I don't disagree with that. I said there's a chance that we have three defensive backs either on third team or on the honorable mention squad. And I don't disagree with any of those awards.

I think that's pretty fair. Unlike what we saw with Tyler Linderbaum yesterday, which was complete garbage that he was not first team coaches all Big Ten. I think that was just, that's just, that's bull crap. But fantastic stuff. Love seeing it. And tomorrow, or today actually as you're listening to this we're going to be getting the special teams awards for the Big Ten. And I believe there's an opportunity for Iowa to just

rake it in. Let me tell you a little bit about it. There's a Return Man award. We got Punter. We got Kicker. And I think Iowa will get all Big Ten honors in all three of those spots. Let's start with return man. The only real competitor I see is Giles Jackson from Michigan.

He's likely getting that number one spot. He has a fantastic return average as a kick return or not is, you know, doesn't do the dirty work in the pump return unit has one touchdown return. Charlie Jones has the highest pump return average and the only pump return touchdown in the conference. I really think it's between those two. And it comes down to what does the media and the coaches, what do they think about the fumble that happened against Wisconsin? That's a pretty big play, and it happened so recently.

I think that could have some bias in there, possibly moving Charlie Jones to second team. But again, for a non-scholarship player, a walk-on, that's impressive nonetheless. And I expect big things from him going forward. Amir Smith-Marset will not be on the, I would be shocked. That would be a legacy award if Amir Smith-Marset got on it this year. Just not, didn't really, wasn't able to break it from a kick return perspective. I just, I can't see it, but there also wasn't a lot of great kick returners in the Big Ten. So maybe, maybe slides in there to an honorable mention spot. From a kicker perspective, Keith Duncan last year, All-American, the GOAT, should have been the Lou Groza award winner. This year, struggled a little bit more, but when you look at the stats, he didn't actually struggle

that much. He only missed four field goals, which is, you know, a difference from last year. He had the fourth highest field goal percentage in the Big Ten. However, three of those four misses came from 50 yards or greater, and that's where you can differentiate some of those kickers because he attempted the most kicks from 50 yards in the Big Ten. The guy that I think Keith Duncan is competing with is Connor Culp. But here's why Keith can beat him. Culp went 5 of 7 from 40 to 49 yards. Keith went 5 of 5.

And he led the league in extra points. He led the league in field goals made. And again, there's always some bias towards some of the older guys. So I think there's an opportunity here where Keith could take home first team all Big Ten. But I think Connor Culp is his competitor in that situation if Keith were to get second. And then finally, punter, Torrey Taylor should win. I think there's a case that could be made for Michigan's Brad Robbins, who averaged 45.3 yards on 23 punts.

He netted 43. Torrey Taylor averaged 44.3 yards on 23 punting, netted 43. Torrey Taylor averaged 44.1 and netted 42.8 with, I think, one of the big hurting factors in that was that punt into the end zone against Wisconsin, which was unfortunate there. He was third in the conference in punt average, second in net punting. So I do believe that Torrey Taylor could win this, especially when you factor in the other things that are not statistically based. The fact that he made punt returners struggle. Look at any of those teams the first couple games. They struggled to catch his balls. He had caused multiple fumbles by the way he punted it and by Terry Roberts getting down there. So I personally

think that Torrey Taylor can win this simply by the non-statistical stuff that you're not going to typically see. It's not going to show up in the box score that he caused a fumble, but that was partially because of him. And also the other thing is out of the two punters ahead of him in punt average and punt yards total, or sorry, average yard per punt, he has almost more, he almost has more punt punts than both those guys combined. So he's also done it at a higher clip, been that successful. So I think Torrey Taylor is going to win the punter, the first team all big punter, you know, nominee or nomination award, excuse me, whatever you want to call it for Iowa this year.

That does it though for my special teams predictions. Coming up on segment number three, we're going to be breaking down the annual awards, the national awards, I should actually say, because Iowa's got quite a bit of skin in that game as well. Stay tuned for that coming up on segment number three of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Betting on your team like the Iowa Hawkeyes doesn't have to be a guessing game.

