Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Could the Big Ten expand and why that would be good for the Iowa Hawkeyes

Episode Date: July 22, 2021

With the news that Oklahoma and Texas are looking at the SEC, we discuss what impacts this could have on the Big Ten and why expansion would be good for not just the Big Ten but also the Iowa Hawkeyes as well.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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. 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 a Thursday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and today's episode is brought to you by the live NBA Draft show. NBA Draft GOAT Chad Ford, Lockdown NBA Draft host Rafael Barlow, and Lockdown NBA host John Corrales will be live this year covering the NBA Draft. It's Lockdown NBA Draft 2021 brought to you by Built Bar.

Get local expert analysis on each pick. Follow Lockdown NBA on YouTube today and watch our live coverage on July 29th at 7 p.m. Eastern time. And I don't need to remind you that there are going to be two Iowa Hawkeyes, Joey's Camp and Luka Garza, who are likely going to hear their name called on July 29th. So you're going to want to tune into that Locked on NBA draft show. It's going to be quite a doozy and we'll be breaking all of these selections down from

an Iowa perspective here on the show after that. Coming up on today's show, Oklahoma and Texas rocked the world with a little bit of a bombshell that they are now denying. They have supposedly been in conversations with the SEC about moving over to the SEC. And while that doesn't directly impact the Big Ten, it does have quite an indirect impact. impact the Big Ten, it does have quite an indirect impact. As you probably know, the Big Ten did explore maybe a super conference of 16 teams. That has been in talks for a while from a lot of different big time conferences. And if the SEC does decide to expand, you better believe the Big Ten is going to be looking to expand as well. That's at least my thoughts. So we're going to be talking about that today. If we have some time, we'll get into media day coverage and kind of what our questions

are going to be. But if we don't, we will talk about it tomorrow. A couple of quick notes. I do want to make sure I cover because I think it's important. We talked about Tyler Goodson making a run for the Doak Walker and nice little pun there with the run thing I did. I didn't even mean to do that, but Tyler Goodson has officially been named to the Doak Walker Award watch list, which is very exciting. Again, I do think he has a good chance, but it is going to require him at least 250 carries and getting a lot of those red zone opportunities.

And then Luka Garza was named Big Ten Athlete of the Year. There also was a poll that came out from media in regards to where they think teams are going to be finishing in the Big Ten for football. We might get a chance to cover that as well. Spoiler alert, Iowa was picked to finish second, but did receive some first place votes. So we'll try to get to that as well. If not, again, we will cover it tomorrow because we are back Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We have shows for you.

We'll be back next week as well. And Friday, we have shows for you. We'll be back next week as well. So with that being said, let's hop into the conversation. Breaking down the news, Oklahoma and Texas supposedly have decided or tried to have some discussions in regards to moving over to the SEC, which would make the SEC have 16 teams. Currently, they have 14, 7 in the east, 7 in the west. Texas and Oklahoma would move them up to 16. And

everything is an arms race in college football. When someone does something, the next person wants to do something bigger and better. The Big Ten has already kind of screwed the pooch on this one before, trying to be the first one out of the gate. And that was with the COVID

items that popped up. They decided to cancel their season. No one really followed suit. And that made them look bad. Not saying that has any inclination at all with what I'm going to talk about now. In fact, that has literally no correlation. I just thought it was interesting. But this is a situation where the Big Ten is trying to establish itself as the top conference. The SEC from a football perspective is undoubtedly the top conference. I think the Big Ten has an argument in some cases, but if the SEC expands to 16 teams, I believe the Big Ten could follow suit as well. And if they were to do that, there are several teams I think would be quite interesting. There's also several teams I think people are going to

link the Big Ten to that they probably wouldn't. But let's at least take a step back in time to discuss when the Big Ten decided to add Maryland and Rutgers. It was a big move adding Maryland and Rutgers. With the Big Ten, I think it's important to note that they do have relatively rigorous standards from an academic perspective to ensure that the schools that are going to be joining the conference uphold those academic standards. They also want to find schools that are geographically relevant, or at least that's kind of how it's looked like. And you might say, Maryland and Rutgers, what? I think what they wanted to do was they wanted to expand that reach over to the East Coast, expand the reach of the Big Ten, bring in new viewership, and also potentially impact the recruiting as well as teams will

