Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - BIG 10 SQUAD - Which SEC Team Makes the most sense for Iowa?

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

USC Trojans football is on the brink of a pivotal season. Can Lincoln Riley lead them to a 9-10 win season? With the college football landscape shifting, the Trojans face potential SEC vs Big Ten matchups, and the stakes have never been higher. Join Spencer McLaughlin and a panel of experts, including Mark Culkin and Jacob Goins, as they dissect USC's upcoming challenges and the evolving college football playoff format. The discussion covers key figures like Lincoln Riley and Greg Sankey, while exploring the implications of cross-conference games and playoff changes. Will the Trojans rise to the occasion, or will they falter against formidable opponents? Tune in for an insider's perspective on USC's path to success and the broader college football dynamics.

Listen up, Big Ten fans, I have a question for you. Who do you want your team to play against in the SEC every single year? Brian Kelly thinks that's an idea. We've got Playoff Chaos. We've got USC's win total on today's Big Ten squad. 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

Locked On Podcast Network bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming Big Ten weekend. No hurt feelings and thin skin allowed. Squad up, you're part of the Big Ten Squad. Happy Thursday, everybody. Welcome into this week's Locked On Big Ten Squad. I'm Spencer McLaughlin, your your host Mark Kolkin of Locked On USC is here and we'll be talking about his team to wrap today's show. Jacob Goens of Locked On Hoosiers, Ryan Herrings of Locked On Badgers is here even though he doesn't have a banner that is indeed what he does for a job I can confirm. Jay Stevens of Locked On Buckeyes, Trent Condon of Locked On Hawkeyes and Zach Anderson-Oxheimer

of Locked On UCLA. We are squatted up today and Brian Kelly is just throwing crap at the wall and seeing what sticks and he's saying the sec could go to nine games, which they should do. Of course, like the rest of the industrialized world, they should stop playing Wofford, you know, late in the season. And that goes for the ACC as well. And then Brian Kelly said, well, we should have we should have a big 10 matchup, we should have an annual team. So, Mark, we're everybody's going to get to chime in here.

No Vanderbilts, no Vanderbilts. OK, just going to establish that. No Vanderbilts, no Vanderbilts, Zach. I know that's where you want to go. So if you had to play an SEC team every year, Mark Kolkin, where do you want to go? Well, last year USC took out LSU. So we've been down that road.

They took out Texas A&M. They've been down that road. They've had some matchups with Texas in the past. USC's beat Auburn. They beat Arkansas. Georgia. USC remembers Alabama from not too long ago. So let's see what they have down between the hedges in Athens. Are you referring to the infamous, we're ready to prowl coming out of the tunnel, only to get your brains beat in?

USC having a lead for about 27 minutes in that game and then the wheels fell off. Was it 27 minutes or 27 seconds? It was, no, it was close to a... Or somewhere in between. Well, you know, hey, only scoring three points against an SEC powerhouse to begin the season. Look, there's no shame. That's all I will say. Jacob Cohen's locked on Hoosiers.

If you had to pick an SEC team to play every year, just going back and forth, home and road, which I think is fun. Like I'm here for it as the wannabe scheduling czar in college football. Who do you want Indiana to play? Yeah, I mean, I think you got to eliminate Vanderbilt. Yes. Mississippi State, Kentucky.

Like those games aren't any fun. I mean, Arkansas, if what's-his-name can't survive this year. I think it would be fun for Indiana to play Tennessee just from a color standpoint. It would be who's your red in that nasty Tennessee orange just because you can't get two things more opposite of those two.

And look, Tennessee's eh, Indiana's on the rise. So I'll take Tennessee. Why not? Well, OK, a couple of thoughts. First of all, I can't. We shade at Tennessee football. What world are we living in? Why not?

I wonder that, Trent. A couple other thoughts that I had. Are you really picking the match up here based on the primary color wheel we learned when we were five? And secondly, did you forget that wheel? Cause you just said red and orange couldn't be more different.

Okay, but you've got Indiana red. You've got the Indiana red and then whatever orange they call themselves, orange in Tennessee. It's not a pretty orange by any means. and I just think the color contrast would be cool. Yeah. Yeah, okay moving on Well, I mean maybe maybe that maybe this year About next year Ryan Herring's where would you want the Badgers to travel to maybe not Tuscaloosa?

