Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Bye Weeks improvements and some Iowa Men's Hoops talk

Starting point is 00:00:01 It's an off week for the Hawkeyes, a bye for Iowa, yet there's plenty of improvements that need to be made. What does Iowa need to do getting ready for the matchup against Ohio State? Plus a little Iowa basketball talk. All today, Locked on Hawkeyes. 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 find podcasts.

Starting point is 00:00:43 You can also watch us on YouTube. While you're there, make sure you hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Place your first $5 bet and you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed. Visit FanDuel.com to get started. Well, it's an off week as we go into the weekend getting ready for, of course, college football. Once again, a big slate in the Big Ten with some matchups that are intriguing, interesting. We'll get a look at Ohio State before, of course, the matchup with the Hawkeyes next week. Certainly looking forward to that and getting a little deeper look at Ohio State. Now with Michigan State, you know, it's going to be incredibly difficult, I think, to get

Starting point is 00:01:23 a whole lot of read about still the Buckeyes. They have not been challenged to this point and there's been certainly a lot of domination out of them. And because of that, and because of just the strength of schedule, it's going to be difficult, I think, to get a full read on that. But looking forward to the top 25 matchup, Penn State, Illinois, as the line I make their way out there an unofficial whiteout how do we see Michigan bounce back as a letdown factor against Minnesota they got that one USC against Wisconsin as we're gonna see a bunch of fat badgers out there making their way and having a good time and it starts Friday night with Rutgers Washington an intriguing one at minimum we'll see Washington of course lost

Starting point is 00:02:01 so much but we're here to talk first about the Hawkeyes, and we're going to get into that. And let's kick things off here first just with this. As we've looked at this team, the improvements that have been made offensively, I mean, just how immense the numbers are for Iowa at this point in time and how much the running game has improved. Yes, the passing game is still not there. It still needs a lot of work, and we'll get into that momentarily.

Starting point is 00:02:25 But what we've seen out of this run game, and just some very simple tweaks, at least on the surface, for non-deep X's and O's kind of people, you see, though, what they're working to do. And that zone scheme, instead of the inside-outside zone, and that's strictly basically your offense, that has evolved. Now, they did this last year too. We saw them a lot more gap blocking up front and that led to more plays. We also saw more counters out of the team a year ago, but just this, excuse me, the simple shift in what they're doing with a few more shifts themselves, moving guys around, just changing the eye and the complexity of this offense just on a surface level has improved immensely. Another thing that you're seeing out of this squad is that outside zone play that is a

Starting point is 00:03:13 tenant of any zone blocking scheme. Instead of running it all the way wide, basically going outside of the tackle box for that, they're running it off the inside hip of those tackles. And because of that, you're seeing better creases there you don't have to have the ability now of these fast defenses and you look at growing kind of college football I mean we saw a perfect example obviously right here in Iowa City Iowa knowing they needed to get more speed on the field and evolving from the 4-3 defense into the 4-2-5 with the cash position. With it, you get another guy that can cover. You get another guy that has some speed.

Starting point is 00:03:48 And on those types of run plays, the outside zone, you got the ability with speed, extra speed out there to track things down from the backside. And that has obviously helped things immensely. Look, under Phil Parker, this Iowa team was good, really good year in and year out. And now they've gone to elite levels. And we've seen that now year after year. And though there's still work to be done there, obviously, that's something that needs to be dialed up in a big time way.

Starting point is 00:04:13 You look at the squad and what they're going to be able to do and what they've done defensively after that change. But you've seen other teams obviously do that across college football. And when you get more speed out there, that outside linebacker from the outside, maybe it's an extra safety or even a slot corner, whatever it is, their ability to track down those outside zone plays increases immensely. Well, you don't go quite as far outside, just a very simple schematic change and what that's done for Caleb Johnson. Now, another reason for it, obviously, is just Caleb Johnson. I mean, a guy that has never been a talent question with him,

Starting point is 00:04:46 and he's putting it all together. So you have that component as well. The run game, get going. Now, one other, I think, tenet here. You got an open week. You got a lot to do. One thing that I have heard throughout the course of this week compared to in the past is offensively,

