Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - ELEVATION: Hawkeyes' Special Teams SOAR to New Heights | Can Levar Woods ENGINEER a Championship Run?
Episode Date: May 16, 2025Iowa Hawkeyes fans, are you ready to explore the secrets behind Iowa's special teams dominance? Discover how Lavar Woods has transformed the Iowa Hawkeyes Football special teams into a powerhouse, con...sistently ranking in the top 20. With standout players like Reese Dakin and Drew Stevens, the Hawkeyes are poised for an impressive season.Join host Trent Condon and guest Elliot Clough from HawkeyeBeacon.com as they dissect Iowa's recruiting strategies and recent baseball challenges. They discuss the impact of new recruits like Jeremy Heklinski and the strategic patience in the transfer portal. Plus, get insights into basketball recruiting under new coach Ben McCollum, with prospects like Jaden Kuhn in the spotlight.Don't miss this chance to gain insider knowledge on the Iowa Hawkeyes' path to success. Listen now for expert analysis and exciting discussions!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Amazon Fire TV Stick 4kDid you know your Fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn any TV into your gaming and entertainment hub with Fire TV Stick 4K devices — no console required. Head to Amazon.com/firetvlockedon to get started. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and compatible controller required.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.WayFairAfter the holiday hustle, there’s nothing like giving your home a little TLC. Give your home the refresh it needs with Wayfair. Head to Wayfair.com right now. Wayfair. Every style. Every home. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED 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)
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Iowa football's special teams have been a dominating force under LeVar Woods this year
could be the best ever.
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 Condon and this is the Locked On Haw Network, your team every day.
Hey, welcome in. I'm Trent Condon and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast.
I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio here in the state of Iowa, including currently on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
You can hear me each weekday from noon to two on stations in Iowa City, Cedar
Rapids, the Quad Cities, Sioux City, and our flagship 106.3 KXNO in Des Moines.
Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus
bets when your first $5 bet wins. Iowa baseball took it on the chin on Thursday evening, just
absolutely pummeled at the hands of Oregon. We'll talk about that and break it down to
what Iowa needs to do to get
back into the mix and keep those hopes alive for a big 10
title. Plus, we'll be joined by Elliott Clough from Rivals as
we'll take a look at the Iowa Hawkeyes on the beat. A lot of
football talk and some basketball recruiting coming up
with Elliott, but today we begin our conversation in our
post spring look across the different position groups of Iowa football. We've had
basically everything offensively, defensively.
Today though, we go to a place that just is forgotten by so
many football fans out there. Yet it is one of the great
equalizers that Iowa football has had throughout the years.
And that is special teams. Levar Woods, the job that he has done
has been absolutely tremendous. And, you know, it's
funny thinking back, because I think a lot of us have these memories of special teams always being just such a high level for
Iowa football throughout the time. You go back to Nick Kading and what he did after a shaky start to his career, and the early
tenure of Kirk Ferentz and what that was. But there were some moments in the mid-aughts and into the late 2000s that Iowa was really struggling in special teams.
And I believe Coach Wilson was a part of it. They had a couple of different coaches that were a part of the staff that worked on special teams. And it turned bad. Covetger unit struggling. Both punting and kicking games were
bad. The coverage or units struggling, both putting in kicking games were widely inconsistent. There were some down periods of things. Levar woods though, had solidified it and not just
solidified it, turn it into a yearly strength for Iowa football. And it doesn't matter really
what position group that you're talking about. It doesn't matter what you go through when
you're talking about the special teams. Iowa has been basically at an elite level year in and year out.
Bill Connolly over at ESPN now,
his numbers, the SMP plus numbers that have been around for a very long time.
The special teams component,
Iowa pretty much on a yearly basis is ranked in the top 20 every single year and what they do when it combines,
what they do in the kicking game,
what they do in the punting game, and then what they do when it combines what they do in the kicking game,
what they do in the punting game, and then what they do also in returns. Iowa is at an
elite level on that one. So before we get into the individual players, just have to
give a shout out to Levar Woods. And there's been other opportunities out there, right?
