Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - CONCERN? Iowa Hawkeyes STRUGGLE as Running Game Falters in Comeback CyHawk Win

Episode Date: September 13, 2026

Iowa Hawkeyes rally to edge Iowa State Cyclones 16-13, but offensive woes cast a shadow over the CyHawk Trophy win. Can Iowa’s running game find its footing before stiffer Big Ten tests arrive? Trent Condon breaks down the lackluster ground attack, Hank Brown’s up-and-down quarterback performance, and Tony Diaz’s emergence as a reliable receiving threat.Key topics include Cam Buffington’s defensive dominance, Tim Lester’s challenged play-calling, and special teams’ rebound from early-season struggles. With matchups against Michigan, Ohio State, and Nebraska looming, how concerned should fans be about Iowa’s offensive identity? Trent Condon questions whether this kind of inconsistent execution can carry the Hawkeyes through a grueling schedule. Don’t miss this honest postgame analysis of Iowa football’s highs and headaches after reclaiming the CyHawk Trophy.Photo: USA TODAY Network via Reuters ConnectSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!KALSHIFor a limited time, Download Kalshi and use code Locked On to get $25 when you trade $25. Kalshi. Trade what’s next.SupplyHouseVisit https://SupplyHouse.com/TM to learn more about becoming a Trade Master. Use promo code S H 5 College for five percent off your first order.SupplyHouse. Real people. Real service.Omaha SteaksShop proteins you can trust at https://www.Omaha Steaks.com. And right now, get 2 pounds of premium ground beef FREE with orders over $129 using code COLLEGE at checkout. Terms apply. See site for details.Aura CybersecurityStart your free trial today at https://aura.com/aware.Protect yourself now.WayfairTransform your space with pieces that hold up to real life. Join Wayfair Rewards today and get five percent back on every purchase.Head to https://Wayfair.com or shop the Wayfair app for all things home. Every style. Every home.IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast.SquareGet up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at https://square.com/go/COLLEGE ! #squarepodLARINECOGive Larine a try. Right now, Larine Co is offering our listeners up to 50% off at https://BUYLARINE.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE.5-Hour ENERGYBring on the sweetness with Cotton Candy 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots—available online now at https:/5hourENERGY.com or on Amazon.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelMake this Your Most Rewarding Season Ever with FanDuel. Get $350 in Bonus Bets — GUARANTEED — when you bet five dollars every day for seven days. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COMFANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Iowa rallies to beat Iowa State 1613 and take the Sihawk trophy, but major concerns remain. The Hawkeyes found a way to win, yet the offense running game and overall execution lead plenty to fix as the Hawkeyes move forward. You are Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in. I'm Trent and Condon, and this is the Lockedown. Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for being with us

and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Get $350 in

bonus bets guaranteed when you bet $5 every day for seven days. Join all the action at Fandul.com. Well, today we are looking back at

what we saw from the Iowa football team after their 16, 13, victory against Iowa State here on a rapid reaction podcast after making our way back from Iowa City.

We'll take a look at some of the issues going forward. And after feeling so good in game number one, maybe, well, we need to pump the brakes a little bit about this Iowa football team. We'll take a look at the numbers and a stat breakdown of this one and including the quarterback as Hank Brown takes all the snaps at QB for the Hawkeyes in this one. Well, let's get into it here after Iowa finds themselves trailing 10-0 in the second quarter of this one. They can rally back and get the win 1613. Now, of course, the big story is what we saw late in this game.

the field goal to tie it, and then another field goal to take the lead to eventually get the victory as Caden Boer gets the win in this one. Two fourth quarter field goals, one with 622 left to play. That tied things up at 13 apiece, 32-yarder, and then the 42-yarder to take the lead with 15 seconds left as Iowa gets the win 16-13. Look, this game did not go the way that I think any of us envision coming in. if you're a Hawkeye fan, and I'm sure you are listening right now, I definitely know that your expectations were a lot different than this.

