Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - CROSSOVER: Iowa Hawkeyes LIE IN WAIT for Unsuspecting Oregon | Will Kinnick CLAIM Another Victim?

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

Oregon Ducks vs Iowa Hawkeyes: A Big Ten Clash of Titans in 2025Will Iowa's Kinnick Stadium magic derail Oregon's championship aspirations? Hosts Spencer McLaughlin and Trent Condon break down the highly anticipated 2025 matchup between the Oregon Ducks and Iowa Hawkeyes. From Iowa's upset potential to Oregon's defensive line dominance, every angle is covered. Spotlight on key players: Iowa's transfer QB Mark Gronowski and Oregon's rising star Dante Moore. Can Gronowski elevate Iowa's offense? Is Moore ready for the Big Ten spotlight? Plus, insights on Bear Alexander's impact and Iowa's historical upsets against powerhouse programs. Tune in for expert analysis and bold predictions on this future conference showdown.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Rugiet150,000 men have made the switch →https://Rugiet.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGEUse code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE to get 15% off your order!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL 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)

Oregon-Iowa, a big ten rivalry renewed some would say. That's a real conference game on the schedule this year. Upset Alert or Blowout, all you need to know about that game on this Locked On crossover edition of Locked On Ducks and Locked On Hawkeyes. You are Locked On College Crossover, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team, every day. Yes, it is that time once again for a crossover edition of Locked On Ducks. I'm Spencer McLaughlin and Locked On Hawkeyes, that is Trent Condon. Thank you all for making this your first listen or your first view of the day.

Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team, every day and everything you could possibly want to know about Oregon and Iowa this year is discussed on today's show, which is brought to you by our friends over at FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, November 8th, Oregon will be off a buy, I'll get back to that in a moment

and just, you know, I'll remind you of that. No less than seven times throughout this episode, Trent. But I still can't wrap my mind around fully. This is a conference game, but here we are. Like this, I never, when I started hosted Lockdown Ducks, I never thought, yeah, well one day, Trent and I are gonna do this crossover show. Right. You know, of a conference game.

But crazy things have happened at Kinnick Stadium over the years. I've seen it with my own two eyes, not in person, but on television, which is kind of the same thing because it's HD. It's that. Yeah, okay. Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. That's a very fair point.

But for you as an Iowa guy, Yeah. Do you feel like Iowa is capable of upsetting Oregon this year? I really do. And we've joked about it, right? We've joked about it. People that watch our Lockdown Big Ten, that our squad show,

when you try to play middleman, and I have to bring up that point. I am a neutral arbiter of all things college football is the phrase you're looking for, Trent. That's actually, I was trying to come up with that phrase. I couldn't remember the exact verbiage that you used with my wife and as I was explaining what we were doing here in our crossover edition.

But there is just something about this game. Because yes, I know on the national scene, I know for you on the local scene, people I'm sure in Oregon look at this game and say, come on, you mentioned the bye week leading into it, Iowa, the jokes, the punch line that has become the last half decade of their offense. But people also forget that even with that, the step forward that they made a year ago going from the dreadful 15 points a game in baby Huey, Brian Ference's last year as the offensive coordinator to what they did a year ago, still without a passing game. And they averaged 27 points a game in baby Huey Brian Ference's last year as the offensive coordinator to what they did a year ago still without a passing game and they averaged 27 points a game and

now with what we hope is a real quarterback this year is there another step forward so you start with that point what they do on a year to year basis even with that dreadful offense on the defensive side of the football and one of my biggest things that I go back to a year ago look Wisconsin sucked. That was a awful Wisconsin team a year ago. Iowa, by the way, put 42 points up on that Wisconsin team a year ago. And you guys struggle making their way to Camp Randall a season ago. The night environment that could be a possibility for that game, or maybe another way, the

early morning environment that could be coming for Oregon if that that is beginning kickoff at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Whatever direction that we're going, I have history on my side, there is a belief. No, when you go square by square, lineup versus lineup, team versus team, player versus player, yes, Iowa doesn't match up, but Iowa's made a living now for the past,

I don't know, 35 years of these kind of matchups and winning these types of games. I understand, on the grand scheme of things, when you look at it and break it down that way, yes, Oregon should be favored. Oregon should win this football game, but there are just something about the way that that schedule sets up,

a November game in Kinnick Stadium. I've seen it too many times to say that Iowa doesn't have a chance. Do you know the three times that Oregon and Iowa have met in in football Trent? Well I remember two of them. I do not remember the first meeting back in the 1940s. I do remember though the 1989 game vividly. The reason, I'll tell you this, is because it was awful. Forty-four to six. But.

