Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Instant Reaction - Hawkeyes clubbed in B1G Championship game by Michigan

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

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Back from Indianapolis in the Big Ten Championship game, we break it down in Instant Reaction Podcast. Iowa falls 26-0 to the Michigan Wolverines. What's next for the Hawkeyes? All today. 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 Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube while you're there. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business. That's why LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the right people for your team faster and for free. Post your job for free at linkedin.com

slash lockedoncollege. Terms and conditions apply. Well, if you didn't make it to Indianapolis, I will tell you in person, it wasn't much better. It was definitely a fun lead up to the game, but during the 60 minutes of football, it went the way that it looked on television. And though there were plenty of opportunities in this football game, maybe for Iowa to hang around a little bit more. I don't think the final score was indicative of what exactly was playing out on the field.

But alas, that's what happens when you don't have one of your components that can do anything. And that's the offense. That's where happens when you don't have one of your components that can do anything. And that's the offense. That's where we are. Kind of a fitting end to the final game, Big Ten game for Brian Ferenc as the offensive coordinator, a game plan that didn't make sense, a scheme that doesn't work, and a goose egg on the scoreboard. This was as bad as it can be. We knew coming into this football game that Michigan was much more talented,

was much more healthy, was a team that Iowa was going to have to play nearly perfect to even have an opportunity to. And though Iowa did not play close to perfect, certainly not offensively, certainly not special teams, they did hang around, I think, a lot better than people anticipated. Now, there'll be people and there'll be some of the Michigan wonks out there that will just chalk this up to, well, you know, they weren't moving the football. Iowa wasn't.

They weren't going to do anything offensively. I don't believe that. I just don't. I think this was the Iowa defense making them uncomfortable. They were trying to do things. They were trying to move the football. They couldn't run the football. Michigan couldn't run the football.

They're not trying to call run plays to only get four yards. Blake Corum's longest run of the day was a six-yarder. Donovan Edwards had a run at the end of the half on a draw play where Iowa was sitting back and covered four and ripped off, what, an 18-yarderer that that was it Michigan couldn't run the football J.J. McCarthy was uncomfortable the Iowa defense was outstanding we hear Kirk Ferentz continually talk about complimenting football right this is not what it is it just isn't and he can blame the and Kirk did, and we'll get to that.

So I thought that was disappointing in the post-game press conference. But that aside, the injuries are a part of it. Look, if I was out there with a full compliment, if it is Cade McNamara and Eric Gall and Luke Lachey and Cooper DeGene, if you have those four players out there, is the final score different? Absolutely. Is the result though different? I still don't think so. I just don't think that there was enough juice, even with those guys, certainly offensively, for Iowa to go here. Though we saw some bright spots again, Caleb Brown has to be a huge part of what they do going forward. The new offensive coordinator needs to make to be a huge part of what they do going forward. The new offensive

coordinator needs to make him absolutely a pivotal, pivotal piece of what they're going to do offensively going forward. Iowa just doesn't get guys with the juice that he has, and they have to find a way to make him a huge part of what they're doing offensively. Addison Estrenga looks to be the next in a line of great tight ends. There's a couple of building blocks. The offensive line was brutal. It's been brutal. It has been bad for the last three years. It cratered a season ago.

And though it was better this year, it's still not good. There's no ass kicker on that team. Now, there's no offensive lineman that is a first or second round pick out of that group. Connor Colby's fine. Mason Richmond's okay. Jennings Dunker, who didn't play, is all right. But Logan Jones has been a huge disappointment. He finally gets something at the center position with Tyler Ellsbury,

and then you go back to Logan Jones. That, I just cannot wrap my mind around. Look, I get it. I don't know how to grade tape. I don't see the things that I know offensive line coaches and Kirk Ferentz and company see, but boy, how you go away from a guy that is actually doing things in the middle of that offensive line

to go back to Logan Jones, I just don't get it. I don't. That aside, we got plenty more to get into here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. We will take a little bit deeper look at this football game and want to talk about the review that drew the ire of many people and drew the ire certainly of Kirk, of Brian, well, the whole Iowa sideline. And Deacon Hill bubbling the football away. I didn't have a problem with the call.

