Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - How Iowa could go 8-0 but what's more likely going to happen in 2020 | Breaking down Hawkeye performances across the NFL

Episode Date: September 21, 2020

The Big Ten released it's eight game schedule. We break down why the Iowa Hawkeyes could go 8-0, but also point out which games are most likely going to give the Hawkeyes some issues. Before that though, we break down all the Iowa Hawkeye performances across the NFL on an injury-packed Sunday in the league.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get $10 off your first order.KeepsIf you’re ready to take action and prevent hair loss, go to Keeps.com/lockedoncollegeto receive your first month of treatment for free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. Glad to be back after that weekend to talk to you about Iowa football and the Iowa football players currently playing in the NFL today. That's what we're going to be covering on the show. We're going to do our Monday NFL roundup, giving you kind of the coverage of the Iowa football players who are in the NFL and what they did this past weekend. And then we're going to break down the big breaking news, which is the fact that the Big Ten released its schedule.

So we're going to be talking a lot about that on today's show, and we're not going to go super deep into every single game. We're going to give our predictions kind of off the top, but we're going to go into more detail as we get closer to the season. We still have a month until that season begins, so be expecting that, but we do want to make sure we're covering the fact that the schedule was released, because that is a big deal. It feels like Big Ten football is actually back. We're actually going to get Iowa football this year, and that is absolutely fantastic.

As long as those players can be safe, I'm very excited for this. So let's get into the content for today, starting with the NFL side, because that is kind of where I want to make sure I'm covering every single Monday morning, as there is a lot of Iowa Hawkeyes in the NFL. And so a lot of Hawks did some pretty good things this week. Let's kick it off though with the Broncos versus the Steelers. Noah Frant, I think the big thing with Noah Frant is the fact that I personally feel like this guy is quickly becoming the next great tight end in the NFL.

If you were a Broncos fan or if you kind of listened to Broncos Twitter last year, there was not a lot of love being thrown Noah Fant's way. I think it was less to do with Noah Fant and more to do with the play calling and the lack of involvement. And then occasionally, you know, Noah had a few drops. They had some bad play designs. So I wasn't a huge fan of that. But this year you can tell he's really becoming that, that go-to target and they're not even targeting him that much, which is the most frustrating part about it. After two games, Noah Fant is 24th in the NFL in receiving yards, and out of all those players, he has the least amount of targets by far.

So think about that. The least amount of targets out of the top 24 receivers and has the 24th most receiving yards at 138. He's the fourth tight end on that list, averaging 15.3 yards per catch and two touchdowns. So the dude's performing very well. Definitely make sure you check him out in that game as well. Michael Ojemudia started off pretty strong, in my opinion, dropped an interception and then gave up a huge play to Chase Claypool, a guy who he faced off against in the Senior Bowl. It should have been offensive pass interference, but it's what happens.

Anyways, he struggled the rest of the day, I thought. Also, the defensive line couldn't get any pressure on Ben Roethlisberger, so he was in coverage a lot. And then Josie Jewell, relatively quiet, not a huge day regardless. Browns vs. Bengals, Adrian Claiborne had a sack. Chiefs vs. Chargers, the Chiefs did pull out the win.

Desmond King not getting as much playing time as expected. Not getting on the field nearly as much as you would expect given the fact that he is a Pro Bowl player, which I thought was interesting. The Chiefs did pull that win out. But again, not sure what's going on with the Desmond King talk. He actually mentioned it on Twitter,

kind of what's going on here. I don't understand. But he did have six tackles, so solid out outing for him and Brian Beluga was injured, did not play. And then Ben Neiman and Anthony Hitchens, they were really struggling throughout the game. I mean, they just, they're, they're probably the chief weakness. If we're being honest at this point, they're the chief weakness on defense, um, from a, you know, staff perspective, not a bad day. Anthony Nelson or Anthony Hitchens finished with seven tackles, and Ben Neiman finished with five tackles.

But still not exactly what you would expect for these players. Not doing a great job in coverage. I know I was talking to a bunch of Chiefs fans who were pretty frustrated by the game. But we'll have that. 49ers, nothing to report here. George Kittle did not play. He will be back next week. And then C.J. Beathard is one play away from being in the game.

