Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Instant Reaction - Iowa Football beats Nevada over 7 hours

Episode Date: September 18, 2022

Trent Condon returns for an instant reaction podcast in the early morning after Iowa beats Nevada 27-0 after 6 hours and 59 minutes.Some positive signs from the Hawkeye offense as they took some shots down the field and gave the passing game a chance. And Kaleb Johnson looks like a budding star after he goes for over 100 yards including touchdown runs of 40 & 55 yards.The defense gets the shutout and lots of different players to spotlight for the Hawkeyes including Jack Campbell & Lukas Van Ness.And perhaps a new kicker for Iowa football as Drew Stevens comes in and is perfect including two field goals.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!NugenixNow get a complimentary bottle of Nugenix Total T when you text COLLEGEto 231-231. Text now and get a bottle of Nugenix Thermo, their most powerful fat incinerator ever, with key ingredients to help you get back into shape fast.LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!UpsideDownload the FREE Upside App and use promo code Locked to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more.Underdog FantasySign up on underdogfantasy.com with the promo code LOCKED ON and get your first deposit doubled up to $100! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Six hours and 59 minutes, but the Iowa Hawkeyes get the win tonight against Nevada, or should I say this morning against Nevada, 27-0 the final here. I'm Trent Condon with the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. We'll break things down on this instant reaction podcast, get some thoughts on what's happening, improvements from the offense. What do we take away from that? We'll get into that here this morning as we come to you live at a little after 2.15 Central Time AM.

We'll talk about the defense pitching a shutout, another outstanding effort out of them, and it's Big Ten play around the corner. Rutgers on tap next. All on today's Instant Reaction Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Lockdown Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes podcast. I'm Trey Cotton, and this is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day. Come to you live here from the man cave as the Hawkeyes get it done. 27-0, six hours and 59 minutes of action,

and it goes final just shy of 1 40 AM central time. Iowa wins at 27, nothing over Nevada shutout. The sixth shutout since 2014 for this Hawkeye defense. They were outstanding. Once again, the offense showed some signs of life. Big thank you to everybody joining us live here on YouTube as well. You can hit us up with your comments. We'll talk about them here throughout the morning, but a late one, certainly. I know a lot of people will be

listening later on on Sunday or even on your way into work on Monday, but thanks for joining us here today. So let's get into it and obviously need to start with what has been the biggest conversation piece over the last week in Iowa football. after the 10-7 loss last week to Iowa State the question was what were they going to do offensively and was there going to be a change at the quarterback position if you've been listening obviously over the last week and you listen to me going back and and on the radio on KXNO as I host my daily show over there you know I've never been a big Spencer Petras fan not not as a person, as a player. I just frankly don't think that he is a good enough quarterback to elevate this program to another level. Yes, they won the Big Ten West last year, got to the championship game,

and you saw in that championship game just how poorly it went. We saw deficiencies, we've seen issues, and some of those cropped up today, but it was certainly an improvement, And you have to be happy to see that. We were told, and looking back upon the week that it was, you understand the thought process from Kirk Ferentz. I think even the people that were ready for a change, ready to see something else, at least at minimum, we understand what Kirk Ferentz was looking to do. And he wanted to give Spencer Petras a fair shot. These first two weeks, not having Nico Regani out there, his most dedicated receiver, a guy that he's been with now over his whole career,

not having him out there, a security blanket, if you will, coupled with, of course, not having your big player receiver in Keegan Johnson. You just want to be able to see what they could do. And when you're running Alec Wick out there, you're running Jack Johnson out there, a couple of walk-ons, and their time very well they could do. And when you're running Alec Wick out there, you're running Jack Johnson out there, a couple of walk-ons and their time very well still could come, but too early in their career to anticipate that these guys were going to be ready for prime time, that these guys were going to be able to play at a high level, a big 10 level and be a wide receiver and get the separation that you need and do all of those things. And ultimately that's what Kirk went back

to. He went back to his security blanket and Spencer Petras and fighting out when he gets those weapons, how much better can he be? He was certainly better. Petras was better here tonight. He looked much more solid in the pocket, the happy feet that had grown accustomed to, even the times that he would get out of the pocket and run a little bit and make some movement. He just wasn't as statuesque back there. And I think it was just because he also knew that, yes, he had some weapons that he could go to.

The shots upfield. I mean, it was night and day difference where the defense had become so compressed up against the Hawkeye offense here during the first two weeks. You saw South Dakota State. They're crashing down every time because they didn't think there was anybody short of Arlen Bruce that could get there. And, you know, another thing about Petras, it looked like he was just so broken mentally. He was having these issues mentally where some easy throws, the pitching catches, the ones that were the most makeable throws. He was even struggling with those kind of throws. And tonight, there were still some of those moments.

