Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Is Brian Ferentz to blame for the offensive struggles?

Episode Date: September 12, 2023

Trent Condon is joined for the first time this season by his buddy Biz as they take a look at the Iowa Hawkeyes football team.It's a 2-0 start, yet the offense still hasn't impressed. Is that reason Brian Ferentz or is it some other issues. The guys discuss.Penn State is on tap after this week's game against Western Michigan. What do the Hawkeye need to do in order to give themselves a realistic shot at winning the game?Finally some picks against the spread including the guys' Lock of the Week presented by FanDuel.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Jase MedicalSave more than $360 by getting these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical plus an additional $20 off by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com. Athletic BrewingGo to AthleticBrewing.com and enter code LOCKEDON to get 15% off your first online order or find a store near you! Athletic Brewing. Milford, CT and San Diego, CA. Near Beer.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsKeep your ride-or-die alive at ebay.com/motors. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Biz is back for another week here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. His triumphant return, and he's going to defend Brian Ferentz. You're not going to want to miss this. 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. This is my buddy, Jace, and we are Locked On Hawkeyes. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day.

Available wherever you get podcasts, and you can also see our mugs 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 game time download the game time app create an account and use code lockdown college for 20 off your first purchase biz it's been too long what's happening my man not much i began to worry you forgot about me but you're back to scraping the bottom of the barrel. So happy to be back and happy to be talking about a 2-0 Hawkeye football team. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

We're not the prettiest football team, but we're an undefeated football team, Trent. You were texting, as we normally do, throughout the course of games that we're not at together, and you were also in South Carolina. Now, you were pretty liquored up, right? I mean, you had a few cocktails during this one because some of the texts that you were sending during the game, I was completely baffled by.

Yes, I was on vacation, and I was enjoying myself. As you said at the beginning, I guess, I think defend is probably the wrong word. But you and I have a disagreement on how Brian Ferenc has done so far this year. So let's get into it, Trent. You can go first. Tell me why Brian has been the problem through two games, I guess. 125th in the country in total offense, averaging what, 22 points per game. They've done enough to win. That's not what this is. It is with a different offensive coordinator.

Would it be better? And I think that's where the argument lies is, would this be much better knowing what Kirk wants to do? And that's always been my argument with Brian. It's not that he doesn't know football. I just don't think he understands when or how to call plays. There is really no rhyme or reason to what their offense is. And as we saw, the things that work best are moving away from their staples, going to much more counters. The big play on the third and one situation,

the touchdown by Jazzy on Patterson. Those came on counter plays. We've only been complaining about it for five years, and yet here they are finally doing it. So I guess credit to him for finally doing it. What you just said seems to be a positive. I mean, you just listed the three things that I was going to talk about. You did my job for it.

I mean, first of all, the caveat to all this is anybody that's listened to us in the past, I think you and I both agreed he should not have been our offense coordinator this year. Like 99% of the people that are Iowa fans, you were ready, I was ready, everybody was ready for him to move on. But the fact of the matter is he's here. And so all you can ask is for him to hopefully learn from his past mistakes and be better this year. That's simply my point here is he has been better.

The things you just said, A, our scripted offense for both games has been great. Nobody can disagree with that. We've come out great and done really well the first 15 plays. And that's a credit to Brian Farris. I mean, the flip side of that is you can say that, well, after the scripted plays, we've been less than great, but the scripted plays have been wonderful. B, like you said, we've worked against tendencies a lot this year. I don't think we ran a single outside zone run against Iowa State.

We ran counters. We ran just straight dives. We went right at them, and that's a credit to him and that's learning from your past mistakes and in the past we haven't been able to run outside against them at all so we just didn't, we didn't do it at all. And then like you said the third and shorts, we took some shots on third and short, we took one to Lachey, one to Ball, we had another one that was almost a 90- one on it and I mean those are you I don't know if you can say anything give credit to Brian for for making some changes so I the way I look at it Trent we have talked about in the past last year's offense was historically bad but I think

everybody would agree there was four main reasons for why it was historically bad. One was terrible quarterback play. Two was terrible offensive line play. Three was terrible wide receiver play. And then fourth was the offensive coordinator. And I guess when you look at those four categories this year, where would you put as far as which areas have improved or gotten better than most if you had to rank them from one to four? Oh, I would say when you talk about the offensive line, the pass blocking has been tremendous.

