Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Big Ten midseason review: Where do the Iowa Hawkeyes stand and who's going to win the Big Ten East?

Episode Date: October 21, 2021

We are joined by Locked On Spartans host Matt Sheehan to break down what is going on in the Big Ten. The Iowa Hawkeyes dropped a game to Purdue and no longer control their own destiny, but their path to the Big Ten Championship game is clear and all preseason expectations are still on the table. Also, is Nebraska the second-best team in the West? We discuss that before going through the East and trying to figure out which of the four ranked teams will come out on top.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!SweatBlockGet it today for 20% off at SweatBlock.com with promo code LockedOn, or at Amazon and CVS.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.PrizePicksDon’t hesitate, check out PrizePicks.com and use promo code: “LOCKEDON” or go to your app store and download the app today. PrizePicks is daily fantasy made easy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back Hawkeye Nation to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. And if that music doesn't get you pumped up on a Thursday, I don't know what else will. We have a very special episode for you all today. We are joined by Matt Sheehan of Locked On Spartans. I want to take a second to thank you all for making the Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen. Every single day, Locked On Hawkeyes podcast can be found for free on every podcast platform,

plus YouTube, Monday through Friday. And Matt, Shane, and I, we're going to be talking about the Big Ten because we are both on a bye week. It's a great opportunity. Personally, I think my stress level, I need it. I need a second just to calm down and enjoy football for a second. Matt, you are in a spot where you're probably in a good mood. I mean, I think if you would have started this season and said

Michigan State would be undefeated at this point, you would have probably been pretty happy, right? Yeah, I would have thought maybe a meteor hit. Oh, I don't know. My program, practice facility. I don't know. A rocket falls down and hits Indiana's facility. Like, I would have thought a lot of disasters happened for MSU to get to 7-0.

But, no, it's just the offense works most games. Five and a half of the seven games that they've worked. But our defense is pretty solid. And, yeah, man, I mean, listen, it hasn't been a murderer's row schedule yet, but there are still some good wins in that 7-0 start here. I'm sure we'll talk to it. But, yeah, dude, I'm in a happy mood. I'm not even going to ask how you're doing.

Yeah, I'm doing poor, man. I'm doing pretty poor. I think if we had talked about this and said, hey, Andrew, I will be 6-1 heading into their bye week, and you would ask me how I felt, I'd be like, I'm pumped. I'm ecstatic. I'm very happy. But then when you look at this and you say Iowa's going to lose to Purdue

and get absolutely dominated by two players, just two, and a rotating set of trio of quarterbacks, I would have lost my freaking mind, which is what I did. But nevertheless, we're going to talk about Big Ten football all around because I don't know what the heck is going on in this conference at this point. Every team has some weaknesses. Wisconsin appears to be one of the worst teams in the Big Ten West. I would love to talk about that.

I've caught several Michigan State games. I haven't showed you, but i have this awesome setup now i have four tvs in my man cave with four recliners and so i can basically catch every game at any point and i'm getting really scared watching michigan state dude that offense with speedy nair and kenneth walker i'm like you're explosive you're incredibly explosive like might be one of the most explosive teams in the country is that is that too aggressive there i okay listen i would say i have no reason to not think that but i guess i do have a reason not think that like indiana follows us up pretty well but and i said this earlier in the

week in my pod that's like every team no matter how good or great you are like you do have off games every once in a while and especially when you're going on the road in a conference game against a team that's starting for a win also coming off a bye week. So head off to Indiana. Like they, they kept our trio of Kenneth Walker, Jaden Reed and Jalen Naylor beyond in check. With that said though, those guys are still healthy. They're still here. Like they still have their explosive legs, their explosive attributes. So, yeah, I mean,

I don't think it's going to be a long-term issue. I think it was just a little hiccup. Knock on wood. Yeah, I think that they'll pick up where they left off, hopefully sooner than later, hopefully against Michigan on October 30th because, oh, my goodness gracious, that is – yeah, that'll be a game. That'll be a hoot and a half. So, yeah, dude, it's been crazy.