I really didn't. Now, the explanation that Kirk apparently got was the arm was moving forward, but the hand wasn't, or something ridiculous like that. I mean, that's asinine. Not a real big surprise. But it's more about the review system that we have in place, right? And is there something that can be set up where an official comes

waving in incomplete, there is an audible whistle, but there was a clear recovery. The clear recovery was a guy just picking up the ball and tossing it back to the official because the play was over. And how you can call that a clear recovery? I thought it was a fumble. That's not the problem. That's not what the issue is here. The replay, this is something Kirk has right.

Going back to the Minnesota game, going back to the Cooper to Gene, the replay system. And this is across all sports. I hate in Major League Baseball, when you see a review, a guy steals second base, his fingers off the base for a millisecond. You bring it down to a freeze frame. Just one moment. That's not what this is about. This is about getting past the egregious errors.

Guy obviously getting bound. They call him outbound. Boom. Change it. I'm pleased like that. Catch, no catch. Oh yeah. we see easily. It's definitive, move on.

Not this. Not when a play's done. Nobody's playing. We're going to go back and we're going to change that. That's some Booth review where a guy, well, you know what? I saw his arm waving forward. I think that's an invalid fair catch. And again, it's an interpretation of a rule that we still don't even know if he actually

interpreted the rule correctly. That's not what this is about. And that's what Kirk has right. This is not why we have instant replay. At least initially, when a replay was brought in. It was to correct the egregious errors by the officials. That's not what we're doing anymore. To slow these things down to a millisecond, to have something like that happen on Saturday night, it was bad. We start to look forward, and though Iowa knows

their bowl destination will be in the Citrus Bowl against Tennessee. A little bit of a surprise, Ole Miss moved up. They're into the extra games. So they will not be there who we thought kind of last week felt like that was going to be the case. Instead it'll be the Vols and another shot at Tennessee after what happened back in the Hawks-Slayer Bowl. Remember that was the game that led to some big changes in Iowa football. Something to look at going forward. We'll talk about that and more as we continue a look towards the future on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast.

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a feature that helps you write job descriptions, making the process even easier and quicker. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockdown college. Again, that's linkedin.com slash lockdown college to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Trent Conner back with you again on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. And if you're on YouTube, hit that subscribe button. If you're on the podcast side, five-star reviews.

That's what we're looking for and gets us in front of more Hawkeye fans. Well, as we roll through here, the frustrations, certainly of Saturday night. Got back to the hotel, had an early flight out, had to get home. Daughter had a piano recital, so it wasn't a whole lot of sleep after that one. And it was frustrating because it could have, it could have been better. But 26-0 is still a stain. Going back to 42-3, two years ago in the championship game, three appearances in the Big Ten championship game, one offensive touchdown. It leads to the big questions. The big questions about what Kirk is willing to do to evolve.

Now, I mentioned this earlier, and somebody was asking him about what the offense is going to look like, what changes need to happen to compete at this highest level. And it was when you see the gap widening between Iowa and everybody else in a day where your defense played as well as anybody's played against Michigan in the Jim Harbaugh era and you just don't have a shot you just don't it's incredibly frustrating we know he knows that the offense has to get better but I was disappointed Kirk said this in response quote I still think we would have been better off this year if we had the quarterback we thought was going to be our starter playing. He's played in this game before as a winning quarterback. Our two tight ends are our best offensive players. I think Jay would co-sign

that. That's a start right there. Unquote. So to go down the path right away, when you know what people are looking for and to go to the injury excuse. There's no doubt. It's more than just an excuse. It's the reality. Iowa would be better with those guys out there. But it's not just a talent issue. As we saw with Charlie Jones. He goes out to Purdue.

