Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football Instant Reaction: Iowa pummels Rutgers 22-0

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Iowa defense plays incredible, pitches a shutout, no surprise. Special teams, very solid, of course. The offense was good. To quote Vince Lombardi, what the hell's going on out here? You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is an instant reaction to the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:45 Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day as we react to this evening's Iowa win over Rutgers 22-0. The Hawkeyes go out and just dominate a football game. The defense, no surprise, they were special. Special teams outside of the missed field goal early in the football game by Drew Stevens, very good once again. But the story of this one is about the offense and how an offense suddenly makes growth in the 10th game of the year, something you don't anticipate, yet there it was.

Starting point is 00:01:14 For the first time in over 30 games, Iowa goes over 400 yards of total offense in this one to get the victory over the Scarlet Knights. And if you look at Rutgers and think, well, just another Rutgers team, this is a Rutgers team that played incredibly well against Ohio State, had a lead into the second half of a football game against them until a pick six, a team that played as well as anybody had against Michigan all season long. This is a competent, at minimum, Rutgers team.

Starting point is 00:01:41 And as we talked about going into the game, likely maybe even the second most or best team that they're going to face throughout the course of the regular season that's what we're talking about here and Iowa just thoroughly dominated them they did it with the defense as you anticipate it was a very standard Iowa game early on right it was kind of what you'd expect all right hang around grind out, and just try to find a way to win the game in the fourth quarter. And though that's ultimately what Iowa did, as they put 16 points up in the fourth quarter to pull away from the victory,

Starting point is 00:02:12 it just felt so much different. So early on in the football game, let's start at quarterback in Deacon Hill. And credit to the young man that is taking a lot of arrows, including for myself, and I'm certainly not alone. It was quarterback play as poor as you've ever seen at a Power Five conference. There just is not quarterback play that is this bad. Yet Deacon Hill stuck in there, and instead of making excuses or tucking his tail, no, he kept working, and you saw the fruits of those labor come out throughout the course of this game. First quarter was bad, and he was going into the wind in that first quarter,

Starting point is 00:02:46 missed on some throws, and it just looked like the same Deacon Hill that we've seen over the course of really his career as a quarterback. But after that first quarter, from the second quarter on, this is what Deacon Hill does. He finishes 19 of 26, doing the math on the fly here, 19 of 26 in the game for 222 yards over three quarters. That's incredible. Had a bad throw late in the first half, could have easily been a pick six, and really the complexion of the game would have changed. A throw from the left side of the field across the field, stared down the receiver the whole time,

Starting point is 00:03:25 he was intercepted, never looked him off, anything like that. And not only that, it was the coverage that was there. He didn't have the defensive back, didn't even have to do anything on that play outside to make a break on the ball, but he was staring him down the whole time. Yet, outside of that throw and a few throws early in the football game, he was as on point as we've seen Deacon Hill making plays down the field. He looked competent and at minimum

Starting point is 00:03:50 that's what you're hoping for. If Iowa can get competent quarterback play with the defense playing at the level that they are right now, maybe this team can hang around and keep piling up the victories. Now just one victory away from clinching the outright division title with two to play. They already have a share of the division crown and they get Illinois and of course Rutgers coming up.

Starting point is 00:04:09 We'll talk about that a little bit more. Talk about Deacon Hill. Great to see from him and seeing some of those improvements we've been waiting for. It's never been a problem with the arm strength. That has always been there. And also credit to Brian Ferentz. And speaking of taking arrows, yeah, there's been plenty of those over his seven years as the offensive coordinator,

Starting point is 00:04:28 certainly for me and others. But that was a well-called game and the design that they had. At times, I thought they were not relying on the run enough. Iowa ran the football incredibly well throughout the course of this game. We see LaShawn Williams, he goes out 13 carries for 63 yards, averaging 4.8 yards per carry with a long at 24. That came on the second play of the day. Caleb Johnson, great to see Caleb back out there. We know about the talent, 10 for 54 from him, including a long at 27 in the

Starting point is 00:04:58 fourth quarter. Jazzyon Patterson comes in, does his thing, 14 carries for 53 yards and a touchdown. And I don't know how I missed it. I didn't realize until they were talking about it on TV today that he's got 16 brothers and sisters. Woo! That's family, or 15 brothers and sisters. He's the 16th kid in their family. That's a wild one there.

