Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - BIG 10 SQUAD - Iowa Hawkeyes Music City Bowl Matchup vs Missouri Tigers

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Welcome to another exciting episode of Big 10 Squad! Hosted by Craig Shemon from Locked On Big 10, this roundtable podcast brings together the brightest voices from the Locked On network to discuss everything you need to know about Big Ten football. Whether you’re following your favorite team or just love the game, this episode has something for everyone.🚀 In This Episode:Big Ten Game Previews: Get a deep dive into the upcoming matchups featuring teams like the Illinois Fighting Illini, Indiana Hoosiers, Iowa Hawkeyes, Maryland Terrapins, Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Nebraska Huskers, Northwestern Wildcats, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oregon Ducks, Penn State Nittany Lions, Purdue Boilermakers, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, UCLA Bruins, USC Trojans, Washington Huskies, and Wisconsin Badgers.Player Spotlights: Learn about the standout players who are set to make an impact on their teams this week.Expert Predictions: Hear predictions from Locked On hosts as they discuss game strategies and what to watch for in each matchup.Why You Should Tune In: Whether you’re looking for expert analysis or just want to stay updated on all things Big Ten, this episode will give you the insights and predictions you need to get ready for the next round of action.🔔 Subscribe to Big 10 Squad for weekly episodes that bring you the latest in Big Ten football news, analysis, and expert opinions! Hit the bell icon to get notified every time a new episode drops.Join the Conversation: Share your thoughts and predictions in the comments below! We want to hear from you.#Big10Squad #Big10Football #LockedOnBig10 #CollegeFootball #FootballAnalysis #CraigShemon #LockedOnPodcast #BigTenTeams #NCAA #FootballPreviews #BigTenRoundtable

Well, four Big Ten teams getting ready for the college football playoffs. How do the guys feel about their chances? The Lockdown Big Ten squad starts right now. You're talking ball with the Big Ten squad. Sponsored by Game Time. From USC to Ohio State, from Michigan to Oregon, from Nebraska to Washington, it's the local experts of the Lockdown Podcast Network bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive preview

of the upcoming Big Ten weekend. Know her feelings and thin skin aloud. Squad up. You're part of the Big Ten Squad. Welcome to the Locked On Big Ten Squad. I'm Craig Scheman. Sit back and enjoy as we shoot the breeze. I'm the host of Locked On Big Ten.

We have our host here. I'll introduce in a moment, but first I want to tell you this very important message that we are brought to you by the college football playoffs. That's right. You don't want to miss a moment of the action. The college football playoff presented by Allstate begins with four first-round games, December 20th and the 21st on ESPN, ABC, TNT, and Max. So today, Isaiah Hull from Lockdown Wolverines is here. We haven't talked to him since the beginning of the season.

He's right next to his buddy Jay Stevens from Lockdown Ohio State Buckeyes. Spencer checking in from Lockdown College Football and Lockdown Ducks. Zach Anderson from Lockdown UCLA and Zach Sacco from Lockdown Nittany Lions. Gentlemen, I feel because of schedules and stuff that's going on, this is really the first time I've had isaiah and jay together i kind of like a a final word obituary on what happened a couple of weeks ago if you don't i need a definitive take from both on flag planting being a felony yeah stealing my thunder i was gonna say i want to come in here and plant my flag right here in the show and you know it's

ain't that serious right i know jay took it a little more seriously than i did now listen i was on the field for the entire thing right and i was getting in the middle i didn't get maced uh paper spray no i it was but it was a wild situation and uh you know what the i've been in a few wild situations now and it's always it's always interesting to be in that. But that was among the wilder ones because I was not with a Michigan State tunnel brawl thing. I was in the base of the tunnel, but I wasn't up in the tunnel. I heard about it as I walked up to the photo room.

And the MSU one that just happened this last time, it started while I was still on the sideline. This one, I was like right next to it. I saw the sea of red coming towards the white jerseys. It was just a wild, wild situation. I'd also like where we have you. I haven't talked to you since you were able to make it at the beginning of the season. Great job on the counter stallions piece on Netflix. You were very involved in that.

So bravo. That was awesome. Very proud. Nice job. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. It's interesting just getting to be close to Connor and still seeing him in the news with different things.