It's interesting because when you look at Indiana's schedule, I kind of feel bad for them. Like Indiana finally has a pretty good football team together, and they just get quite possibly the worst opening half of a season in the history of college football. I mean, you have Iowa at home at Kinnick the first game in two years where fans are at, and Michael Pennington Jr. isn't completely healthy. You get Cincinnati, which is now number two in the nation.

I don't agree with that, but Cincinnati's still a good team nevertheless. Sure. And you get Mitch Kinnick saying is now number two in the nation i don't agree with that but since that he's still a good team nevertheless sure and you get michigan saying like this isn't fair to this point for for indiana you also have did they have penn state as well two weeks ago i thought they have penn state and also coming up they have ohio state so like in their first six or seven games like playing against number 10 michigan state was like one of their easiest games of the season it's's a surplacious lineup. I know. I feel horrible for them. I don't have a problem with them.

It makes the win doesn't seem as good, though, for any of our teams. Like I can't go back and say, man, Iowa beat Indiana. What a good win. Because Indiana has like two – they don't look as good from the national media perspective. But, like, if they played a schedule like Cincinnati, maybe Indiana is undefeated they'd be fine yeah I think they'd be a-okay but yeah like listen we know Indiana is a

good win like we have that agenda that we're gonna get to push but once you bring that up it's like well actually Indiana was a good they're gonna stop listening to you they're like I got two wins relax dude but no yeah but like listen like the Big Ten is also littered with teams like this too where it's like I don't really know what to think of them and i know we're gonna get to it later on but it's just complete up and down and starting with this michigan state michigan game on october 30th like it's fun like both sides of the fan base kind of have like this standoff here where they know that both teams are very flawed and neither have like any great win in their undefeated season so far like so far both of our best wins are against the same team nebraska like oh boy so like I don't know man it's like and I love this like I kind of tiptoed

along the line like we are both wildly insecure about our teams while we are still good maybe no I wouldn't say great we'll decide who's great on October 30th but while we're still good teams we still have glaring holes on each side like Michigan State's offensive line Michigan's quarterback play okay we can keep lying to ourselves and saying that that's an okay situation down there but i think they know it's not so it's yeah but that just makes us two of all 14 big 10 teams because everyone's got something going on this year even ohio state at times at times yeah i mean ohio state they've definitely gotten better i feel like since that oregon game but some weaknesses there as well i mean minnesota that first game carved them up I really thought Ohio State's defense was just ridiculous a lot

of open holes in the zone their defenders were not able to get anywhere near them on offense they're doing definitely a lot better a lot more explosive but they really live and die by that explosive play they get some of the the Big Ten defenses that isn't going to be the easiest way to get points a lot of teams in the Big Ten defenses, that isn't going to be the easiest way to get points. A lot of teams in the Big Ten pride themselves on not giving up the explosive play, like in Iowa. You did mention Nebraska, though. I want to talk about Nebraska because I traditionally hate Nebraska.

Sure. Yeah, Nebraska is terrible. I hate Scott Frost. I think he's a terrible coach. At a certain point, you have to realize it isn't the players. You've been recruiting all these guys for four years, and you can't do crap out. There's no reason why you should be losing every single game by three points.

At some point, you've got to pull it out. There's, like, a bad streak, and then there's just maybe there's something wrong with your program. And I think it's personally Scott Frost. But Nebraska, they are last in the Big Ten West behind Illinois, and they might be the second-best team in the Big Ten West. Not the Big Ten, but, like, they might be the second best team in the Big Ten West. Not the Big Ten, but the one and four in the conference are behind Illinois, they're behind Northwestern, they're behind Wisconsin.

They should be the second best team in the Big Ten West, and yet here they are. They might not get into a bowl game again. No, and if football games were 53 minutes long, Nebraska would be an awesome team. It's just like without fail, they find a way to shoot themselves in the foot and just give the game right back. And kind of like what you're saying was like, is it Scott Frost's fault or the player's fault?