Starting point is 00:05:18 Speaking of the running game, Caleb Brown, too. Two carries for 20 yards, and that was another huge area here. Brian Ferentz though I think could have relied on the run a little bit more but he mixed it up some well-designed plays the big pass play where they had the wheel route coming on one side and then sliding back underneath with Orthworth uh the big tight end the freshman from St. Louis that was a beautiful play design and those are the kind of things that you're hoping for offensive line played maybe their most complete game of the year deacon hill had time but another guy we got to go back to is caleb brown and this is what when iowa got his commitment after he entered the transfer portal

Starting point is 00:05:55 leaving an ohio state and very quickly committed to the hawkeyes we saw a guy that he's built differently right you think of a four-star wide receiver, a top 100 player, and you're thinking about, oh, the guy that looks like Marvin Harrison, right? You're thinking of that 6'3", 210-pound guy with the wheels and the hands and all that. That's not Caleb Brown. He's a smaller guy. He's a guy that was a running back at the high school level and still learning the wide receiver position. And as things went awry, the injuries were piling up early in the season.

Starting point is 00:06:25 He had the game that he missed. The rumblings about that is a little tired in a meeting. Okay. That aside, instead of what many people thought was going to happen, that he was just going to leave, he was going to enter the portal, even if he lost a year of eligibility and that was going to be it. Instead of doing that, you just kept putting in the work and keep trying, keep doing those things. And you're seeing the fruits of those

Starting point is 00:06:51 labor. And I mentioned this last week. Kirk Ferentz practice is incredibly important. We know that there's no doubt. And it's important to all coaches. Kirk Ferentz, though, if you're looking at kind of where he falls in the L curve, he's way up there, right? Practice really matters to Kirk Ferentz. But another thing that really matters is when you get an opportunity, when you get that chance, if you take advantage of it. And we saw we could go against Northwestern.

Starting point is 00:07:19 Caleb Brown took advantage. He needed a big play. Deontay Vines was banged up. They needed something, and he came out and delivered in a game. And when you do that, suddenly you get a little bit more leeway. And we saw that. It felt like a game plan where they were making a concerted effort. They know what a kind of playmaker that Caleb Brown can be for this team. And they did some things. They used him in jet sweeps. They targeted him in the passing game. They took a shot down the field with him with the

Starting point is 00:07:47 elite level speed that he has. They did the things that you need to do with your special playmakers. That was great to see. It was great to see Caleb Brown obviously make the plays when he got the football and went out there and did that. Touchdown grab late in the game. Had the two-point conversion a little bit before that. I still don't know how you overturn that, but that aside, Caleb Brown had a good game. The smile on his face, hearing from him after the game too. Some really, really good stuff there from Caleb Brown and maybe, just maybe, the optimism building here that this team can at least be something offensively. Still two more games to go for the division title.

Starting point is 00:08:27 Iowa just needs to win one of them. We'll take a more big picture view. We got to talk about that defense too, pitching the shutout and what we saw on that side of the football against one of the best running teams in the Big Ten. Iowa slowed them down. We'll do that as we continue. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of Locked On Hawkeyes is brought to you by FanDuel. Score early this NFL season with FanDuel. It's America's

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Starting point is 00:09:59 If you're on YouTube right now, hit that subscribe button. If you're on the podcast side, five-star reviews. That's what we're looking for. And it helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Talk about the defense. Jay Higgins all over the place once again. Logan Lee, we see this happen so many times. Logan Lee's been around a long time.

Starting point is 00:10:15 He's played a lot of football games. He started, what, 37 consecutive games during his Hawkeye career. We see this happen often. And all of a sudden, at the end of the career, a guy goes from a really good player, and that's been Logan Lee, and goes to another level. And I think we've seen that out of him in the middle. This defensive line has continued to show improvement. And though they didn't get to quarterback a ton in terms of sacks in this one, they didn't need to.