The Bryce Underwood of all. I'll cede back to you. That guy's name will never leave college football. No, not at all. No, no, no. No, exactly. Connor Stallions, Manti Teo's girlfriend like it's just all part of college football lore forever and always man yeah no doubt uh jay and you know i hear ryan day this week saying hey uh you know still have a lot to play for some teams aren't in it wink wink we know

who he was talking about we're not letting Michigan still be in Ohio State's head moving forward to the Tennessee game are we well it sure seems like based off the way Will Howard's demeanor was during the press conference he's feeling that loss in a big way as he should he didn't play well at all um it was probably his worst game definitely was his worst game as a Buckeye and I think they are feeling it I can't say they're not I think Ryan Day and the coaches realize they dropped the ball in that game just not getting the job done Chip Kelly and Ryan Day have been very accountable for some of the things that they didn't do very well in that game but I definitely think Will Howard is feeling it and a guy that uses his

emotion in a big way on the on the field I wonder how that loss is going to impact him on Saturday I know it's only his first time playing in the game and so you make he doesn't get the same type of um negative impact that some of the other guys do but I still think some of those guys are definitely feeling it and that may impact their play positively or negatively Saturday night. Spencer, any preferences? Oregon sits back and waits as to who you get on this Ohio State-Tennessee game. No, I think for Oregon, it's figure out what wasn't up to their standard defensively in the Penn State game, in the Big Ten championship game. Of course, they went on to win, but I think you look to that game going,

I haven't seen Oregon's defense get gashed like that on the ground all season long. Ohio State with a healthy offensive line and those two great running backs didn't run over Oregon's defense the way that Penn State did. So I think for Oregon, it's send us whoever. We don't care. But certainly there are things to work on. Most notably what andy kodelnicki is known for shifts and motion i think and tempo gave oregon's defense a lot of fits and no matter whether it's ohio state with chip kelly and ryan day who i know you know those guys are the village idiots i don't happen to believe that i think they had a bad day tiger woods missed cuts not saying ryan day's tiger woods but Tiger Woods missed cuts at tournaments.

It happens there, guys. And I think that there are elements from that game that need to be improved upon. And whether it's Ryan Day and Chip Kelly or Josh Heupel for Tennessee, they're going to look at that Big Ten Championship game film and say, okay, so Oregon struggled with all of these things. So no matter who it is, they'll have to be ready.

Zach Anderson. I'll continue counterclockwise. Your thoughts of Ohio state and Tennessee, since we're talking about that right now. I mean, I think the big 10 conference, 11, all big 10 Rose bowl, right? Just make it Oregon, Ohio state. That'd be pretty cool. Me being in Soka.

I'd love to see some Tennessee orange come down South, see something a little different in the Rose bowl. I like seeing a bunch of different teams. But it'll be an interesting battle. Ohio State's still reeling from that Michigan debacle, and Tennessee's kind of been this quiet team slowly rising in the rankings, and watch out for them to come out and have a big day. Zach Sacco, I want your opinion on this game,

and then I want to get into the Penn State situation with Bo Perbula. Interesting this week. But your thoughts on Ohio State and Tennessee first. I like this one to be close. It depends on where is Emiliava, Nico Emiliava, the Tennessee starting quarterback. Where is he in terms of his development? This additional three weeks, is that going to allow him to at least get a little better? Because Tennessee's issues are not defensive. I think this is a defensive struggle. I can't imagine these two teams putting up a lot of points based on what we saw Ohio State do against Michigan.

What happens when you have an elite, because Michigan's defense, if they had a more competent offense, we would be talking, we would be talking about them as, and it's not just because Isaiah's here. We would be talking about them as a top five defense in the country, but because they were on the field so much and it's just eventually you're going to break after you bend and bend and bend. But Ohio State had no answer for Michigan. Tennessee has a top five defense, at least top 10 conservatively, and you're missing your starting center. You had this offensive line shuffled. Now, granted, you had time to figure that out, but I still feel like Tennessee is too elite defensively. I think this one is a field goal type of game, and it's a low-scoring

game as well, maybe a 20-17, maybe even another 13-10 like Michigan was. All right. Now, as long as we have you, you guys had some big news here this week. You're getting ready for SMU. Bo Pribula, who's not just your average backup quarterback, he plays, he's an important part of this deal, wants to transfer out. He's going to transfer out now. In fact, they're not staying around for the playoff game. I believe, Jay, your backup quarterback is in the same situation, but he's staying for the playoff games. Let's talk about this a little bit.