I keep on like going on this rollercoaster of who to blame because after the Michigan state game, okay, the punter kicks it left when he should have punted it right. Okay. I understand that he threw the player under the bus. I'm like, well, okay. You guys also completely choked in overtime too. And then it happens again the following week or two weeks against michigan where martinez is just coughing the ball up willy-nilly near their red zone with three minutes to go and now it's like maybe frost has a point here maybe maybe the players are kind of really screwing this stuff

for himself but then again like you said you you're the guy bringing these players on and making sure that they're mentally right every single week or rather mentally not right every single week. So I don't know. It's just a whole blame pie and everyone gets their own slice. It's everyone's. It's fun. I was enjoying it. It's fine.

Well, my best friend's a Nebraska fan. So he's literally watching Iowa games and Nebraska games on our four TVs. And I'm just sitting there like, oh my God, I'd be so pissed off if I were you. I would never come back, yeah. I don't know why he does this to himself. He's watched the last four Iowa-Nebraska games with me. And last year, like, Nebraska just kept – and we were so hungover because we got very drunk on Thanksgiving. And just kept snapping the ball over Martinez's head.

And he's like, I have no feelings right now. I'm just hurting. I was like, I don't know what to tell you, man. This is rough. No, it's tough. And, like, I feel like their counterpart, too, over in the East, Rutgers, is kind of having an odd season, too. Because, like, I thought they were going to be fine this season.

Like, I thought Shiana was right in the ship, A-OK. Like, yeah, they have a murderer's row of games after their pretty solid start to the season. They've got what I think was Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, in that order. Perfect. You get to have some Northwestern medicine. When Northwestern has looked just awful.

Like, me, you, and the first nine people that listen to the show. Like, I feel like us 11 can go out and beat Northwestern. So, I feel like, great, Rutgers is going to get back on track here. Shiano Mann is going to get her done. And then, like, I know they're missing players, but, like, they got piped. They got absolutely ran in Evanston who does that so I don't know it's and this is a bad Northwestern team anyone who hasn't watched Northwestern

this is a very bad Northwestern team don't watch don't even watch it don't do it it's bad I had money on Rutgers I was like there's no way they lose this game Northwestern is Northwestern is Northwestern from two years ago they're just not a good team they don't have a quarterback they can't do it and like Ryan Hrlky, okay, great.

If you're really going to ride or die with him, that's not exactly your best bet. Hunter Johnson's atrocious. I don't know why you keep going back to him or start the season with him, but I thought Rucker was going to win that game, and I put money on it and lost. So I guess kudos to Northwestern. That was my lock of the week, too.

That was a three-unit play for me. Three units, why do I say three units? That's $10 for me. That's how heavy of a gambler i am on uh under the microphone here but yeah man it's like what the how is this possible because yeah northwestern's quarterback situation abysmal like i don't know i don't want to spend all this time talking about like two of the three worst teams in the conference yeah dude here we are sorry i love i did not expect three units to be $10. That was wonderful.

Big winner here, Andrew. That's right. That's right. I spent my Bilt Bar bucks one $10 bet at a time, baby. Just trade the Bilt Bars for a dollar, get $10, get it on records to cover. It's fantastic. Three-quarter. That's right.

Yeah. You're sweating out the whole day, though, man. That Iowa-Purdue game, I was literally perspiring terribly. And you know what the thing about that though is I have sweat block now. I don't know if you've tried those yet, but sweat block anti-personal wipes are literally amazing, man. Dude, that whole game, my palms were sweaty, but you know what wasn't sweaty? My armpits.

My armpits are great. And I was wearing a gray Iowa Hawkeye shirt, which I'm never wearing that again after that disastrous loss. But fortunately, the Iowa Hawkeye shirt can be redeemed for anyone else because there's no sweat stains in there because I had antipersonal wipes. These antipersonal wipes are literally amazing. Just apply it at night, go to bed, wake up. Your pits are dry.