have a little bit more exposure to those kids on the East Coast. Unfortunately, Rutgers has been slightly above atrocious in pretty much every major sport football. They've been pretty bad. They are on the uprise. Basketball, they were bad. They finally kind of got out of their funk or their 30-year funk this past year making the Uprise. Basketball, they were bad. They finally kind of got out of their funk or their 30-year funk this past year

making the NCAA tournament. Women's basketball, they are outstanding. I'll give them that. That is tons of fun. They do compete pretty well on a wrestling standpoint, but when you think about the two major sports, the three major sports really, women's basketball, men's basketball, and football, two of those three, Rutgers has been behind the eight ball.

Maryland, football-wise, has not been ablegers has been behind the eight ball. Maryland, football-wise, has not been able to keep up with the Big Ten. And basketball-wise, they have had some solid seasons. They've been a solid contributor from a men's basketball perspective and a women's basketball perspective. But I would argue adding Maryland and Rutgers just didn't really do it for the Big Ten, right? It was not the same addition as Texas A&M to the SEC. So when the Big Ten decides to possibly expand, it is important that they get it right. I think there are several factors. Again, you got the academics, you have the prestige from an athletics perspective, you want something geographically relevant, and you also want something that could possibly impact potential earnings.

So when you think about geographical relevance, if you were to bring a team in from Ohio, where you already have Ohio State, you're more than likely not going to be getting that much additional viewership from a Big Ten perspective. So they do want to think about that and be kind of clear on what that means for them. So again, the SEC supposedly, in talks with Oklahoma and Texas, or Oklahoma and Texas, I should say, reached out to the SEC to discuss joining the conference. This doesn't have a direct impact on the Big Ten or on Iowa,

but it does have an indirect impact. Coming up on segment two, we're going to get into that impact, though. A few teams that I think might lead the Big Ten, or one team in particular, and teams that I feel like would make sense to join the Big Ten, and why is that important for Iowa? I'm going to talk about a few potential rivalries, or one rivalry in particular, and why I actually think Iowa State would be a good addition to the Big Ten. Now that's a controversial take. I'm looking forward to getting all the hate mail from you all, but I want to talk about

that. That's all coming up on segment two, and possibly segment three of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Before we get into that though, I do want to let you know that this episode is brought to you by rockauto.com. With the ever increasing numbers of makes and models, it is now impossible for your local chain auto parts store to stock all the parts you need. Why endure often pointless or seemingly intimidating questioning and wait while the person behind the counter orders the parts on their computer, which you can actually do yourself from your computer and not be limited by their limited warehouse. So go to rockauto.com right now. You can save a lot of money and get all the parts you need in just a few easy clicks delivered directly to your door. I actually saved $50 by going to

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We're going to spend this segment, too, talking about two teams in particular, two teams that I would argue Iowa lives rent-free in their heads. Yes, I am talking about Iowa State and Nebraska. Let's touch on Nebraska first. I also should have mentioned they joined the conference as well when I talked about Rutgers and Maryland. But Nebraska, and not, you know, whatever, not same time exactly, but they did join the conference relatively recently.

Nebraska, though, to me is a very interesting team. They joined the Big Ten. It made a lot of sense from a geographical perspective. They have some natural border rivalries, right? I think Iowa and Nebraska could be a really great rivalry. We're going to look back in 50 years and say, wow, that's an amazing rivalry, a ton of hatred for each other. Nebraska has been living in the glory years for a long time. The 90s are their best friend, but they can't seem to catch up to the fact that they have not recruited well. They have not hired the right coaches. They have not developed those players. And right now, Scott Frost is honestly a sinking ship, in my opinion.

A guy who blames his players, throws them under the bus. I don't care which way you swing it. You listen to his press conferences. I don't believe that's a guy who truly has his players back. But nevertheless, Nebraska persists on, and every year they have high expectations and high hopes. If you were to only go based off of a spring practice, you would think Nebraska has won a national title the last 20 years. That's how, what's the word I'm looking for for some Nebraska fans? Delusional?