There's been opportunity, what, in Tampa Bay that we heard about. So there's been plenty
of that. But just I was lucky to have him. And I don't know if Levar sees himself as
only being a special teams guy for a long time. You look at special teams and maybe
taking that next step and people talking about him potentially being the replacement for
Kirk Ferentz and what that possibly could could be an Iowa guy, the ties that he
has to Northwest Iowa, what he's done in the recruiting level and just the understanding. I think a lot of people look
at that and they see John Harbaugh, who was never a coordinator before, at least an offensive or defensive coordinator, but
was a special teams coordinator before he got the Ravens job. And what it takes a guy like Dave Tom, with the Kansas City
Chiefs, what it takes putting all these things together with the Kansas City Chiefs. What it takes
putting all these things together and in special teams where you have to wear a lot of different
hats that maybe that is something that is set up to be a very good head coach when that
opportunity comes. Let's talk about the players though and why this has a chance to be rival
football this year. Maybe one of their best step of course coming on the heels of a year
ago the putting position and we're're not gonna make punting jokes here
because putting is part of the game.
Hopefully not as big of a part of the game
as it's been recently for Iowa football.
But that aside, restaken.
And I don't wanna say that I was hard on him last year
because I don't think I was.
More than anything, coming into last last season I was just trying to
paint a picture for a lot of people that the step down was going to be significant. You know we hear
there's reports here comes Reese Dakin in from Australia another one of the strong arm punters
that's coming in and he's just going to come in there strong leg punter and he's going to come
in here and he's going to dominate right away. Well, Tory Taylor was able to do it and my pushback was always two-fold. Tory Taylor came over as a guy
in his 20s. What was he 22, 23 years old when he arrived on campus? He was an old dude. So,
you had that part of it. This is a guy that was a veteran. Not only that, he also walked in
And not only that, he also walked in during the season of 2020. And when he came in, there weren't people in the stands.
The pressure was different than what Reece Dakin walked into a year ago.
No doubt, there were shaky moments.
There were frustrating times a year ago from Dakin.
But you saw the talent.
And the leg talent is not a problem with Reece Dakin.
He was able to
get it off. I think he acclimated himself incredibly well as a young guy coming over
here and figuring out the game of American football. You have to be incredibly impressed
with what he did. And now, you know, he kind of was thrown into the deep end of the pool
last year, right? Now I think with some of that solid footing underneath him, you're
going to see an explosion. You're going to see a really, really big year this year for Reece Dakin. You jump over to Drew Stevens and we go
back to the open practice at the end of spring. He was struggling a little bit. It's not like he
was yanking the ball all over the place. He was just missing a little left, a little right, a
couple of pushes, a couple of pulls, nothing significant. And we saw Drew Stevens, obviously
what he did a year ago, bouncing back
after that disappointing end to a sophomore year, benched in the game as Marshall Meader came in
and knocked down the field goal to beat Nebraska two seasons ago, then not getting a chance to even
kick the ball in game action, either an extra point or a field goal in the bowl game and the
big 10 championship game before that. Yet he bounced back last year and had a tremendous season.
Strong leg.
And I want to see this year for Drew Stevens.
And Kirk Farence is finally gonna take the reins
off of one of his elite level kickers that he has
because that's what he is.
This is once again an elite guy.
No, the misses and then open practice in spring
did not matter to me.
April kicks, the guy's proven enough.
He's put enough hay in the barn that you have to believe that this guy is going to be completely
fine and what we saw was an anomaly in that one. But with Drew Stevens, if all of a sudden
Kurt Farris decides, you know what, let's try that 56 yarder. Let's try 58 yarder. Let's
do the things because he's got the leg strength.
The trajectory is there. Look, most kickers at the collegiate level can make those kicks,
but they do it on a line. You have to be able to have the height also to get over those
those defensive linemen, get the ball up, and then also the power to get it through.
Drew Stevens has that, and I think that's going gonna be an interesting note to see how that plays out.
We've talked about this a lot this year.
I think Iowa's gonna have to win some games.
They're gonna have to score points.
This defense is not gonna be probably at the elite level
that we've seen recently.
Still gonna be good, but maybe not top 10 good.
And we saw that small step back a year ago.
What if there's another small step back?
We're gonna have to win those games 34 34 30. You're gonna need points on the
board. You can't just bend the team deep and hope for the best because their
defense is gonna bail you out. There's gonna be times the defense is not gonna
be able to bail him out. When points are there, points are available. If Kirk
Ference is going to give him that opportunity, that's another avenue. I'm
excited to see what that looks like. Also, Iowa brought in a long snapper.