You don't need to worry about what shirt you wear. It is awesome. Antipersonal wipes from Sweat Block are literally life-saving. I can promise you that. If you or someone you care about is dealing with excessive sweat, you have to check out Sweat Block. Get it today for 20% off at sweatblock.com with promo code LOCKEDON or at Amazon and CVS.

Matt, so we talked a lot about the crappy teams. Let's talk about some good teams. Yeah. I don't really want to talk about Iowa, but we can maybe do it. Do you have any questions for me about Iowa? And then we'll get into Michigan State, Michigan, and the other teams. Yeah, like how are you and how are the fans? Okay, so what I mean by that is do you guys still feel like it is the Big

Ten West for you guys to win? Like I know that you guys are tied with one loss to it's Minnesota and Purdue. Do you still feel like you're in the driver's seat though? Like are you still feeling confident or did last Saturday's game show glaring holes in your opinion that it's like, uh-oh, we might be in trouble here? I think, so I do think we're still in the driver's seat's like uh-oh we might be in trouble here i think so i do think we're still in the driver's seat and i feel comfortable that we're going to win the big 10 west unless we just have a colossal collapse but there's a concern that's showing and it is a team that has a strong secondary can do a lot of damage against us because you can just bring a ton of

pressure or if you have one or two good pass rushers apparently we're just not going to chip block anyone and we're just going to have our redshirt freshman tackle trying to handle a first team all-american potential defensive end so that is definitely concerning to me but i think overall when you look at it like iowa has the potential to win our defense is very strong most teams can't do what purdue did against iowa purd does that every year, but no other team can. I don't understand what's going on. I don't get it. Iowa changed up a little bit. They couldn't get pressure on the quarterback, so they were throwing some blitzes and throwing the cover zero, but unfortunately, we then couldn't cover David Bell. Our best corner was out. Our second best

corner, Matt Hankins, went down with a shoulder injury and then came back after four plays, but he didn't look the same. Also, he couldn't keep up with David Bell anyway, so it didn't really matter if he was injured or not. But we're not going to get a team like Penn State and arguably not a team like Purdue that can do damage to us in a myriad of different ways. Minnesota, to me, I feel like has several glaring weaknesses. Wisconsin and Iowa, if that game is anything –

if that over-under is anything over like 24 points, I think you have to take the under. Like that is going to be – I'm blindly taking the under. Blindly taking the under. It could be 19-and-a-half under. The only thing that's concerning about that is like Graham Mertz actually might be one of the worst quarterbacks in the Big Ten.

And going up – like Wisconsin's game plan has to be don't throw the ball, just run and hope we score. Because like Graham Mertz is going to be feasted on that Iowa in their secondary. So, like, that will be really interesting to me. But, yeah, the Big Ten, I think Iowa still has a very good chance. I think Iowa fans are just emotionally so distraught and disappointed because you didn't expect it to be like this.

That was a tough game to take. So, yeah, I think we have the chance, and we have a good chance of going to the Big Ten championship game. Like, all of our goals are on the table. No one expected Iowa to be in the college ball playoffs. I predicted 9-3, 10-2. Very, very good chance we have that. We could be looking at this after a Rose Bowl visit and be like,

you know what, as long as we don't get blown out again by Stanford. We could be looking at this and be like, this is a good season. No one's concerned about the Purdue game then. But, yeah, it'll be interesting. No, right. So, two more questions, and actually this has nothing to do with the Big Ten West, but rather an opponent you guys played. What should scare us about Penn State? Like, obviously things changed a lot when Clifford left the game, but before that, what was Penn State doing best? Was it Clifford related at all?

Was their defense, or what spooked you the most about Penn State before and also during the game? Yeah, so going into the game, I felt like Iowa matched up pretty well against Penn State. Their defensive line hadn't done that great of a job of stopping the rushing attack. What I wasn't expecting was that Penn State was just going to throw everyone at Iowa's offensive line and rely on their secondary, and their secondary is good. So that is definitely the biggest concern for me.