I don't know, forty-four to six. Hoo, boy, I tell you what. They say history repeats itself, Trent. I was a youngster. I was nine years old at the time. I got a couple of years on you. So I do remember the game very vividly. I remember sitting reading the Big Peach.

That was our newspaper. As the sports section on the Sunday newspaper was actually in peach big thing at the Des Moines register back in the day. However, I remember it vividly. Well, I remember reading about it I remember listening to portions of the game and very quickly turning it off So the other part though that I remember very well is I became enamored with Oregon because a they kicked the crap out of my Hawkeyes and as a little kid Oh, look at this team, that's kind of fun. And then a couple years later when they went to the Rose Bowl, I said yeah, that's my team

with the Donald Duck up on the emblem. So Oregon actually, as much as I love to give you crap Spencer, Oregon's always had a soft spot in my heart. And as they were building throughout the 90s and into the early 2000s, what this program has become, I yes have always liked Oregon. Until now, because now we are complicated rivals. So yes, my duck fandom is now gone. Yeah. Heated rivals these two schools. The last time they met in a major sporting event was the 2021 NCAA tournament where I remember that one. I have a vivid recollection of that.

I remember texting a friend during that game, Dana Altman should just get a lifetime contract because Oregon had won via COVID cancellation against VCU. And then they play two seed Iowa and LJ Figueroa and Chris Duarte and Eugene from Eugene Omaroui, RIP Bill Walton, just absolutely torched him. But interestingly enough, the three matchups between Oregon and Iowa came during the Truman administration, the Reagan administration and the Clinton administration. So when you said a few years, I think we need to increase that total by just... I'm getting old.

That's right. I'm getting old. You got to get off my case. I'm the old man here. And boy, I'm hanging out with some of you young guys here on our Lockdown Network. I feel it a little bit more often. Our buddy over at USC, he at least makes me feel a little bit... I think legitimately he's the oldest host at the network. I want to get this back to the game itself.

Now on the surface, Trent, this does scream trap game. Oregon doesn't have a look ahead factor. They do have a Friday game against Minnesota after this matchup against Iowa. The trap game factor is it's Iowa. And if you're at night, that's when I always remember the crazy upsets at Kinnick taking place in my life. When Ohio State went there in, what was it, 20, hold on, hold on, 2018.

It was 2018. He had a catch out of the college football playoff. Yes, national college football show host right here. OK. I'm way too proud of that poll. Let me tell you, that was pretty good. When they went in there and just got absolutely positively blessed, that Ohio State team was as good as Oregon fans

myself included hope this Oregon team will be. I think it was maybe even more experienced than this particular Oregon team. I push back on that suggestion, though understandable, a little bit on the trap game part, because Oregon will be coming off a bye. That to me, from a scheduling angle, and look, I'm a podcast guy, maybe I talk about schedules more than anybody else does and these sorts of breaks, but I see it play out all the time. It's one of many reasons I'm not confident about the Penn State game. Penn State is at home, off a bye, long trip, at least it's not big noon.

But whether this is a night game or big nude trend, it certainly has upset potential. But having a bye the week before, I think, is a big thing for the Ducks. And as we saw in the Rose Bowl, they're really good off a buy. Yeah, well, the layoff won't be as long as that one. No, no, it will not. The buy that people want to, that Oregon fans will want to remember is buy after Wisconsin

before Washington, 49.21. Thank you. Have a good night. That was a good one, right? Yes, that was yes. You know, it's interesting because you bring up those bye weeks. And I remember there's been some different narratives out there. When I go to narrative base and full transparency, I'm also a huge degenerate gambler. So I hear about a lot of those kind of

talking points. And honestly, they're talking points that I use a lot. but they don't matter on an individual one-on-one. Teams off by, teams with extra rest, teams coming out a short week, all those different things that go into both handicapping and the narratives that we go into. Narrative based things just in the grand scheme of things don't work and I go back to when Iowa pulled off another huge upset and pulled themselves up now back to 2009. So the year before, Iowa knocked Penn State out of the National Championship picture in 2008.