Typical Iowa fashion. What's Iowa do in the portal? Long snapper. Now, we know there's a lot more than that,
but Brant Worrell comes in from Boston College out of the portal.
He is a guy that I think they're very excited about. They looked around and again in Levar
we trust, right? This guy saw that maybe there could be a potential issue
at that position.
Long Snapper, it's important.
You never wanna know the Long Snapper's name.
But as we saw Luke Elkin now off with the Chicago Bears
and a very good chance for him of making the roster there.
They lost a really good one.
And looking to fill that gap in with Bryant Worrall
from Boston College.
So there's a quick look around special teams depth not exactly there. Oh and of
course we gotta mention the return game and what we see
there the return game at an elite level with Caden Weijin
coming back for another season. He's gonna be more involved
offensively but we're gonna see on that front. Iowa as always
in really good shape with special teams and it's another
one of those things. How does Iowa do it? You know how how is year in and year out they're so consistent, they're always a winner, what are
they able to do? Special teams I don't think gets enough recognition for the reason we see
Iowa football competitive every single year. We continue Lockdown Hawkeyes, want to talk some
Iowa basketball recruiting. Is it done? Is Ben McCollum done? I know that we continue to see Jan Jensen
working the portal, but how realistic is it that I was going to pick up another progress,
prospect, excuse me, and Emily Rodriguez, one of the big names that are out there. So we'll talk
some basketball recruiting with Elliot Clough coming up from HawkeyeBeacon.com. We'll take a look at
everything going on in the world of recruiting. Plus, want to talk some football with Elliott as well. We've got basketball talk on the
recruiting front. We've got football talk coming your way. This is Locked On Hawkeyes.
The days are getting longer. Weather's warming up. People are spending more time outside,
which means it's the perfect time to refresh your outdoor space.
Whether you're working with a big backyard or a small balcony, Wayfair has everything you need
to make it feel more like you. We are looking for some new furniture for our deck, and Wayfair
has you covered. Wayfair's massive selection of outdoor essentials makes it easy to transform
any space into your ideal summer setup. From comfy conversations set to sleek dining tables, outdoor decor, they got it all at prices that fit your budget.
That's what we found looking through all the different ones on our patio. Getting that new patio set, it can be expensive. Wayfair though helps you extend your budget and your outdoor space. The mix of styles that they offer everything. Wife and I trying to find something a
little bit in the middle of both of our styles Wayfair has
are covered with all of that. Shop a huge selection of
outdoor furniture online. This summer get outside with
Wayfair. Head to Wayfair.com right now. That's Wayfair.com
W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Wayfair. Every style.
Every home.
Spend 10 minutes with a friend Elliot Kluff.
Hawkeyebeacon.com, part of the Rivals Network.
Elliot, Trenton Ken, thank you for coming on.
How's things at hawkeyebeacon.com?
What's keeping you busy?
They're good guys. Not quite as busy as probably the last few times we've talked. Obviously portal
stuff has slowed down, but right now we're getting into the basketball recruiting coverage. I'm headed
to Council Bluffs this weekend to watch the 3SSB circuit, a couple Iowa priorities out there. And
of course it's a live period, so I'm expecting a few members, a couple Iowa priorities out there. And of course, it's a live
period, so I'm expecting a few members of Iowa staff to be out there checking a few guys out as
well. But yeah, we're kind of filling time right now, to be quite honest. We went through a series
of three biggest strengths and three biggest question marks from all three phases of Iowa
football over this last weekend, and of course, filling in the gaps with some football recruiting coverage too,
as officials will be up here in about six weeks.
So well, I take that back five weeks.
So we're filling in the gaps and make stuff happen.
Yeah.
So you mentioned that recruiting, you're going to be over in Council Bluffs
watching some hoops.
Are there any?
McCollum was there last night.
He was in Omaha for the iClub event.
Are there any prospects that we should be keeping an eye on any,
any names that you're going to be chasing while you're over there?
Sure. Well, the first one is a guy that I actually mentioned last time we talked
is Jayden Kuhn from, from storm Lake. He won't be there Friday.
He's got a sister's graduation, but he will be there on Saturday and Sunday.
The Saturday is usually the big day with, with more games. So he'll be there then Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is usually the big day with more games.
So he'll be there then with D1 Minnesota.