Yeah, we're going there this year, baby. Let's go. Honestly, I don't know, nobody, maybe that conference needs to win a title before they start trying to squawk about, coming up to play in the Big 10 country. It is really fun to see SEC coaches and teams and programs start to get really, really kind of a little uneasy

about the shift of the power. I kind of enjoy it, Loki, but if I got to pick a team for the second tier conference who hasn't won a title in a couple of years here, give me Arkansas, we'll call it the bread Beelamable. Obviously they kind of came in in the middle of the night and swept him off his feet to go down there. And yeah, give me Arkansas.

That feels like another program that has a lot of people that like good food and good beer, which is that's what Badger fans do. So yeah, let's go Arkansas. Let's do a home and home there. That's like the greatest sound bite pitch for Wisconsin fans ever. We like good food and good beer. That's it. We'd like our football team to be good, but we only get that once every few years. Don't need a quarterback. Just give me some beer. Yeah. Jay Stevens, Locked Out Buckeyes. Where would you want Ohio State to go? I got a few places I would like the Buckeyes to go. One is to Gainesville, play Florida. Now to the Bayou, play LSU, Oklahoma,

and give me Alabama. Why not just go there and just play those teams? This is hyper rotation. No, you're're not gonna play all four in one season. But I think all four of those schools, I'm being generous to Florida right now because they really haven't been on Ohio State's level in quite a long time. But I think it'll be nice to go down there and play the Gators for once.

Just for the record, goings for schools that would have cool contrasting colors, Florida's blue against Indiana's red. That those are different. Those are very, very different. I don't want to go to the swap and not because of Florida's team, just because dude, it's hot down there and the people are kind of crazy. I'm good. Well, okay. That means you don't want to go. That means you don't want to go. I thought he's from Queens. Yeah, some guy from Queens just hopped into the chat. That definitely was not our locked on Gators guy. Trent, where would you send the Hawkeyes in the SEC if you had a choice?

So we got a border rivalry with Missouri, played them last year in a bowl game. A lot of similarities there. Arkansas is a very drivable trip. So those would be the best places to go. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point.

I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point.

I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's a good point. I think that's with Missouri, played them last year in a bowl game. A lot of similarities there. Arkansas is very drivable trip. So those would be the ones that would make sense. And yeah, of course it would be cool to play a Florida, a Georgia, but I'm living in reality. I was not going to get a scheduled matchup like that. Kentucky with the Stoops angle, obviously him

and his brothers all played at the University of Iowa. Kentucky would make a whole lot of sense. So yes, the big name brands would a whole lot of sense. So yes, the big name brands would be a lot of fun. I like to live in reality, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, probably the more likely ones. See that's a humble man who knows what his program is. Don't, don't reach for the stars. Just stay in your lane and understand that. You should try this Spencer. It works well.

Well, I don't have a team. I am neutral arbiter of all things college football, of course, but yeah, anyway, Zach Anderson, Yaksheimer, where would you send the Bruins? I mean, I've been to three STC places, been to LSU, been to A&M, been to Tennessee. Obviously the easy answer this year would be Tennessee. I would think the real answer I think would be spicy, but I think within the realm of possibility, Auburn. I think Auburn

would be a respectable, unique choice. Wasn't that on the schedule at one point, Zach? Yeah, you know, when it comes to all this scheduling for UCLA to cancel it and they're going to probably throw it back on the schedule and the big tennis, you see happens, that'd be pretty funny. They were supposed to play Auburn and Georgia, I think, coming up before they wanted to play Utah and, you know, Cal. By the way, speaking of UCLA and the SEC, never forget that wasn't LSU supposed to play

you guys again a year, or was that Michigan that canceled? Michigan canceled. Yeah, okay, that was all right. Michigan canceled, okay, nevermind, I got that. And UCLA's beaten LSU, sweat Tennessee, that's all right. It's all right. Michigan canceled. Okay, nevermind. I got that. And UCLA's beaten LSU, sweat Tennessee. That's all I'm saying.

Beat Texas A&M in one of the greatest college football comebacks. So when it comes to UCLA versus the SEC, not bad in recent years. That comeback was with Bruins legend, Josh Rosen. Am I correct? Yeah, when it doesn't get louder, over 60,000 fans in College Station.