I mean, it's been as good as we've seen in a long time, I think. Now, who knows how good the fronts are for the first two weeks, but you couple that with the run blocking. I guess if you put it together, it's a little bit more difficult. Pass blocking would be at the top of the run blocking a little bit further down well what else was on the list well so the four things i'll i'll give you my opinion on it first and you can so on the four things the four categories that we were probably bottom five percent in one football last year i think the one that's clearly made the most significant

improvement is just simply quarterback play uh k mcmara has been perfect, but he's been a huge upgrade over what we had last year. So I put him number one. But in the other three categories, I put Brian Ferentz as number two. I think he's made the best improvement year over year, and he's done a nice job through two games. Like you said, the offensive line, I agree the pass pro has been great, but the run blocking is still questionable. And I agree, the pass pro has been great, but the run blocking is still questionable. And I will say the pass protection, I think part of that is due to Cade McNamara's ability to move a little bit in the pocket.

Has he been able to run? Absolutely not. But the perfect example, I'm sure you saw the video of the great play that Jazz Patterson made where he took out two guys. But at the same time those two guys still got to the pocket mcnamara just simply slid three steps to the pocket kept his eyes up made a pass that wouldn't happen last year and so part of the reason the pass pro looks so good is that k mcnamara does a great job of just moving and eluding people in the pocket then so i put o-line

third because i just think they're still not very good. And then fourth is wide receiver play. I mean, I just think the wide receivers, we went out and tried to, you know, fix the wide receivers to the transfer portal and brought in a couple different ones. I was at the first game. There wasn't a single wide receiver. We don't get any separation ever, and I'm assuming the same problem.

You know, people get mad because we don't throw the wide receivers. Well, you can't throw to people that don't get any separation ever. And I'm assuming the same problem. People get mad because we don't throw the wide receivers. Well, you can't throw to people that don't get open. And so on my list of one to four of the problems we had to fix, I think Brian Ferentz is doing the second best right now. So does that mean I'm defending him? Yes. In my mind, it means. You're defending your neighbor.

I know what it is. That's what it is, Biz. Come on. In my mind, it means he's doing better than he your neighbor. I know what it is. That's what it is, Biz. Come on. In my mind, it means he's doing better than he did last year. And that's all you can ask. That's fair. It's still not great. And that's not what we're saying either.

But I think that's fair. Nat was ready to come in and we were going to holler at each other. But you laid it out, I thought, incredibly well. It's fair what you said. Like most things, Trent. It's not good enough, though. And here's where some of my frustration is. I thought this team would be further along two games in,

and we'll see what this week brings against Western Michigan. The McNamara injury, I think, certainly thwarted what could have been a couple of weeks in, and that has to be a part of it. I thought we would be two games in, and we would have a realistic shot to go in there and at least have a chance to hang around against Penn State. I haven't seen anything. You don't think we can. I don't. Unless it has to be a very specific game

for it to happen. What I've seen from Penn State, what I've seen from their defensive line, obviously Drew Aller is a complete game changer. I'm not there yet. I just can't get there yet. And I was hopeful I would be. And maybe that's where my frustration lies is because I wanted to see us be further along than we are yeah I mean I think I know there's two ways to look at it right I mean do I like us to be further along than we are offensively sure but I also think we've you know we've left some plays out there it's not like last year where it was there was nothing left out there you know we we scored seven points against Iowa State and South Dakota State, and that was about what we deserved. I mean, first game we dropped two touchdowns.