Now, not all Nebraska fans are like that. There are plenty of good ones out there. We just hear most of the bad ones on Twitter, which is why Twitter can be such a fun place to be at. But anyways, Nebraska, since they've joined the Big Ten, they have not really experienced much success. They thought they were going to come in here and dominate the conference. They have not been able to keep up with the physicality. They have not been able to keep up with the other teams. Nebraska, since joining the Big Ten, has been a complete disappointment. And I'm not trying to

rip on Nebraska in that regard. They just absolutely have. They have been a complete disappointment. They bring nothing from a basketball perspective. They started off strong. They've had some pretty good seasons even. But 2011 is when they joined. 9-4, 2012, 10-4, 13-9-4, 2014-9-4, 6-7, 9-4, 4-8, 4-8, 5-7, 3-5. Again, they started off strong. They had a few good years, but that wasn't good enough for Nebraska. They wanted better.

And since then, they have really struggled to find their footing in the Big Ten. So I think it is important to remember that they did have some strong seasons at the beginning of their tenure in the conference. But since then, they have really fallen behind the eight ball as teams have surpassed them. Also, it's worth noting, Iowa was struggling a bit in that time period as well. So definitely something kind of interesting there. in that time period as well. So definitely something kind of interesting there. Now, Nebraska since this time has not done great.

And I would argue doesn't really fit in the Big Ten. When I talk to Nebraska fans, and I do talk to several of them, actually one of them is one of my best friends. I watch almost every Nebraska football game because he loves Nebraska. He lives out here in Denver. I watch almost every Nebraska football game because he loves Nebraska. He lives out here in Denver. And when he thinks about the Big Ten, he truly thinks the Big Ten is conspiring to screw Nebraska.

That's how he feels. Look at what happened last year when the Big Ten decided to shut down the football season. Nebraska was rumored to have tried to get out of the league. It was rumored to try to get other games. They even requested other games after the Big Ten was reinstated, and they were not allowed to do so. Basically, every which way Nebraska tried to create a season, they got shut down by the Big Ten.

And then the powers that be just continually give Nebraska Ohio State. Now, I wish I was kidding about that, but when you actually look at their schedule, they truly do get Ohio State quite a bit. I find it kind of funny, but when you look at Iowa and the fact that they haven't had Ohio State for several years, and then you look at Nebraska, they are just getting rocked with that scheduling. And yes, a lot of it is not intentional, right? The scheduling has a set methodology for how teams are getting scheduled out, how they are getting those crossover games. But Nebraska just keeps getting Ohio State. In fact, they have played Ohio State

the last five years. Since 2016, they lost 62 to three, 56 to 14, 36 to31. That was a close one for them. 48-7 and 52-17. If I'm Nebraska, I'm getting sick of that. I'm getting sick of having to play the same freaking team that destroys me year in and year out. If I'm Nebraska and Oklahoma and Texas leave the Big 12, I look at that and say, you know what? We might be able to win a conference here. We might be able to go back to being a Big 12 powerhouse.

There is going to be a better opportunity for us to win in a conference that does not include Ohio State University or even Wisconsin, Penn State, Iowa. I mean, these are schools that Nebraska has not been able to keep up with for the last five, six years. If I'm Nebraska, I'm looking at the Big 12 and thinking, heck yeah, let's get out of here. Also, in that same time span that Nebraska has played Ohio State, Ohio State has only played Iowa once. In fact, Ohio State has only played Iowa once since 2013,

where they beat Iowa 34-24. So again, if I'm Nebraska, I'm trying to get the hell out. Go. Fine. Honestly, I don't feel like Nebraska adds a ton. I think it's a great, it's a fun rivalry. I would actually classify it as a rivalry at this point, but it doesn't really mean a lot to me if it were to leave. And honestly, I'm just so annoyed of the delusional Nebraska fans out there.