And coming into the next season, Penn State was ranked in the top five nationally. Iowa was ranked in the top ten nationally. Iowa has to go this time though, instead of at Kinnick Stadium, they have to go all the way out to State College. Well me, of course, I have to go out there as myself as a fan. I go out there and all week long, all it was the talk was because of the narrative. The narrative was that Penn State, because of revenge, was going to win this football game. That didn't happen. Iowa runs away and wins that football game at another big upset this time on the road against Penn State. So I understand going with the narrative and the understanding, but this is a one-off game. And I will tell you, weird things happen, certainly in

November at Kinnick Stadium. Penn State knocked out of a national championship picture. Michigan knocked out of a national championship picture. Ohio State knocked off a national championship picture. And when you look at all those teams, they had a whole lot more talent than Iowa. Don't fall into the Ference trap because you know what the Ducks will be wagging back to Eugene. I think it's a waddle I think that the word you're looking for is waddle. I think Ducks waddle. I also think we should talk about the strengths of Iowa the strengths of Oregon how they match up and so we shall and much more on this crossover edition of Lockdown Ducks and Lockdown Hawkeyes. First this episode brought to you by Fandul.

Summer sports are in full swing and whether you're all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green or high-stakes soccer action, Fandul is the best way to make every game even more exciting. Trent knows this, of course. You're already following the action. So why not make it a little more thrilling? With Fandul, you can get in on the game

while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach. And if you want to bet college football, this game will become available Oregon, Iowa on FanDuel games are already available to look at over there, Ohio State, Michigan or Kansas State, Iowa State or Florida State, Alabama. If you think Thomas Castellanos is crazy, which I think he kind of is, but hey, I'm here for it makes the game more fun. It's all over conference title odds national title odds Heisman odds everything you want FanDuel has it if you're new to FanDuel new customers can

bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins it's that easy open the FanDuel app today or visit FanDuel.com to get started get that hundred and fifty in bonus bets if your first $5 bet hits at Fandool.com. All right Trent, let's talk strengths. I'll have you go first because I flipped a coin in my head and that's where it landed. So when you think of this 2025 iteration of Iowa football, obviously we haven't seen them on the field and won't for a while but we talked about our team's a good amount. I think we can roughly assess what the strengths and weaknesses are going to be. Top strength of Iowa's team is going to be what? It's crazy to say but Iowa would just

strictly offense defense. There's more question marks defensively about this Iowa football team. The great news is, Phil Parker is our defensive coordinator still. Two years ago, the Broyles Award winner, you see year in and year out what he does. And actually last year, as Iowa returned nine starters defensively, they were a disappointment a season ago. But you augment what they lost a year ago. Jay Higgins, an All-American linebacker, Nick Jackson, an All-Big Ten linebacker. You bring in a group though of defensive linemen that look incredibly good. They have depth at the defensive

tackle position, something that they haven't had. Rice Hawthorne comes in from South Dakota State along with Mark Gronowski who we'll get to momentarily. I also think that this eye would defend so there are more question marks and we don't know the names as well as we did in the past that there might be a little bit more hunger. You know you bring back those fourth, fifth, even a couple of six year guys a year ago and you kind of wonder about that part of it. That's where Iowa used their money a year ago is to instead of going and being a six-round draft pick come back for another season and it just didn't click at the same

level. I think you're gonna see hunger out of the defense but offensively this team has answers. Yes they lose Caleb Johnson but this is as deep of a running back room as they've had in a long time. They actually have depth at the wide receiver position. No top end talent, no guys that are going to be all big 10, but they have five, six, seven guys that at minimum are going to be competent. And that's something you haven't been able to say at Iowa at the wide receiver position in six years. But the biggest thing is Mark Grinowski and him coming in from South Dakota State, giving the reason that there actually are not as many questions offensively as there are defensively. Yeah, that's odd. To me as an Oregon guy, like that is an odd thing to hear. Iowa defense questions.

For Grinowski coming over from South Dakota State Oregon fans have had two experiences at least in my lifetime I don't think there have been any other examples that I'm aware of of FCS quarterbacks transferring in and You really saw both ends of the spectrum and I think that's been Consistently the case power for transfers that go from one power school to another or even group of five to power four schools I think have demonstrated a higher floor and sometimes FCS guys are Cam Ward who goes from zero star recruit at incarnate word two years at Washington State one year at Miami boom number one pick in the NFL draft. You talk about talent getting overlooked in the high school ranks. I mean, Cam Ward is the poster child for that in a lot of different ways. But at one end of the

spectrum for Oregon fans is Dakota Prukop, who wasn't necessarily bad coming over from Montana State, but he wasn't necessarily the problem, but he wasn't the solution. It was just kind of, eh. And then the season went off the rails and they said, let's start this young guy named Justin Herbert. He went on to have a pretty good career in Eugene. But at the other end of the spectrum is Vernon Adams. And I don't know if you remember Vernon Adams at Oregon Trent. Oh, yeah. I love Vernon Adams.