So Jimmy G got injured. C.J. Beathard is now the number two quarterback. And it's a high ankle sprain for Jimmy G. So my guess is he's going to be out for four to six weeks. So it'll be interesting to see what happens there. And if Beathard does get into the game, maybe can show a little more improvement than what he did previously for the 49ers Bills versus Dolphins nothing for AJ Epineza Micah Hyde had six tackles and Ike Bucker was inactive the Ravens Texans Geno Stone was inactive as well Vikings versus Colts Vikings had a terrible day

but Gilles Johnson did finish with four tackles. The Bucs versus Panthers. Tristan Wirth didn't allow a sack all day in that Bucs win against the Panthers. Again, this dude is performing very, very well in just two games. If you actually listen to people who study linemen, Tristan Wirth is having a fantastic start to his

career so far. Lions versus Packers. Again, if we want to talk about tight end youth, look no further than the NFL and what Iowa is doing with three starting tight ends. Hawkinson had four catches for 62 yards on just four targets. Christian Kirksey is continuing his resurgence and showing the fact that the Packers were smart in believing in him and bringing him in after being cut by the Browns. He had 12 tackles, and there was a Josh Jackson siding as well, leaving him with one pass defended. So overall, solid day around the league for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

You know, you love to see that. Love to see them perform well on NFL Sunday. So we'll make sure we're keeping doing this every single Monday, every time there's NFL football. We'll break down what happened across the league for you Iowa Hawkeye fans. But coming up on segment number two, we're going to get into the college football schedule and what the Big Ten announced and kind of what that means going forward, and then our predictions for the Iowa football team's schedule. So that'll be coming up in segment number two. Before we get to that though, if you haven't tried the new Bilt Bar, you must do so

because the new and improved Bilt Bar is even more delicious. The Bilt Bar is the best tasting protein bar on the market. I absolutely love it. They had 12 original flavors and they came back with six brand new ones as well. Caramel brownie, cookies and cream, cherry barcia, lemon almond cheesecake, carrot cake, and apple almond crisp. All these bars are covered in 100% chocolate, soft and easy to chew. And the best part is not only do they deliver a punch and taste, they deliver a punch in the health department as well. They're great for the health-conscious guy or girl. These bars are low-calorie, low-sugar,

high-protein, high in fiber. It's even great for a keto diet. I personally just love it because it's great for me going into a workout, getting out of a workout, or even just during a workout if I need a little bit of a pick-me-up. My favorite flavor is the cookies and cream. I've tried it, got another box of it just delivered actually on Saturday.

17 grams of protein, 130 calories, 4 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of net carbs. It's exactly what you need if you're trying to get a workout in, or even just a midday snack. So go to BuiltBar.com and use promo code LOCKEDON, and you'll get $10 off your next order. Use promo code LOCKEDON for $10 off at BiltBar.com. We are back for segment number two of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. And as I said, the Big Ten announced their schedule on Saturday.

We weren't sure exactly when we were going to be getting that, but we did get it and we announced it on Saturday morning. So we have the schedule. We know exactly what is happening. And I want to cover a couple of things on this segment before we hop into the Iowa schedule. Just the process by which they went about it. Obviously, the frustrations among some of the other teams.

Because if I'm Nebraska, I'm a little bit pissed off. But a couple things. I think, first off, Iowa got pretty lucky. Nebraska did not. I think those are the easy ones. But you look at, so what happened was they basically took the old schedule, the old nine-game schedule, and they just cut one of those games. So originally, Iowa had to play Ohio State, but they took that out. Originally, Iowa had to play Ohio State, but they took that out. Nebraska at Rutgers is gone.

Northwestern at Penn State. Minnesota at Michigan State. Illinois at Indiana. Wisconsin at Maryland. And Purdue at Michigan. So those games are gone. And obviously you can tell there's some differences in which teams they play. So Iowa playing Ohio State, I would say, is probably a more certain loss than Nebraska playing at Rutgers, which is probably a more certain win for Nebraska. So that does add another layer of complexity. Obviously,

Nebraska fans, not a huge fan of that. But the season does kick off October 24th. They haven't figured out exactly the times. The one thing, and we talked a little bit about this last week, there are no breaks. It is eight, nine straight weeks of football, really. And then December 19th, that Big Ten Championship Game, Champions Week, which is, I think, one of the coolest ideas that Big Ten has come up with. And about time they got a little bit innovative with how they're doing this. But again, the way the schedule broke down, one of the big things we were kind of waiting to see was what games were at what point in the schedule. And the reason why that's important is what if the schedule gets delayed?