Starting point is 00:05:03 they've been working ones versus the ones a whole lot more knowing that they have to improve that this game, this team has to get better offensively if they're going to get through what is still in front of them. And after the Ohio state game, we're not talking about an overly daunting schedule by any means, but there's just a whole bunch of coin flip games, a bunch of games that you look at that are likely 50 50 and Iowa in order to be on the right side of it, they got to be ready to go and they can't afford any losses. If you put this one down as an L and a fan duel right now,

Starting point is 00:05:36 Iowa in the look ahead line is a 23 and a half point underdog against the Buckeyes. From there on out, if I was going to get the heights that we wanted out of the squad this year that I think are still possible, getting to a 10 win season, doing those kinds of things in order for that to happen, you're going to have to need this team obviously to be clicking offensively. And that's the biggest thing is going hand to hand with the run game is getting this passing game going. Tim Lester mentioned earlier in the week, and we talked about it, that he was overruled with a couple of deep shots down the field that he wanted to employ, that he wanted to do. And because of that, and because of those kind of, you just didn't see a full compliment of the offense in the second half. But

Starting point is 00:06:18 Tim Lester said it, Hayden Fry said it, scratch where it itches, right? And that run game was playing at such a high level in the second half against Minnesota. They didn't have to throw the ball. I mean, what would you rather have? This thing going down to the wire, you're sneaking out of there, maybe with a victory or a bounce doesn't go your way, a call doesn't go your way, fair catch. Those things don't go your way. You're walking out of there with an L. Or you throw the football for 63 yards or

Starting point is 00:06:46 whatever the final number was out of Cade McNamara. Take the win. Take the easy win. Take what is working. Get Jazzy and Patterson some more work. And I think you're going to see him in there a little bit more. We know this offense needs to do more. And that means guys like Caleb Brown need to be able to run the route correctly that they're supposed to do because it was a play that was there if he ran the route correctly, but it didn't happen. Jacob Gill is out there doing his thing. And another thing that I would love to see here in the bye week is finding a way to scheme up a little bit more

Starting point is 00:07:17 of sneaking one of those tight ends down the field. We're going to continue to see teams that load the box. Now, the numbers for Caleb Johnson against a stacked box with eight guys in the box are more. They've been absolutely incredible this year, but to think that that is sustainable, that that's something that's going to continue to go at that level is just not likely. You just can't play against stacked boxes all season long and be able to put up the ridiculous numbers that Caleb Johnson has to this point in time. So you're going to have to not just make plays up the field, but make plays up the field

Starting point is 00:07:49 with the tight end, because all we've seen for the most part out of the tight end position this year has them being used, obviously, as blockers, and that's a big part. And both those guys, both Lachey and Estrenga have done a really good job of that. Wartworth, when he's been in there, we've seen Hayden Large be part of that package more in that H-back role. He's a fullback. He's a tight end, kind of all over the place. He's been doing a whole lot of that, and he's been blocking certainly at a high level.

Starting point is 00:08:14 So you need to have that. I want to see just a couple of seam routes, right, out of the tight end position because they've been outlets. They've been short routes around the line of scrimmage. They've been the outlet guy and line of scrimmage. They've been the outlet guy and use that big size that Luke Lachey has and try to get them up the scene, get them matched up against a linebacker up the scene without any safety help up top, because those safeties are crashing down. I think there's potential for that one. Addison Estrenga, good athleticism, good athlete. He's another guy. I think they can stretch the field

Starting point is 00:08:43 at the tight end position. And Ortworthworth maybe the guy of that group right now maybe one of the quicker ones and he's still obviously adding strength and getting bigger in his true sophomore season after playing a little bit a year ago this is a guy that I think another one that you can find a way to get up the field Hayden Lawrence probably not but of those three that I mentioned getting them up the field a little bit more stretching things out in that direction. Jacob Gill is an outstanding receiver. I mean, he has been just an absolute revelation of what they've done there. But need to get more out of the passing game.

