Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - BIG 10 SQUAD: The Top Big 10 Moments of the past decade | Where Iowa stacks up

Episode Date: June 19, 2026

Big Ten powers gear up for a season of high stakes and sky-high expectations. Oregon’s fans are asking: Is this finally the year Dan Lanning leads the Ducks to a national championship? Ohio State faces questions about the Arthur Smith-led offense and Ryan Day’s fourth-quarter strategy, while USC and Washington both eye playoff runs amidst roster shakeups and the spotlight on Demond Williams’ development. The Big 10 Squad breaks down the top moments from the past decade, celebrate the network’s 10-year anniversary, and debate the biggest 2026 storylines for each program. From Chip Kelly’s bold play-calling and Jack Sawyer’s breakout performances for the Buckeyes to Washington’s Pac-12 dominance and USC’s championship-or-bust mentality, this conversation tackles coaching philosophies, high-impact transfers, and the relentless drive for a Big Ten crown. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's time for a celebration here at lockdown. We're going to look at the biggest storyline of the year coming up for 2026 and a whole lot more fun. It's the locked on Big Ten squad. Thanks for joining us right here. You're talking ball with the Big Ten squad. From USC to Ohio State from Michigan to Oregon, from Nebraska to Washington, it's the local experts of the Locked On podcast network bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming Big Ten weekend.

Know her feelings and thin skin allowed. Squad up, you're part of the Big Ten Squad. All right, I want to do something just a little bit different from what we normally do. The audience that's really football intensive and football hungry, we'll get to you. We're going to talk about some storylines coming up. I want you to know about this year.

But I'm going to continue with the celebration that we've had here at Locked-on. Ten-year anniversary. I haven't been here 10 years. I've been three of the ten. They've been glorious, but I don't kind of bounce around the rumor a little bit and say hello and kind of get involved with everybody kind of did a 10 year celebration show if you

will j stevens from locked on buck eyes we got mark colkin from locked on trojans spencer mclaughlin from an undisclosed location somewhere from locked on ducks we had mark just can't handle my presence that's how much he actually hates me he didn't think i was going to be here because it's o dark 30 where i am doing this show from he saw me and said i'm so done with this guy there he's back oh hey mark side by side yeah i like you i think it happened right in the middle huh huh heard what locked on huskies intro all right guys i think we got everybody squared away so yeah locked on hit a big milestone this week uh with with the 10 year anniversary um a lot of us did some shows kind of around the number 10 certain things i want to give you guys a quick opportunity

to uh invite our audience to go back in case they missed it jade do you do anything special for the 10 year anniversary this week. You want to tell our audience about? They can go back and find you after this podcast. Of course I did, Craig. Ten years have walked on is amazing. And I wanted to focus just on the Ryan Day era since 2019 until now. He's done a lot of winning when a national championship went to a Natty in 2020. But I wanted to focus on the top 10 plays during his era, which Jack Sawyer, Jeremiah Smith, Chris Alave, Jackson Smith and Jigba. All these great players have been there. And the number one play in the Ryan Day era was Jack Sawyer scoop and score against Texas in the Cotton Bowl, which helped them secure that win that day, helped them move on to win the national championship.

And just that moment alone, the 83 yards down the right sideline, seeing the sideline erupt, seeing Jack Sawyer be in front and Sunny Stiles and Twos and a little while kind of still blocking down the field to make sure that their boy got in the end zone. Just that moment was so huge for the Buckeyes. And Jack Sawyer, who was Ryan Day's first commit. when Ryan Day became head coach, then all of a sudden, Jack Sawyer was a guy who kind of kept the game together leading into that 2024 season. Guys could have gone off to the NFL. They stayed. For Jack Sawyer to have that moment, it was easily a no-brainer that that was a top play in the Ryan Day era.