Leads the country in catches. Has over 100 catches. It's a schematic issue. It's the evolution of what's happening. And another, I think, almost in a way damning thing. is we saw Kirk for six years complaining about the cut block rules in college football, and it took him six years to finally do something about it and actually change what they're doing in the running game. And as we saw this year, the evolution of what they did moving away from the outside zone play, a lot more gap style blocking, lot more counter plays things that i've been hollering about tons of people been hollering about for the last half decade

and they finally get to it and i can't afford to have the same thing in the passing game caleb brown is a good wide receiver caleb brown is has a chance to turn into a dynamic wide receiver he can be really good Seth Anderson's fine Deontay Banks is fine you have tight ends it's not a talent issue it's a schematic issue

we're seven years into the Brian Ferentz era and this is not me being flippant or being just a d-bag to be a d-bag here because I think everybody knows my thoughts on Brian Ferentz what are they trying to do in the passing game? What is the scheme? I don't know. I don't think he knows.

That's where the issues lie. Go back and watch the Iowa offense with Ken O'Keefe as the offense coordinator. Go watch those teams. Watch what they did in the Go watch those teams. Watch what they did in the middle of the field. Watch what they did with wide receivers, crossing routes, seam routes with tight ends. We see none of that anymore. This is not Kirk Ferentz's offense and everybody has to play this crappy style. No, this is Brian Ferentz's offense, and it is terrible. He doesn't know how to coordinate an offense. He doesn't know how to coordinate an offense. He doesn't know

how to set up plays. He doesn't know how to call plays. He comes up with a game plan against Michigan, where we're just going to line up and try to pound you. Come on. No shots down the field. Reverse plays in some of the dumbest moments of the football game. It's a guy that doesn't have a clue. He's throwing things up against the wall and hoping they stick. And that's all he has. And he's gone. Who the next coordinator is, is a huge, huge decision that Kirk Ferentz has to make. And on top of it, how hands-off is he going to be? How much handcuffs is he going to put on the new coordinator?

I don't believe. You know, how much handcuffs is he going to put on the new coordinator? I don't believe, and in a way, I don't believe that he should just hand the reins over to whoever and he do whatever you want. It's not Kirk. It's not the program. It's not the style. And there are certain styles that offensively would not work at Iowa. With the players that you get and the top level talent that you can get at a place like the tight end position,

it certainly makes sense to build an offense around that. Greg Davis struggled to get the tight end position involved as much as it should be at Iowa. And he eventually got there, but it took a long time. And he had some talented dudes. George Kittle, Jake Ducey, there were some dudes. C.J. Fedorowicz, he had some tight ends, right? But it took a while for him to figure out with his weird horizontal passing game, married with his own blocking scheme. It was a marriage that didn't work. Kirk's got to get this right. With the changing landscape

of the Big Ten, with the changing landscape of college football, there is still an opportunity here for Iowa to remain relevant getting to a championship game obviously is a lot more difficult it's not about beating Purdue and Illinois and the rest of the Big Ten West it's finishing top two in an 18 team league I don't care who that 18 team league is that's tough but you couple it with more games against Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, throw Oregon, Washington, USC, UCLA in the mix, it's going to be more difficult. Kirk's got to get this right, and we'll be talking plenty about that.

Also, how do you acquire talent? How do you continue to build this thing out? Iowa was aggressive last year in the portal, and as we say here on Monday, the portal is now open. What do they need? What do they need to look for? What is out there? And who is willing to be an Iowa Hawkeye?

And certainly offensively. Look, it's an easy sell defensively, right? You just take a look at a guy like Dick Jackson. What he was able to do this season becomes an all-Big Ten player and likely going to be a draft pick at the next level. Plug and play. You want to be a defensive back? Look what Phil Parker's done.

In 13 years of award for defensive back of the year, Iowa has six of them. And none of those six guys were highly regarded coming out of high school. You want to come have a season and then get ready to play in the NFL? There's no better place to do it than at Iowa. Phil Parker does that.

That's what you're selling. Selling it offensively, and whoever that offensive coordinator is, that's going to be the difficult task. What went wrong? A lot. A lot of people wanted this to work. And there was that faction out there that as Iowa rolled off the wins at the end of the season and had another great November,

was Iowa making the right choice of firing Brian Ferencz. Did Beth Getz get it wrong? We saw Saturday night, she didn't. It had to be done. And as you saw from Kirk's comments that we talked about earlier, talking about the injuries, there is not a doubt in my mind if Iowa

and the athletic department didn't do what they do and Barbara Wilson, the school president, and higher than that, that ultimately made the decision that Brian's done. If that decision wasn't made, Brian would be back next year. There is not a doubt in my mind. You see Kirk making the excuses. Injuries. We don't want so much deeper than that.