College football has messed up with its off-season schedule or during-season schedule, if you will. Zach Sacco, your first thoughts. Well, let me just, there's layers to it. Let me at least clarify that this wasn't him running from Penn State. Him and James Franklin, from what we've gathered, had a conversation, a serious conversation, and Bo wanted to stay with the team.

So it wasn't, oh, he wanted to go in the portal, he wanted to go in the team. However, James Franklin has a standard. If you're in the portal, you are not with the team. So it's either you're with us or against us kind of thing. And the standard has to be the standard because if you bend the rules for one, then you have to, well, what about this player? What about this exception? So Bo Pribula, this wasn't a decision that Pribula wanted to make necessarily, but James Franklin said that,

hey, as much as I am responsible for Penn State, I'm responsible for these individual players. And what he alluded to was the fact that this was the best decision for Bo Pribula. Go in the portal because you are not going to start with Drew Aller and you are more than a gimmick quarterback. You are more than QB2 at Penn State. So go to Iowa. And he's drawn some serious interest. Iowa UCF already. Schools that Big 12. I didn't think he had a one-way ticket to the ACC, but I was not expecting SEC and Big 10 interest right out of the gate, and he has it. So that's even exceeding my expectations. I really think this was James Franklin gave him the advice, go in the portal, and he's sacrificing an insurance-sick quarterback. Drew Aller, you just hope that he doesn't get

hurt because the backup is Ethan Grunkemeyer, a true freshman with no experience. You also lose an element of the offense. Even though it wasn't always successful. Defensive coordinators don't have to game plan for that Bo Pribula wildcat package anymore. Jay, you got the same thing going on with Devin. You're back up, but he's staying. What are your thoughts on this? I'm kind of happy for Devin Brown that he's deciding to go somewhere else and play football because I don't think he would be the front runner to start next year. It'll be another quarter of a competition. My gut says Ohio State tries to go out in the portal to get someone to provide some

type of leadership in that room next year. And if Devin Brown stayed, he could very well be a guy that entered the portal in the spring because he was not the front runner at the end of spring practice to start next year. So I think for him, it's a wise move. I think it's good for ohio state that he's still there because he is the most seasoned backup quarterback that ohio state has julian sand has a better arm but devon brown's a guy that he knows what ohio state needs in a pinch if let's say well howard does get hurt um devon brown could come in and do some okay things very

small sample size of what he can do, but he can do some okay things for a shorter period of time. So I think it's good that he's still at Ohio State, but also good for him in his future that he's going to the portal. I absolutely want to get Isaiah Spencer and Zach's opinion on this. We'll do this and take a look at the other playoff games when we return in one minute as we continue with the Locked On Big Ten Squad. Well, it's that time of year.

We got the college football playoff. It is back, the newly expanded 12-team format. It is guaranteed to be bigger and better than ever, bringing you all the hard-hitting and high-flying excitement that you love. TNT sports coverage of the college football playoff beginning December 21st, starting with the college football playoff kickoff show presented by AT&T at 11 a.m. Eastern, leading into our first matchup, the Southern Methodist Mustangs taking on the Penn State Nittany Lions

at noon Eastern. Then the Clemson Tigers looked upset at the Texas Longhorns in a showdown at 4 p.m. Eastern. Don't miss a moment of the action. Watch the college football playoff presented by Allstate live on TNT, TruTV, TBS, and Max. watch the college football playoff presented by all state live on tnt true tv tbs and max back on the big 10 squads uh let's go right where we left off isaiah what's your thoughts what are the solution here we put these kids in these positions with this crazy transfer portal

timeline well games and bowls are still going on how do you see it well it's great if you're in a situation like michigan is right now but not great if you're in a situation like michigan is right now but not great when you're in a situation like michigan was in last year right and so like you look at jay and spencer and zach they're in kind of an advantageous situation because they're all preparing for their teams rather are preparing for the college football playoff they have actual things to play for that was the situation michigan was in last year right like they're they jim harbaugh i do know had kind of shunned the idea of some guys that could have really helped this team now because he was too focused on playing alabama in the rose bowl so the timing of it isn't great but it kind of just has to happen this way because you want to be able

to get guys in for the winter semesters at some schools like ohio state have trimesters so it might not line up exactly but most schools will start off you know start off their next semester at the beginning of january so you kind of have to have this moment kind of work for you but when you see a lot of guys uh just kind of having all this movement it's been kind of shocking and this is kind of where the nil of it all has really come into play you see a lot of tampering and things of that nature, right? So it's interesting when you see whole teams. Look at our Big Ten brethren, USC, who is basically Lincoln Riley,

like Will Smith standing there in the empty room looking around, right? The whole team has basically entered the portal. It's a terrible situation for certain teams, whether they're in a situation where they're playing for something or not. But then it's just more difficult, I think, to have to split your attention if you're in Ohio State or you're a Penn State or an Oregon, because you have to be able to focus on the task at hand.