That was his legendary quote the year before. So when they have clearly, what were you saying, Mark? No, I was gonna say, I thought you were done. I was just gonna interject something. Well, you're allowed to, you're allowed to. Go ahead, in case George turns USC down, this is a way to get Lane Kiffin back at USC. USC will miss.

See, and this is why scheduling should be done on a short-term basis for these matchups. Imagine if you just scheduled a home and home, you know, like every year, or every other year, I guess it would be, because right now, if you were to start them in the odd years, you would of course have UCLA play Tennessee. Who isn't watching that game?

You would of course have Ole Miss play USC. Who doesn't want to see that football game? Like give me all the coaching drama in non-conference games, any place that we can get it. Cause good non-conference games are more fun for everybody. And they can help you make the college football playoff, which is going to look like, oh, who knows? Who knows?

We're talking about that next. Good transition, Brandon. This episode is brought to you by our friends at FanDuel, the NBA Playoffs are in full swing and every night delivers highlight worthy performances, major momentum shifts and can't miss moments. Whether it's a game winning shot or a breakout player, there's never been a better time to get in on the action. FanDuel makes it easy to stay in the game before tip off and live. They've got player props, performance trends, same game parlays. Fans have more

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Those can all be wagered upon over at Fandl. And if you're new to Fandl, it's the perfect time to sign up. Head to fandl.com, place your first $5 bet. And if it wins, you'll get $200 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with Fandl.com, place your first $5 bet, and if it wins, you'll get $200 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with Fandl, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, so, Herrings, I do want to go to you first on this because you said something earlier that I, too, am enjoying, and that's that the SEC is, you know, still really good,

but they don't just dominate everybody. Haven't played in the national championship game in the last two years. Big 10s of course won two in a row and will be in a good position to win three. I don't know if they will because maybe Texas gets in the fold, maybe Clemson puts himself in that conversation.

But whatever happens with this new plan, I just had the same reaction as you, like I just keep seeing the SEC kind of squirm. All the coaches and the commitment, Greg Sankey was so defensive the other day. He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what did I do, man? I mean, I'm just running college football. I'm not a bad guy.

And we're like, okay, Greg, none of us believe you, but keep talking, keep talking. Yeah, it's funny. Like, listen, his job is to stoop for the SEC, right? Just own it, just own it. Just own that's what you're trying to do. But in the big picture, the idea that, whoa, we're gonna have somebody left out.

Like, I'm sorry. You're gonna have four teams guaranteed. If your top four teams aren't gonna make the title, your fifth team's not going to either. Just like suck it up, man. The last two years, like this has shifted a little bit. And if you follow the money, which generally means a lot in any type of sport, the Big

Ten is 100 million up on the SEC. And that revenue gap is probably going to continue growing. So there is a bit of a shift here. The SEC is uncomfortable with it. That's what happens when the bully gets knocked off the pulpit and the Big Ten is the new powerhouse in town right now. And they are a little uncomfortable with it. And I got to tell you, I kind of love it.

Yeah, I'm with you there. Everybody can pay players and starting to level the field. Speaking of paying players, Mark over there at USC, uh, your thoughts on the potential changes that are arriving at the playoff? I was going to ask you, do you have anybody left in your class? Um, I don't have, I don't have a class personally. You see all this, this is, I've got some college football stuff. There's Walt and Mickey, of course, and then some Mariners bobbleheads. So neutral arbiter of college football. Which

bobbleheads though? There Felix Hernandez is up there. Griffey is up there. I think Edgar's up there. I think each rose up there two or three times. And I think I think there's a Richie sex and bobblehead in there as well. No Oregon national championship. Okay, we're good. Nice. Okay, that was unnecessary. But anyway, Mark, my question to you was about all these proposed changes or formats or what

could happen with the playoff. We have 4-4-3-3-1-1, 4-4-2-2-1. We have 5-11. Like, I don't know, what do you make of this? Yeah, that 5-11 one kind of made me chuckle a little bit. If the SEC can't get their way, they're gonna make their own way. So they're talking about,

well, look how many teams we got into the baseball tournament, look how many teams we got into the basketball tournament. And it's like, so what? Play a better schedule and then maybe we'll talk about your proposal. I'm for it. Give me the four automatic bursts in the SEC and