Starting point is 00:10:40 A, because Rutgers offense wasn't on the field very often. I mean, that was a big part of this one, too, is Iowa, with their ability to control the football, make first downs, keep Rutgers off the field. Iowa's also forcing three and outs, and that three and outs is usually one first down, and then they buckle down and not allow Rutgers anymore. I thought that was incredibly impressive what they were able to do. Jay Higgins leads the way, excuse me, with eight tackles in the football game. Nick Jackson had a sack. He had seven tackles. Great to see from what that guy was in September to what he is today. This guy's played in all Big Ten level himself. Jamari Harris was targeted a lot. They stayed away from Cooper Dijon for the most part. And a lot of people are wondering, you know,

Starting point is 00:11:21 Cooper Dijon, we saw him last week, was the role going to expand this week? One thing it did sound like is he's a little bit banged up coming out of the Northwestern game and going into the game. Kirk said to the TV broadcasters that didn't think it was going to be part of the plans. I heard Gary Dolphin also mentioned that during the pregame show. Didn't anticipate that was going to be the case. I saw Caleb Brown wear number three out there. Didn't have to put that 81 jersey on like he did a week ago, but a little bit banged up. Want to keep the miles down

Starting point is 00:11:49 and want to keep that pitch clock down for Cooper Dajin as he's working through some things right now. Overall, the defense was all over the place. This was a Rutgers team with one guy who was

Starting point is 00:12:03 the leading rusher in the Big Ten. They held him to 13 carries for 39 yards. Wimsatt, who can run three carries, negative two yards. That's playing some defense right there. All over the place. Schulte with the interception late. Great to see for one of those unsung guys. You know, he just, he's in the back end.

Starting point is 00:12:22 He's making all the right calls. He's making all the right plays. And it's a good thing a lot of times when you're not hearing a whole lot from one of your safeties back there. They're quiet. Well, it means the people in front of him are usually doing their job. And that's certainly been the case here. But good to see Schulte get accredited with an interception. Iowa being able to make a play and force a turnover, something that has not been something that's been happening a whole lot

Starting point is 00:12:46 for this Iowa football team. If this team can be okay on the offensive side of the football, and even hoping that this team can consistently still put up 400 yards the rest of the way per game, I don't think it's highly likely. But Illinois today, I mean, they gave up a ton, right? Illinois in their matchup against Indiana, they come back and win the game. You probably saw the end of it if you were waiting for it to flip over. Luckily, and even the Fox Sports, how annoying was that?

Starting point is 00:13:18 They still had the game on there even when he clicked on the Iowa game, which is supposed to when you go to the app, not happen. But they went to the overflow channel on DirecTV, so I was in good shape there. Still, Illinois, well, they scored 48, okay. They gave up 45, though, to Indiana. How many yards did they give up in the game? Looking at the box score there, 451 is what they gave up to the Hoosiers. The Hoosiers that were playing with a freshman quarterback and Brendan Sorsby.

Starting point is 00:13:46 All right. Maybe this team can get a little bit more going here. Illinois has been a disappointment defensively all season long. They got one behemoth in the middle, and that's about it on that defensive line. It's makeable. And I was playing for a championship on Saturday. They're playing for an outright championship,

Starting point is 00:14:06 and we can laugh at the Big Ten West and certainly the naysayers will do that. Let them. You know what? Blank them. They want to do that, so be it. I'm going to be in Kinnick Stadium cheering on the team. I'm going to be there hoping to see a trophy presentation after the football game because you know what? Those trophy presentations presentations this is gonna be the last time we're gonna have this opportunity seriously think about this in the new big 10 with the 18 team configuration starting next season with the additions of USC UCLA Oregon Washington when that happens there will be also no more divisions. And the ability to clinch, you're not going to be clinching a division title because divisions are no more.

