Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Exactly how important is this season for the Hawkeyes?

Episode Date: May 3, 2022

Today I sat down with my co-host and good buddy LeShun Daniels to talk about the Hawkeye's upcoming football season and just how important each of those games are going to be. In this VERY long episode LeShun and I dive deep into each of Iowa's games and break them down by how important they will be and how they compare to the games in the weeks both prior to, and after. We also analyze how last season's performances against each team will affect Iowa's mentality going into each game and whether or not Iowa will be able to hold up to the immense amount of pressure this season is going to hold.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” 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!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

are locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back Hawkeye Nation to another episode of the Lockdown Hawkeye Nation, to another episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked on Podcast Network. Before we get started, I want to thank you all for making the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast your very first listen every single day. You can find the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast for free wherever you get your podcasts at and also on YouTube by searching Locked on Hawkeyes.

So as always, of course, I am your host, Wright Hillpiper. With me today is my good buddy, LaShawn Daniels, former Iowa running back. And today we are going to be going through the upcoming football season for the Hawkeyes and kind of talking about the importance levels of every game this season. I want to preface this by saying that yes, I do realize that all games are important and that there are none that are not important because I know if I don't say that, somebody's going to say something on Twitter about it. I do realize that all of these games are important. I do just think that there are

some that are a little more important than others. So we are going to get right into that. So to start out, the South Dakota State game, first game of the season, I have it down as a 10 out of 10. It's an extremely important game. You have to start out the season with a win because it can really set the momentum for the rest of the season. And this is a game that, you know, most people are going to expect that Iowa is going to come in and win. And if Iowa starts out the season 0-1, I feel like some people are going to start to think, oh, well, they don't have what it takes. They can't even beat a team like South Dakota State.

Mostly with this game, I think it's just really important to start out the season on a good note so that you can build momentum going into the future weeks yeah i'll definitely piggyback on that a little bit uh first game of the season is always an important one uh you definitely want to start off the year on the right foot and getting it done with the victory is the right way to do that, right? Especially when you're able to execute on all phases, on offense, defense, special teams, because you've been putting in all the work in fall camp up to this point. So for you to actually go out and actually play against somebody else

and hit another jersey and come out very strong with the victory makes the first game very, very important because that does help set a little bit of momentum, you know, moving forward throughout the season. So yeah, definitely agree with you there. And very first game of the year against South Dakota State being a very important game. Absolutely.

And I mean, I personally, I think that regardless of who you play in the first game of the season, the first game of the season is always going to be the toughest because like you said, you haven't, you know, you haven't gotten the chance to hit a guy with another jersey on other than your own teammates. So you got to kind of knock the rust off and get things going to start out the year. And that's a really tough thing to do. Obviously I don't have any college football experience, but I can imagine that that first game is, you know, a little bit nerve wracking going into it because you're like, oh, you know, well, everybody expects us to win

this game. You know, it's just South Dakota State, but there's a lot more to it than just, you know, how other people view, you know, how the game is going to go. Yeah, without a doubt, without a doubt. That's all right, man. Cool. So the second game of the season, Iowa State, I have this one down as a 10 out of 10 as well. You know, a lot of that is because it's a rivalry game and the fact that Iowa State is going to be looking for revenge because that game last year was one of the most fun games that I've gotten to see between Iowa and Iowa State. It was a very close game and Iowa State is going to be expecting to come into Iowa City and beat Iowa. So I think that fans especially are going to be really on edge about this one.

And I think it's important to show that we can beat our rival schools, sort of say, early on in the season because it shows that we've developed. And I think that the score of this game is going to affect how people see Iowa throughout the coming weeks of the season because it shows that we've developed and I think that the score of this game is going to affect how people see Iowa throughout the coming weeks of the season because you know if Iowa goes in there and they beat Iowa State by you know two three touchdowns people are going to be like oh you know they might be ahead of where they were at last year because you know they only beat Iowa State by like five points last year or whatever it was I think that it's really important to after the game's over see what the score was like and kind of you know not judge but sort of

based out a little off of whether or not Iowa has been able to improve throughout the offseason so I would say that this Iowa State game is important, first off, because like you said, it is a rivalry game, right? But more than that, you definitely see the type of adjustments that get made early on in the season, right? I mean, a lot of times early in the year, everyone is still trying to find their footing, whether you're a team that's going to be contending for a national title

or a team that may only get a couple wins throughout the year. Everyone's trying to find their footing and seeing the type of leaps that you make from week one to week two are definitely very, very important, regardless of your opponent, but even more so that it's a rivalry game and there's a trophy on the line. So making sure that the corrections that get made from week one against South Dakota State, making sure that you obviously don't make those same mistakes in that week two game against Iowa State because not every game is going to be the same. No matter who you play against, no matter how much you beat them by, no game's ever perfect. So seeing the type of development that teams make early on in the season definitely help

lay a foundation for how good they can be throughout the year. Because obviously the best, very, very best teams continue to improve week after week. And if you're an average to below average team, you typically stay the same. You typically make the same mistakes week in and week out. So seeing that progress from week one to week two and so on and so forth throughout the year is going to be paramount for Iowa's success. Exactly. And on top of that, it's not like Iowa State is a quote-unquote powerhouse school.