Honestly, offensively, they moved the ball really well against Iowa early on. Sean Clifford was doing a great job. Sean Clifford also threw two interceptions. I mean, like, it wasn't like he was perfect. It wasn't like he was having the best game of his career. They did a really good job moving it, but Iowa typically allows a touchdown in the first quarter every single game. I don't know what it was about Phil Parker's defense. Like, you're phenomenal after you let someone score on you in just the easiest freaking way. Maryland, Tally Tagovailoa drove down against Iowa. Iowa was a JV defense, and I was like, this is going to be a long day. And then all of a sudden,

Tally Tagovailoa has the worst day of his life. He should have ended after the first quarter. That's going to happen, but I think Penn State's secondary is freaking legit. Jahan Dodson is a stud. But Sean Clifford doesn't scare me necessarily. He's a good quarterback, but he still is the same Sean Clifford who makes a few mistakes. Yes, he can scramble. The running game isn't that good.

But their secondary is what's legit, man. It's a secondary. Okay, so, like, well, Sean Clifford isn't great. And this parlays my next question here of what your favorite part of that game was because my favorite part of that game was the drop-off between Clifford and their backup quarterback, who's name I'm blanking on right now. Trayvon Robinson. He was also a four-star recruit.

Like, this guy's been a assistant for three years. And what sport? Because I know it's not football. Like, my favorite part of the Iowa-Penn State game is you guys, instead of handing the ball off and trying to get a first down, you were to mean out the ball, knowing there would be time left to give it back to their quarterback. Like, and honestly, so two things.

One, it was an outrageously disrespectful move, but two, it was just a correct move to do. Like he couldn't, he couldn't connect with anyone. Like, so like, that was my favorite part of the game is the outright disrespect to need the ball out to punt it back to him with like 30 seconds left. It was such an Iowa thing. I know. It's great. I love it. It worked. It worked. like 30 seconds left. It was such an Iowa thing. I know. It's great.

I love it. It worked. It worked. I mean, so. Here's what I would say. Yeah, my favorite part was when Sean Clifford went out and he wasn't coming back in. Yes, I just said that Sean Clifford wasn't that great,

but Sean Clifford was at least moving the ball. And seeing what they have with Trayvon Robinson, I was like, unless this guy is like the second coming of Caleb Williams, like Iowa is in a great spot because they just started bringing the pressure left and right and there was nothing available for them uh yeah I mean that was definitely my favorite part of the early part of the game that Nico Regani touchdown man I was sitting on my couch my in-laws were there my two sister-in-laws there my niece there like what is going on why is he like hyperventilating watching football and then he catch the ball and I just start screaming and yelling.

I'm running around the house sprinting, sprinting, sprinting. Like, oh my God, that catch. I'll never forget that catch. Just, there you go, Rick Katie. He's gone. Like, oh my God, what an amazing, that was a beautiful play. Just so exciting. Hey, Kinnick at night.

And I talked about this in the Lockdown Big Ten podcast. Like, yes, it was a 3.30 game, but when it's going to get dark in the fourth quarter. It's bad. That's when fully time starts in Kinnick, baby. So, like, yeah, I took the Hawkeyes for that reason alone. No metrics, no stats or anything. It's like there will be no sunlight in Kinnick in the fourth quarter, and that's why I'm taking the Hawkeyes. And you know what?

Damn it. It worked, baby. So, let's go. Yeah. I got them down 17-3. I took them to, like, plus 7. And I also took them to, like, plus 400 to win the game. I was like, this is beautiful.

They're, like, literally the next thing. I'll shout Clifford's out. I was like, we won this game. This is going to work., plus seven. And I also took him to, like, plus 400 to win the game. I was like, this is beautiful. They're, like, literally the next thing. They're like, I'll shout Clifford down. I was like, we won this game. This is going to work. Let's go. Yeah, running off the flagpole, baby. Let's go.