What if there's an outbreak later in December? You look at Ohio State and Michigan playing on December 12th. That's a game that we, you know, what happens if we don't get it? That's a big game to determine part of, you know, what's going to happen in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, though, Iowa side, I'm pretty happy with how Iowa's schedule broke out. I think when you look at the schedule breakout and the talent of the team, Wisconsin is by far has the easiest path to winning a Big Ten West title. Just want to throw that out there. They have their crossover games are Michigan, which I'm not overly concerned about Michigan, especially

Wisconsin. I think Wisconsin does a pretty good job in general. Let me see. I think they're actually, yeah, so they're on the road at Michigan, but there shouldn't be fans there. It's a little bit earlier in the season. Otherwise, that's it. They go on the road to Iowa. They go on the road to Northwestern and on the road to Nebraska. Otherwise, they get Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota, and Indiana at home. So Wisconsin definitely has the easiest path, in my opinion from a purely, um, not playing any tough teams in the crossover. Purdue has a pretty, a pretty nice schedule as well. Indiana is supposed to be pretty solid team. Um, you know, should be contending in that top 25 spot, but, um, they are probably, they're the toughest team for Purdue from a crossover perspective.

Um, but you also get Wisconsin and Minnesota on the road. So not ideal there. do from a crossover perspective. But you also get Wisconsin and Minnesota on the road, so not ideal there. Northwestern, also not a tough crossover schedule with Michigan State and Maryland. Nebraska getting screwed, to be honest. I mean, they have the hardest one by far at Ohio State, Penn State in week four, Wisconsin week two. Honestly, if Nebraska starts their season with one and three record, that would not surprise me at all. And that's not exactly how you want to start off. And then they finish up by playing at Iowa, at Purdue, and Minnesota. Minnesota, not a bad schedule, I think, from a timing perspective.

You get Michigan at first. At home, though, there's not going to be fans. And then you have Maryland, Illinois, and then Iowa, Purdue. So their schedule is nicely broken up. And then Illinois, I'm not too worried about. And their schedule honestly gets kind of tough towards the end. They start off with Wisconsin, but then they finish up with Ohio State and Iowa. At least they have them at home. But Iowa's schedule, we're going to quickly run through it. And then I'm going to give my predictions on segment number three, but Purdue,

October 24th, Northwestern, October 31st, Michigan State, November 7th, at Minnesota, the 14th, at Penn State, the 21st, definitely the two hardest back-to-back weeks Iowa has. At home versus Nebraska, that game could be flexed to be a Black Friday game on the road against Illinois, December 5th, and then December 12th at home against Wisconsin. And I actually really like how we have Wisconsin at home that late in the season. Depending on what happens, depending on coronavirus numbers and cases, we could see fans in the stadium. As of right now, Gary Barta did say, you know, there's not going to be fans in the stadium as of right now. They're going to work on allowing parents to be in there.

But we could see that change throughout the course of the season. I think Notre Dame did a pretty darn good job. I believe it was Notre Dame where they actually allowed their students in the seat, you know, in the, in the stadium. They all had masks,

they all socially distance. And it seemed like they did a pretty darn good job. And I think that would even be a lot of fun. I know boosters and whatnot would not be happy about that, but I think from a student athlete perspective or a student perspective, you're paying to go to school there and you were excited for football season. I think it's okay to be able to allow those students

in a reduced capacity to come into the stadium and be a part of that. And that would at least create a little bit more of a fan element. And I think Iowa, the best part about, the biggest thing that kind of sucks for this, for Iowa is that home field advantage is huge across the Big Ten.