It's not like Iowa's going to be going out and playing a Georgia or an Alabama or a Michigan this early in the season. But it's still going to be a very, very tough game simply because of the fact that it is a rivalry game. And it wouldn't matter if Iowa State had gone 1-9 last season, you know what I mean, or 1-12, whatever it is. It's always going to be a very, very hard game when you're playing against your rival, regardless of the fact that it's a home game this season.

It's never going to be an easy game, and I think that Iowa is really going to have to adjust to that fact. So going into Week 3 against Nevada, I have this one down as an 8 out of 10, and personally I think that it should be a little bit more comfortable of a home win. Obviously, you know, no game is going to be easy. And I, I I'm sure I've said that already. And I will probably say that a few more times during this episode, but you know, if Iowa is, you know, if Iowa comes off two home wins in the, in, you

know, in the previous two weeks against Iowa State and against South Dakota State, I think that Iowa is going to carry some sort of confidence and some sort of swagger into this game. But we can't disregard this game because we might think that it's a little bit of an easier win. Because if we let our guard down, obviously they are going to find a way to exploit that and embarrass us. they are going to find a way to exploit that and embarrass us. So I think that the problem that Iowa is going to have going into this game isn't the fact that Nevada is, quote-unquote, better than Iowa is. I think it's going to be that if Iowa is coming off of two home wins, they might let their guard down a little bit,

and they're obviously going to be extremely confident going into the game. So I think it's important that Iowa keeps their guard up and they stay on edge for this one. Yeah, so the reason why I think that this game is important is mainly because you're going to be coming off of hopefully beating a rival, a state rival in Iowa State, right? So you're going to be coming off of that high, right? So now you're going to be trying to manage that a little bit

and making sure that, hey, that was just one game. You got to move on and move to the next opponent, right? And so making sure that, again, you're still making your improvements week in and week out, no matter what the result was against Iowa State. You know, you're still making your corrections to be better the following week against Nevada and then another reason why I think this game is going to be very important is because you don't want to have any type of letdown or uh you know not not strong play before you head into Big Ten play right because the following week they'll be heading up to Rutgers to play them.

So you want to have, again, consistent play. You want to make sure that you're making those corrections. You want to make sure that any challenges that you're facing weeks prior, that you're getting those things corrected. So, you know, next time you step out on the field, you're not making the same mistakes again, and you're able to put out a strong performance and continue to build on momentum. So you don not making the same mistakes again, and you're able to put out a strong performance and continue to build on momentum. So you don't necessarily stop in your tracks,

especially before you start getting into the real bulk of the season, starting to pretend play. Absolutely. And I'm by no means saying that Nevada is a quote-unquote threat to Iowa in this game, but you're absolutely right. Those little mistakes are going to come back to bite Iowa if they can't get them fixed in the weeks prior. And I think Nevada is going to be a really, really good game to showcase whether or not Iowa can fix those

mistakes. Because obviously, in the first two games of the season, there's going to be mistakes made. And the fact that there's a rivalry game thrown in there too is just adding on top of it. So I think that whether or not Iowa can fix those quote-unquote little mistakes throughout the first two games is really, really going to show in this Nevada game. Without a doubt. So going into week four, the first away game against Rutgers, I have this one down as an 8 out of 10. Personally, I think going into this game, Iowa is going to be 3-0, but we have to make sure that we, again, do not let our guard down

and expect an easy win because Rutgers will be able to take advantage of that. And Rutgers is, you know, we talked about this before, Rutgers is a little bit confusing, so to say, because whether or not they're going to be good and whether or not they're going to show up is really sort of week to week with them. Some weeks they're going to be one of the better teams in the Big Ten, but other weeks they're going to be a terrible team, so to say. It's important that Iowa, again, does not let their guard down, especially if they come into this game 3-0. It's going to be hard for, and especially it being an away game as well,

the first away game of the season, it's really going to test Iowa on whether or not they can keep their guard up and whether or not they can keep that confidence up going into this one. Yeah, so, yeah, no doubt, no doubt. So, especially, you know, with it being, you know, a starter Big Ten play, right? We all know, at least I hope we all know, how hard it is to win football games in Division I, let alone within a Power Five conference like the Big Ten. No matter who the opponent is, it's going to be very, very tough to win those type of ballgames.

So when you add into the fact that it's an away game, it's early in Big Ten play, and I mean, who knows what Rutgers looks like at that point of having the season. They may be, you know, they might have more wins than maybe they expected at that point. Maybe they're feeling good. They're feeling hot. Like, hey, like maybe this is actually a season where, you know, we can make some changes and actually win some ballgames in the Big Ten. So with it being early in the season, you know that there's still going to be plenty of kinks and things to work out. So it's not going to be a perfect game. And especially adding that it's the first away game of the year. There's going to be a lot of different elements that are going to be into play.