Last game we missed on a couple different plays. Plus, I mean, I think it's pretty obvious because Iowa State, I mean, Iowa State's a really good defense. We weren't going to let them – I mean, we didn't have a single penalty. We shouldn't have had any turnovers. The one interception was clearly pass interference, but it led to a pick six the next play, so you can't complain too much. Setback. only we shouldn't have had any turnovers the one interception was clearly fast interference but it led to a pick six the next play i said you can't complain too much but

yeah but just i mean in general i think i got hope for this offense do i think they're ever going to be great absolutely not but i think my hope pretty much entirely lies in kate mcnamara i just think kim mcnamara is a good quarterback. I mean, is he a great quarterback? No, but you watch him, just his comfort level in the pocket is better than we've had. That's always been one of my huge frustrations with Iowa quarterbacks, is just the inability to step up in the pocket, elude the pocket,

make the play a little bit longer while keeping your eyes up. And we've had guys like Drew Tate who are going crazy and scrambling, but just stepping one, two step one way or the other and then making a play. And he does that better than I was ever had. So, which is probably a credit to previous coaches, I guess. And a little bit of indictment of what we've seen here,

but you're right. And just having him healthy, that leads to what we're going to get into next. It is Western Michigan. This team is awful. A terrible football team. So what do you do this week? Start, sit, get them rest. We'll talk about that when we continue here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Buying tickets to your favorite events shouldn't be stressful. GameTime is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports,

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$20 off. Download the GameTime app today. Last minute tickets. Lowest price guaranteed. Trent and Biz back with you once again on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Biz, you're over there working

hard. Should this be a week where Cade McNamara has to work hard? One thing that I found out a week ago, it was on Friday, and it really changed my opinion, is Tom Kakert, who works over at Hawkeye Report, has a really good relationship with the Swarm Collective and with it, of course, Cade McNamara. And he mentioned going into the game, he felt a lot better on Friday last week than he did the week previous. Does it lead you to believe that that quad injury is getting at least a little bit better? That's what it was, because before the game against Iowa State, I was of the opinion, if he's going to be banged up like this, and if Western Michigan stinks as much as we think,

just sit him off. Get him a week away. But now, knowing that it looks like he is getting better, he's just got to get some better timing down, I think, with the offensive line, the receivers, with everybody at this point. Where are you on the start him,, sit-em with McNamara this week? Absolutely start-em. I mean, this team needs reps. They need, like I said, I have some hope in this offense. They've been off by a little bit on multiple plays, and timing's just off a little bit.

But, yeah, I think he needs to play. I think he needs all the reps he can, especially with Penn State coming up the week after. With all the different transfers and with his being injured for multiple weeks in camp, there just hasn't been a lot of reps with first-team guys all on the same field together. So hopefully we do the same thing we did in week one, which is jump out to a 14-0 lead,

and then this time we actually continue it and get up 28-0, and he doesn't play a second half. But, yes, he needs to play. Yeah, 24-0, 28-3, something like that at the half, and then put in cruise control and also knowing that this is an injury. You don't know when it's going to crop back up again, you know, a bad hit, a bad turn, and all of a sudden, oh, he needs to get a little rehab on the side, whatever it is, and he misses a series.

You got to get Deacon Hill ready because that dude, he's not ready. There's a reason he was fourth string in Wisconsin. He does not look very good in the limited reps we've seen from Deacon Hill. Well, I don't know about Deacon Hill, but it's really, to me, it's more of an indictment on Joey Labus than anything. And the fact that a fourth string quarterback who was going to what? Probably going to go to Fordham? Fordham, yeah.

I mean, the fact that he can come in and immediately jump over Joey Labus, that's – maybe Deacon Hill's good. I don't know. I mean, we haven't seen enough to say one way or the other. But to me, it says more than anything, Joey Labus is bad. I mean, they don't trust him at all. The guy that started your bowl game is now behind the guy that uh you went and grabbed at the last minute just to fill your depth chart so

yeah either way let's be honest the k mcnamara gets injured to the point where he can't play we're right back to uh two dozen point two offense again i mean we're hoping to slap together 10 points and the defense can uh you know Hulk teams to seven so yeah that's I mean let's be honest Kay McNamara is the number one reason by far that there's hope for this offense so I mean I you can say I want I can argue that Brian Ference has done better but the Brian Ference the offensive line the wide receiver core are all marginally better. The quarterback play is significantly better. That's a credit to Cade.