I am a staunch defender of the idea that if he stays healthy, that team goes back to the playoff one Thousand percent the O line was so good de Forest Buckner was the Pac-12 defensive player there you had NFL talent all over the field He got hurt. They lost a couple games including Michigan State, which he played but wasn't a hundred percent But anyway, they would have at least been 11 and one going to the Pac-12 title game at least at least so when you look at Mark Grunowski and what he can bring to the table, do you see someone who's just gonna be okay? Or do you see some special Vernon Adams type stuff where it's, hey, this is going to cause headaches for the Oregon defense?

I look at this guy as exactly what Iowa needs. You know they bring in Cade Bactamara two years ago. Cade Bactamara he went on a podcast saying please say that we're gonna have the worst offense in the country and they basically did the next season. He was damaged goods right and you look at him physically but he also had this what I believe was false bravado. He came in here he came in from Michigan where they won a Big 10 championship, went to the college football playoff and the belief was that he was a part of that. Now he was along for the ride. I mean let's be honest, it was the talent around him that elevated him to that level. That's not Mark Gronowski. He elevated South Dakota State from a team that was a very good FCS program and won national championships that won the Walter Payton Award. He was the guy that took South Dakota State,

him personally to the next level. And it's not false bravado with him. It is truthful. It is weird. He was the guy that was out there because his offensive line in negative degree temperature. He was the guy that had short sleeves because his offensive line did it.

Kate Backamare is not doing those kinds of things. They have a real leader, a true leader that will back it up, not just on the field but in the locker room. He is built like an Iowa football player. I think this is a perfect marriage. If there is a guy that could actually finally elevate this passing game to even a competent level, he is the guy that's able to do that plus he's got the physicality.

He's had the downhill running. He can do the quarterback sneak on fourth and one when he need that yard he is the guy that Iowa needs to get them back to a level where your defense plays an elite level your offense is at minimum okay and yes you can beat Oregon 23 to 20 yeah and only a shootout is ever ever but I'm with you like both teams under 25 I mean frankly both teams under 20 is probably Iowa's ideal scenario if you really stifle sure is which game it's the Wisconsin game last yeah yeah that's right the only the only brain lock giving you guys the ball all the time you got mark Grunowski not giving the ball away right well it's

certainly the hope for Hawkeyes and Iowski not giving the ball away. Right. Well, it's certainly the hope for the Hawkeyes. And I'll talk about the Oregon defense in a minute, but the big difference between last year's Wisconsin game, I see why you're going there ruckus environment, you know, middle of the pack program that elevates every now and then. And it's, you know, later in the year going to be cold and whatnot. And you go on the road and yeah, you can struggle. That Wisconsin game was Oregon's eighth consecutive football game and they were all Big Ten Conference opponents.

The SEC could never, they could never allow a school to do such a thing. Like literally, they can't do it. And so that was, I think, a contributing factor because then they got the bye, came back home against Washington, and they looked like the number one team in the country and eventual Big Ten champions. What I'm interested about with with Grunowski is what kind of Oregon defense is he going up against because this is going to be a

unit that you know I've talked about a lot on my show in the offseason doesn't have a lot of experience but I've gotten a lot of questions from Oregon fans like, hey, do you think they're gonna be a better team late in the year than they are in the start of the year? And my answer has consistently been yes. And this Iowa game should fall into that stretch. This is the final third of the season. This will be game number eight for,

yeah, no, nine, game nine for Oregon on the year. And so the inexperience that you have with Dante Moore at quarterback, with this collection of offensive linemen who are not inexperienced themselves, they just haven't played together before this year, they'll have had two thirds of the season under their belt. The secondary is gonna have a lot of young talent

that will have a lot of, and I think they'll have worked out the rotations a bit. I I'm curious to see how that dynamic really plays out. Cause I know Oregon's defensive line is going to be great. I think it's the best unit on the team on either side of the ball. The secondary excites me, but also kind of puts me in this state of I'm not sure because I know guys are young and talented, but a lot of guys look talented on paper.

They have to actually show it on the field. I love the Purdue transfer. Watching that guy. Dylan Theeneman, yeah, Theeneman's a stud. Now, my question, you talk about that defensive line. Is Barry Alexander actually going to be there by game nine? I mean, that's a question you got to put out there. I'll put it out front.