So a lot, it's going to be very, very important to make sure that players are obviously keeping their composure, making sure that, you know, you're just not letting things get away from you, that, you know, you may not think about when you're having, when you've just been playing home games and you're not even in big time play. So again, like I said at the beginning, it's hard to win football games, let alone in the having when you've just been playing home games and you're not even in big 10 play so again like i said at the beginning it's hard to win football games let alone in the big 10 and add on top of that away football games so it's going to be very important that uh you know obviously you're making corrections you're still trying to improve and you're just taking these every single opportunity

that you get out there in that football field, and you're making the most of each chance because you only get 12 opportunities, and even less of those opportunities are in Big Ten play. Absolutely. And we both know it. Iowa has one of the tougher schedules in the Big Ten this year. I think that's going to show as the later weeks in the season come on. But yeah, like you said, no game is going to be an easy win

regardless of what team you are and what team you're playing, whether it's Alabama versus South Carolina. Who cares? It's never going to be an easy game to win regardless of who you are. So I think that this one is going to be, like you said, extremely important going into the fact that there were starting big 10 play and we have to start big 10 play, you know, in an unfamiliar place outside of, you know, Iowa city.

So this one is by no means going to be an easy win for Iowa, but I think that if they can keep their confidence up, then they might be able to have a little bit more momentum going into this one. So going into week five against Michigan, I have this one down as a 12 out of 10 for a few reasons. And starting off, Iowa can very well be 4-0 coming into this game, And starting off, Iowa can very well be 4-0 coming into this game, but I have it down as almost 100% that Michigan is going to be undefeated coming into this game as well. Their first four games of the season are against Colorado State, Hawaii, UConn, and Maryland, and none of those games seem like they're going to be very tough for them. And, you know, we said it, no games are easy, but I think that these games for Michigan are going to be a little bit easier

than Iowa's first four games of the season are. So on top of that, I'll say it, Michigan embarrassed Iowa in the Big Ten Championship game last year. And on top of that, this is a home game against Michigan. So this is extremely important. And we have to show that last year was, you know of that, this is a home game against Michigan. So this is extremely important. And we have to show that last year was, you know, it was just a fluke. It wasn't, you know, a representation of how we're going to continue to play against Michigan because

Michigan is going to be very confident coming into this game, regardless of the fact of, you know, whether or not they lose to Maryland or UConn or Hawaii or Colorado state, whatever, they're going to have wins coming into this game. And they're going to come into this game thinking, well, you know, we beat them 42-3 last year in the most important game of the season, so we should have no trouble coming into Iowa City and beating these guys. This is going to be a real test of willpower for Iowa, I personally believe, test of willpower for Iowa, I personally believe, because it's going to be the first, you know,

truly, you know, gridded out game of the season. Yeah. This game, again, it definitely has potential to have the type of hype around it as the Iowa-Penn State game did from 2021. as the Iowa-Penn State game did from 2021. So we know how exciting and how electric that football game was, the atmosphere that was around it. You know, we had Fox and Kinnick and all these different things going on. It was a very, very, very, you know, electric game, right? And this Michigan game is going to have potential like that as well, right?

You're having a big title game rematch. And with Iowa having a bunch of players coming back, a bunch of starters coming back that played against that Michigan team, it's going to be more wild that, you know, they're going to want to be jacked up and ready to go to play for that game. So it's going to be definitely going to be a really good test um but you know that you know seasons don't end in october um so regardless of the result of that game um you definitely still want to see i would be able to compete right you want to see Iowa to be able to compete, right? You want to see them in the game throughout the ballgame. You want to see

them making plays on all phases. And regardless of the result, you know that if they play a strong football game, they're still going to have a strong football team, regardless of the result. But we know that typically we play Michigan very, very tough.

And yeah, you're right. We definitely want to make it seem like that big-time title game was definitely a fluke and come back and put a strong performance on the field, especially in front of our home fans. I'll be 100% honest with you. This is the first game that Iowa has that actually scares me a little bit because I think that up until that point, it will be the most important

game of the season that Iowa had played so far because of, you know, they lost to them last year. Michigan's going to be extremely confident. They're still an extremely good team, you know, regardless of the fact that they lost a couple of defensive players. Thank God, Aiden Hutchinson is gone. You know, at least we have that out of the way. We don't have to worry about him plaguing our offense, but this is, this is the first game of the season where I'm really going to be, you know, on the edge of my seat, waiting to see whether or not Iowa can pull it off. And I have all the confidence in the world in them. I think that they can beat Michigan, but I also think that this is going to be an extremely close game. And as you said, there's going to be a lot of hype around this game

like there was with the Penn State game last year. And this one, to me, at this point, will be the most important game of the season. So going into week six at Illinois, this one is going to be even more important. I have it down as an 8 out of 10. This game is going to be even more important if Iowa loses to Michigan the week before. It's not going to be an easy win, and they're going to be looking for revenge from last year's game.