Starting point is 00:09:15 Need to get more out of the Caleb Browns of the world, the Jarrett Buies. Get some guys with some speed out there. Stretch it out a little bit more. Came back to American Make Place. For the comment section that thinks they can't throw the ball 30 yards, go back to game one. He threw the ball off his back foot 44 yards into the end zone. He can throw the ball.

Starting point is 00:09:32 The Hail Mary against Iowa State was hideous. We get it. But to think that he can't throw the football 50 yards, come on. He's not a strong-armed quarterback. He's not. That's fine. But let's go a little, let's slow down on the hyperbole just a little bit. It can't even throw the ball 30 yards down the field. I could throw the football for,

Starting point is 00:09:48 no, you can't knock it off. Knock it off. All right. Let's continue here. Lockdown Hawkeyes by week is in front of us. Let's get into a little Iowa basketball talk. We talked earlier this week here on lockdown Hawkeyes that Iowa, well, the women's basketball program has sold out. The men's, not so much. We're going to talk about this men's basketball team. I think they're going to be good. What does good entail? We'll talk about that as we continue.

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Starting point is 00:12:53 download Roy today. Trey kind of back with you once again on the lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So a little basketball talk for you as we look at this upcoming Iowa basketball team. Iowa basketball this season, the expectations are not very high. And you look on the national front, even the regional front, people that cover the Big Ten and what their expectations are for this team. Look, there's some people in this new 18-team iteration cover the Big Ten and what their expectations are for this team. Look, there's some

Starting point is 00:13:25 people in this new 18-team iteration of the Big Ten that don't believe that they're going to be a tournament team. Not an NCAA tournament team, a Big Ten tournament team. That's right. Because we have a couple of teams that will not be invited to the Big Ten basketball tournament, they don't even have them in the top 16 to qualify to make their way in. Now, I think that's absolutely laughable. That is ridiculous that that is your thought process with this squad. This is a team that returns starting with Peyton Sanford. Sanford, a guy we know is a high level score. He's improved his game. He has diversified his game. He is a guy that has been able to score at high levels, an incredible shooter. He's added other elements on top of it to his games. You return a guy like

Starting point is 00:14:10 that, that at minimum is our honorable mention, big 10 player. And then you throw in the fact that the big 10 freshman of the year from a year ago, Owen Freeman returns. We continue to see that Owen Freeman is working to expand that jumper a little bit more, add another element to his game. We know what a study is. Really, the biggest thing for Owen Freeman this year is just staying on the floor. I mean, foul trouble plagued him, and you'd anticipate that for a big playing in the Big Ten, his first go around for the first time. But we know the upside there. So you return, you just start with those two players, and to think that this team can't finish, is going to finish in the bottom two or three in the league?

Starting point is 00:14:47 Come on. I mean, it's just absolutely ridiculous. But then that's not alone. I mean, Josh Dix comes back. And we saw that stretch a season ago from Josh Dix over a two, three-week period where he was playing as well as anybody in the Big Ten. Offensively, so incredibly efficient. Now, I think one thing you need to see out of Josh Dix is you need him to be even more involved and you need him to push himself a little bit more. And that means, yep, miss a couple of shots, not go down into your turtle shell, keep going, fighting, going through and being confident and getting that confidence to

Starting point is 00:15:20 know that he can score with anybody, that he can be out there and he needs to be impactful player every time out. But obviously another returning starter from a year ago. Then you look at the point guard position and what they're potentially going to have there. You bring in a transfer, a Drew Thelwell, and then Brock Harding. And I know Brock Harding is kind of, there's a wide swath of opinions about him. He's not real big. He's going to be a guy that at times

Starting point is 00:15:48 is probably bullied on the defensive end by some bigger guards. But for the most part, there's not a ton of those guys out there. And even if there are, look, Braden Smith's able to play at Purdue. We're not also talking about a real big guy there. If he continues to get stronger, he's got to improve that shot. I mean, that jumper has got to get better. If he's going to be able to play, you know, upwards of 20, 25 minutes a game, he has to be better with that. But his connection that he has with Owen Freeman, that one, two combo, and we didn't get to see it a ton a year ago, those two guys playing together, but we've seen it when they've been out there, just the connection that those two guys have. So you have that component to it. So we're talking about a lot of guys, a point guard position. I think that's going to be better