He's the top prospect in the state of Iowa in my mind, a wing that Scott offers from
Iowa, from Iowa State, Illinois, Creighton, Nebraska, TCU, and a few others.
It has that relationship with McCollum as they're both from Storm Lake and McCollum
and his staff offered him while at Drake.
That's one.
Air fan Diane out of Iowa United Prep is not a kid that Iowa has offered at this point
in time, but Iowa United is making their debut on the 3SSB circuit this weekend.
He's got offers from Oregon, Houston, Florida.
So some really solid programs for him.
I'm trying to think of kids who would you guys would recommend. in Houston, Florida. So some really solid programs for him.
Trying to think of kids you would, you guys would recommend.
Landon Davis out of Waukee Northwest
will be there with Iowa United as well.
He's got an offer from the new Drake staff.
And UNI, some preliminary interest from Iowa as well.
Several others, and a few guys that are on the radar
right now that could be Iowa offers down the road too.
Elliot, I'm curious to know when you talk to these high schoolers that obviously have
been pitched for a while by different coaches, what's kind of the consensus you're getting
when they bring up Ben McKellum and his staff?
What are you hearing about, I guess, his pitch and how they're receiving it?
I would probably reference Colin Rice here a guy that you
guys I would assume know from walking Northwest picked up
several high major offers here lately with Nebraska Northwest
and also offering the main things that sticks out to me in
those conversations and he's another guy that had an offer
from great news. So he knows the staff is that these guys trust McCollum in a light.
And that's, that's kind of a common theme with the guys that have come from Drake
as well as it's just, I trust him and they trust him on and off the court, like
on the court, I trust them to put me in the best situation to develop me into the
best player that I can possibly be.
And off the court, it's the guy that earns their trust
by way of showing that he cares about them, not just
as basketball players.
That kind of seems the main sentiment
in their main pitch to me.
And it's another pitch that he's referenced before,
is that these other schools might act like they
want you more, but we'll get the best out of you.
And that seems to ring true.
And I haven't talked to a lot of the recent offerees just because they've been so focused on the portal. And I think Colin
Rice and then there's another one from Kansas, Ethan Taylor are two of the other 2026s that are
new, but I haven't been able to connect with Taylor yet and I'll be talking to Jayden Kuhn this
weekend. But it's really just that trust and that developmental aspect.
I mean, like we've seen it, right?
Bennett Sturck going from D2 second team all-conference now
to an honorable mention All-American
MVC player of the year.
Like, he has it tangibly.
And now I think that Rep is only just
going to continue to grow as he does it
at the high major level.
And if there's anything that, you know, there aren't a lot of guarantees when you
bring in a new staff, but given his track record of development, I would say
that's probably the closest thing to a guarantee you're gonna get.
Two guys that they brought in on visits, Kiza Giffa, the kid from High Point, led the team in
scoring for an NCAA tournament team, and then also Ashton Williamson from Florida
International. I don't believe either of those guys have committed anywhere yet. We're talking about something that happened weeks ago.
Has Iowa moved on from those prospects? No, not that I'm aware of. Right now Iowa appears to just
be in a situation where they're playing it incredibly patiently because there are still
a good enough amount of players in the portal and they're not desperate
But that's that's just not McCollum's MO. Of course there they've got some really good players on their roster
And that puts them in a really solid position. I mean, I wrote a couple days
I don't know if you guys saw it
But I wrote a couple days ago about how I expect the rotation to kind of shake out who's gonna start who's gonna come off
The bench who's gonna possibly redshirt here and they to come off the bench, who's going to possibly redshirt this year.
And they're in a pretty solid spot right now with 11 guys. Of course, you don't want to
trot out your roster with only 11 guys. So they're really paying it, playing it patiently,
seeing how things transpire. And I mean, you guys know it's a different game now. Agents
involved, wanting more money. Like it's just, it's just not as cut and dry maybe as it used to be.
And that's making things difficult on both parties.
I was still in a spot where they need to add some guys, but some stuff
just not lining up right now.
And I think they've got that, you know, they're in a solid position to add
either one of those guys, if things transpired certain ways, but right now
it's just not set up to click quite yet.
I want to go back, probably, I've got to be almost a month now, maybe not quite, but
we never really got into Heklinsky, I think is how you say his name, the
quarterback transfer from Wake Forest as we've switched to football here.
What can you tell us about Jeremy Heklinsky who will join the quarterback
room at the University of Iowa with a similar call 4 years of
eligibility still left.