I think that, as I said, this one is going to be even more important if Iowa loses to Michigan because if they were to, they're going to be coming off of a home loss going into an away game. Granted, it's not that far away, but I'm sure you can attest that it doesn't matter how far away it is. An away game is an away game, and you would much rather play home games. if Iowa does beat Michigan, they're going to have an extreme amount of confidence coming into this game, which will be granted, but they can't let that go to their heads because if they do, then they're going to slip and they're going to fall, and Illinois is going to put up a bunch of points on them, and Iowa's not going to be able to come back from that. So if Iowa does lose to Michigan,

this one becomes extremely important for the fact that we don't want to lose two games in a row, but if we do to Michigan, this one becomes extremely important for the fact that we don't want to lose two games in a row. But if we do beat Michigan, it's going to be important because of the fact that Illinois is not going to be as good a team as Michigan is. And I will just tell you that personally. That's what I think. I do not think Illinois can live up to the same hype that Michigan does. I don't have anything against Illinois and I don't have anything against Illinois, and I don't have anything against Michigan, but I think that Iowa is going to have an easier game, so to say, against Illinois than they will against Michigan. So regardless of the fact of whether or not Iowa beats Michigan the week before,

this one is going to be a very, very hard game. not Iowa beats Michigan the week before, this one is going to be a very, very hard game. Yeah, so I definitely know that Coach Ferentz and the staff are going to have the guys looking ahead to, obviously, the Illinois game of the week of, right? Because they definitely love to preach that the most important game is the next game, right? So they're gonna definitely

regardless of result against the mission what happens against michigan they're gonna try to get them um all the feedback under them and making sure that hey that we're focused on illinois and we're not still uh thinking about the result um against michigan right because we saw what happened last year against after the penn state game, right? One of the biggest wins in history, and then the following week, we come out and just lay a complete everyone knows, everyone remembers

it, right? We went out there and we took a, felt like we took a stake right through the heart playing against Purdue. So definitely you want to make sure that don't let that happen again. And, you know, if we come off a loss, it's still going to be very important because you don't want to lose twice, right?

You don't want to let one game beat you twice. And unfortunately that happened last year with Iowa, and hopefully that, right, we can make those changes so that doesn't happen again, right? So making sure that regardless of the result at Michigan, that you put that game away, you enjoy it, but you live with the 24-hour rule, and then you move on, right? You look at the tape, you get everything corrected, because no matter what happens, it's not going to be a perfect game.

So there's still going to be things that need to be corrected and changes that need to be made. And, you know, you just hope that you see that, continue to see that progress the following week, right? Because that's what really, really good teams do. They get better week to week and they don't let one game beat them twice. And they don't let their big wins carry over and rep them from focusing for the next week. So that's why that Illinois game is going to be important because again, you're going to be back on the road and big time play.

So getting, getting that focus back and making sure that we're focused and still playing the Iowa brand of football will, will definitely help out and lead Iowa to success. So I love that analogy that you use. You can't let one game beat you twice. And that's absolutely true. If Iowa does come off a loss against Michigan,

they have to be able to put that behind them and focus on Illinois. Because, you know, like I said, Illinois is not going to be as tough of a game as Michigan will be. And if they do win against Michigan, they can't let that carry over either. It's got to be a 24-hour win. They've got to get back to work. They've got to get back into the film room, back onto the football field, and really focus on the mistakes that they made against Michigan

because there will be mistakes in every game that you play. It doesn't matter if you win a game by 50 or 60 points. There's always going to be something that you could have done better in that game regardless of a win or loss. So, yeah, I like that you said that. You can't let one game beat you twice. So before we get into the second half of the season against Ohio State, starting in Week 7, I want to talk about Bilt Bar really quick.

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Now, going into the second half of the season, Ohio State. This game is going to be tough, and we all know it's going to be tough. The entire roster knows it's going to be tough. The entire coaching staff knows it's going to be tough, and all of the fans know it's going to be tough. The entire roster knows it's going to be tough. The entire coaching staff knows it's going to be tough. And all of the fans know it's going to be tough. I have this one down, obviously, as a 10 out of 10. Iowa is going to be looking for revenge based off of last year's loss to Ohio State. Ohio State consistently has an extremely dominant offense.

And our defense is really going to need to be on top of their game. And, you know, I, I did, we talked about it when we did score predictions a few weeks ago. I have a feeling that Iowa might lose this game, but being that it's an away game and Ohio state is an extremely strong team in the, in the big 10, regardless of the fact of whether or not we lose this game, it's going to be really important to show that we can stick with a team like Ohio State who, you know, is in the running for, you know, in, in the college football playoffs, in the running for a national championship. This is, this is one of the better teams that we're going to be playing against this year. So regardless of the fact of whether or not we lose this game, it's going to be important that we show that we can hang with a team like ohio state yeah um this seems gonna be important um because obviously you're going against uh one of the the best teams in the entire

country regardless uh the year right ohio state's you know usually a top 10 top five team year in year out um always vying for a national title. So that's going to be – it's going to be a tough one. And going into – trying to go into Columbus to win, those guys don't lose very often, let alone losing at home. I'm sure you can probably count it on one hand, the amount of times they've lost at home in like the last 10 years. So it's going to be tough.