Starting point is 00:16:27 this year. Lajay Dambali, another returner from a year ago, just scratching the surface of what he can be. And in a way, he's almost a forgotten guy out of the squad and what he's going to be able to put together. I mentioned, obviously, Peyton Sanford, Price Sanford. Is there another step from him? Are we going to see any kind of development and a step forward out of him? Chris Tajio comes in as a freshman. Elite athleticism and an elite rebounder. This team needs rebounding, and it looks like they're going to have it this season. Maybe the guy that I'm most intrigued by this year,

Starting point is 00:16:59 I don't want to say most excited, but most intrigued by, is what they're going to get out of Seydoux Traore. He comes in from Manhattan. He was a guy that wasn't a big piece in the NIL transfer market space. Iowa, with their lack of funds compared to some other Big Ten brethren, weren't able to go big fish hunting. But they find this guy that you look at the highlights, you look at the numbers, you see what he was able to do. He, at times, was a bit of a chucker,

Starting point is 00:17:28 maybe firing it up there a little bit more than you want, but an intriguing skill set, a skill set that we've seen Bray McCaffrey and company develop at a really high level. I think there's an opportunity for this team to make a much bigger push, not just to be a team that can make the Big Ten tournament. Yes, they will.

Starting point is 00:17:46 But to be in the top third of the league, I don't think that's a stretch. That means, again, 18-team league, that this team finishes in the top six, and I think they can get there. I truly believe that this team has enough this season that they're going to be in consideration in the top six. That means an absolute luck to be in the NCAA tournament. That means that this team is going to be there at the end, and they're going to be a team that is going to keep us excited all winter long. We'll get into women's basketball a little bit this week, and we'll talk about them

Starting point is 00:18:15 more, but also the schedule coming up this year. There is no exempt tournament. They're not going and playing in Maui or Orlando or wherever they're Anchorage back in the day with the great Alaska shootout. No, that is no more than on conference schedule. There is, as there usually is a bunch of those cupcake games. You got to go out there. You have to dominate them. We've seen what the Iowa does with that for their NCAA net. And then he got the neutral court games, Washington state in Moline. That'll be on Friday night, November 15th. You have that one. The matchup against Utah State then coming up a week later.

Starting point is 00:18:50 Utah State team, that was a tournament team a year ago down in Kansas City. A little bit later on, they also have a neutral court game up in Sioux Falls against Utah. That'll be on Saturday, December 21st. So you have all those games happening. You get the Iowa State game. Iowa State preseason. Top 10 for everybody in the country. A lot of people have them in the top five. Iowa State's going to be loaded, but they come to Iowa City. And if you get a win like that,

Starting point is 00:19:17 what that's going to do for the resume. And we've seen obviously crazy things happen in this series in the past. So opportunities are going to be there. You can stack up some nice wins and then the Big Ten slate that is going to look a whole lot different this year, but you're going to have an opportunity to take on your close teams a couple of times with Nebraska, Wisconsin, but also match up against Indiana. A lot of people have them in the top 25. You get that one in Iowa City in January. The road trip out to LA as you take on USC and UCLA on a Tuesday, Friday swing out there that week. Those are opportunities most people have. Both those teams as tournament teams get a road victory and suddenly it goes a long way. I think they're going to be there.

Starting point is 00:19:52 I really do. I think this is going to be a good team that's going to entertain us throughout the course of the season. We continue here at Lockdown Hawkeyes. Let's get into a little weekend slate in the Big Ten with the Hawkeyes off. What we're going to see coming up this weekend, we'll do that as we continue Lockdown Hawkeyes. Today's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Hey, NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. It's America's number one sportsbook.

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Starting point is 00:20:52 when you place your first $5 bet. Mentioned the look ahead number 23 and a half Iowa against Ohio State coming up next weekend. Of course, we got the Big Ten slate with a lot of great games on there. Penn State, they were by a big number, up to 18.5 now against Illinois. That one is certainly interesting to keep an eye on. Michigan favored by 10 over Minnesota. Odd subject to change, but a big slate coming up this week in the Big Ten. Again, you'll start with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet with FanDuel. Just visit FanDuel.com. Once again, that's FanDuel.com.