Talking to people throughout the course of the week, we had so many question marks about this Iowa State team. It felt like it was going to be easy going. I think one of our major takeaways is, Northern Illinois is a terrible football team. And though we said that last week, maybe we need to take it a step further, what we saw in week number one definitely should not be taken as gospel.

out of Iowa. Now, you can credit Iowa in this one, and you could say, hey, they found a way to win, tough circumstances, and absolutely, you're going to take that. Look, when you haven't beat your rival in your home stadium since 2018, that's definitely going to be part of the conversation. You found a way. It doesn't have to be pretty. You got the victory. I was stayed a one three out of four in the series. So you walk away with that. Certainly, you got the win. But this was not great. This was not great football overall. And as you go through, through really the most surprising element to this football game. And as Iowa State was selling out to stop the run,

as Iowa still couldn't run the ball. Kamari Moulton, he tried. There's nothing there. 15 carries 57 yards. Hank Brown, eight carries 22 yards, and they used him a lot more than I anticipated, not in the run game throughout the course of this one, and not just scrambles, things like that,

but design runs for Hank Brown. Nathan McNeil had a couple of good carries after Bolton, exited the game with the shoulder injury late in the fourth quarter. Xavier Williams 3 carries three yards. They use DJ Fonami in the run game on a weird kind of end-around kind of thing. This was not a great game for Tim Lester. Like this is not going to be at the top of his resume when he's putting together his tape and whatever the next stop is for Tim Lester.

This is not going to be one that we're going to remember the offensive coordinator. What a great game plan that he put together. It's befuddling to me. When you have a preseason all-American left tackle and a pre-season all-American at right guard and other pieces that you're confident in and you struggle this much to run the football. Iowa State will give them credit. They sold out. That's a good defensive front seven for the cyclones.

But it also turned into the Hank Brown show. 21-30, 191 yards. That's a good stat line for Iowa football. The big one, as they were coming back down 10-0 in the game, the big strike to Tony Diaz, who led the way eight catches 95 yards, and he is just different on the football field. When you're talking about a game, though, you're trailing 10-0, you come back and win at 16-13.

Well, you know that the defense is also going to be a big factor. And speaking of that defense, Cam Buffington, we talked about it a week ago. Cam Buffington just looks different out there. The speed, the sideline-to-side line way that he plays, he is all over the place. He's in the middle of every single tackle. He is just there making plays all over the field.

He finishes with 15 tackles in this game. Nine of them solo tackles. He had 10 more tackles than anybody else on this Iowa defense here today. Cam Buffington, star the game, give him the gold star, him along with Kid and Boar. Those are the two guys, definitely, that you've got to give the gold stars to in this one. lots of elements, but it's weird. It's just odd to me as we sit here. And he got the win, but you could feel it was never going to be comfortable.

You could feel that early in the football game. Iowa State game to play. Again, credit, fine. But I don't think we expected this. I thought it was going to be inside the number. We talked about the points spread over a fan duel this week. It was 14. I thought Iowa State was going to hang around.

but it was just, it was the way that this thing played out. You know, Kurt Ferrence afterwards, he seemed encouraged with the effort. They finally got away, found a way to win against Iowa State, even with 83 new players on that roster. Jimmy Rogers, the head coach for Iowa State. Is that going to be a problem going forward? It kind of feels that way, the way that he is building that program. But it was disappointing.

Yes, positive you won. But I'm not going to put here, stickers and sunshine and rainbows on this victory for the Hawkeyes because it just didn't feel that way. It's a win. Great. But there are different levels of winning. And I didn't walk away feeling positive.

Like, I'm not going to sit here and stomp on the grave of Iowa State fans and not going to, oh, it's a Hawkeyes. No, I don't think that can be your takeaway in this. If that's your takeaway, I think you're missing a lot. I think you're missing a level of just how poorly Iowa played. It's so many elements of this game. And most importantly, the run game. This is your backbone.