Time for $10 more. Let's go, baby. That's right. This is a four-unit play for me, 1250. We're good. So, for you, like, are you worried? Do you feel like Michigan State's in the driver's seat to win the Big Ten East? Like, well, I mean, they clearly are. You went out, you're in. But do you feel like Michigan State's in the driver's seat to win the Big Ten East? I mean, they clearly are. You went out, you're in.

But do you feel like Michigan State's the best team? You know what? A horrible thing happened is that Ohio State had some get-right games against Rutgers and Maryland. They had some teams to smooth out their games. I would have loved Ohio State to play Penn State early on this season when they're still having their issues, or Michigan State or Michigan. But no, they've had two get-right games and then a bye week.

I'm going to need to see it one more time, and it's against Indiana. I think that they're back. So I think it's safe to say that they're going to be in the driver's seat here, sadly. But, yeah, Penn State fascinates me. I don't know how long-term this whole Clifford thing is, but just like you said, like, their defense is still fine to do great. But also October 30thth I keep lying to

myself and saying that like I'm not worried about it I'm fine like I go during like throughout my days not thinking about it even though truthfully I do it worries me um yeah so I don't know like ask me after October 30th I guess the best way to answer this question and our listeners have heard me say this a thousand times like I will start believing they can go to Indy if they're undefeated and up 14 at halftime against Ohio State in the second to last game of the season. Like that's how much it's going to take me to believe. Like I'm going to need to see an undefeated team go into Columbus and go into halftime up two touchdowns for me to start believing. That's fair. I mean, I'll play that game with you. I'll believe if Iowa gets past Northwestern and they're 8-1.

I think Minnesota's going to be better. One seems easier than the other there, I got to say. One seems a little more realistic than the other. Yeah. I think Northwestern is a little more realistic. You have a lot of those, bro. Also, I love the fact that Big Ten schedules all these, like, big-time games that somehow always work themselves out to be very difficult at the end of the season. Like the only thing that's like we're missing here is like if

Wisconsin was good and later on in the season, that would have been very interesting for Iowa, but like you Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State, have any of those teams, I don't think anyone seems to play each other. No, it's going to be Robin in November. Yeah. I know. Like we end the season with Ohio State and Penn State. And, like, in the years past, it was beautiful. We would end with Maryland Rutgers. So, like, unfortunately, it wasn't to get to Indy in the most recent years for Michigan State. It was, can we win two games to get to the Pinstripe Bowl?

Or can we win two games to get to the Red Box Bowl? Like, that was great. But now, okay, we've missed our two shift shots to end the season. And now we get Buckeyes on the road and then Penn state at home who might be playing for a spot in Indy. So I missed the days of yore when it was just Terrapins and Scarlet Knights back to back, but Hey, here we are. But no, it's honestly, it must be awesome for you guys and like everyone else in college football to

be seeing this round robin between these four teams and the season. But like, I hate it. This is horrible. Like I've been sweating out gate like i sweat out the nebraska game like i i get worked up over like even the ruckers game the west kentucky game i lost sleep over like now i gotta worry about like actual teams that play actual division one football like i might die i might not be here like in late november i it's does your wife get as upset with you about how upset you get at football because like i like woke up and I was like, how did you sleep? And I was like, I was literally dreaming about Iowa-Purdue on, like, last night. Like, on Sunday night I was dreaming about Iowa-Purdue 40 hours later.