Sorry. I know that's not all of you. I know it's only a contingent of you. Uh, but that it's just a lot to handle, uh, the unrealistic expectations. And I want to be very clear. I think Nebraska being good in the big 10 is really great for the big 10. I think Nebraska being good as good for Iowa as a rivalry game. But if I'm Nebraska, I'm looking at the big 12 and saying, there's a better opportunity here. And I'm going to go take that opportunity and leave the Big 10. Especially when, if I'm Nebraska, I feel slighted consistently year in and year out by the Big 10 from a scheduling perspective.

And by the fact that they are constantly blocking me from being able to do the things that I want to do from a football perspective. Now moving on to Iowa State. Iowa State is a team that a lot of people feel like we shouldn't be playing in an annual rivalry game. I actually would disagree now. And it's very easy, right? Year in and year out, if Iowa State's good, that makes Iowa's non-conference schedule very good. I think the chances of that non-conference game, that CyHawk rivalry game going away, is very slim any time in our lifetime.

I just don't see it happening. So with that option off the table, I'm trying to do the option that works the best for Iowa, and that is putting Iowa State in the Big Ten. Now, would Iowa State want to do that? I don't know, actually. They have a chance of winning the Big 12. That's a huge opportunity for them.

But geographically speaking, it makes sense. From an Iowa perspective, it actually makes sense too. If they are able to play Iowa State in conference, that now opens up another non-conference opponent for Iowa. They don't have to schedule a tough team by any means, but they can schedule other teams. Right now, the problem with Iowa's non-conference schedule is that they have to play nine conference games. They only get three non-conference games, and one of those has to

be Iowa State. So now you're going to get two cupcakes for those other two games because any reasonable school is going to look at that and say, we're playing 10 powerhouse, not powerhouse, power five programs. We do not want to add on more to our plate than we need to. You put Iowa State in the conference. Iowa plays them every single to. You put Iowa State in the conference, Iowa plays them every single year. You put them in that conference, Iowa gets to play them every single year. Now you open up a possibility that Iowa can now schedule other teams.

Maybe they get a home and home or a home and away, I should say, with Arizona or home and away with Arizona State. How fun would that be to go down to Tempe and watch Iowa play Arizona State? A home and away with Oregon or a USC, something in the Pac-12, something we don't typically get to see as much. Heck, maybe even something in the SEC if you want to see that kind of a game. It opens up a world of possibilities for Iowa. So I'm here to tell you, if Iowa State

at any point gets rumored to go to the Big Ten, think about it from the standpoint of, we are probably not going to see that Cy Hawk rivalry go away from a non-conference perspective. So why not go right into it, shoulder into it, and utilize that as a conference game and find another non-conference opponent? That is my thought on that. I'd definitely be interested to hear some takes on that because I know there's a lot of opinions on the Iowa-Iowa State game right now this year. If Iowa wins that game, it's a huge win for Iowa because Iowa State is a very strong team. But can Iowa State keep it up? Can Matt Campbell keep it up? Will Matt Campbell stay? Who knows? I still don't think this rivalry is going to go away. So why not lean into it and play them in a conference

schedule and open up a non-conference opponent for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Heck, replace them with Nebraska. Let's go. I would be 100% okay with that. Coming up on segment three, I want to talk about a few other teams that I feel I could make interesting additions to the Big Ten that I actually find to be reasonably possible. That's all coming up on segment three of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. I do want to tell you about betonline.ag, the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all of your sports action. Baseball season is in full swing,

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And next week's episode, we'll be breaking down all the stuff we learned from Media Day. I'm very excited for that. What I do want to talk about is some teams I think could make sense to join the Big Ten. If I, or if not the Iowa, if the Big Ten wanted to, and I know this is not, we're not talking as much about Iowa. I'm trying to give you that, how this impacts Iowa. But I think it is important just to cover in general. So what are some teams I think would be interesting?

Let's get the main one off. Notre Dame is probably off the table. They would probably go to the ACC if they were to join a conference. That is where things are heading, in my opinion. But Notre Dame does have such a lucrative TV deal. I can't foresee that happening anytime soon. But Notre Dame would be a fantastic addition academically and athletically and geographically to the Big Ten and would actually bring in additional

viewership. But there would need to be some weird cost sharing or sharing of the funds that you would get. I'm drawing a blank here. Sharing of the funds that you would get from the Big Ten TV deals. That would be a very interesting one. A couple others I find that would be very interesting. Missouri, I think, could be a really cool natural rivalry.