OK, that is after playing, what was it, four games last year at USC and then saying I'm done with this and now he's at Oregon, that's a fair question to ask. I have an answer that Oregon fans are really, really gonna like. Okay, the check's gonna clear? So my answer to that Bear Alexander question, Trent, is yes, I do expect Bear Alexander

to be there. I don't think that he would have gone anywhere where he doesn't feel comfortable after whatever happened at USC behind the scenes and all that. However, let's say the worst comes to pass and he once again decides this is a guy who moved around in high school, has moved around a lot in college. Let's say he's, you know, I project him as one of Oregon's starting defensive tackles. Let's say he decides, no, this isn't for me either. Oregon's defensive line depth is crazy good.

Crazy, crazy good. If you take Bear Alexander out by game nine in particular, I might not think anything less of the Oregon defensive line because the other defensive tackle is going to be Amari Washington And I am chair of the Amari Washington fan club here on Lockdown Ducks my every dayers are well aware of that But the guy who you'd be filling in if if Alexander weren't there for some reason would be Maybe former five-star Aiden Breland, former five-star Terrence Green who might be, or yeah, four-star Terrence Green who is I think the largest human being physically on the team. He's about 6'6", 6'7", and goes well over the 300 pound mark. You've got Jericho Johnson who is a

mountain of a man, Tione Gray, the Davian Sims, all blue chip recruits who we've seen a lot from not in game action necessarily, but from what we have seen from them in Spring Ball. I am wildly unconcerned about Oregon's defensive line depth. That is my highest position grade that I've given out for a group on Oregon's team because they've got high end talent and they have got quality depth and they could easily survive an injury or two and I think still be one of the better units in the big 10. Especially if you keep

Mateo Uyengula lay in there. Nice to have. Yeah, yeah, yeah it is. Yeah, he's a nice guy. I hope we get him for two more years. I'm not optimistic about that. He's too good. He's too good. I want to flip the script when we continue and I want to get a look. We talked a lot about Mark Gernowski. Dante Moore, why should Iowa fans be concerned about the quarter? We've heard a ton about him. Yep. I'm just not sure you might have to sell me well At this point in time in the middle of the summer trend. I'm not entirely sure the optimism is For me and I have plenty with regards to Dante more maybe not as much as some Oregon fans But definitely I'm more optimistic than pessimistic that he'll be good. It's less about him and more about the system he's operating in. Look at what happened the last two years. Bo Nicks set the single season NCAA completion percentage record at 77.5%

in route to being a Heisman finalist. Dylan Gabriel had the best season of his career in route to being a Heisman finalist. Dylan Gabriel had the best season of his career in route to being a Heisman finalist. Now I don't place those sorts of expectations on Dante Moore because Boeniks and Dylan Gabriel, each in the last two seasons, set the record during their time as an Oregon starter for the most starts in the history of college football for a quarterback.

So I don't think it's fair to look at Dante Moore, who has Heisman arm talent, like unquestionably, he makes simple stuff look kind of impressive. Like when, you know, we haven't obviously seen much of him in an Oregon uniform in a real game setting. What we have seen is mostly, you know, quick hitting passes. You know, there's spring game stuff, but if you're talking actual football games,

it's mop up duty and he makes a couple throws here and there, but mostly it's, he slings it out on a screen or what. He looks like Matt Stafford out there. The way that he drops his arm down, the zip he has, tight spot, his arm talent is off the charts. What he has to get right is between the ears. If you go watch his time at UCLA,

he got thrown into the fire, they were back and forth on whether they should, they didn't handle the situation correctly. However, their offensive line was terrible. Their receiving core and running backs were not back in 2023 when he did start a few games. When he had a comfortable pocket and enough time to throw, he looks like an NFL quarterback. Because he is. However, there were a lot of times where the game looked way too fast for him and he's a true freshman. That's somewhat to be expected. So that's the question I have is, going into the year, how does he slow the game

down for himself? How does Will Stein, the offensive coordinator, slow the game down for him and lean on what he did last year, which is holding a clipboard and watching a veteran execute the offense at a high level week in and week out? How does he translate that to his own game? And then for this Iowa defense that's going to have a rowdy and rambunctious home crowd behind them, how does he stay calm in that environment? But another reason I feel good, and this will be my last selling point on Dante Moore, going into this game, it is going to be tough.