I agree with it when you start talking and setting it up, I go, I wonder where Jack Sawyer was. And I would put that as the number one play for Ohio State. Roman, how about you? What did you do this week special? Oh, see, I decided to look back on the 10 best moments the last 10 years, because I grew up in a very dark age of Udub football. And so it's, it's great. You want to elaborate on that. Some folks might not remember. No, I, I, I definitely don't want to elaborate. Bring back Tyrone Willingham. Yeah, we definitely don't need to do. Yeah. Wow, that's, yeah, no, we're, we're definitely not. Oh, I love that guy. Hey, he seemed like, walked on. Seemed like a stand-up individual. Spencer, I know you're on the other side of the world right

now, but I, you know, I know you just don't want to hear what my number one was. Because the last 10 years of Washington football, been really fun, right? Going to the, the college football playoff multiple times, going to the national championship, all of that was very, very special. But there was nothing more special, in my opinion, than a pair of moments that, of course, Spencer is taking out his headphones for because it was Washington's sheer dominance over Oregon in a pair of matchups in 2023 and such a special final year of the PAC 12, where you beat him in mid-October in Husky Stadium, being on the field.

As the kick just, you know, just drifted off Spencer. It was such a moment where I almost got trampled by thousands of happy Husky fans. They poured on to the field. And then to beat them again inside Allegiance Stadium for the final real Pac-12 championship RIP on the way to the Sugar Bowl. It was very hard not to put the Sugar Bowl at number one to send Washington to the national championship. And just that moment in of itself was tremendous. But beating your arch rival, having that be the third. birdstrait victory over them in that moment is something you just you can't pass that up soak it in

mark what did you do uh locked on trojas this week all right i'm tuned back in now i did a couple of episodes for a couple segments i should say uh top 10 moments of this past decade from 2016 through 2025 obviously i think at the top of the list was u sc's rose bowl win over penn state that after the 26th season i included u sc's big win at washington in 2016 when a dory jackson yeah did everything he could to make washington fans go home sad which did a really good job of that did he also gonna snap by john ross at a 70 r touchdown sorry i digress so i guess i did a couple segments it hasn't been the greatest decade for usc they're about to turn that page and go into a new chapter of having a great decade so i found a few

Like I said, the top 10 moments from 2016 to 2025. I actually did in that same show, the 10 worst moments. So it was just kind of a variety of, you know, let's walk down memory lane. Oh, my gosh. I don't know if I would submit my audience to a 10 worst moments, the number of times that my heart has been ripped out of my chest. There was an opportunity there from the 10 ones that didn't hurt that much. But yeah.

All right. Well, Spencer's been busy logging frequent flyer miles around the globe. What did you do? This is better than us. Locked on ducks. First of all, I am better than you, Roman. The other guys, it's up in the air. Second of all, I did my 10 favorite moments that I have seen live. Roman, you're actually going to be spared from this because this is something I've accumulated a lot.

I went very nostalgia heavy with it. like Malik Benson's touchdown in Seattle last year. Boy, that's a very core memory propelled Oregon to the playoff, got him a win in one of my favorite uniforms that Oregon has ever worn. Gosh, those looked phenomenally good. But Mark, I'm actually curious if you, in 2010, were you at the Oregon USC game in person or were you watching on TV? Talking about the one in 2011 at Oxton?

No, no, no. the one in 2010 in Los Angeles. Probably. I was probably there. But that game, that's outside the scope of this conversation. No, no, no, no.

No, it's not. It's not. I've got the videotape to prove. He has to pick the biggest one in their history. It's always against the U.S. No, that's not, no, no, no, no. It's not even, it's not even the, the game itself, which was a wild college football game.

And very, very fun to watch. But no, my favorite moment in Oregon history, I've been very consistent with all of this, until the day that Oregon wins a national championship, it will forever be. In that game mark, Oregon had the ball with a 29 to 13 lead with 32 seconds to go in the half, and they were inside their own five. And on the broadcast, it's Brent Musburger and Kirk Herb Streak, the college football broadcast tandem of my childhood. And Kirk Herbstreet says, there's no way with 32 seconds inside his own five.

Chip Kelly has the audacity to try and score again, does he? Right as the ball is snapped, Chip Kelly has dialed up play action for verticals and takes a shot and gets across midfield. And as the pass is completed to Josh Huff, Kirk Herb Street's voice cracks. And he's going, oh! And he can't believe that. Chip did that and it just embodied everything that made my favorite era of Oregon football special is that Chip was pushing the envelope doing things differently and wasn't afraid to just go out

there and be a riverboat gambler all the time. They were incredulous up there in the booth. That possession, by the way, that possession ended with a Darren Thomas fumble and I don't care. Spencer, were you there as a toddler or are you just going through random YouTube highlights to watch? No, that has always been my favorite moment. And yes, I've also watched it on YouTube no less than 100 times. Those two things. How old were you in two guys? I was 13.