You can think of a couple of balls off the top of your head that certainly weren't great balls and were not well thrown, but it was an improvement. And that's what you continue to go back to with him and what we saw tonight. It was an improvement. It wasn't great, but it was at least a positive step forward, a big step forward out of the freshman, Caleb Johnson. Caleb Johnson came in big accolades coming out of Ohio. This is a guy though.

No, the Buckeyes weren't after him. It wasn't a Michigan guy, anything like that, that had the biggest of big-time Big Ten offers. This is a guy that was coveted out there. And a lot of people said early on in the recruiting process, when he committed to Iowa, that they got a gem physically put together. You can see. I mean, he just has that look of a running back

and excited to talk when we get LaShawn Daniels in about him this week. How about the breakaway speed, too? Both those long touchdown runs. The first one, the 40-yarder showed power on that one, breaking through a tackle, getting the outside, and then beating the defender to the pylon. And then the second touchdown later in the game, the 55-yarder that absolutely put it away and made it 27-0 and showed some speed along with it. He's not lacking for confidence. He talked after the game to Gary Dolphin and Ed Podolak in the postgame show on the radio side, and he was talking about just that, that he thinks that he's going to be ready to go and not lacking in confidence.

You love to see that from a running back, and Caleb Johnson certainly had that. Also got to see Jazzy on Patterson a little bit later on. Got to see him out there making some plays. So the running game, at least at times, took some steps forward. You saw some positive steps there. Still the interior of the offensive line. I don't want to say it's a mess, but it has some issues. Now, on that touchdown run, Mati Pottabon had a nice block there. They kicked it out and set up that 55-yard touchdown run from Caleb Johnson, but we have not seen the same Mati Panabon as a blocker that we've seen in the past. It feels like maybe a little bit of regression from the guy in the past. And frustration certainly has come out because of that. So a positive step forward aspect of seeing what he was able to do in the game.

Got to see Jazzy on Patterson. As I mentioned, the other true freshman out there, he got a couple of carries late in the game. Not a whole lotzy on Patterson. As I mentioned, the other true freshman out there, he got a couple of carries late in the game. Not a whole lot of running room out there for Gavin Williams, but you just see with Keegan Johnson, with all the weapons now out there for Iowa, it's not going to be a dynamic offense, but how much better it is. It looked like an Iowa offense, right? Wasn't great. Wasn't anything that you're going to be talking about. It's not going to be getting the highlights everywhere. Let's take a look at some of those final numbers in the running game

as we're talking about it here. Iowa finishes with 162 yards on the ground, as mentioned, over 100 yards for Caleb Johnson. He finishes seven carries, 103 yards, and those two touchdowns, a 55-yarder and a 40-yarder. Gavin Williams still 16 for 57, and he had a couple of plays that he lost yardage on. Not bad from him. Jazzy on Pearson gets six carries for 20 yards in the game.

And remember, also at the college level, you also do see the ones that are taken down in the running game with quarterback sacks as Petras finishes with five carries for minus 16 yards, and the sacks are a part of that. Had a long five yards, got out there a little bit, and at least did some good things. Good things in the running game, not great. Offensive line has a long, long ways to go as they continue to try to shuffle guys in, find that right combination early on.

You saw some big-time struggles, I thought, from both Stevens. We'll get the numbers, and we'll talk about that later this week from Pro Football Focus and see if it kind of lines up with our eye test of what we saw inside Logan Jones. He had some struggles. Now that big guy, number zero in the middle, that defensive tackle, maybe the biggest highlight of the night as a player was certainly him. Dom Patterson was his name.

I thought he was really good for Nevada and really caused some problems for the Hawkeyes inside. Overall, though, a positive, positive step forward from this offense. We'll talk more about the defense special teams. We got a new kicker. We'll also do that as we roll through here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. So a shutout, right? And after last week's game against Iowa State, that was the talk. That was the talk that, hey, we need to see a little bit more here. We need to see more from the running game.

We need to see more that is going to happen with this squad and getting things done because you gave up a touchdown. That's what Riley Walsh said after the game. Hey, we gave up a touchdown, and this is a team game. We would have pitched a shutout. We would have got the win. Well, they did that tonight against Nevada and get the victory 27 to nothing another shutout for them and it was another team after effort Jack Campbell he was all over the place his running mate at the linebacker

spot you saw Seth Benson miss a tackle early on came right back he had a really good play there a really impressed impressed out of what he was able to do defensively. Lucas Van Ness, how about this young guy? He had a sack and a half. Aaron Graves comes in after the second delay. He gets a sack. Same thing for Craig, who was able to get one as well. Deontay Craig thought he really showed some burst out there.