If you listen to the new Locked On Bets podcast hosted by your boy Q and handicapping expert Lee Sterling, get daily picks and quick hitting advice to make the smartest possible wagers. Subscribe to the Locked On Bets podcast brought to you by betonline.ag, wherever you get your podcasts. And we have a pretty cool partnership coming up with them.

So make sure to tune into that. We're going to be talking a lot about that on future episodes. I actually have a couple bets in based on what Lee told me. So I'll let you know how I do. He went 3-0 yesterday. So let's see how he does today. Or I guess I say he went 3-0 on Tuesday. Let's see how he does on Wednesday. I'll make sure to tune you into that as well. But let's get into those national awards because Iowa's up for quite a few of them. Davian Nixon up for top defensive player in college football, the Bronco

Nagurski Award. Chauncey Golston, he's up as well for the Law Impact Trophy Award, won a 24 semi-finalist. Keith Duncan up for the Burlesworth. The offensive line is up for the Joe Moore Award. Phil Parker up for the Ryan Broyles Award. Excuse me, I messed that up. But he's up for the top defensive coordinator in the nation. And I should say the 2020 Broyles Awardils were not Ryan I got that confused obviously with

the fact that Ryan broils used to be a player for Iowa it's actually the Frank broils that's where the the name comes from also we have the uh let me go through my notes here Tori Taylor up for the Ray Guy award so I'm going to quickly go through some of these you know these chances of these guys winning and break down a few of them where I feel like Iowa has a really good chance. So I'll go through the easy ones first. Chauncey Golsan, what a 24 semifinalist. We've seen Josie Jewell win this, AJ Epineza got pretty far last year. January is when they cut it down even further. I do believe Chauncey Golsan is going to be cut with the next round of cuts. He's had a fantastic year. I just don't see it being his year to win

that award. Keith Duncan going for the best walk-on award. He's the only kicker on that list. I think it's going to be interesting to see how they value kickers versus some of these position players, like a James Morrissey at Pitt, a guy who started all four years at center. How much is this a legacy award versus how much is this a this year award? Is it about the story? I mean, if it's a story, Keith Duncan's got quite the story. Walking on, playing his freshman year, sitting on the bench for a couple years, and then should have won the Lou Groza award. How does that play into it?

So that'll be interesting to see. I think there's a chance, but probably not likely, simply because traditionally special teams players are not as valued as your position players. Offensive line finalists are announced in just a couple days, 12-21. And Iowa is competing against Bama, Buffalo, BYU, Coastal Carolina, Iowa State, Kentucky, Louisiana, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Texas A&M. To be honest, I don't know how they're evaluating this award. I do think Iowa is not going to win it, but I think you can make a case for them. And I'm not going to sit here and do it.

I want to focus on some of the awards where I feel like Iowa has a better chance. Going into the coordinator award, Phil Parker has some competition here. And again, it goes on to how they're going to evaluate this. Is it what you got out of your players? Because in Coastal Carolina, Chad Staggs is definitely the guy to win this. Is it who has had the most ridiculous performance? Not going to Alabama, Steve Sarkeesian. Because that offense is superb.

Florida's Brian Johnson with that offense as well. That offense would be the best offense in the nation if it wasn't for Alabama. And Indiana's Kane Womack. That team is, as much as I hate to admit it, has done a great job of swarming on the ball. And they were the reason why Indiana beat Wisconsin without Michael Pen Phoenix Jr. That defense has been rock solid all year. But Phil Parker, his defense speaks for itself. I mean, the fact that they have the nation's longest streak of allowing, you know, of teams holding teams under 25 points, that's huge. Iowa's defense has came up so clutch in so many places. Look at the game against Wisconsin.