Well, I was 13. A youngster. Yes. Yes. I will share with you. I did Locked Out Big Ten. I did top 10 scandals and titles because it makes Wow.

That's a really good one. Wow. When I started your big 10 is great at both of those that's what i thought that was my thinking however i started off with the scandals and i started with the light fluffy stuff sorry jay tattoo gate was like number 10 no big deal by the time i got to the top of the list larry nasser and jerry sundaski were on the list and i got an awkward out let's talk about titles when we come back speaking anything else speaking when we come back i want to pick these guys brains about the biggest storylines for them and their

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All right, back here on the squad, guys, I want to look ahead now since we're looking back celebrating our 10-year anniversary here at Locked-on. I want to look ahead to this upcoming season. Just a quick flash, if I was to ask you right now, what is the number one storyline coming up, either for your team or the conference? Because we have Big Ten Media Days coming up in a little more than a month. A lot of things are going to be asked. Spencer's probably going to be there grilling the commissioner, which is awesome. Jay will start with you. What's your number one story going into the 20th?

26. I was actually raising my hand asking if I could go first because it's 118 in the morning and I don't like you guys that much. Spencer, you're on. All right. Fantastic. There is only one question on the mine for Oregon fans. And it's a question that has been on the mind before, but this is as good of an opportunity on papers they've ever had. And the question is very simple. Is this the year? God Almighty, I hope it's... No, no, no, no. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on. Spencer. Hey, your head coach has to play a game against Oregon's current head coach within single digits before you get to start talking smash, okay? Pipe down in the peanut gallery department.

No, I'm just lower the volume. Lower the volume. Lower, lower, your headphones out through my entire rant about, Or you know, I was having a technical issue. There was a horrible screeching sound in my ear. You see? It was, it was insufferable. It just so happened to stop when you stopped talking.

It was, it was purely coincidence. Part 25, got it. That, no, it's not 25. It's not even close to 25. Come on, the 2016 season happened. Like, that's not that. Oh, I remember. We can't lump that one.

We can't lump that one in there. But no, Craig, there is only one thing for Oregon. Is this the year? There's nothing else that will. satisfy Oregon fans. And honestly, I get it because even though it's only year five for Dan Lanning, it's year insert, however old an Oregon fan might be, however long they've been following the ducks since they really rose to national prominence year in and year out. So, yeah, I have dubbed this year, Natty or Bust for Oregon. I'm not backing off of it.

Oh, this sounds like Penn State last year. Are you sure you want to do that? No, no, I was very clear last year. Jay. I didn't say it that time. Whoa. Jay, let me make something inexplicably clear. You can go back and listen to everything I said about Oregon going into last year. They got exactly about as far as I thought they would before the year. I picked them to lose to Indiana for several reasons. Even if they hadn't dealt with portal departures, I would have picked them to lose to Indiana because they were not as good of a team. Ever since last summer, I have been pointing to this year and saying that could be the squad. And they have got more than enough for turners from a team that was in the final four last year. This is a year. This is a year. Penn State was in the final four the year before.

Then they flop last year. It just sounds like Penn State to me. Okay. Dan Lannning or James Franklin, who you want to be your head coach, Jay. I mean, I mean, Franklin was good. Oh, okay. sure we're going to watch the guy that went oh and two against stan landing we're going to say yeah i'd rather have been all right is that what i said no i was talking what jay said jay was suddenly making

oh i just said franklin was good i didn't pick i didn't pick a coach oh yeah mark marks marks dying to chip in here so we have to all stop talking so his computer can pick us on a six game losing streak in the middle of the season we have a repeat a six game losing streak in the middle of the season i would Well, I don't know if I'd retire from Locked on Ducks because everyone will be so outraged. I might be making money hand over fist. I might spend two months in London at a time instead of a few days. All right.

Good night, Mr. Thank you. Get out of here. Yeah, yeah. Yes, bye. Yes, bye. Bye. Bye, bye.