Oh yeah, really nice add in my opinion just a guy that has
that connection with Warren Ruggiero that cited that for a
big reason for his decision to come to Iowa.
Really important for the sake of death. I mean we've seen what
has happened to that quarterback room the last few years with injuries. And I was in a position where they're not going to have
to rely on a Deacon Hill. And I think that's probably the biggest thing in the immediate
when you bring in a guy like Heclinsky, because you've got, obviously you've got Grunowski,
who has had a couple major injuries at the ACL and the shoulder that he's had surgeries on.
Of course, you know, knock on wood, he stays healthy all season, but then you've got Hank Brown,
then you've got, then you've got, oh my God, Jackson Stratton, I almost forgot his name for a second.
Jackson Stratton, and then you've got Heclinsky, and then you've got Jimmy Sullivan, a true freshman,
and then you've got Ryan Fitzgerald who's coming in as a walk on.
So you have the quarterback room is just so much more deep than it was the last however
many years.
So that's probably the biggest thing in the immediate.
In the long term, this is a guy that you turn on his film and I think his first like five
to 10 plays from his senior year on his huddle are just 50 yard bombs for the end
zone. He's a little bit smaller, didn't have a ton of power five offers. I think it was
just Wake Forest in North Carolina, if I'm remembering correctly. Excuse me, Central
Florida in there as well. So I think it's more of a long play. It's one of those things
where if you throw five darts out of boards, then one of them
found a hit, right?
Because you'll have him, you'll have, after this coming year, you'll have him, you'll
have Hank Brown, you'll have Jimmy Sullivan, and you'll have Cash Herrera, who will all
at least have two plus years of eligibility left.
So in the long term, it's one of these guys are bound to hit, right?
So I think that's the play right now.
And Hec Winski, I think is a good ad, it So I think that's the play right now. And
heck, Winsky, I think is a good ad. It's a guy that's been in college football for
a year and a half, which is more than Jimmy Sullivan. So this is just a nice depth piece
right now. You're playing James Rezar on the depth chart who is in the portal. Yeah. And
he's got history of Warren Ruggiero. That definitely doesn't hurt.
We'll see if the slow mesh comes along with Ruggiero if Lester's going to implement any
of that into the offense. Last thing for you, it's a defensive question. It's about the young guys.
We know the veterans that have stuck around here at Kidd locally, Jaden Harrell from Urbandale.
He's been there for a long time. But the liebacker group with Cam Buffington, Preston Reese,
Derek Weisskopf, we heard so much about those three guys, all redshirted a year ago.
Of the three, who's the most realistic to play
a bunch of defense this year?
Not special teams, play a bunch defensively at linebacker
this year of those three redshirt freshmen.
That is a really, really good question.
If I had to bet, so I'll tell you why it's tough quick.
It's tough because Harold Scheiner and Rex Ross have all waited
their turn. Right? Dyer is probably the one we've heard the most about. It Jackson, um,
praised him pretty highly. And I think it was this ring, either that or it was right
around the ball game saying that he might be the most like athletically gifted or talented
guy in the room. And that was with Jay Higgins. That was with Nick Jackson. So I think that real thought, as long as Shire stays healthy, that will spot probably locked up.
Then you go to the mic with Jayden Harrell, who has again been waiting his turn and, you know,
expecting him to be Jack Campbell or Jay Higgins just isn't fair, right? I mean, that's just not
fair. But at the same time that Mike spot is
Really important and with that said I've heard a lot of good things about Kim buffington
So you take that Mike spot who is effectively the quarterback of the defense and do you split time with the guy who's been around? For a while and a young guy who's still figuring things out, but is super talented
That's the tough part to me then you you look at Leo with Jackson Rexroth,
who has just put on scholarship. We saw some of his limitations in the bowl game, particularly in
past coverage. And you look at a guy like Derek Weiskopf, who was probably one of the better
athletes to come out of the state of Iowa in the last five to 10 years, state champion in high
jump, took his team to high school, state basketball, won a state title at the quarterback
and safety combo for Williamsburg.
And do you plug him in?
But then you talk about Jayden Montgomery
and Landon Van Kekere through the sound of the mic too.
That is, there's a lot of talent in that group,
but a lot of it is based on potential right now
just because we haven't seen a lot of them.
So with all of that said, I guess I got to go cam buffing.