If you're Ohio State and Penn State, you have a game this week, and you have to recruit. I understand you're doing that in the season with typical recruits but this is such a truncated timeline you can't afford to kind of push things off a week so it's it's an absolute madhouse uh i enjoy it from a perspective of covering one team it would be very unenjoyable if you're a coach that's got your team in contention for something i think you bring up a good point we gotta squeeze this in a shoehorn in between semesters if we're going to pretend to do the student athlete thing spencer your thoughts on this so do you have a solution well yeah i do um that takes mildly longer to explain but we'll get to that in a

i think the schedule has just been so broken for so long. And anytime someone brings up, well, the academic calendar to just stop talking, please, you sound completely and utterly ridiculous for two reasons. Number one, a lot of these kids are barely going to class. Plenty of them are, by the way. So I don't throw that notion to the wind entirely. But what I do bring up is, well, suddenly when a coach leaves after the season, you have 30 days to enter the transfer portal. Well, now you can transfer in the middle of February and suddenly we're able to make it work. So that argument to me just doesn't hold any particular water. And then you have guys like Bo Pribula for Seiko's Nittany Lions, who very

clearly didn't want to enter the transfer portal because the only guys who do want to enter the transfer portal leave USC, apparently. So I had to get that in there. But I just look at how this is all constructed two years in a row, Craig, that a team with national championship aspirations that is in the playoff will be without the guy who was its backup quarterback the entire season malik murphy left texas last year i just cannot fathom how anyone looks at this and says this is a good idea

this is a worthwhile endeavor like why why is it like this i don't understand how nobody raises their hand and says excuse me me, can we fix this? It doesn't make sense for players, coaches, fans, or media. And yes, we matter least of all. I understand that. But when you're thinking about the health and well-being of a sport, I don't want college football to become the NFL. There are things from the NFL college football can borrow.

One of those things is how they manipulate the schedule and put out content to get attention for the league maximized when there isn't as much. And so they have thrown the transfer portal free agency, which is phenomenal way to generate fan interest and whatnot for the next season. They've thrown that at a time when the season is still ongoing, which minimizes what is happening during the season. And by the way, they also throw in the schedule release right now in the NFL the schedule release is an event it is an event Colin Coward does entire segments on the NFL schedule release because as we all know it's a big deal Washington got the short end of the stick

scheduling wise for 2025. yeah why is that crammed into the same timeline when you're trying to figure out the roster and also play out the final games of your season? It doesn't make any particular sense. So get rid of the early transfer portal window, move back national signing day, get rid of the early national signing day, make it all in February, open up one portal window 30 days after the season, then have national signing day, spring practice, one portal window after the year, done. Commissioner of football, Spencer. Zach Anderson, let's get your final thoughts on this.

I mean, as a non-playoff team, I'd be pretty bored right now. You know, I mean, I love basketball, and that's good, but UCLA, the day we're recording this, has at least six or seven commits from the portal, and that's since I've woken up to like 4 p.m pacific so i'd be pretty bored now does it make any sense to have the portal right now absolutely not we could take a couple weeks of boredom because the playoff teams the bowl games i mean as much as they're meaningless they're still fun to watch as college football fans all that should

be happening after after the playoff season absolutely all. I feel like Zach is out there like Michael Scott in that one scene. Playoffs. Would love to be a part of one someday. Yeah, no kidding. Zach Sacco, let's talk about your game a little bit more, and I'll get everybody's quick response on this. Your thoughts about SMU, this game this weekend, and any matchup challenges? Do you think you have the advantage across the board? What do you think when youU at this game this weekend and any matchup challenges?

Do you think you have the advantage across the board? What do you think when you look at this team? I mean, SMU is, I don't want to say that, they're persistent. Let me say that because I don't want to give them a negative connotation here because this is a team that plays up-tempo. So Penn State actually benefits from playing an Oregon team that just relies on speed, but SMU takes it to another level. They're constant.