All right. He gets so tired this time. of a day. Kids get cranky. All right. Where do we leave off? Mark, what is your number one storyline you're looking forward to this season? Making the playoffs.

There is no other storyline. It's make the playoffs, period, end of the story. In fact, Chad Bowden, U.S.S. General Manager just got done doing a little bit of a minute and 22nd fireside chat with an impassioned plea to the fans. This is the year. Yeah. This is the year. I don't.

And if it's not, did things get hot? It's been hot. As far as I'm concerned, it's been hot. Year 5, there's no, there's no room for excuses. Zero, no matter. I'm not one of those fans. Well, we need to wait for that number one recruiting class to play a year before. 2027s are a year.

I don't play the game that Spencer plays. It's right now. Okay. Roman, the Husky's number one storyline this year. I mean, it has to be DeMond Williams, right, where you lose three guys of the NFL on offense in your left tackle, Carver Willis, your number one receiver, Denzel Boston, your top runner back in Jonah Coleman. Where's that production going to come from? I mean, everyone's going to be pointing at the guy who, now we all know how much money he makes, right?

Like, it's going to have to be on Demand who Jedfish has talked about during spring practice that Washington needs DeMond Williams to step up in these big games. And the Huskies have a whole lot of talent, especially a wide receiver. A lot of it's really young, but I really like the group that they've put together around him. The offensive line is still expected to be one of the best in the conference. And it's just all going to fall on Demod Williams' shoulders because you look at the four losses last year, you average 9.3 points per game in those four losses. So that needs to improve.

And that is always going to get pointed right at the quarterback. And I mean, whether it's fair or not at this point in time, that's a dude who tried to enter the transfer portal for 72 hours. and is that going to be a storyline? No, it's not, because it's not a storyline within the team at this point in time. And I can tell you that from a lot of people that I've talked to. But outside the building, there's going to be a lot of that noise. You lose one of those big games like down at USC on October 3rd, all of a sudden, that's going to be the only talking point that we're going to hear about surrounding this team unless DeMond Williams takes that next step forward.

And this is a very talented team. You're returning a defense that down the stretch especially last year was elite. The expectation, is for them to take another step forward under Ryan Walters and be one of the top 10 in the nation at this point in time after finishing really just outside that when you go look at the numbers from last year and with so many guys back I feel really good about this team it's all just going to fall on to Ma's shoulders now as a junior I took the words out of my mouth I was going to ask if there was going to be any resentment for DeMah Williams hitting the portal after signing his deal but it was so fast it was like I really didn't happen and I believe you that it won't be a problem there I don't think yeah mark you're I was just going to say, when is Washington's first nationally televised game? It'll probably be that that game. Actually, no, because the, the Apple Cup got moved to Sunday. So it's going to be in front of a national audience now. Somebody will make that a talking point.

I believe it. And I, I'm just telling you from people I've talked to in and around the program, it's, it is a non-issue. Okay. Jay, biggest storyline for the Buckeyes, got to be centered around winning another championship or, or maybe the fact that all your games are on at Big Noon. I don't know which one of them.

Both of those fit the description of the topic right now. Honestly, the biggest storyline right now has to be on offense. And one of the weirdest things with Ryan Day is that he's an offensive guy. But as he's trying to figure out how to allow somebody else to call plays, the offense hasn't looked like it's supposed to look. In comes Arthur Smith with a different philosophy than what I believe Ohio State is made for. I'm up in the air with Arthur Smith. I'm not sold on him yet.

I have to see how he does against Texas week two and then throughout the early parts of the Big Ten season to really get sold on him being the right guy. But that's it. If the offense is fine, the defense will be fine automatically. I have no doubt that Matt Patricia will be able to work with the newcomers on the portal to put them in the right place to be successful.

But it's all down to the offense. You have a highest in finalist and Julian Sam, Jeremiah has made the best player in the sport. You have more than enough. firepower on offense and experience. But do you have the right guy calling plays? We got to wait and see. I started reading an interesting article.

Ryan Day was talking about it got to be better in the fourth quarter. And I'm like, Ohio State, I remember they win every game by 39 points. But that's part of the problem. They're not under pressure with two minutes to go, as we saw in the Big Ten championship into the playoffs. I thought, okay, that's interesting.