But what Iowa does have going for them is that they've had a bunch of time throughout the year to continually get better, right? We talk about it. We've been talking about it all podcast. The good teams are going to continue to improve each week, right? And if Iowa continues to do that and they get better week in and week out and, you know, they're able to be consistent on all phases of the football, especially on offense, right, it's going to give them a huge, huge chance to go into Columbus and be able to compete and possibly come out with a victory, right? And they'll be coming off a bye week, which makes it even more important because you come off a bye week, you've been trying to get your guys back healthy, you've been getting some of your younger guys a little bit more reps.

So if the time comes and they need to be in the game, that they're ready to go. So, you know, there's going to be a lot of things that you're going to want to go well, you know, when you come off a bye week and you're playing a good team, fantastic team at Ohio State. So it's going to have all the hype around it, whether it's hype because, you know, their two top Iowa and Ohio State are both top teams competing for a Big Ten title. both top teams competing for a Big Ten title or, you know, I was going in as an underdog, right, and trying to win in Columbus. So it's going to have a number of different reasons why it's going to be important. The players are going to know it's important.

Each week is very important. Anytime you get a chance to play a team like that in their own house i mean the players are going to know the importance of it like there's not really much for me to speak on it um everyone everyone in the building is going to know the importance and they're going to be locked in and ready to go so i'm gonna be anxious and excited to see uh the type of iowa team that we get at this point time in the season. Absolutely. And just like Michigan, this is another one that, you know, it kind of puts me on edge. It kind of scares me a little bit because Ohio State is, in my opinion, by far the best team that we're going to play against this year in the regular season. And like you said, they're

consistently a top 10, top five school year in and year out. And like I said, it's really important for Iowa to hang with this Ohio State team. And I'm not saying Iowa can't beat this Ohio State team. I think that it's extremely possible that that could happen. But it's going to be the tough thing that Iowa plays this year in the regular season. So I can't help but worry about this one. You know what I mean? I can't help, but sit here and be like, how are they going to manage to put any points up on the board? And how are they going to manage to play defense throughout this game? I have all the confidence in the world in Iowa, but this one, this one definitely scares me. So going into Northwestern,

so going into Northwestern, going to be back at home in Iowa city. I have this one down as a seven out of 10. This is the lowest score that I have as far as importance throughout the season. And for, I have that for a few reasons. Obviously people don't expect Iowa to lose this game, regardless of what happens with Ohio state the week prior. If we lose to

Ohio State, it's going to be even more important that we win this game because we've said it a couple times now, you never want to lose two games in a row. We talked about it with the Michigan and Illinois game. You cannot let one game beat you twice. And I had this down previously as a quote unquote easy win, but we can't get cocky, obviously. And I can guarantee that if we come off a win against Ohio State in Columbus, we're going to have all the cockiness and confidence in the world. That's just how it's going to be. And Northwestern is another one of those teams that's kind of like Rutgers in that it's hard to tell which weeks out of the season they're going to show up and play their best version of football. Obviously, they know coming into this game that they're going to be underdogs, so they're going to be

on the top of their game. It's in Iowa City. It's against a team that people confidently believe that we're going to win. The stadium's going to be packed, obviously, because more people are going to want to go to a guaranteed win game versus a guaranteed loss game. So the pressure is really going to be on from this one, and I think it's going to be even more so if we do pull out a win against Ohio State in Columbus the week prior. Yeah, so, again, each week is important games in the regular season.

But now at this point in time of the season, now we're starting to get really to where the good teams really start separating themselves, right? So we've played a lot of football up until this point, and now we're getting to, you know're in late october really november um and this is where time where teams are either going to show that they belong they're real contenders or that they're pretenders all along and they're middle middle of the road uh or below average team and northwestern is interesting because they're a team that has i was a number quite a

bit um i definitely think uh patrick uh or shooting coach gerald uh definitely has uh a thing against for iowa uh definitely is always looking to get his guys to play the best against us. And I feel like it's something that they've done really, really consistently, unfortunately for us. So this is a game that I think the players know that Northwestern is going to be a tough team. They're going to come out and play tough. I mean, hey, they played us tough last year, and they were not very good.

And then the year prior, I think they made it to the Big Ten title game. So you know that you're going to – you never know the type of Northwestern team that you're going to get, but one thing that you do know is that you're going to get a tough team that's going to want to compete and is going to play some hard-nosed football. So it's going to be very, very interesting to see how Iowa is going to come off of the Ohio State game, regardless of what that result is. And if they're going to get and if we're going to get that, that great brand of football

that we get from Iowa against Northwestern coming back at home. So, again, each week is very important. But now when we're towards the end of the season and now we're really starting to hit really, it's practically, it's basically going to be a rivalry month for Iowa. Each week is going to be important. And, you know,

that's, that's, that's, that's what you want as a player. You want to continue to win because that only raises the importance of each game, because now you get into the point where, Hey,

we got a chance to compete for a Big Ten title or even possibly an outside chance of getting into the playoffs. Absolutely. And like you said, Northwestern is going to play their best version of football against Iowa because, you know, obviously they're coming into this game as an underdog. And Iowa only beat Northwestern last year. I believe the score was 17-12.