This is what Iowa football is built on, is that running game. And the struggle like they did, it's hard to get excited. It's hard to get excited about, yes, even a victory against your rival. We'll come back on the other side. I want to talk about the quarterback. and what we heard all throughout the spring, into the summer, during August camp. It's an open competition. And both guys were going to get an opportunity.

And then going into the game today, both guys are going to get an opportunity to get the football and get a play. And yet, even as Hank Brown got off to an incredibly slow start, that wasn't the case. Hank Brown played well. But he didn't play well early. What does that say about the Iowa offense and the quarterback? back spot going forward. Is this thing over? Is it Hank Brown's job?

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Dot com. Try kind of back with you once again here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast as we react to the 1613 victory for Iowa over Iowa State. Now, you can see my voice or here, my voice is a little bit wrong, getting back from Kinnick Stadium in the stands for that one. Great to see a lot of old friendly faces throughout. the course of that one over in Section 109 and a big shout out to everybody out there.

So the voice, we're struggling a little bit because we're hearing for a lot of third down stops trying to get the football back and eventually Iowa gets it done. What to get into quarterback. And I found it very interesting because Hank Brown early in the football game was not very good. And though things started to pick up, I just, I find it incredibly interesting the way that this has played out. Jeremy Hecklensky doesn't seem like Kirk Farns this kind of guy. He's got a little bit more to him.

There's a little bit more personality. There's a little bit more gunslinger to him. Though he doesn't have a rocket arm. And there are limitations physically, not just in terms of stature, but in arm strength and those kind of things. We saw Jeremy Hecklinsky played an incredibly high level. And this is not in the knock right now in Hank Brown. Hank Brown, without Hank Brown, I don't know if I will win this football game

because he was incredibly solid. 21 to 30, 191 yards had the big strike to Tony Diaz. He played all right. Better than all right. That's not even fair. He played better than all right. But a real quarterback competition. We talked about this last week with David Eichol.

If this is a real competition, then probably Jeremy Hecklinsky should have got the start. But they didn't go that direction. And even after three straight poor drives, you still didn't get to see Hecklinski. He looks like Hank Brown's a guy. And if that's the case, let's just do it. Don't go into the UNI game, say, oh, we're going to play both guys again. No, don't. Give all the number one reps to Hank Brown.

Live in the bed, sleep in the bed that you're making. Because if you don't, what's going to happen when you go to Michigan? You saw that Wolverine team how great they played against John Matier. An excellent, talented quarterback for Oklahoma. And they had him in a blender all day long. And now with an offensive line that does not look nearly as good as we thought it was going to be after this one. We're going to continue through the non-conference of the two-quarterback system, but it's not a two-quarterback system. Let's just stop.

Call for what it is. Yes, if something happens to Hank Brown or Hank Brown struggles, all right. Maybe his leash is not as long as a normal starter. We know under Kirk Farrants, you normally get an incredibly long leash at the quarterback position. Well, let's stop the dog and pony show. Hank Brown's your starter. You'll go from there, give them the number one reps, give them all the opportunities, and get ready. And go into the U and I game, yes, because Iowa likely is going to blow out U and I,

then you're going to see both quarterbacks. But enough, just move on from it. We'll move on from that. Mention the running game and the final numbers in this one. Kabari Moulton finishes the football game after exiting with the shoulder injury. 15 carries 57 yards for Kamari Bolton averages just 3.8 yards per carry. Nathan McNeil, two carries for nine yards, had that seven-yarder. Late in the football game, Xavier Williams, three for three,

and then the one for DJ Fanami. In the passing game, Tony Diaz, eight catches in the football game, 95 yards. Tony Diaz is different. Boy, that guy is good. Kamari Moulton coming out of the backfield, six catches, 31 yards for him. Reese Vandersy had three catches for 32 years. yards two for DJ Vonami for 25 yards including a long of 13 yards. Thomas Meyer also had a catch in the game, as did Evan James as he gets a first catch

in Hawkeye uniform and I'd Asen Strangie was also targeted in the game. We talked about Kinber and what he was able to do, knocking in those two field goals. And what a great story that is after the struggles a week ago, missing the extra point, missed another field goal in that game, bouts it back and going three for three in the game. But speaking of special teams, how about credit to Boston Everett? You know, we had questions about the freshman from Australia, what he was going to look like. He's playing American football for the first time. He looked apart.