That was an interesting take by Ryan Day this week. Oh, he's correct. Fourth quarter, short yardage. That was an issue all season long. there were times against Wisconsin against UCLA teams that weren't that good. You're like, why are you struggling in these areas? Well, the Buckeyes never fix those issues in the regular season, even against some cupcake opponents.

Of course you're going to get exposed and get beat down against the two teams that were playing in the national championship. All right. When we come back, we're going to do a quick hitter on Father's Day, getting our audience into the Father's Day weekend. I'll share that with you in just a minute here on the lockdown Big Ten squad. All right, back on the squad into your Father's Day weekend. Now, you know what?

We always talk sports. We always get right into it. I don't know if you are audiences with, I don't even know if you guys are fathers. I am. I know we all had fathers. Anybody have any special plans for Father's Day weekend? Jay?

Honestly, up until about a few hours ago, was just to stay home and be chill and just be as lazy as possible. My wife wants to go to her dad's house, who lives like 10 minutes away to celebrate with him. Her brother's coming up, who lives an hour away. But I always just trying to, chill and relax and just have a pretty lazy day. I mean, it's, it is Father's Day.

If I have my way on Father's Day, let's just chill. Let's just relax. Have a good time at home. I have a friend who has been married for a few years, got two kids, 10, 8 years old. Every year he's like, I don't want to see any of you people on Father's Day. I want to see how to watch the U.S. open. Mark, how about you?

Any plans this weekend? No, I don't, I'm not aware of being a father. It's so I know. Um, anything possible. Yeah. Unfortunately, my father's actually still alive. So I'm going to go, uh, pick him up, pick him out for some brunch and just going to sounds good.

Yeah. Yeah. Roman, how about you? I thought I was the only non-father in the group, but I guess not. No, uh, actually my, my sister and I will be celebrating our, our dad on father's day who cannot be with us as my, my dad is in New York who just retired from the Kelly Clarkson show a couple of weeks ago. So congrats to my dad for that.

My sister also just graduated from the University of Washington with her master's a couple of weeks ago. So we're celebrating that before she moves back down to Los Angeles. And I mean, you know, if we're taking time to talk about our dads, I wouldn't be doing this. If not for my dad, my dad is also a University of Washington alum and inspired me to be part of this as I grew up going with my dad to a UW game, either at USC or UCLA every single year. I only saw them win once in person with my dad. that was the 2010 game at USC 3231 victory over the then ranked Trojans, which was an awesome experience for me. Another fun thing for me just to give my dad a shout out is,

I always want to go to the Rose Bowl with my dad. Now that Spencer's not here, I can talk a little bit more about the dark ages of New Dove football, as there was a seven-year period as only Mark really is aware of, where the Huskies were one of the worst teams in this sport, obviously culminated with an 0-12 year in 2008. that was the first year I got to go to a U-W game with my dad at USC where they lost 56-0 and picked up three first downs in that game.

And yeah, I'm still doing this. One of the promises my dad made me a very, very long time ago was that when the Huskies went back to the Rose Bowl, because before going in 2019, where they played Ohio State in Urban Myers final game, their last appearance was in 2001. And I was, I had just turned three years old a few months ago. So I can't say I remember that. So being able to go and do that and be at that game with my dad in 2019, despite the loss, was a truly special experience for me.

And I wouldn't have this platform or be doing any of this without the inspiration of my father. Well, I think that's really cool. You share that story. I think it's a good way to end, even a minute early because our dads in most cases are the ones that introduced us to sports, whether it was taking us to a game or whether watching it on TV. and explaining to us, you know, you get four downs to do this or, you know, they're kicking the kick is worth three points. You know, somebody explained that to us back in the day.

And it usually was our dad. So I think I'll end on that note, even though it's a minute early. And you guys have a great weekend. Thanks for being on today, Jay Stevens from Locked on Buckeyes, Mark Culkin from Lockdown Trojans and Roman Thomas Shaw from Locked on Huskies. And yes, thanks to Spencer for showing up from somewhere around the globe from Lockedon. ducks guys we'll talk to you next time thanks for checking us out on the locked on big 10 squad have a great happy father's day weekend