We saw Llewellyn. We saw a bunch of guys out there making some plays. Really good to see even some of the youngsters out there and get a little more playing time. We already know how deep this defensive line is, but it went even deeper tonight. Cooper Dajin, what can you say? This is a start in the making. Of course, Riley Moss is a preseason All-American. Teams aren't really throwing his way very often. Not going to go the direction of 33, but on the other side, Cooper Dijon playing that cash position, playing cornerback a little bit more. We saw him out there and he's playing at a really high level. Terry Roberts also helping

out there. Quinn Schulte didn't have the same kind of numbers we've seen in the past from him at those four pass breakups in the first game of the season against South Dakota State, but I thought he was really solid as well. Let's run down here some of the individual defensive numbers for the Hawkeyes as we get the stats coming in here. Jack Campbell finishes with 10 tackles and also had a tackle for a loss. There's Lucas Van Ness, eight tackles, one and a half sacks, two and a half tackles for a loss for him. Seth Benson with seven tackles. Quinn Schulte still finished with six. John Wagner, six tackles out of Wagner. That was good. Kind of a quiet performance, I thought, but he was in six assisted tackles for John Wagner. Kayvon Merriweather on X of five tackles, followed by Joe Evans and then Aaron Graves, who got so

many of those snaps late in the game. So certainly have to be happy with that and seeing the continued improvement and the depth continuing to grow out of this Iowa defense as they get the shutout here tonight got to go down Jeremiah Pittman he made a really nice play late in the football game he got a tackle for loss on that one saw Reggie Bracey out there we know he's a great special teamer I also saw some tweets from his mom during the game as they got back in before the second delay and speaking of the delays what a weird scenario that was juice, too. So they come back out there, whatever that time that was. A little after 10 o'clock, I guess. Is that what it was?

I don't know. It's all starting to run together. Go out there. All right, we're going to give it a go. You get one play, and that is it. They're light enough for a punt. Iowa gets a penalty. We're going to try a long field goal.

No, we're not. And then we have another delay, and we finally got back out there. What, 11.45, I think think it was when things got restarted it was a long night of football but some positive certainly from iowa yet still concerns let's go finally one final spot and that is to the special teams tory taylor he was tory taylor right i mean he was doing things at a high level his last punt i guess was the most disappointing effort that we saw from him as he hit that one 38 yards. I think that was the shortest of the day.

Seven punts, 327 yards, average 46.7 per punt, and he put four of those punts inside the 20-yard line. Three of them went over 50 yards, had the one touched back on his first kick of the night. He was excellent, but look at Drew Stevens, the kicker. So, you know, Drew Stevens came in, another Carolina guy. Remember, of course, Keith Duncan coming in, never the strongest leg guy. He came in, though, that freshman year, needed the kick down by two against Michigan. 13-11 in typical Iowa fashion. And Iowa wins it 14-13 as he walked things off.

And since then, he took that job and ran with it, even though he had very talented guys around him. Miguel Racinos, of course, what we saw with Caleb Shudak. He had really talented guys that were also with him in that kicking room. But he was able to hold them off. He was very good throughout his career. But he was never a guy that you even felt real confident, probably 47 and longer. That was his range. He was inside to hold him off. He was very good throughout his career, but he was never a guy that you even felt real confident, probably 47 and longer.

That was his range. He was inside of that where he didn't feel confident that he was going to be able to, to knock in a 52 yarder in a big moment. It's fourth and eight. There's no reason to punt the football. You're going to try a long field goal. That wasn't Duncan.

Well, this Stevens guy, I'll tell you, he's got the leg and you saw that kick after they came back from the break after the second delay and he made the field goal that made it 20 to 17 i mean just absolutely nutted that thing pounded it through really strong leg got to be excited about his future he was well regarded coming out kicking first of all evaluation of high school prospects in general there's no perfect science right same thing with the NFL draft, same thing with college recruiting. You're never going to get things perfectly, but

with him, I think you see why people in those kicking circles really thought he had a chance to be a high level D1 kicker. And though we didn't get the job coming out of camp, it sounded like it was nip and tuck with him and Aaron Blom. We go back to the one practice we got to see in August at Kids Day back in the middle of the month, and both the kickers made all their kicks. But there's something about Stevens. Seems a little bit different. Ball jumps off his foot just a little bit different. And after the missed field goal at the end of the Iowa State game last week,

missed field goal the week before against South Dakota State, they're ready to make a change. I'm sure also on top of that, they also had a portion of this that, frankly, they looked at and said, all right, we're going to give this guy a shot. Leg is too good, and he was really good in that one. Arlen Bruce, he was making plays in the kick return game. Really, really happy to see that. So with that, that's a report card, if you will, for the game against Nevada. 27-0, Iowa gets the win. They get the cover.

It stays under the total. I'm happy with that. I was on that side of things in the betting world. And now we get ready for Big Ten play, and there's going to be a lot this week. From the Iowa perspective, they get the win. Great. Absolutely positive. Now the touchdown pass to Arlen Bruce.