There is so many more layers than just chalk it up to injuries. It's broken. Can it be fixed? We continue. Locked on Hawkeyes. A little bit more on this football team and a look ahead to the week in front of us on the hardwood. Iowa, both women and men, their Cyhawk game, but it starts on Monday. Tonight for the Iowa men, they get former number one Purdue after they fall to Northwestern. Going to be a ticked off Boilermaker squad. The Hawks have a chance. We'll talk about it. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast.

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Trent Conner back with you one final time on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Well, it is basketball in front of us. We will be back with you with an instant reaction basketball podcast after tomorrow night's matchup against Purdue. The Hawkeyes and the Boilermakers getting together again. A series that has not gone real well for Iowa. So you got a Purdue team coming off a loss to Northwestern they will fall out of the number one spot in the AP poll when that is

released later this morning Hawkeyes open up as a 12 and a half point underdog the over under 164 and a half this Purdue team they can score you. They can play the kind of style that Iowa wants to do when they got some shot makers. We all know about Zach Eady, right? What a monster he is. And it's going to take a Herculean effort to keep him away from having that 25 and 15 type of game that he seemingly has each and every time. But we've also seen this year the ascension of those guards that were freshmen last year. A guy like Braden Smith really coming on. A lawyer, Gillis. They got dudes that can hit it from the outside.

And that's been the problem. Yeah, Edie does his thing, right? But it's the way that Purdue has shot the basketball against Iowa. I guess the glimmer of hope that you have in a game like this is they don't shoot it well. You do. That's kind of all you have. I go back to a year ago in the game like this is they don't shoot it well. You do. That's kind of all you have. I go back to a year ago in the game against Indiana. And last year's Indiana team is not close in terms of talent to this year's Purdue team.

We're not talking about teams in the same stratosphere. However, Iowa really struggled on the road last year and really struggled shooting the basketball on the road. It was just one of those games where they're hitting shots. You go back to when they played down in San Diego Thanksgiving week. And what happened? Didn't make shots against Oklahoma, made shots against Seton Hall. It's funny how different you can look as a team. We know Iowa got to play well offensively. There's just not a path for this team to win a grinded out type of game. It's just not likely. Not the way because they're going to give up too many points on the other end. And then after this one on Monday night against Purdue, you go back on the road, you go to Ames to take on Iowa State. And those Cyclones,

I think, have disappointed to this point in the season. Blew a 21-point lead against Texas A&M, dinked around with an awful DePaul team on Friday night. This has not been, I think, the Iowa State team that a lot of people were anticipating. It's going to be a tough environment. Maybe the game against Purdue will help them prepare. And then it's Michigan after that. Look, at minimum, Iowa's got to win that Michigan game. You just do. Michigan's not very good.

And maybe they have some addition by subtraction with Jed Howard off to the NBA. But you have to get that one. And if you can find a way to get two, now we're talking. Now Iowa definitely, I think, is back in the conversation as an NCAA tournament team. Then you get a couple more non-conference games, a couple bye games, and away you go in a conference play as things get started up again.

That's where we are right now. Big week in front for Iowa basketball. The women's team also with the game against Iowa State. Iowa State team on the women's side that has their own set of issues. We got you covered here with all of it on Lockdown Hawkeyes. Plenty of coverage there. Got to talk a little wrestling as well. We will get into that here in the coming weeks. A lineup that got some holes in it right now uh will those holes be filled tom brands last week seemed hopeful that maybe an appeal could help out this program i don't know if he was talking about nelson brands or where he was going but we'll talk a little more wrestling as well as

we start to make our way into the winter sports season plus that transfer portal it's going to be a huge conversation piece. And there will be a whole lot that will come out of that. We're with you every day. The Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. And thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We'll talk to you after the Purdue Iowa game tomorrow night. Go Hawks.