Starting point is 00:21:34 Trent Conner back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Wrapping things up here in the Big Ten slate. Coming up on Friday evening, it's Washington Rutgers. Washington, we don't know a ton about Washington at this point. Will Rogers comes in from Mississippi State, one of the all-time leaders in passing, coming from Mississippi State in the SEC.

Starting point is 00:22:00 Just, it's hard to get a great read on this team. They lost so much from that team that played for a national championship a year ago. That's a team that's at least difficult to get their arms around. And then Rutgers is improving, right? Rutgers is getting there. They're a better team. And what are those squads that their schedule is not overly daunting after this game against Washington?

Starting point is 00:22:20 They got Nebraska after that. We've seen Nebraska. What happened to them against Illinois a week ago? Wisconsin. Look, this is not a great Wisconsin team. Then UCLA before they have to go to USC. I mean, we can talk about a Rutgers team. It's not a stretch to say that they're 7-0. Do I think it's going to happen? I don't, but it's not crazy. Rutgers. Yeah. How about Rutgers? Maybe the story of the Big Ten is the Indiana Hoosiers. And this is a year where you feel that maybe it's not too bad not to have to see Kurt Cignetti this year because they're running it up.

Starting point is 00:22:52 They're offensively going up and down the field, putting up some huge numbers with Curtis Rourke, former MAAC quarterback with Ohio. He's putting up big numbers. That is a team that is dangerous and crazy. Google him, Kurt Cennetti. That's what he said in his press conference, talking about what he does and he just wins games.

Starting point is 00:23:10 Nebraska, bounce back against Illinois. You'd anticipate, even with a road trip against Purdue, Boilermakers look awful this year. Our old biggest rival, right? The Purdue Boilermakers. I mentioned a little bit earlier, I'm interested to see, is there some kind of letdown for Michigan after that nice win against USC last week?

Starting point is 00:23:27 Minnesota, PJ, old Phil Fleck does not look to have a great squad there in Minnesota as we saw Iowa run away. Wisconsin now playing without Van Dyke. What are they going to do out there against USC? I anticipate USC probably going to pull away from them and get the victory here. There's going to be a lot of Wisconsin fans, though, that are going to make that trip out there. Anticipate, you're going to see a lot of red.

Starting point is 00:23:48 Now, yeah, it's Cardinal and Gold. What is it? Garnet and Gold? Is that their number? No, that's Florida State. Whatever the USC colors are, it'll be hard to see probably the Badger red, but they're going to be out there in a big-time way. Ohio State, it should be a layup against Michigan State.

Starting point is 00:24:02 I know Michigan State's pulled upsets before. This is year number one of the rebuild for Jonathan Smith. You don't anticipate that, but get a look at Will Howard. Get a look at that running game with Juckins and Henderson, the wide receiver crew, and Puka, Smith, the newest one. Oh boy, they are loaded, and we get to see them next week. And then the Illinois-Penn State game. I want to see this one.

Starting point is 00:24:26 Penn State, I think they're good. I think if I had to take a selection, I said this before the year, I had Ohio State-Penn State in the Big Ten Championship game. I think they're going to be right there. We'll see there. Penn State, that West Virginia game, week one didn't tell us a lot. Then they struggled against Bowling Green.

Starting point is 00:24:41 Hard to get a read on. Then late night we'll get to see Oregon-UCLA. Shouldn't be much of a game, but said that against Idaho and Oregon struggled in that one. Don't think the Bruins, another year number one team of a new coaching staff, quite ready for this one. That's the slate coming up in the Big Ten this week, and

Starting point is 00:24:57 you can bet on it all over at the FanDuel Sportsbook. That does it for today. We will be back with you late Saturday, Sunday night, late Sunday night into Monday morning with our first edition of the weekly daily Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast for the week, he tried to say, and we'll be with you then. Enjoy the weekend. We will talk to you again before the week ends. Appreciate it as always. This is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Bye Weeks improvements and some Iowa Men's Hoops talk

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