So we only beat them by five points last year in a very, very close game, very low-scoring game. So they're going to be at the top of their game regardless of whether or not they're considered to be a quote-unquote good team by whosoever standards. But this one is going to really put Iowa to the test in that we've got to show that if we do come off a loss against Ohio State, we can still compete against these teams who are coming in knowing that they're underdogs. Because if we go on and we lose to Ohio State and then we lose to

Northwestern, that's going to make the Purdue game the week after that much harder. Because Iowa lost to Purdue last year, as we talked about earlier. If we do lose two games in a row, it's going to be extremely hard to get that win against Purdue. But I think that if Iowa can pull off a win against Ohio State and they come in and they show Northwestern who's boss, that they'll have a better chance against Purdue in that way. So getting into the Purdue game, as I mentioned, the rest of the games that I have for the season, the last four are all 10 out of 10s. It's late season. It's all big 10 play. They're all going to be very, very important. Against Purdue,

it is at Purdue. So it makes it that much harder. And Iowa should be confident coming off of a win, but we can't let that go to our heads if we do come off of a win because this will be an extremely tough game. We lost to Purdue last year, and this is one that Iowa is really going to be wanting to get back. And I think that this is going to end up being a really close game regardless of which way it goes, whether or not Iowa comes out with a win or Purdue comes out with a win. But I think that as long as we stay confident and we continue to fix the little

mistakes that we had in the weeks prior, because obviously those are always going to be there, I think that we might be able to pull out a win against this Purdue team this year. And Purdue is going to know that we're coming in thinking that we can beat them. That's how it is. That's Iowa's mentality. We're always going to come into a game thinking that we can beat them. That's how it is. That's Iowa's mentality. We're always going to come into a game knowing that we should win and that if we do come out with a loss, it's a heavy hit to our confidence. So this is going to be one of the tougher games in the season. It's late in the season. We're getting into the more important games of the season. So I think that this Purdue game coming off of that Northwestern game, if Iowa does have confidence

coming off of a win against Northwestern, this game might be, you know, a little bit easier in the sense that there might be a little less pressure on Iowa to come out with a win. But I think that if we, you know, drop two games in a row to Ohio State and Northwestern, it's going to be extremely hard for Iowa to build that confidence back up and be able to pull off a win against this Purdue team. Yeah, so I'm actually going to echo a bunch of stuff, really, that I just said about Northwestern, right? So Purdue is another team, again, that's consistently had Iowa's number a bunch,

especially recently. I think Purdue's beaten us like three out of the last four times we've played. Someone can fact-check me, but I'm pretty sure they've beaten us three out of the last four. So they've been a team that's had a number consistently. And now that we're in November and we're at the end of the season,

teams are going to be competing for chances to make it to the championship game. Now that we're in November and we're at the end of the season, right, teams are going to be competing for chances to make the Big Ten championship game, right? And a lot of times the teams that finish the strongest in November are going to find themselves in the Big Ten title game. So you want to start off November on the right foot, right? So coming back and playing against, going on the road and playing a Purdue team that came into Kinnick and really pretty much just had their way with us this past year. I mean, they had two draft picks that just got taken in this year's NFL draft, who were, again, really, really good players who had a huge impact on the game last year. good players who had a huge impact on the game um last year uh and purdue has always found themselves and found uh guys that will come and play against iowa and uh show why why they belong right and you add in the fact that they got i was transferred uh tyrone tracy um it's all

there's a whole bunch of things that make this game important from, you know, just in general, from a football standpoint, right? You're going to have a former Iowa player there. You're going to be in November. You're going to be trying to compete for a Big Ten title game. You want to avenge last season's loss. So there's all these different things that are going to be going on. All these different storylines are going to be talked about.

But at the end of the day the players got to make sure that they know that they're focused on their preparation and that they're playing that they're focused on playing with their brand of football all that other stuff doesn't really matter it doesn't matter what i talk about i'm not in the building anymore it doesn't matter what what right talks about or what any anybody in the media talks about um as far as importance of the game the players. The players know that it's an important game. They know that it's November, Big Ten football. So you want to be playing your best brand of football.

And doing it on the road is going to be tough, especially against a team that's had a number recently. But Iowa knows the importance of November football, and they can really come out and play strong, very strong that month. So I'm excited to see how they show up. Absolutely. Now going into the Wisconsin game after playing Purdue, Wisconsin went – or they were second in the West last year

at the end of the season. They had Iowa's number last season, and they have second in the West last year at the end of the season. They had Iowa's number last season and they have consistently in the past. They put up, you know, I believe it was 27 to seven was the score last year. So they beat Iowa by 20 points last year. And it's going to be a tough game coming off an away game the previous week against Purdue, like you said. And Wisconsin absolutely embarrassed us last year. And I know that's tough to say,

but I think that Iowa should feel more confident with it being a home game. But it is getting later in the season, as we said. And I know just as well as anybody else that those cold weather games suck. They all suck. They're so bad. I hate playing in cold weather. Even back in high school, it sucked playing cold weather games. But that's just me.