And I was, like, having nightmares about that game. Like, that's pathetic. It is, but, like, I'm also pathetic in that regard too. But, like, when losses happen, I feel like I do a fine job of just dealing with them. Like, yes, they eat me up inside, but like here's it like when losses happen i feel like i do a fine job of just dealing with them like yes like they eat me up inside but i internalize it like i'm just a boiling pot of water but the lid's on i'm just silent i go throughout my day i had this conversation the other day it's like for example october 30th it's gonna be two undefeated teams michigan state versus michigan i'm more scared of who i turn into if they win this game. Like that, that is going to be me at my worst. Like I will,

I will black out not from alcohol whatsoever. Not, not from anything. I will just lose my mind and I don't know who I'm going to become. I actually, I know who I'm going to become. I'll be the worst version of myself. I will be loud. I will be boisterous. I'm not arrogant 364 days of the year, but that one day, if they went, Oh my God, I might get punched in the throat that day by someone i i don't know so that's that's where that's where the issue lies with me right now man it's like if they pull this out and that's when the demon comes out i'll be excited because your

your twitter feed is fantastic after a win um we're gonna talk a little bit more about that because it is it is truly phenomenal we've talked to iowa iowa has a lot of issues and a lot of repairs and if you need to do any repairs on your car, like that transition there, this episode is brought to you by Rock Auto. Dude, I'm trying some things out right now. They're working. It just seems to happen right now. This episode is brought to you by rockauto.com.

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car will ever need rockauto.com and you've heard matt talk about his three unit ten dollar plays uh basically that is just a a nice little betting term which means his units are usually three dollars and 33 cents it sounds like uh just a nice term to kind of which means his units are usually $3.33, it sounds like. Just a nice term to kind of give you some ideas of how we're going to bet on something. I do not have a $3.33 unit play, but here we are nevertheless. But no matter what, Matt and I are making all of our bets on BetOnline.ag. BetOnline.ag remains your number one spot for all the basketball

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Hawkeyes. I forgot what the odds were. It was good, though. In the neighborhood of maybe 8-1, let's call it. It was fine enough to dabble some money on and make a good return on it because Ohio State doesn't have a lot of sizzle. They're probably minus 250 to win it.

My real prediction is it's probably going to be Ohio State. I'm sorry to come on here and spew a boring take like that but i i'm just gonna keep riding them until they show me any different and yeah listen i week two against oregon didn't go so great they can rally with the best of them i mean so give give me give me ohio state but i'm not giving up on our Iowa Hawkeyes, Andrew. That's right. I appreciate you. Solidarity right there. Solidarity.

I appreciate you. It'll be interesting if Iowa does go to the Big Ten championship game and how they handle Ohio State. The last time they played 55-24, Iowa's defense is built perfectly to stop an Ohio State defense that literally just likes to be explosive and run the ball. Yeah, right, I know. Out-of-ball defense.

I mean, I think Penn State's defense would be a good matchup for Ohio State. Sean Clifford being back would be huge. If Penn State can survive the next couple games, get to Ohio State. I think Penn State could be a good team. No offense. I haven't seen anything from Michigan. Michigan State, what Speedy Naylor and Kenneth Walker have done is just truly impressive. But I don't know how you get past Ohio State.

But I think Penn State is a team I'd be very interested in betting on at this point to maybe get past Ohio State and make it to the Big Ten championship game. Yeah, no offense taken with that whatsoever. Listen, our offensive line coming off of the last game against Indiana, that left a lot to be desired. And listen, it's not like Indiana has an incredible front four either. But all of a sudden, like on Saturday, they look like they're the georgia bulls all transfers they're

all transfers i know and so like that worried me a little bit for like long-term success i still think listen obviously michigan state i think is a good team like they have the weapons that are amongst the best not only in the conference but the nation but it's can you can you block for them or buy the quarterback time for them to get on their routes and the offensive offensive line has been fine the whole season, but that's the thing. They've just been fine. So I don't know if they're going to have enough to overpower the likes of the Buckeyes and the Lions. I hope they can the Wolverines. Michigan may be an interesting case for Indy just because, like, I haven't watched a ton this year,

but when I have, like, they just remind me of what Wisconsin used to do and just, like, run the ball roughly 96 times per game, right down your throat. And then it's 13 times. And so let's say it's worked for Wisconsin, but I don't know if it works against like the likes of Penn state and Ohio state. So yeah, I thought it was going to be like Ohio state one, Penn state two, and then probably Michigan state three. Did you want to talk about disrespectful? It's Michigan going for it on a fourth down in the first quarter in their own

territory against Wisconsin to say say you know what great words ain't scoring a touchdown to get us we don't care if we uh if we don't get it we might need the ball that's how much we don't respect your offense like we'll just give you the ball right here in the red zone who cares like the guy was like 10 disrespect has been amazing this year i mean between james franklin and kirk ferens going back about injury gate, I mean, basically any time Scott Frost talks, there's always some sort of controversy. He's talking about Wisconsin and Michigan.