in the big conference. Everything else, let's just go from there. Play your nine conference games. Shut up. Put on your big boy pants. No, USC, Oregon, Washington, you know, UCLA. We've been doing this for years. Nine conference games is not that big a deal, folks. And you can play Notre Dame in the same season. It actually happens. I think that's one potential benefit of this expanded playoff. I find the whole thing repulsive, of course,

but we might get there goings and that would be better for college football, right? If Alabama's not playing Mercer before they play Auburn every year. I mean, yeah, just take those types of games out. And I understand the argument of, well, those types of teams that, yeah, the Mercer's or, you know, South Alabama, whatever the case may be, those teams have to have those games to make the money to fund their program to stay alive.

I get that. But man, we're in a different era. We're just we're moving out of that to where it's not the responsibility of Power for Schools to fund the smaller schools. How do you fund those? I don't know. I haven't thought that far ahead and I'm not on enough to figure that out,

but you've got to find a way to make it as equal as possible for those at the top, which is the SCC, the Big Ten and the other Power Conferences. Make it as even as possible until you get to the post-season. However many teams you get in there, awesome, and then see what happens. But the Big Ten needs to do their best to attach the hit to the SCC in terms of however many

they get in, we gotta get in there too. Yeah, it seems like they're gonna do that. I don't know what's going on with your audio there, Goins, but hopefully it gets figured out for everybody's sake. They went scheduling Mercer in the Citadel and Wolford because they wanted to make sure those programs survived. That was probably way down on their list of, let's schedule those guys again. I don't think that, those games don't have to go away. They just need to not be played at the end of the season because you are not playing another conference game. That's my whole, I whole finding everybody's point.

Play nine conference games get two buys. Do it that way. There is a solution. All right, Jay, I'll throw this to you. Four auto bids for the Big Ten, four for the SEC or one for each. And I personally, I'd go for five auto bids for the conference champs and 11 at large. I know some people are anti-committee influence. I'm not, I'm pro-committee man. No, I'll go five auto bids for the conference champs and 11 at large. That's the only thing I like about this whole thing.

I still don't even like conference champions getting an automatic bid, but among the three options we have right now, that's the only one I like. I can't stand their scheduling between the SEC and the ACC with those bottom feeder schools that they're scheduling. I don't care if it's the beginning of the year or the end of the year. I've never been a fan of that.

Even when Ohio State does it. I get why Ohio State schedules Youngstown State. I don't care. It's not needed. There is no level in sports at all where you're going to say, if we're going to be, let's say the NBA started scheduling G league teams We would go crazy about that, but we're okay if in Oregon or Wisconsin schedules FCS school it doesn't make any sense to me. So maybe I hope that push those things away and

At some point which it was not gonna happen Just get the top 16 teams, conference champions or not, and seed them. But I know that won't happen. These people don't care about doing what the right thing is. They care about dollars and cents. I get protecting your conference and your team and your school and all that, I get it. But I don't think what they're doing

is gonna make themselves look good in the long run, but they don't care about that. If their pocketbooks get bigger, they're happy. Oregon had an easier time beating Illinois than Idaho last year, fun fact. Trent, do you think that the 16 team playoff is the godsend that Iowa football needs to get into the playoff?

Not necessarily. I mean, Iowa's been on the cusp many times and a lot more than a lot of programs that are out there. This is the one part though that is a little bit frustrating for me because when the concept came up where you got the number one and number two seeds taking each other on in the championship game,

three versus six, four versus five, that gave something for programs like Iowa that is attainable. How many years in the new Big Ten is Iowa gonna finish in the top two and get to a championship game once every Generation every 25 30 years that they're gonna be in the top two but to finish in the top six

That's attainable for us for Minnesota for Wisconsin for Nebraska for Illinois I'm gonna take name off 10 12 programs inside this league that that is something attainable It was something to shoot for if we go back to five automatic bids for the conference champions and then have 11 at large, you know what it's gonna be? It's not gonna be the Iowans. It's not gonna be the Wisconsin's. It's gonna be the bigger name brands

that are gonna get the benefit of the doubt. And we're gonna see a bunch of those name brand, not in three and even eight and four teams are gonna get in and it's gonna be frustrating. Trent, I was just gonna say, Trent, I love that you talk about Iowa like a guy who's decently good looking, but is way too scared to go out and ask the girl on a date. I oh no, no, that could

never 45 years. That will never happen. No, no, not me. Not me. Sorry, Mark. How can you be for the five and 11 when you were just a minute ago promoting better out of conference scheduling? I think the five and 11 promotes scheduling down to get those, you know, 11 available bids. Well, if again, if I had my way in college football, teams wouldn't actually get to choose their own schedules.