There was an opportunity for Iowa to blow that, right? Wisconsin gets the ball on the five. They have an opportunity to put it in and make it a one score game. And Phil Parker's defense holds up. That is absurd. That is the toughest position that defense can possibly be in. And Phil Parker found a way to get it done with his defense. So I think Phil Parker should win that award. Honestly, these other guys, they've done a great job this year, but Phil Parker has been doing this for 20 years and more. And I think it's about time it goes to Phil Parker here. Now let's get into the other word. Davian Nixon up for top defensive player in college football, just won the top big 10 defensive player of the year. He's up against a couple of guys that you're going to know about

cornerback Patrick Sertan, the second of Alabama. Jeremiah Owusu-Korooma of Notre Dame. Coastal Carolina defensive end Taron Jackson. Tulsa linebacker Zayvon Collins. And again, Iowa defensive tackle Davian Nixon. He is up for this award. And it's going to be interesting about how they evaluate this. Is it based off of stats?

Have they actually watched tape? Because one of the things that you typically see, you talk about the Heisman and their Heisman moment. Now that award is based off of stats. It's also based off of whether or not you play a marquee position. It's based off of your team's success. And then finally, did you have that Heisman moment? Think back 20 years ago, Seneca Wallace and his ridiculous run around and throwing a touchdown to lead Iowa State to a win. That was a Heisman type of moment. It's Davian Nixon intercepting a pass from Penn State and taking it to the house. That is a Heisman moment.

That is a top defensive player of the year moment. And that's honestly why I think Davian Nixon actually has a decent chance of winning this. He would make it a back-to-back Big you know, Big Ten player because Chase Young took home the Nagurski Trophy last year. Davey Nixon, five and a half sacks, 13 tackles for loss, one interception, one forced fumble, and one touchdown. When you compare that to, you know, for example, David Collins, he had four interceptions, two touchdowns, 51 tackles, and four sacks.

That's pretty darn solid. But Tulsa isn't up to Iowa's speed. And again, doing that from a linebacker position is different than doing it from a defensive tackle spot. Now let's look at Taron Jackson. Eight and a half sacks, 12 and a half tackles for loss through 10 games. They played two more games in Iowa, so he has a couple extra sacks, less tackles for loss. And also, Davion Nixon has more hurries. So I think there's a really good case to be made for Davian Nixon winning this award. And we'll obviously keep you posted as that continues to play out. And then finally the Ray Guy award. And this one's going to be really interesting because

Tori Taylor does not beat anyone on that list. All right. So there's, there's 10 guys, 10 or 12, I think it's 10, whatever. Let's call it 12. I went through the entire list. I just can't remember the number off the top of my head right now. 12 guys on that list. And Torrey Taylor, the only thing he leads that entire list in is the amount of touchbacks. He's best in touchbacks with only one, and that was against Wisconsin,

and that was a pretty close punt as well. But let's break it down for you. He's 28th in the nation in average punt punt or average yard per punt at 44.1, ninth in net punt if you look at a minimum of 15. When you compare it to the rate guy list though, he's fifth in net punt yards, fourth in punt average, and he's the only one that's that highly ranked on both lists. So the guys who are ranked high in average yard per punt are not the guys ranked high in net yards per punt. Torrey Taylor is ranked in the middle, a little bit, I would say upper middle in both of those. He's also sixth in PFF rankings compared to the Ray Giles.

He's third in return percentage compared to the Ray Giles and fifth in fair catches. Where I think Torrey Taylor has the advantage here, and I talked about this with the Big 10, it's because of the other things he's done. It's not just about stats. If any of these voters watch any of his punts, they'll see how difficult it is for them to catch his punts. And he's caused momentum changing fumbles because of how he punched the ball. And I think that to me, that's like a Heisman moment. Again, that's where you win that award is based off of those types of things, not just your average yard for punts, not just your fair catch rate, not just your return percentage, but those types of plays to me is what wins that kind of an award. So that'll be interesting for me to see.

We're going to be covering all that as we get more news about that stuff over the next couple of weeks. That does it for our show today, though. Just a reminder, we do have another show tomorrow. We'll be breaking down Iowa versus Gonzaga. As always Hawkeye Nation. I always appreciate you tuning in. If you love the show. Give us that five star review. Let us know what you love about the show.

And make sure to subscribe wherever you download the podcast app. And last thing. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I love interacting with y'all. So please continue to do that. It always brings joy to my day to talk to all of you on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. All that fun stuff. Again Hawkeye Nation.

Have a fantastic Thursday. And let's go Hawks.