Was it a little bit too far? Yeah, it probably was. But Arlen Bruce made a great play for that one. There were plays that were left on the field. They're going to have to continue to get better. Now, Rutgers today, they really struggled. They won on the road against Temple in a terrible environment. You're going to play in the Eagles Stadium. You're playing in this monster stadium.

There might be 10,000 people in the stands there. In fact, our former neighbors right across the street, they moved out to Philadelphia a couple years ago, and their oldest daughter goes to Temple. They go to the games because she's in the flag guard. So I see pictures all the time on Facebook of their family and at the games, and there's plenty. Not a great environment for Rutgers. They got the win 16-14 today, but I was going to have to be ready to go. This is not Rutgers that maybe you think about in the past and what a train wreck they are. Chiano, he is a coach.

He knows how to win. He's won at a high level at Rutgers before, and he's going to get them not at the top level. Look, this guy is going to be a team, and certainly in the current construction of things, they're not going to be competing for a Big Ten title anytime soon, but they're competent at the very least. You're going down the road for the first time.

That sets up its own set of circumstances. Petras has to continue to get better. So you knock off the first one. All right. Kirk got to see what he wanted to see, right? He wanted to see what he was with a full compliment of players with the receivers back. And you got that. You got to see the positives that came out of that part.

So, all right, check that box here. Now it's about making the makeable still getting better. Stop throwing behind receivers. Stop floating things. You have to be more consistent. He was better. I thought Brian Ferentz was also better here tonight. I think he put the team in a much better situation. South Dakota state more than anything. I put a lot of that on Petrus. I thought it was more on Brian and the Iowa state game. I thought the game plan was deplorable, absolutely awful. And Brian called a much better game. Now you're doing it against one of the worst defenses in the country,

and that also has to be said. And that's the difficult component of this game is because you look at it and you see, hey, on this front, this was a really bad defense. This is a defense that gave up over 600 yards of offense a week ago to Incarnate Word. Now, Incarnate Word's good. They're really good. In fact, they knocked off that Southern Illinois team that just beat Northwestern today. So it's maybe the name of the school that throws us off

a little bit. This is a really good FCS team, and they're scoring at a high level. I think they put 68 or something like that on Southern Illinois. So that says just how high powered their offense is still for Iowa to go through this football game and the weird circumstances and still just finish what just north of 300 yards overall 337 is what they finished up with. You still wanted to see more and that's where we are right now. Need to get another swig here. That's where we are right now. Need to get another swig here. Yeah, it's been a late night. And got to get the vocal cords back rolling again.

But with that, we turn the page to Rutgers. We turn the page to Big Ten play. Is Iowa where it needs to be with Michigan on deck after that Michigan game? No. Now, can Iowa go out there and win a 17-13 slugfest against Rutgers? Absolutely. And I think it's going to be that kind of game coming up this week. We saw enough steps forward that that certainly makes you feel a little bit better overall with this team. Iowa gets it done. 27-0 the final. This has been our Instant Reaction Podcast. Again, thanks to everybody out there

for watching. If you're with us on YouTube, hit that subscribe button. You'll see us each and every day throughout the week myself LaShawn Daniels twice a week the former Hawkeye running back breaking things down going inside the locker room talking about a lot of the the things that happen inside of things on Friday I think LaShawn really brought a great perspective about Iowa's tendencies and at times you wonder where the self-scouting is he talked about some times where defenders were calling out the play as Iowa was going to the line or making a check and people were talking about that so LaShawn really brings that perspective later in the week my buddy Biz who I've been friends with since I was a youngster in elementary school and all throughout college and and here today as adults he'll be with me back at it again later

in the week with him. We'll break things down. We'll be back with you on the Monday podcast. And with that, I'll have a chance to rewatch this game. I'll figure out checking the DVR over seven hours, make sure we have everything in there and walk through all the plays. We'll break things down a little bit deeper in our next podcast. We'll get that ability to go a little bit deeper into things after re-watching it, not doing it in a live time, not doing it with a beer in my hand, actually sitting down and really breaking things down at a deeper level. That'll be the Monday podcast, LaShawn, on Tuesday,

biz later in the week, and then Friday with LaShawn again. That's here, what we have with you each and every day throughout the week with the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Instant reaction here. You can also check out Locked On Big Ten as we get ready for Big Ten play a perfect time. Make Locked On Big Ten with Nate Dickinson your second listen each and every day.

Hit that subscribe button on YouTube. Appreciate that. We went over a thousand. A big thank you. Our goal was to do it by the Michigan game and we blew past that and let's keep going. I thank everybody out there for watching and listening here to the lockdown

Hawkeyes podcast in heaven. There is no beer. We're going to drink one here. We'll talk to you again later. Go Hawks.