They have really struggled in the SEC. I think they would make an interesting addition to the Big Ten. Geographically speaking, it does add that, you know, that Missouri audience a little bit more than what we probably are already getting if we are getting that at all. So Missouri would be an interesting one. And I think geographically, again, that could be an interesting rivalry for Iowa even. Oklahoma State, I think would be a huge win for the Hawks, or not the Hawks, but for the Big Ten. Oklahoma State would provide the good, solid football, basketball programs, wrestling. Oh my gosh, can you imagine the Big Ten wrestling with Oklahoma State there? What a Big Ten tournament that would be.

It would be electric to have Oklahoma State there. Geographically speaking, it moves down a little bit further into the audience, but not too much where it's unrealistic to handle that travel. Oklahoma State would be one of the odd people, odd teams looking out if Oklahoma and Texas move to the SEC. There's not a lot of proceeds in the Big 12 when you lose Oklahoma and Texas. Oklahoma State at that point, why would they stay in the Big 12? Go to the Big 10.

That would be amazing for wrestling. That would be a lot of fun for football, and it'd be a lot of fun for basketball as well. When you think about geographically speaking, or geographics, or geography, wow, words, Kansas and Kansas State, geographically speaking, make sense, but I don't think either of those teams would make good additions to the Big Ten. K-State is atrocious. Not a huge fan. I don't think that adds a ton. Kansas would be a good addition from a basketball perspective.

If we want to really strengthen our basketball conference and really become the elite conference for college basketball, that could be the case. I think we've already shown the Big Ten is probably the best conference in the country. Adding Kansas would undoubtedly make that true. And then when you factor in the fact that the Big Ten is the number two conference of football, I think the Big Ten becomes the premier conference in all college sports. Kansas would be a strengthening addition to that. But I think simply the fact that they are so bad at football would not be a huge draw for the Big Ten to look at in Kansas. And why not stay in the Big 12 where you can easily win,

not easily, but compete for a conference title from a basketball perspective. Some other schools, if you're looking East Coast, obviously they wanted to get Maryland and Rutgers into the Big Ten. So why not look East Coast a bit? Look at a Syracuse, a Boston College, or a Pitt. Pitt would be an interesting one because, again, Penn State would probably be happy with that. Penn State to Pitt is like Iowa to Iowa State. That would eliminate a non-conference game, give Penn State an opportunity to play a bigger team on a national scale and continue to build that non-conference resume. Penn State is one of those teams who has been screwed over by the fact they are in Ohio State's division.

They are constantly on the outside looking in. Getting a bigger non-conference win could really help them more so than it already has. That's a lot of teams there. The last team I would mention is Cincinnati. Cincinnati being in Ohio, again, I don't think from a television viewership it adds a significant amount, but Cincinnati's basketball team has been traditionally pretty solid. It would be getting a top group of five team in the conference and allow them to build off it.

It would obviously be advantageous for Cincinnati to do that. Football-wise, Cincinnati has shown they can compete with the big boys. It would be like getting a Boise State 10 years ago. That's where I feel like Cincinnati's program is from a football perspective and a basketball perspective, and it makes a lot of sense being in the state of Ohio, continuing to build out that Rust Belt region for the Big Ten.

That's my thoughts, though. Obviously, I think prioritization-wise, I would love to get Oklahoma State first, Iowa State second, Cincinnati third, Missouri fourth. Notre Dame would be the obvious one at number one, but I just don't think that would ever happen. So that's my thoughts on college expansion in the Big Ten

and how that would impact the Iowa Hawkeyes. If you enjoyed this episode, please just give us that five-star review or tell a friend about it. Let them know. You love the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. I also want to remind you that we are going to be going to YouTube soon, so that'll be a lot of fun. You can watch all of our shows on YouTube. I'll let to remind you that we are going to be going to YouTube soon. So that'll be a lot of fun. You can watch all of our shows

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Thank you all, Hawkeye Nation. We'll be back tomorrow. Have a fantastic Thursday. And as always, let's go Hawks.