Yeah, you would have a you would have a rotation of conferences that would match up against each other in the non-conference. Your one would play your one, your two would play your two from the prior year, and so on and so on, and when there are extras and the numbers don't match up, you just kind of figure it out. That's what I'd like to do. But to answer your question,

because it's not a world we're going to live in, the answer there is that you as a team have to give the committee a reason to like you, to vote for you. And if you are, and by the way, we've talked about the big 10 SEC, but we haven't mentioned the ACC and the big 12, for instance, which have plenty of good teams

and plenty of quality programs that can boost your resume year in and year out. Imagine if you had Arizona State on the schedule last year, going into the year, it doesn't look like a lot. Suddenly they're the conference champ. And if you had a non-conference win over them, you'd be able to hold that up to the committee and go, oh, look, look, look, look what we did right here,

beat the big 12 champs. So that's, that's my point. I want to give Zach a chance to weigh in here. I mean, the only thing about 511 is what I put when I'm lying on a dating app. But. That was good. Zach got himself so good with that one. He's going to take himself out of the show.

There's no better moment on squad shows than when people bring their own personal trauma to center stage. Nothing, nothing's better. Anyway, cherry tomato, go ahead and keep talking down there. Zach, that's you. Who else has a face that red? You look like a copy of Jacob's shirt. Just get Tennessee orange and you'd say that.

What are tonight at the loop? Ideally, if we're getting back on topic, you keep those terrible matchups and maybe you throw those into spring games, you throw those in week one, so you can mix and match weeks one through four with good games, bad games on the other networks, and then you just sprinkle those in so every team gets a bad matchup of sorts to,

a spring game if you will, a warmup game, and then your ideal prime time matchups so every team gets the love. Theoretically, that's not gonna happen, but in my perfect world, we all get a medium team, a bad team, one good non-conference, and then a good nine-game schedule. No automatic bids outside of the conference champions.

If it's four for the Big Ten, four for the SEC, that's just ridiculous, and we're just ruining the sport, which we're already heading towards at the moment. Let's have 32 teams, let's get crazy. I don't know, that's obviously not the real answer, but 16, five, six champions, you know, at some point, there might be another conference that's gonna form that we don't know at this point.

I think we just have to, you know, keep those small schools around. But as you mentioned, Spencer, they can't be happening in week 11 for the Iron Bowl. We need to get a caliber of blinds for Zach that matched the professionalism he just put on display to get through that segment. Make it happen. Locked on. Just let it know. We're we're asking.

I tell you what we're asking next. How many games does USC win? Mark's going to have a field day and the rest of us are going to dunk on in my hope. field day and the rest of us are going to dunk on him, I hope. You guys ever see we lost somebody? That's OK. You guys ever see that family guy clip where Meg gets dunked on by Peter? Like every episode? No, like, no, I mean, like, I mean, like literally physically dunked on with the with the fake college admissions thing.

Yeah, anyway, I guess no diehards in the chat. But that's all right. Mark, we'll start with you. USC off a thrilling seven and six season last year. Was it seven and six? Or was it? Look into it with an SEC win and an SEC. Right, right.

SEC win sandwiched on the end. But hey, it just means more. There's Goins, he's back now. Seven and a half the win total for USC. For those listening who don't have USC schedule, memorize they start with Georgia Southern. Correct me if I'm wrong, Mark. They start with Missouri State.

Missouri State. Sorry, they start with Missouri State, then they play Georgia Southern and correct me, I was, thank you. Correct me if I'm wrong. That is the return to Los Angeles for clay Helton. Oh man. Teams going to be fired up in week two.

So USC starting one in one, then they go at Purdue host, Michigan state at Illinois host, Michigan at Notre Dame, maybe for the last time at Nebraska host, Northwestern host, Iowa at Oregon and hosting UCLA Seven and a half is their win total according to our friends at FanDuel mark over or under Oh, it's over. It has to be over or else the Lincoln Riley era or what could be We eight would be, for me, would be the bottom. I mean, that's the worst he could possibly do this year and get any sort of quarter from me where I can say, go stand over there and we'll talk.