So, and, you know, we've talked about it several times throughout the episode. It's, you cannot let the previous week affect the week that you're currently in. So if we come off a win against Purdue, we've got to put that behind us and be like, yes, we won that game. That's great. You know, we, we came back, we beat a team that we lost to last year. That's consistently been good. You know, we came back, we beat a team that we lost to last year that's consistently been good, but we have to focus on the week coming after that. And Purdue and Wisconsin are two teams that, you know, embarrassed us a little bit last year, and now we have them in back-to-back weeks.

So if we come off a win, or excuse me, if we come off a loss against Purdue, it's going to make it that much harder for us to be confident at home against Wisconsin, who put up, you put up 27 points against our seven last year. So it's another one of those games that's going to be extremely important because of the fact that Purdue was the game before that, and that we were playing against a team that we lost to last year, and that has consistently been good. Wisconsin, as I said, ended up second in the West last year, but they are still always going to be a consistently tough team, and they're still going to play Iowa the best that they possibly can be.

And this is the third-to-last game in the regular season for both Iowa and Wisconsin, so this game is another one that kind of scares me a little bit, just like Ohio State and Michigan. It's going to be a tough game but i think that you know playing at home in kinnick is going to help a little bit in this case yeah so everything that you said was spot on and i and i kind of want to group really these last i'm really going to really group these last three together um because

they're so because first of all now at this point in time regardless of what what happened in the season and whatever is going on whether we're competing for a victim title or not um we're at the end of the season and we're finishing the season with three straight trophy games right everyone knows what the importance of a trophy game is um especially when you know you're you're going against your rivals, right? We got Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nebraska to finish the season, right? It's definitely not the easiest slate of games to have,

let alone with all three of those being rivalry games. You know that with them being rivalry games, that records just get thrown out the window. Those only matter, right? It's all going to come down to really what team wants it more and what team has been playing more consistent brand of football over time. Right? We know that we pretty much really consistently have dominated Minnesota

and Nebraska for really since 2014, I think was the last time that we lost to both those teams. But Wisconsin is a team who has really had a number for like the last, like, I think it's been over 10 years. Maybe we've only beat them. We've only beat them twice in like the last 10 years, right? So they're a team that forces uh teams to play wisconsin's brand of football and uh it's no different when when we play them um they they

force us to play their brand of football and we get thrown out of our element we get put behind the chains we can't run the football like we like we want to and we can't play defensively we want to because we find ourselves on defense a lot against Wisconsin. Right. So that's a team that we know that we want to be, and that we know that we can be. It's just a matter of how consistent can we be when we're playing them, right?

How can we force them to play our brand of football? That was really the thing that when you look at the last two wins that we've had against Wisconsin, both in 2020 and in 2015, we were able to play our brand of football and force them to adjust versus and vice versa. And that's really a lot of times a story of all these rivalry games. Right. I mean, it's going to be a story when we play Minnesota again. We consistently force them to play our brand of football where they've got to adjust, right?

And thankfully, we've had a ton of success doing that, and the same with Nebraska. And we force these teams to make mistakes, do different things that maybe might not be in their normal character just because, first off, we know the importance of those games we know that we want to win these trophy games you know we want to have those trophies in the building and you know when when they're not in the building it definitely sucks because you walk by these empty cases and there's nothing there so the players know that that is important

obviously the fans hopefully know that it's important regardless of what the records are. It's important to be your rivals and to compete in those games. So to finish the season with three straight rivalry games is definitely going to be fun. But it's going to be a big, big challenge for the Hawks if they want to finish strong and, you know, possibly, you know, be in a Big Ten title. Absolutely. And like you said, with Iowa finishing off the season with three straight rivalry games, I think that Iowa benefits a lot from the fact that we have a rivalry with almost every team in the Big Ten right now. You look at Penn State, you look at Minnesota,

you look at Nebraska, Wisconsin, whoever it is, Iowa seems to have a thing against all these teams, and you're going to have that as an opponent, obviously. But it seems like Iowa really holds a grudge against a lot of these Big Ten teams. And I think that Iowa is really going to benefit from that because they're going to be under a lot of pressure all year long. And you take into account the fact that they have a very tough schedule. You take into account that a lot of those games are rivalry games.