I have full, unwavering respect for Iowa's defense. Always have, always will. Dante Moore, by this time, will have already played the Penn State game. And, you know, to a lesser extent, Rutgers. Dante Moore by this time will have already played the Penn State game. And to a lesser extent, Rutgers. Just because that's a long ways away, it can get crazy in Piscataway. But that Penn State game.

You lost to the Rutgers. Hey, respect Greg Ciano. Respect. Seven and six last year. Seven and six last year. So the thing with Dante Moore is, yeah, this will be a tough environment, but it's not gonna be his first time playing big boy,

big 10 football on the road. I think that's huge. That he will have had that experience. And yes, Penn State and Iowa, two phenomenal fan bases. I think the wide out environment at Penn State is a top two or three, it might be the number one environment in all of college football, quite frankly. So anything he plays in after that on the road,

I don't think, just from an environment and settling in standpoint, it can't be as hard. That doesn't mean that it is easy. I think that I would feel differently if this Iowa game were in the slot where Northwestern is on September 13th, before Oregon plays their rivalry game with Oregon State, I would feel differently because I'm like, man, that's a tough first real road test

for Dante Moore. But I think that helps soften the blow a bit for Oregon's likely young quarterback. He hasn't officially been named the starter, but we all know. We all know. I had one more question for you. And speaking of Dante, I think you sold it well. And I think you're right.

Being late in the season is definitely going to be a step up in the environments that he's going to see before that. Last year, we go back to game one. I know you got a lot of crap at it at the time, but yeah, I know. And then offensive line for long stretches look dreadful. So you bring in what? Three transfer offensive line.

Again, same kind of thing with Dante Moore. You hope by that point you're- Technically, you're gonna have four new starting offensive linemen. So that environment, I to take you back to just a couple years ago Penn State another team ranked number three that came in and got upset in that game at Kinnick is they couldn't get the snap off they could not snap the football they had four false start penalties in

the first half of the game because of the crowd environment again that at this point in the time in November they're gonna be okay but what is the scuttlebutt about that offensive line? I think Iowa's defensive line is going to be outstanding, as it normally is. Is that maybe the biggest hole to poke, if you're really looking to poke a duck hole in there? Is that offensive line? And the new faces are going to have.

Yeah, I think that going back to keeping Dante more comfortable and making him comfortable, offensive line is a huge part of that no no doubt and you know if you threw Dante Moore into last year's Boise State and Idaho games I think Oregon finds a way to win the Idaho game I don't know if they'd be Boise State yeah like that just there was that was a good Boise team that played Penn State competitively and Oregon was able to get away with it early in the year. But what they found in those couple of weeks was putting Iaponi Lailaulu or Poncho as he's referred to at center and he will be the starting center from week one. There will be no debate question. That's your starting center.

I think by the end of the year he could be a candidate to win the Remington Award for the best center in college football, which Oregon of course had a couple of years ago in Jackson Powers Johnson. But you brought up the snapping and funny enough, Pancho's first big time moments snapping the ball were in a, was in a game that Oregon lost in 2023 at Washington. JPJ got hurt and Pancho who who was as a true freshman, the sixth offensive lineman, you know, he would rotate in at guard regularly. And Oregon has done that a lot.

And I know that a lot of other schools do that as well, but his first experience snapping the ball was at Husky Stadium in that event. It wasn't for that many snaps. It was a handful, but still. Look, I'm just telling you Trent, Oregon fans and snaps, we got a bad experience. We had a bad experience and we are forever traumatized ever since that fateful day. I haven't even said the game. I'm not gonna say it out loud. Oregon fans know what I'm talking about. so anyway that was his first experience snapping then he

was playing guard instead of sir once they moved him to center last year the Oregon offensive line became a finalist for the Joe Moore award when they allowed seven sacks in the first two games of the year to Idaho and Boise State combined at home. The O-line was a disaster. They couldn't run the ball either. Under three yards of carry against Idaho, they were a disaster in the first two weeks. They got it right.

So that's my optimism on the O-line. I think it's a fair question just because you're going to be in a tough environment but you've got an experienced center who has got a lot of other experienced guys that he just needs to get snaps with and then we go back to not only will Oregon be off a buy and have some extra time to prepare as much as you can, it's always different on game day but they will have had eight games under their belt already and that makes me feel good about how they'd be able to go in and handle that particular environment. I think we call it there for the day.

I think that's what you call a solid crossover. Trent Condon, Locked On Hawkeyes. I'm Spencer McLaughlin, Locked On Ducks. We appreciate everybody listening. We'll see you next time. And until then, hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day.