I've heard a lot.
I mean, you just see it when he puts the pads on it's just a
different level of athlete.
But then again, you know, I mentioned all the accolades for Weisskop.
I heard from a source, uh, probably a couple of weeks ago during, during
spring ball that Preston Reese, he might not look like he knows what he's doing
out there and maybe he doesn't fully at this point, cause it takes a little
while to learn Iowa's defense, but he just makes them wild play.
So I think, I really think between Reese and, and wise cough, depending on who
was getting the most snaps at Leo, they could split that time with Rex Ross,
but how often are they gonna be
in that traditional four, three package?
We know they like to have that cash out there
for the four, two, five.
That's Elliot Clough joining us from Hawkeyebeacon.com.
Elliot does great work over there.
Some football talk along with a little recruiting
with Elliot.
Wrapping things up on the other side,
time to talk Iowa baseball.
It was a disaster on Thursday night. What needs to happen to bounce back and boy that gap between Iowa and those top level teams seems to be increasing as we make our way through the end of the year. That's next Lockdown Hawkeyes.
back with you one final time on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for being with us and making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Thanks to every dayers out
there, you everyday listeners that are with us. Couldn't do it without you. If you're
watching us on YouTube, hit that subscribe button. It just takes a moment and helps us
get in front of more Hawkeye fans. If you're listening on the audio side,
excuse me, five star reviews is what we're looking for
if I stop doing that.
All right, let's talk Iowa baseball.
Boy, tough night last night.
Now, they brought in the extra bleachers, the buzz.
Everybody's excited for it.
Here comes Oregon.
This is a top 10 team again.
You get them in your home field.
And you saw right away, that opening inning,
though we saw Kate Obermuller able
to get out of the jam. They're just slinging the ball around making hits making plays.
Bats never could get going playing without wellness. It's made me realize here over these
last few weeks. It was such a fun season for Iowa baseball. It's not dead not done
but
What they were doing in comparison to these elite level teams?
It's just a different ballgame. They're just playing at a different level and we continue to see that
At a night where everything should be there for you got your ace on the bounty the mound, you get 10 run. At night winds blowing out, you can't get any offense going.
You lose guys, you lose Willmus, and it's just not there. But it's baseball.
You bounce back. But the bad news for Iowa is they're down now to number 69 in the
country in terms of
RPI, which is not good enough for an at-large bid.
Now, when these last two games, Friday, Saturday, we're having a different conversation.
I don't anticipate that's going to happen.
I think realistically the best case scenario is just to steal one.
If you do that, you go into the Big Ten tournament with work to do.
Now Iowa was helped.
Northwestern upset UCLA. So Iowa with a victory can still
clinch a share of the Big Ten title. That'd be big. Absolutely be big. But another component
that has happened as it pertains to their NCAA tournament resume, Iowa now is without a Quad
One victory. You say, what are you talking about? Iowa had a Quad One victory at three of them.
a Quad One victory. You say, what are you talking about?
Iowa had a Quad One victory at three of them.
They did.
There were those three road wins against Michigan.
Well, Michigan is now falling out of the top 60.
They're now down to number 62 in the RPI.
And with it, those three Quad One victories that were helping that resume are now Quad
Two victories.
And Iowa, with an 0-3-1 mark against Quad One, that's not going to get you in a large
bid.
They'll go to Omaha with a huge opportunity.
They'll be one of the top three seeds, and with it, they'll have an opportunity just
to tie in their pool, and that will put them into the semifinals, and a path is still there
for them to make a run.
However, we're seeing the gap's pretty big.
And these elite level teams, boy,
they play some good baseball. So, Biwa bounces back. FS1 will have the call again this evening
for that one with the six o'clock first pitch at DeWayne Banksfield and then the finale
on Saturday afternoon. Great crowd on hand. Cheer on the Hawkeyes and let's steal one.
Let's take them both. Oh boy, we may be having a different conversation after that one. Let's steal one. Let's take them both. Oh boy, we need to be having a different conversation
after that one. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen
every day. We're with you each and every day. That's what we do here on the Lockdown Network.
Your team every day. I got you covered on the Hawkeye front. We'll be back with you
tomorrow with more. A look back at what we saw and Tom Kaikert from HawkeyeReport.com.
He will join us. That's coming up tomorrow
on Lockdown Hawkeyes.