I think it's really going to benefit Iowa in the fact that they're going to be under an immense amount of pressure throughout the entire season on a week-to-week basis. And I think that having a bunch of rivalry games is only going to help Iowa's confidence because obviously you come off of a rivalry game with a win, you're going to be more confident than you would if you came off of a loss. And when you have these back-to-back-to-back rivalry games, it's really going to put Iowa under a sort of pressure test on whether or not they can handle the pressure

and go in and consistently get these rivalry wins. Yeah, yeah, without a doubt, without a doubt. And you made a good point that it seems like Iowa always has a thing with a lot of these Big Ten teams. I feel like we really do. I think Coach Ferentz and his staff do a fantastic job of really getting these guys up to play, no matter who the opponent is,

especially some of the Blue Blood teams in the Big Ten. I feel like they do such a great job when it comes to preparation, getting everyone ready and getting the guys juiced up to really feel the importance of each game, really important to each ball game, each opportunity that you have out there that the guys want to go out there. They want to play well. They want to,

they want to put on display what, what they've been working so hard for. So, yeah, I like that you said that. And I think that, I think that Ferentz 100% does that on purpose. I think that over the last 10 years or however long it's been since he's been in Iowa,

he's cemented the fact that these specific games are important, and he's cemented the fact that if you lose these games, they're not just losses. You know what I mean? There's embarrassment on top of that because they're rivalry games. And as I said, I think that Ferentz 100% cements that on purpose. It gives these players, these guys, more confidence coming off of a rivalry game than it would be coming off of just some other game against some random team like Nevada or South Dakota State.

These rivalry games really put a fire in your mind about whether, you know, about how you should compete in these games. Because I, like I said, I think it gives these players more confidence in the fact that they, they know that if they lose this game, there's more embarrassment along with that than there is, you know, another, or, you know, one or more losses in that column. It's brilliant on Ferentz's part. I think that Ferentz is a genius and that he's, you know, cemented this tradition that all of these teams are out to, you know,

they're coming for Iowa and Iowa's the team to beat in the Big Ten. Whether or not, you know, Iowa's good or not, you know, they could, you know, have not a single win this entire season going up into the last three weeks, and they would still be like, we have to win these games because they're rivalry games, and these are the most important ones of the season. So personally, I think Ferentz is a genius anyway, but you add on to the fact that he's cemented this into these players' minds, and he's done it for the last several years.

It's brilliant to me. So before we get into the story of the day, I know this episode is running long. I think we're about at 50 minutes right now, so I hope that Zach is all right with that. Before we get into the story of the day here, I promise I'll make it quick. I want to talk about BetOnline. BetOnline.net is your number one source for all of your betting stats and sports info. You can find all of the latest sports developments, league reviews, and news, including this year's basketball playoffs and the continuation of the Major League Baseball season.

BetOnline is your continued source for all of your sporting, wagering information, from live betting to playoffs to esports and more. Head to the website today or use your mobile device to learn more about the trends and action. BetOnline, it's where the game starts. Once again, that is BetOnline.net. Now, the story of the day. Josh Ogundel is coming back to Iowa for his junior season to play on the basketball team.

Last week, it was announced via his Twitter that Josh Ogundel was returning to Iowa for his junior season after entering the transfer portal back in March. Over the last two years, Ogendale has played in, I think, roughly 27 games for the Hawkeyes. While not starting any of those games, he averaged 1.5 points per game, 1.3 rebounds per game, about five minutes per game. Now, although Ogendale hasn't been a huge contributor to the team on a yearly basis, if he were to leave, that would leave Iowa really thin at that center position. Ogundel hasn't been a huge contributor to the team on a yearly basis.

If he were to leave, that would leave Iowa really thin at that center position. And Ogundel is a really solid off-the-bench replacement for Philip Rebraca when he does get into foul trouble. And we saw that a lot last year in the Big Ten Championship game against Purdue when Philip Rebraca was getting into foul trouble. Ogundel was able to come off the bench for, I think it was about 10 minutes and, you know, show that he deserves to be out there. So it's absolutely fantastic news that he is coming back for his junior season. Glad that he has decided to exit the transfer portal.

That's really all the information I have about that. If you'd like to know more about that, you're welcome to check out his Twitter page about his announcement on coming back to Iowa. So that's it for today's episode. LaShawn, I appreciate you coming on. Always a pleasure having you on the podcast. Yeah, man. Thanks, man.

It's always a good time whenever I can talk football and talk the Hawks, man. Absolutely. It seems like every time we get on a podcast together, we run about 45 minutes to an hour. But I think people enjoy that. So an hour, but I think people enjoy that. So it's okay. I think people enjoy that. So make sure you tune into tomorrow's episode. Tomorrow, I'm going to be talking about the NFL draft. I realized that I was going to talk about it today, but I really wanted to get into the importance of these games this season. So tomorrow

we will talk about the draft. We have several players to talk about who got drafted and have signed free agent contracts or who are predicted to sign free agent contracts. So thank you all for tuning into today's episode. Once again, you can follow me and LaShawn on Twitter at LaShawnDanielsJr, I believe is what his ad is. And mine is at Ryhill. And you are welcome to follow the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast on Twitter as well. I apologize for the long episode today, but when me and LaShawn get into things,

it's hard to stop rolling. So once again, thank you all for tuning in to today's episode, and I will see you all tomorrow.