But right now I'm really, really, really disappointed in you. This team has to be a nine, 10 win season. There's just nothing to say about it. You're going into year four. He's had enough time to work with recruiting, to work with the transfer portal. He's got the staff in place. He's been able to transition from Swiss cheese defense

to a pretty good defense. Pepper Jack. There you go. Zach is on a roll tonight, man. So you're going to the year two with Dan and Lynn and Zach knows how good of a coach Dan Lynn is right. So you brought in a Rob Ryan as a linebacker coach you've got you've got the continuity going.

I can't believe those guys are still coaching. Rob Ryan? No no just the Ryan's in general. I thought they were done coaching like eight years ago Sorry They do really well wherever they go. So that's what we're hoping it just they continues as long as he's still alive, but Lincoln Riley is out actually transitioned to becoming a more balanced coach. He's got a defense he can lean on now. I just I can't imagine he's gonna go two years in a row with a with a pedestrian offense. So if he can get the offense now to catch up to defense, there's two games on the schedule. It's at Notre Dame, it's at it's in Eugene, it's at Oregon. Those are the two games that you're saying, all right, if USC can win everything else, they're 10 and 2. My trap game is the Michigan State game,

just because it's that only one to go on the road to what's supposed to be a good Illinois team. So it's that Michigan State, Illinois, and then you've got, again, Notre Dame, Oregon. Everything else on that schedule. If USC doesn't win, it's a bad, bad, bad year. The road schedule is kind of brutal at Illinois, at Notre Dame, at Nebraska, at Oregon. I mean, I've seen better.

So Mark's going over. Herring, seven and a half for the Trojans over under. Yeah, I think it's over. Although I don't think it's going to get to the nine or 10 that Mark is kind of trying to get there. You know, there's some tough games still, you know, Michigan coming in, isn't going to be easy. Iowa coming in, isn't going to be easy.

Iowa can turn games into ugly, ugly. Oh, come on. How hard can Iowa really be? Ugly affairs. I mean, didn't USC have the best punter last year though? Right? USC had the best punters. So let's get to, it might be a battle of the punters. Yeah.

How many games in the fourth quarter? I mean, they were, how they were a bunch. Yeah. And listen, I love Lynn. I think, I think much like James Franklin has demonstrated Penn State, sometimes is that the biggest thing you can do as the head coaches make the right coordinator hire. Like he did with Coldwell, Nicky on offense.

I think Lynn is a home run for them. You saw it immediately in year one. Because of that, I have them hitting the over, but I actuallywell Nicky on offense. I think Lynn is a home run for them. You saw it immediately in year one. Because of that, I have them hitting me over. But I actually got some questions on offense. That quarterback on the offensive line, I think I won Michigan can both give them troubles. I like their receivers, but I'm going to put it at eight. I think it's over.

I don't think it's more than eight though. And that's not going to get people off of Riley's case if it's eight wins this year. Zach, I'm going to let you go last so you can save all the takes and react to everything in your most prepared fashion. Trent, you unnecessarily took shade from me for no particular reason.

So I'll let you chime in here. You go to Los Angeles. It's not exactly known as the most hostile environment to go to, but it's a road game where you're traveling two time zones and that's not easy. It's not easy in general and it's even worse for Iowa. Iowa historically, I mean dating back for 40 years to early Hayden and Freyera is awful out on the West Coast.

A couple of trips to Arizona and Arizona State. They got a Big Ten championship team in 2004, got beat 44-7 by very average Andrew Walter led Arizona State team. So this has been a death you saw last year on a Friday night they went out to UCLA we know a pretty pedestrian UCLA team they played by far their worst football game of the season out there out of Friday night against US UCLA. I think it's going to be the same this year there'll be 25-30 thousand Hawkeye fans it'll go out there The Bumblebees will be buzzing around LA, and they'll walk around with another loss,

because Kirk Ferentz, he goes to the West Coast, and he loses football games. I had the over-under, eight and four. And the thing I like about the USC schedule, I think that has maybe a chance to be better. Two tricky spots. That Michigan game, another team, by the way, historically really struggles on the left coach.