So another question I had for you, Biz, is we're already looking forward to the Penn State game. We were out there in 2009, how awesome that was in the whiteout environment, but when they scored that first touchdown in the first play from scrimmage, it's loud in there. It's going to be a difficult environment. This Penn State team is as talented as maybe Franklin's ever had. I mean, what they have, not just the upgrade,

I believe a quarterback in terms of raw talent. I mean, Drew Lahr is a lot better when you're talking about upside down the road than anything that he has had there. Their defensive line, their offensive line, this team is absolutely stacked. So taking away just what we kind of talked about offensively, the defense only has one sack. The defense has been good. It hasn't been elite.

And I think they're going to have to play at an elite level to go there and get a victory. So what else do you need to see from this team coming up this week that gives you more hope about making that road trip out to Penn State? Based on what you're saying, we shouldn't even take the trip to Penn State. Good Lord. Have you watched us play James Franklin teams over the last decade? It's been good.

This is a Franklin team. Outside the embarrassment that was 2016, we have either outplayed them or played equal to them pretty much every single year. So I don't have nearly the pessimism that you do going into next week. Do I think we'll win? Probably not. I mean, it's a hard environment,

but Drew Waller has never played against a defense that's one-tenth as good as Iowa. West Virginia sucks. They played Delaware last week. I watched the West Virginia game. West Virginia ran for 120 yards on them in the first half. I don't buy the Penn State's all that great to be honest yeah are they good yeah are they better than us probably but I don't know

I it wouldn't shock me at all if we go there and make it a four-quarter game and it's you know 17 14 going into the floor so I don't know I I'm just not sold I you know my opinion James Franklin I think he's absolutely awful in-game coach and i think the good news is i think not only is he an awful in-game coach but kirk ferentz hates him yes and the people that kirk ferentz if you get on kirk ferentz's list hawks play a different level of football that's unfortunately jeff brown was always super nice to uh kirk ferentz because but you know you've seen it i mean the way we play against P.J. Fleck the way we play against Matt Campbell you know he gets his team ready to play and they they will be ready to play at Penn State next week so all right to answer your

question what do we need to say see we need to see an offense that could score more than I mean we're going to have to score Penn State has a lot of talent we're not going to hold Penn State we can't beat Penn State 17-13 we're going to have to score. Penn State has a lot of talent. We're not going to hold Penn State. We can't beat Penn State 17-13. We're going to have to score. It's the magic number. We talked about it before. We can get to 24 points. I think we've got a chance.

Yeah. But we've got to score some points against them. So the offense has to be more consistent for four quarters instead of 15 plays. Do you have any concerns? I'd like to see an offense that can dominate a team for four quarters. In Western Michigan, you better be able to dominate Western Michigan. Like you said, they suck.

Yeah, 45 points in a row they gave up in the first half against Syracuse, and though Dino Baber's team definitely can score, that definitely was an eye-opener there. Defensively, mentioned just one sack so far in the season. Utah State got the ball out incredibly quick all throughout the game. That was also the game plan for what Iowa State did with Rocco Beck last week. There weren't tons of opportunities,

but that and the defense, it's not at the elite level right now. I mean, what are you going to learn against Western Michigan? Probably a whole not there. But do you have any concerns defensively? You just still believe in Phil Parker so much and like, oh, they'll be fine.

Well, I mean, I do have concerns about the D-line. I mean, I think what it shows you more than anything is how much we could use Noah Shannon. I mean, the one thing I talked to our friend Beef while we were on vacation this week. We both talked about the fact. I mean, you go back and look. When Iowa's been amazing defensively, it's because we've had, you know, you get those defensive tackles that are 4th, 5th, 6th year. I mean, Shannon,

a 6th year guy. Going back to title loopy days, you get a guy that's in his 4th, 5th year. But I mean, Jaleel Johnson, Carl Davis, all those guys, when they were in year 3 of the program at Iowa, they were okay. And when they got to year 4 and 5, they were dominant. And I think that's what you're

seeing with Graves and Y.A I think that's what you're seeing with, you know, Graves and Y.A. Black right now. They're both going to be really, really good football players. But they're also both in year two and three of the program. And I think two years from now, we're going to be talking about how great those two are. But they have not been dominant by any means up the middle. There just hasn't been a lot of penetration. I mean, having said that, I thought Joe Evans was unbelievable against Iowa State.