I thought very solid overall and outside of letting a ball hit by Evan James when he was back in punt return, had a couple of decent returns also from Reese Van der Z, which was really good to see. Special teams definitely a step up from what we saw a week ago. Finally, in the stat pack here as we look at this football. game. Iowa finishes with 13 first downs of the game against just nine from Iowa State, but defensively. Cam Buffington, he had 15

tackles in the game all over the place. A couple of tackles for loss also from his running mate at the linebacker spot with Jane Montgomery, who finished with four tackles, but did have two tackles for loss in the game. Five tackles for Jalen Watson and Bryce Hawthorne. Hawthorne once again playing very well

in the middle of that defense. Definitely he stepped up in a big time way. Yose Eponessa. He combined along with Jacob Wallace for a tackle for loss. I thought Jacob Wallace playing in a more physical brand of football game. We wondered about that 425 look with the cash position, the extra safety in the game or defensive back, however you want to talk about it. Definitely thought he showed up in a big time way. So wait, I guess we just say that.

So let's go forward. Let's turn the page from this one and just take an all-encompassing view of this Iowa football team. Game number one was great against Northern Illinois. Game number two is a victory. but not the victory we thought. Coming back on the other side with more, stay right there. This is your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast,

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Visit Fandual.com to get started today. Make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandu. That's Fandul.com. Today's episode is also brought to you by game time. College football is in full swing, and you are planning all year long to get to your tailgate and get you set up. Sometimes the best memories come from the games you almost missed. Game time makes it easy to find tickets to college football matchups you want to see with prices that include fees.

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has got, game time, excuse me, has you covered. Get your friends together, get your tickets, and tell them it's game time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply, again, create an account and use the code locked on for $20 off with game time. Try to back with you one final time on an instant reaction podcast here. So we talk big picture now, the issues going forward. And as we talked about the running game here today, it's just not good enough. I was not in a position, even with the emergence of Tony Diaz at the wide receiver spot

that they're going to be able to go out there and beat teams just chucking the ball around the yard. It's not going to happen. It's not the way that they're going to be built. And we've seen in the past that they try to do that. It's not going to go well. So you go back to the running game. And we'll go back and we'll watch it. We'll have a recap for you coming up on Sunday night.

We'll get a fine-tooth comb through everything and see exactly what it is. This was disappointing. Even in a victory, it was, and specifically the running game. To not be able to run, even against a team that's selling out like Iowa State, at least frustration. I thought this team was going to be past that. And when you look at a matchup against Michigan, Ohio State, Washington, even later in the year, against a team like Illinois, We'll see what Northwestern looks like at that point. Nebraska, who's off to a good start this year.

You can't afford this. That is, I think, going to be kind of the top line item. He's figuring out what went wrong against the Iowa State defense and how he can fix that. Because if Iowa football is not able to run the football against good opponents, it's not going to be a very good year. It's not a stretch. It's not a wild take.

It's not what this is. As you can tell, I need to rest my voice. We'll be back with you Sunday night, and we will take another look at this football game. And we'll see, maybe a second look. Maybe my eyes have deceived me of what we saw. Late night here in Iowa City, back to Des Moines. Glad to be with you, though, each and every day on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Make sure you hit subscribe if you're watching us on YouTube.

If you're on the podcast side, five-star reviews, all that helps get us in front of more Hawkeye fans. I need some rest. We'll talk to again tomorrow. Until then, go home. Hawks.