Just speed? What do you mean? How many yards did Oregon run for in the game? How many times was Dylan Gabriel sacked? One of Oregon's best attributes is speed. Okay, that's fine. That's fine. Just speed, though.

Just speed. Not going to let that slide that slide okay you may continue SMU has the same thing up tempo they utilize a lot of speed Kevin Jennings is I like him as a football player but it's it's so far across the spectrum where you will get these crazy type of plays where he's able to add lib and elements of a vintage Caleb Williams in college football, but he's also prone to turning the football over. And sometimes I have no idea how SMU won some of the games that they did against Duke. They had six turnovers. They could have had more and somehow they won that game by one point. So SMU is persistent. They don't go away. That Clemson game, they were down 24-7.

Honestly, that would have knocked them out of the college football playoff the way that was trending. But it took a miracle field goal against Clemson, and that's what saved the season because they were able to come back. And Clemson is a respectable defense as well. That won, I would say, conservatively, top 20 in the country. So if SMU can do that Penn State showed that hey speed and all these other things that they have to deal with when it comes to Oregon's offense Spencer

that it's not going to be very easy so I expect a lot of points in this game I do think the cold weather will play will play favorably to Penn State though Zach Anderson let's go around the other way now your thoughts on Penn State at SMU I mean it'll be interesting SMU you know obviously the most debated team to make the playoff after losing that conference championship game Penn State I wasn't necessarily impressed after seeing them in early October but then that Big Ten championship game against Oregon they put in a good effort obviously I think they have a good shot to win this, barring any crazy injuries or any weirdness that happens. I think Penn State should win. But I mean, my question is, which of these stadiums is going to have the best atmosphere for a playoff game? Yeah. And, you know, a team like

SMU going into Penn State, they were shoveling snow out there today from what I saw. A real whiteout. Yeah, that's good. That's good. Spencer, how do you see Penn State SMU? I like Penn State if they play the way they did against Oregon. I was really impressed with them in the Big Ten championship game. Penn State fans will probably tell you I've been pretty down on the Nittany Lions all season. And even after I predicted them to go 11 and one before the year and they went 11 and one. I predicted them to go 11-1 before the year, and they went 11-1, but I thought that was more product of them having a favorable schedule where they miss Michigan and Oregon in the regular season

and some other heavy hitters as well. Indiana. Yeah, just as we all expected. But if they come out and if they can push Oregon's defensive line around, which I've been bullish on since the summer and they've lived up to my expectations along those lines, they can push around SMU as well. So I understand where Seiko is coming from with there could be a lot of points in this game. I don't know that Penn State wants to do that again after what Oregon's passing attack just did in the Big Ten championship game. And looking at what the strength of SMU's team is,

it is Kevin Jennings and that air raid tempo assault. So I think Penn State wants to run the ball. I think they want to kill the clock a little bit, and I think they can grind down a win where it's not necessarily a blowout, but it's not as close as the final score might indicate. I think they win in by like the 12 to 14 sort of range all right isaiah how do you see it i think it all depends on does penn state show up right like we've seen penn state with james franklin tend to play down to competition

sometimes when it looks like it really should win certain games. You know, even years that it's looked pretty good, you know, you lose to an Iowa every now and again. How good is SMU? I'm not, you know, I'm not really sure. I think Penn State should win this game and it should win it comfortably. But, you know, you have to kind of look at James Franklin and say, like, how many times does he go for two

or go for it on fourth down or, you know, go for a touchdown instead of a field goal or vice versa in moments that he maybe shouldn't, right? Like we've seen that over the course of the last decade. So the first time finally being in the playoff, how does, how does he handle this? Because this is a big game, maybe not a big name opponent, right? No one was really going to be talking about SMU at the beginning of the season. I remember watching their first game of the year and being impressed, but still being like, but it's SMU, right?

So it'll be interesting to see how James Franklin handles the spotlight in this to just be able to win a big game. I mean, this is a big, giant, meaningful game, and often he does not come out on the right side of those. Jay, you know Penn State pretty well after watching them. What do you think? This is one of those times when I think about the playoff, I don't think all the favorites are going to win, but i do think that penn state is going to win this game it's in their backyard the weather's favorable for them and i understand and even buy

into a lot of the issues with james franklin but i think the players are going to kind of overcome some of those james franklin mistakes that may show up in the game. I think Penn State wins by double digits and moves on to the next round of the playoff. All right. We've saved the best for last. My alma mater, Indiana, taking on Notre Dame. We'll talk about that next when we continue with the Lockdown Big Ten squad. Get ready for NFL action with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook,

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All right, let's do it the indiana hoosiers taking on the golden domers at notre dame uh isaiah let's start with you you know one thing i've noticed these notre dame fans are very confident and arrogant and cocky and all that stuff but i think it's gonna be cold i think it's gonna be a little dusting of some snow in this game kurt signetti coach of the year taking on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. By the way, one game we can compare common opponent was Purdue. After the Northern Illinois debacle, they went and beat them 66-7. Indiana beat Purdue 66-0.