He didn't get a sack, but he was in the backfield all day long. I mean, he had to have half a dozen different pressures and just forcing people out of the pocket. And so I'm not necessarily worried about the D-line, but it's not as good as we probably anticipated it was going to be. You know, Nick Jackson, I thought, disappointed in game one. And for the first quarter of game two, he really finally settled in, I thought, as the game progressed against Iowa State.

I thought from basically the second quarter on, he played really well. He's playing a new role. This is a guy that was a middle linebacker coming into a new scheme. He's having to, I think, cover in space a lot more than he did in the past at Virginia. He's learned that, and he's going to be fine. We get Jamari Harris back this week. That's going to be big.

I think Lee showed a ton. We've seen a little bit of TJ Hall. I think they're confident now that they have four guys that can play. And if Harris comes back and is the guy we saw in 2021, you're in good shape there. Wampa is going to continue to get better. You know, Schulte's there. I've seen some of the Yanks that is out there.

I'm kind of with you though, Biz. And plus it's Phil Parker. And we've seen, you know, that opening drive. How often does that happen? Even against bad teams? I mean that they move it right down the field.

Oh boy, we're in trouble. And then he goes and locks it down the rest of the game. So I'm with you there on the defense. The Yanks that is out there. And some of the statistical they're 44th, I think in the country right now, and totally come on.

It's early in the season. We're going to at minimum be a top 20 defense this year in terms of those numbers. They're going to be fine. Well, and the one guy you listed about every defensive player except for probably the best ones for two weeks, which has been Sebastian Castro. Oh, Jay Castro, yeah.

Most of them. That play, the play he made week one where he took on the two blockers, pushed them both back, and then made the tackle. That was a third-and-one play, and the game was still in the balance at that point. It was 17-6 late in the third quarter. You know, they're midfield. They get that play, they can maybe make a game out of it. Instead, I mean, he read the play, took on two blockers,

shed the blocker, and got a tackle. And then, obviously, this week picked six. I mean, he's been phenomenal. And that, I mean mean i don't know as you know nick jackson like you said about learning curve but the flip side of that is jay higgins has been phenomenal also i mean he was great that first week so he he's been better i mean has jackson been as good as people thought maybe not but i think on the flip side higgins is probably better yeah it's before it's the fourth hawk. Adding the fourth hawk was the key.

If he comes back next year, does it become a hawk, hawk, hawk? I thought four was too many hawks and now it just rolls off the tongue. There's never too many hawks. Don't question Mr. Higgins. He knows what he's doing. For people that don't know, follow

Jay Higgins' dad on Twitter. He is worth the download of the X app just to make it happen. If you wanted to fire me and add him as your partner, I wouldn't blame you at all, Trent. If it could come to fruition, yeah. There would be significantly higher. There's no doubt. We'll come back, put a cap on things.

Biz, we haven't heard your gambling picks this year. We'll see how it's going for Biz. We'll make our Lock of the week presented by FanDuel. When we come back here, this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Get ready for the NFL season with incredible offers from FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers, you can bet $5.

You'll get 200 in bonus bets guaranteed. Plus, all customers who bet $5 are going to get $100 off NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Now it's the best time to join FanDuel, the app super easy to use. You can bet on everything from spreads to player props and a whole lot more.

So visit fanduel.com slash locked on and kick off the NFL season with an offer you won't want to miss. FanDuel, official partner of the NFL. Trenton Biz back with you again here on LockedOn Hawkeyes. As always, thanks for making LockedOn Hawkeyes your first listen every day. And Biz, speaking of the NFL, your NFL teams want to know, how about your Rams? I know.

Going to Seattle and not just win, but dominate with a bunch of wide receivers I didn't even know they had on their team. Tutu Atwell? Yeah. And the guy from BYU. The guy from BYU was amazing. I already heard the guy. He put on a show.

Who needs Cooper Cup, right? Exactly. And now we've got your old favorite receiver, Flipper Anderson's kids playing for the Hawkeyes. I mean, it's just all coming up Rams all of a sudden. I know. I keep hoping that they will show him on the broadcast. I want to see it. Is he going to step foot in Flipper Anderson's kids playing for the Hawkeyes. I mean, it's just all coming up Rams all of a sudden. I know. I keep hoping that they will show him on the broadcast. I want to see it.