Starting point is 00:14:50 And even if you clinch a spot at home, they're not going to give you a trophy for that because all it will guarantee you is a top two finish, but no championship, no trophy that'll go along with it. And because of that, this is likely the last time until something changes that we'll have an opportunity in Kinnick Stadium to see a trophy awarded to the football team. I want to be there for that one. I want to be revved up.

Starting point is 00:15:21 I want to stick it to Bielema because that doesn't feel too bad either. That's the opportunity that's in front of Iowa. And then you go into Black Friday, quick week, turn around a Nebraska team that is physically very good defensively. They're as banged up as Iowa is offensively. They got quarterback concerns. They got all kinds of issues over there. One thing, though, Nebraska has an elite defense.

Starting point is 00:15:43 And will you be surprised if that thing's 3-3 going into the fourth quarter? I sure won't. I think that's going to be ugly, hideous. But if you go there, and even if you find a way to lose 6-3, you're still going to Indianapolis. And going to Indianapolis, maybe with a little bit more of a glimmer of hope. The likelihood that Iowa's going to beat the behemoth that is Michigan or Ohio State

Starting point is 00:16:07 in the Big Ten Championship game is incredibly small. Because of the, still, deficiencies offensively, it's going to be tough to do. But just mention it. Rutgers played right with those teams for two and a half, three quarters. Can Iowa do it for four?

Starting point is 00:16:24 We'll see. That's why you take the shot. That's why they take the shot. That's why they play the games. Not played in the algorithm. They're not played in Vegas with the numbers that they spit out. That's not what this is. No. They're played on a football field. Crazy things happen. Do I think it's going to happen? No. Do I think that

Starting point is 00:16:40 Iowa's going to pull the shocker of all shockers? No. But you can. And you can. And you take that shot. Could it go poorly? Absolutely. Could it get run out of the building? So be it.

Starting point is 00:16:54 Excited to be in Kinnick. Excited to be there for this one. And a real opportunity for this Iowa football team to win a championship. How cool that is going to be. Instant reaction here as the Iowa Hawkeyes get the win 22-0 over Rutgers. Got a couple other things. We'll wrap things up and continue the conversation here on Iowa football. You saw at the end of the football game, Kirk Ferentz.

Starting point is 00:17:26 If you missed it, it's all over social media. If you DVR'd the game, go back and watch the end. A very emotional Kirk Ferentz. Not a surprise. We'll talk about Kirk. And a really good point that one of the people that follows me on social media brought up. Do we read into this that

Starting point is 00:17:41 this is the end? Hmm. This is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. The end of Kirk, next. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime and the GameTime app. You shouldn't have to worry when you're buying tickets to your next big event. GameTime is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater events near you. They have killer last minute deals, all in prices, views from your seat, and their best price guarantee.

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Starting point is 00:19:03 Download GameTime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest price. Guaranteed. Trent Condon back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So Kirk Ferentz

Starting point is 00:19:20 tweeted it out with the video. You can find it at Trent Condonon And I said Something that I believe Emotional Kirk is still the best Kirk A guy that was highly emotional Watching Big Ten Network Tonight

Starting point is 00:19:35 With the wrap up show, the final drive Anthony Heron was part of the studio crew Former Hawkeye obviously was there In the regime change After Hayden Frye retired and Kirk took over. And he said right away, Kirk got a little teary eyed the first time he talked to the football team. That's Kirk. And you see the emotions. I think everybody that remembers 2004 remembers the 6-4 win. Another one that the national media just don't get it. And that's fine because they don't

Starting point is 00:20:08 have to have the full complex of all 133 FBS teams. But we know the emotion there. Losing his father, being away from the team that week, and then fighting away to get a victory against the Nittany Lions and doing it in his home state. Yeah, pretty special. And you know why that's one of Kirk's favorite games. It's not because it was 6-4. There was so much more than that, but that's fine. And the Stumiendels of the world, they can get it wrong

Starting point is 00:20:34 and not know the full story. We know the full story. We also know Kirk Ferentz. We complain, and I complain, and I get mad, and I get frustrated, and the hard-headed nature of Kirk at times can drive you nuts. But the human element, the personal element, he's a great person. He's an easy guy to root for. He's done a ton.