I'll just throw it out there. But Isaiah, does Indiana have a chance at Notre Dame? They absolutely have a chance. I mean, the fact that Notre Dame notre dame lost to northern illinois you know i i thought that that should have been eliminating kind of regardless right like you lose to an unranked mac opponent i'm sorry you should not get a second chance after that that's the one thing i hate about the way this playoff is now is that teams get second chances that they don't deserve now notre dame, you know, looking throughout the season

the same way that Indiana looked through most of the years. They're just tearing down everything in their path. But the one time Indiana lost was to Ohio State. So that kind of tracks, right? Like Ohio State is a great team. I feel disgusting for saying that. Sorry, Jay. But at the same time, it's that makes sense that Indiana would lose to Ohio State the way it did. Now, I think that just by virtue of, I mean, it's a battle for the state of Indiana. The cold is going to affect both teams the same. Both teams obviously are used to the cold. It'll just be interesting to see if Indiana can kind of rebound from how it looked in the last big game that it had against Ohio

State and be able to really show, hey, we're for real. I think they've got a shot. It's going to be a difficult one, but I think that they absolutely have a shot. Jay, pick it up from there. He's talking about that game. That was not Indiana's best effort. How do you think they can do against Notre Dame? I think they have a shot the one reason why I think they might fall in this game is because the only time you saw them play against one of the big boys in the sport they didn't look like they should be on that field together it was bad I think the the what we saw that day I you should have lost by a bigger margin I I truly have believed that for quite a long time now you you're going, what, three hours away,

three and a half hours away to South Bend, so it's still in your state, so you still aren't traveling across country for a game. But I really wonder if IU can handle four quarters with Notre Dame. I don't think so. Like, my gut says they can't, and that the Hoosiers are going to lose. But also,

I know that Kirk Cignetti's going to do whatever he can to get his boys ready for the game. But I still think Notre Dame has everything that you need to win this game. So I think I'm riding with the Irish on this one. All right. Zach Anderson, how do you see it? I mean, these are like the two teams that you believe in the least, right? You look at it, you're like 11-1, 11-1.

These are the teams you're like, man, if you took away the resume, you'd think they're kind of even. But you put in the brand of Notre Dame, you in Indiana's basketball history you're like oh Notre Dame should win this by a lot right yeah if Indiana can protect Curtis Rourke I think they can win this game but they struggled to do that against Ohio State if they can protect their quarterback come out with some moxie get an early lead and Notre Dame feels like it's northern Illinois all over again then hey maybe the Hoosiers can walk away with a win. Zach Sacco, final word. I mean, I'll take the fighting Irish here because I'll side with home because I think it is close. I think Notre Dame and Indiana, I

will say this, the difference if Indiana is going to come out on top is the fact that Kurt Cignetti is just a better football mind than where Marcus Freeman is. And if you can out-coach Marcus, because you're both here in this similar setup for the first time for what it's worth. Notre Dame hasn't been that playoff caliber team year in and year out under Marcus Freeman's direction. Now he's a young head coach and taking over ad lib when Brian Kelly left for LSU. But my point being is that I like what Kurt Cignetti has done. Excuse me. I like what he's done over the course of his career. And

he's won those postseason events. So the difference here is I will side with the fact that Notre Dame also, go figure, has a top 10 conservatively defense, objectively here. So I will side with that. Home field advantage field advantage but the difference this game probably another field goal type of game because kurt signetti is going to make enough enough chess moves to keep it close all a lot of good points all day long pretty good conversation uh for our audience out there follow isaiah and jay and bo zacks and even spencer even though he bailed on us here on this last second you can follow follow and subscribe to your favorite Big Ten team. We'll be covering your favorite team every day throughout the season.

Don't forget, I've got you covered with the entire conference with Lockdown Big Ten, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Craig Schumann. Thanks for joining us on the squad, and we'll talk to you next time.