Anyone going to Kinnick doesn't want to go to Kinnick because it's that tough to play against. And I think Wisconsin would be the one that probably lucked out the most here, potentially not having to play at Kinnick with fans. The fact they go on the road to Michigan in the big house, there might not be fans there either. So anytime you have a road game and it's against a team with a historically good program

and a historically good fan base, that is a benefit for the away team. For Iowa, that's Minnesota and Penn State. We don't have to play those teams, hopefully with fans in the stadium. That's huge for Iowa, especially the Penn State one, especially going on the road over into Pennsylvania. That's tough for Iowa. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the Iowa schedule. There's obviously some other teams

that probably got a little bit more of the shaft on that, but it wasn't anything intentional in my opinion. When you look at the schedule, they didn't change the teams you were playing. They just cut off one game from what your original nine-game schedule was. So great to see one month away we got Big Ten football. But coming up on segment number three,

we're going to break down the Iowa schedule and give my quick predictions on wins and losses for that schedule. So stay tuned after a few quick messages from our sponsors. We are back for our third and our final segment of the lockdown Hawkeyes podcast today, your daily show covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the lockdown sports network. Also, you can find me on Wednesdays on the Lockdown Big Ten podcast, and you can follow me on the Lockdown College Football podcast as well.

And then I actually happen to guest appear on the Lockdown College Football podcast for today's show as well, hosted by Candace Cooper. We talked a little bit about Iowa, the Big Ten schedule, and some of the things surrounding the Iowa Hawkeye program. But let's get into the schedule. Actually, one real quick announcement again. We have Kevin Casper back on the show tomorrow as well to run through his NFL career. Again, I hope you enjoyed that conversation on Friday.

It was just as good on tomorrow, so be on the lookout for that episode. Sorry, had to get that in there, had to get that plug in there. Make sure you knew that we're back tomorrow morning with that Kevin Casper interview. But this schedule, so we're going to go through this. I think the one nice thing, if you look at this schedule, there is no reason in my mind Iowa should not start 3-0. Now, this schedule definitely benefits Iowa. They're a little bit a slower starter team, but having Purdue that first week of the season does scare me. Purdue is a team that gives Iowa some difficulties. Now, if Purdue has Rondell Moore, I'm even more concerned. Without Rondell Moore, Purdue is trying to figure out their quarterback situation as well.

They're trying to get timing in their offense. So that actually makes me feel a little bit better about that game. But there's no reason that Iowa, they're going to be more talented than Purdue at that time. What Iowa does in the secondary is going to be huge because Purdue is going to come out, and they, for some reason, can just throw all over a Phil Parker defense. But I do predict a win there on the road to open up the season on October 24th. Going into October 31st, you know, Northwestern is a team that I expected bounced back a little bit.

They had some pieces last year, but there was just nothing going for them, even with their transfer five-star quarterback. But I do expect Iowa to take care of Northwestern at home at Kinnick. That should not be a problem. They have more talent than Northwestern, and they should be able to beat them. And I think those days of Northwestern sticking around are behind us, hopefully. Michigan State, this would typically be a game that worried me, but Michigan State is in a down season. They're switching coaches. That is a huge deal when you don't have nearly as much time to practice.

We're watching college ball right now, and the games are really sloppy already. Now, imagine a team that is in transition with a new coach, with a new system. That is going to be tough on Michigan State. Fortunately, they do have a warm-up game. They get Rutgers October 24th, but they're going to be coming off of a big rivalry game against Michigan the week prior, so that'll be good for Iowa.

They're going to catch Michigan State in that week three, likely coming off a loss to Michigan. Now, November 14th, this is where I get a little bit worried. We have two road games against Minnesota and Penn State. The Minnesota game, what I'm most interested in seeing is if Rashad Bateman returns. So I don't think Minnesota is a bad team. I don't want anyone to take that as how I'm saying it. I think Minnesota is going to be a good team and they're not going to be bad at all. But I think Minnesota isn't more talented than

Iowa and not having to go on the road to Minnesota on a Friday night like we were originally anticipating having to do is great for the Hawks. So I think you come into this season, if you're 3-0 and you're healthy, Minnesota doesn't have a Rashad Bateman. I do think Iowa can pull out this victory. But this, to me, is a swing game. So when I talk about swing game, this is a game where I expect it to be about a 50-50. It's a pick-em. And if I look at Iowa's schedule, I see a route to 8-0. I see a route to 5-3.