You get a bye week before that. And then that road trip to Lincoln, a bye week before that. Schedule makers worked out, I think, pretty well for USC. Jay, your pick on the Trojans here, 7 and 1 half. I'm going with 8. And it was one thing. I was all of the show. I've been thinking about under, under, under.

I've redone my notes here on my notepad. And I think eight is where it's going to be, eight and four. For them to get nine and 10, nine and 10, they're gonna have to do some things that even the coaches would think would be otherworldly. I don't think it's gonna happen at all. I think eight and four for Lincoln Riley in this year with that roster is a win.

It's not a win for USC, because their standard should be 10, 11, 12 wins every single year. I just don't think this team is gonna have that this year. Their schedule's pretty easy for them, honestly. I mean, some of the road games are tough. Michigan going out there, that'll be a tricky one. I'm going eight, eight and four.

I'm being, I think, nice to them right now? Maybe not. They host Michigan, by the way. But I'm with you think nice to them right now. Maybe not. They host Michigan by the way, but the right I'm with you that the road games I mean Purdue is in there and goings has plenty of thoughts on what you know that trip will be but hey Barry Odle will be looking for that signature year one win to ignite hope into the fan base there. So goings everybody has gone over so far, seven and a half for USC. Are you taking the first under?

Well, hopefully my audio was fixed. I left and came back because I had to jump in on the USC conversation. They're going under, okay? They're gonna start 4-0. They're going to start 4-0. Mark, they're gonna start 4-0. Everything's gonna be fine.

Lincoln Riley's job's gonna be saved because they beat a crappy Purdue team and Michigan State who can't travel West Coast. They'll start for an O. They'll then lose four straight. They will lose four straight games to Illinois, Michigan, Notre Dame and Nebraska. Three of those are on the road. Michigan out West will be a very fascinating game.

You have a good chance to beat Northwestern because they're terrible. Iowa game. You see LA. chance to beat Northwester because they're terrible. Iowa top of game. UCLA, I didn't mean it that way. UCLA, you're going to get that game, but you're not going to win in Eugene. I have them going seven and five and maybe USC can move on from this dumpster fire that has been Lincoln Riley and find a coach that can win out there. They're going. Mark's face is starting to boil. Like I said, Clark Kent, Jimmy, it's... Go away, kid, you're bugging me. What'd I think? Seven and five?

You're just mad because your team's going seven and five, Mark. Alright, Zach, the stage has been set for you. Is UCLA gonna beat USC when they shouldn't again? Oh, hello. I mean, I would say, obviously, that the battle for the victory bell is much tougher than much people give it credit for. The big thing is, I remember Mark, when we went to the UCLA win total, he said UCLA was going to win four in a row

and then lose their next state. Well, USC will start off four now. And I'm not going to say they're going to lose their next state, because that's a stupid proposition. But I'm really stuck with this Illinois, Michigan back to back right there in terms of the scheduling. I think they lose to Illinois. I don't think they necessarily lose to Michigan,

but they could. The last ever game at Notre Dame for a while, of course, joke hopefully intended there. Going to Nebraska back to back. Those aren't easy trips. I know Notre Dame still searching quarterback wise, but they're coming off a strong season. Nebraska is under year two of Dylan Raiole. You got a whole bunch of tough games on the road. And to just say UCLA is an easy win at the

end of the year. If USC is faded, that would be a big win for UCLA, who's won the last couple of times in the Coliseum. I of course, of course have to lay my foot down and say they're going under, but it's definitely on the line between the seven to eight. They got the seven and a half total, right? But they're going under. Sorry, Mark. Well, look at that.

We've got two unders. That's what listing 511 on the dating apps will get you. I will take them just ever so slightly over, just with the law of averages, because you lose so many close games last year statistically that's not going to happen again. And I think Dan Tien-Lyn is really good. So we'll make an official prediction.

I'll go over over seven and a half but definitely definitely under 10 wins. So I think we wrap it there for the week. Mark Culkin locked on USC. Ryan Herring's locked on Badgers Zach Anderson Yoxheimer locked on UCLA Jacob Gowans locked on Hoosiers Jay Stevens locked on Buckeyes and Trent Condon locked on Hawkeyes I'm Spencer McLaughlin locked on all over the place we'll see you next time on the Big Ten Squad and hope you have a wonderful rest of your day