Iowa literally kneeling the ball, as you said, in the fourth quarter. Instead of like punting it or like doing the – sorry, instead of going for it, they're just kneeling the ball and punting it with Torrey Taylor and saying, good luck, you're not doing anything against us. Like there's just so much disrespect and I absolutely love it. Is it tough though for you that Michigan State probably could win the Big Ten West if they are in the Big Ten West? Oh, wow. That's a great question.

I've allowed myself to never even think about that, to be honest. Wow. It's like, here's, here's a great reference. That's very topical from a show that just came out. It's called SpongeBob SquarePants. And it's when they move bikini bottoms to a different part of the ocean. It's like if everyone pushes, like if we just push Michigan State, East Lansing to like Chicago

area, Northwest can share that area with us. We got enough alumni down there. Like, oh, that'd be just fantastic. I don't know geographically who switches over to the East, but yeah. Yeah. Wow. Now I'm going to be thinking about that the rest of the day. What if we were a Big Ten West team? I'll take Michigan State.

The East can have Purdue. Screw it. I don't want Purdue ever again. I want Purdue to leave the conference. I want Jeff Brown to retire. I want Dave Bess to go to the NFL. I'll trade Purdue for Michigan State every day. Well, you – okay, so you've got to do some legwork here then,

and you've got to get your Iowa friends to start building smoke around David Brom to LSU. Because right now it's like, oh, wait, is Mel Tucker going to take the LSU job? No, no, you've got to start getting smoke up. Like, oh, wow, did you hear that LSU boosters are targeting Brom right now? You've got to get those rivers in motion. No problem. Get him out of West Lafayette. I don't want him there.

It's obnoxious. I hate Jeff Brom. Sometimes I want to ask him there. It's obnoxious. I hate Jeff Brown. Someday I want to ask him, like, what did you do against Iowa? Like, what did Iowa do that pissed you off so much? They were studying. He's like, we studied Iowa's defense and offense in the offseason for a long time. Like, why are you studying Iowa's offense?

What are you learning from Iowa's offense here? And then, like, coming out with a three-quarterback system, that was intentional, not because you didn't like your three-quarterbacks. That was incredibly intentional. Oh, my God, I'm getting huffy and puffy again about it. Anything else you want to say about the Big Ten, though? Because we've been going on for a little bit about it. I'm just sorry about last week.

That's all. I guess we didn't mention Maryland too much. All right, that's all I wanted to do. Maryland, you guys think that? We'll fill it in for Illinois too much. That's it. All right, that's all I want to do. Maryland, do you guys think that's it? We'll fill it in for Illinois as well. We mentioned Illinois. Illinois, they wear orange. They are a team that plays football.

That covers the Big Ten, I think. I think we just covered the team. We did every single team. That was actually pretty impressive. We're going to need two little fillers there. Well, Matt, as always, it's a blast having you on. If you are a fan of the Spartans or just like following, honestly, some ridiculously hilarious takes, great memes,

and just sadness when Michigan State loses any time, you got to check out Matt Sheehan. Yeah. Your sadness stuff, though, like you sitting in a snowbank with like a beer in your hand, just depressed. Like, I'm sorry to laugh at your your place but it's just it's just hilarious you gotta follow matt sheehan though and make sure to check out the lockdown hawkeyes podcast wherever you get podcasts at have a phenomenal day y'all as always let's go hawks