Starting point is 00:20:59 And has there been things that have been left on the table? Maybe. But we've had a great person running the university football team that we root for, that we live and die with. We've had a great person running it that's had a lot of success. And they find a way, and then you see that and you see why 98 of our out of 100 players have nothing but glowing things to say about kirk ferentz there's a reason for that you're dealing with a lot of personalities a lot of people from different backgrounds and kirk ferentz is a leader of men kirk ferentz is the kind of person that should not have the full ability to do it exactly the only way that he wants, but deserves leeway.

Starting point is 00:21:49 In a moment like this, in a team that has had a lot of adversity this season, you can see why the emotions were there. In the press conference after the game, David Eichold asked him a question and mentioned that a lot of the offensive players brought him up. Keeping this team together. Coordinator fired. Loser quarterback. Loser top two playmakers at tight end. A banged up offensive line. And yet here they are.

Starting point is 00:22:19 8-2. This football team is 8-2 and outside of a screw job against Minnesota, be 9-1. It was smoke and mirrors and a leader. But this was brought up because it was asked in the postgame, in that interview on the field, and he brought up retirement. Now, he said accolades and things like that are something that, to paraphrase, that you look at in the offseason or retirement. But that retirement word got thrown out there,

Starting point is 00:22:53 and because of it, a lot of people are kind of left scratching their head. Hmm. What's that all about, right? What does that mean? Let me find the tweet here. Going through, going through. Still looking, still looking, still looking. I'm sorry. Apologies for that.

Starting point is 00:23:16 I thought I had it queued up, but I don't. This is from Chris Jemison. Is he emotional from the day, or does he know he only has a few games left? And it's been out there, and people have speculated. People coming into the season thought this may be the end. After Brian was fired a couple of weeks ago, the initial press conference felt like it was going to be the end. Then he comes back a day later and says,

Starting point is 00:23:40 no, I'm not going anywhere. I'm planning to be here at least a few more years, as long as they're going to have me. But something to keep an eye on. This is highly emotional. Your son being fired. That's tough. It's tough to swallow.

Starting point is 00:23:59 He is 68 years old. And the Big Ten is changing. College football is changing. And does he want to be a part of that change? Or is he willing to walk off into the sunset and do it kind of his way? Something to ponder. Something to keep an eye on. That'll do it for this Instant Reaction Podcast here. This is the Lockdown Hawkeyes feed and we are happy to have you.

Starting point is 00:24:27 We are with you each and every weekday throughout the course of the week talking everything Hawkeye. Former Hawkeye running back LaShawn Daniels, he stops by each and every week during the football season talking football with him. My buddy Biz also usually stops by as long as his work schedule sets things up. We got you covered, press conferences and a whole lot more. Talking Iowa football.

Starting point is 00:24:46 And this is a great time of year because it's not just Iowa football. As much as we love Iowa football, we got a whole lot more going on. We got, of course, women's basketball, men's basketball. Haven't had an opportunity to talk about the wrestling team much in the impact of losing four starters because of the NCAA's decision to go back on what they initially had talked about with the gambling investigation. So there's a ton to talk about.

Starting point is 00:25:10 We will try to hit it all here on Locked on Hawkeyes. Thanks for ranking Locked on Hawkeyes, your first listen every day. We'll talk to you again on Monday. We will take a look back and get a second eye at the game. That is always what we do on Mondays, a look back. DVR Monday is what Chad Leistickow calls it. We'll do the same thing here, take a look back and get a second eye at the game. That is always what we do on Mondays. A look back. DVR Monday is what Chad Leistickow calls it. We'll do the same thing here. Take a look back and see exactly what we saw from the Iowa win against Rutgers. We'll get the numbers from Pro Football Focus and a whole lot more.

Starting point is 00:25:36 We'll talk to you on Monday. Go Hawks!

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football Instant Reaction: Iowa pummels Rutgers 22-0

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