This is one of those toss-up games. I'm picking them to win, but it is a toss-up game. And then going on to November 21st, I do think Iowa falls to Penn State, going on the road to Penn State. If there is the ability to have fans in the crowd, that is something to monitor as well because that Penn State atmosphere down in Happy Valley is crazy difficult to play in. I do think this is a game that Iowa probably slips up. You have a rivalry game the week before against Minnesota.

You have a rivalry game the week after against Nebraska. I think this is a game where Iowa could possibly slip up. Again, this is one of those toss-in games, though. I think there is a chance Iowa does have more talent on certain position groups. It also depends on how Spencer Petras has developed at that point. But I do expect this. At this point, I expect that to be a loss. November 28th or the Black Friday against Nebraska, I do expect that to be a win.

Again, this is nothing against me hating on Nebraska, although I do think there's a portion of that fan base that is despicable and just pathetic, especially if you've seen Nebraska Twitter over this past week because Arlen Bruce said that he wants to beat them and he plans on beating them, which I would hope an incoming recruit would say. I wouldn't want a recruit to come in to Iowa and say, you know what, hopefully we beat Nebraska. That'd be pretty cool. No, he said, I'm going to beat Nebraska, and I think that's awesome.

But they got all pissy up in their britches about it, so you'll have that. I do think Iowa beats Nebraska there. Illinois is actually not as easy of a game as it used to be. Lovie Smith has this program on the rise, and that's the one great thing about the Big Ten West. It's starting to get better. The bottom teams are starting to be. Lovey Smith has this program on the rise. And that's the one great thing about the Big Ten West. It's starting to get better. The bottom teams are starting to improve. I think, really, look at this division.

And really, Illinois and Northwestern and Nebraska are the only teams that I could see not going above.500 this year. And I do think they're talented teams as well. But Illinois, I do think, falls to Iowa. And then we get Wisconsin December 12th and I would love to think Iowa is going to win this game I really really would um I just it hasn't happened in five years or four or five years I I'm going to pick this as a loss for Iowa. Until they can prove me otherwise, I think that's a loss. If there's fans in the crowd, that definitely changes the perspective here. I do think Wisconsin is going to have a good team.

They are returning Jack Cohn, who is better than we anticipated at the quarterback position. There's not a ton of big losses. They lost their two pass rushers on the edge. But I don't think Wisconsin's in a rebuilding year. I think they're still going to be very solid, even after losing Heisman Trophy kind of person, Jonathan Taylor. So I'm picking this as a loss for Iowa. But, again, this is a swing game.

So I have Iowa finishing 6-2. That, to me, would put them probably at second in the Big Ten West and likely playing a Michigan or a Penn State again. So I would say second or third and playing Michigan or Penn State again. That's my predictions so far. That can obviously change. We're going to be breaking down every game before we actually play and giving our opinions based on the new information that we are getting.

Again, I think for me it's 6-2. I think Iowa could go 5-3. I think they could go 8-0. Anywhere between 5-3 and 8-0 is where I think Iowa could land. That to me seems about right. I think if you go 8-0, it'll be a very interesting conversation about the college football playoff and what could happen. And I do see a path there.

It's not impossible at this point for Iowa to go 8-0. They would have to play probably Ohio State in that Big Ten Champions League. And if they win that game, they have a clear shot at the college football playoff. But if I'm Wisconsin, I'm licking my chops because they have a much easier path than Iowa does at that point. But it'll be interesting to see how the season plays out. And if we are able to get through the entire season without any hiccups, the Big Ten had put in some pretty solid protocols for making sure there weren't outbreaks within the team or within the city that those teams are from,

which will be interesting to see how that all plays out. But that's my predictions. Let me know what your thoughts are. Let me know in an iTunes review. Say, hey, I think Iowa's going to be 6-2. Here's the losses they have. And give me a rating as well. Do whatever it is.

Text me, tweet me. Sorry, not text me. Tweet me. Message me on Facebook. Let me know what your thoughts are. Happy to share those as well for what your predictions are for the Iowa Hawkeye football schedule.

But that'll do it for our Monday morning episode. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Enjoyed the fact that Big Ten football is going to be back in just over a month. And as always, Hawkeye Nation, have a fantastic Monday and go Hawks. We'll see you next time.