Is he going to step foot in Flipper? Yeah, absolutely. Well, you're going to invite him to our tailgate, I know, if you ever see him in the crowd. Damn right. He was one of the main reasons I became a Rams fan when I was seven years old. The name Flipper was cool. It was.

Absolutely. It was all Eric Dickerson, but Flipper was going to be a bonus. was those rec specs and you had the red specs back in the day all right pre-contacts man all right let's get into it our picks here presented by fan duel as we do it for another season i'm sure you beat me last year so we're just going to keep it simple since we're doing this earlier in the week this year too early i don't think either of us has really dug into the week three lines of college football so give us one one that jumped off the page then we'll give a thought on the iowa game what's the one that jumped off to you this week and your pick lock of the week presented by fanduel yeah kind of going off the grid here jared we talked about i think through two weeks brian ferentz has confirmed he

doesn't give a damn about uh 25-point rule, really. But I think there's a team out there that does care about putting up some style points, especially with their new coordinator and especially with how week one went. Clemson obviously looked terrible in week one. They blew it. But I think with the new coordinator, they're going to get Florida Atlantic this week, and they're only 24-point favorites at home, which that screams too low for me, which means I probably should be in Florida Atlantic, but I'm not going to.

Lincoln Riley's brother is going to put up about 60 on Florida Atlantic, so give me Clemson minus 24. Clemson's going to try to show that they're not half as bad as they looked against Duke. All right, I'm going to stay in the Carolinas. I'm going to go up to North Carolina, though. Give me Appalachian State laying the nine against East Carolina. East Carolina, if you saw them week one against Michigan, Michigan did absolutely nothing in that game and controlled it.

Week two, they get blown out by Marshall. Appalachian State had Carolina on the ropes, lost in overtime last week against them. There's a lot better football team and don't even have to lay double digits here. I love that. I very rarely like favorites, but I do hear Appy State is my lock of the week, minus the nine, against the Pirates

from East Carolina. You mentioned North Carolina. I thought you were going to jump on the Gophers going to North Carolina this week. I got an eye on them. It's like the gophers in that situation. I think I don't know if they'll win, but they'll keep it close. Yeah,

it was, it jumped North of a touchdown last night. It got to seven and a half for a moment. By the time I opened my app, it was right back to seven. So I think that's going to be one that's probably going to fluctuate between six and a half and seven and a half. If you like North Carolina,

definitely wait until it gets to six and a half lay it. If you like the Gophers like I do, wait around and hopefully get that 7.5 at some point. I actually like the other Big Ten team going to North Carolina too. Northwestern's going to give Duke a game as well. Oh, okay. Not a game. I mean, it's like a 19-point spread. It's huge.

Northwestern's famous for they usually pull off some weird stuff early in the year. I know Fitz isn't there anymore, but they'll give Duke. Everybody loves Duke, and everybody thinks Northwestern's going to be atrocious. I think Northwestern covers that also. Ugly it up and lose 27-12, something like that. Exactly. It won't be pretty football.

And neither will the Gophers, I think. But both those two teams can ugly it up enough to make them games. All right. Let's give some thoughts here on the Hawkeye game for our other pick presented by FanDuel. Big number in this one, Iowa, a monster favorite right now. See, it's up to 28.5. It opened 26.5 at Circa in the opening lines there.

Excuse me, 28.5 currently the number, over under 43 bits. Yeah, it's things I never say, but if I had to pick anything in this game, which I am not going to, if I had to pick anything, I'd actually probably take the over. I think, like you said, Western Michigan is atrocious.

I think we may get at least one, maybe more defensive touchdowns. I think we're going to score over the 25 for sure. We won't get up to the 30s, which means unless we shut them out, you've got to probably like 43.5. Can't say I love anything on either side. For a rare time, give me the over in the hockey. Another big favorite for me. I think I laid it with Iowa at this point. I see it's up to 29 now at a couple of spots out there, and I'd still be willing to lay it. I think this is the week that they're

going to get it in cruise control. And our buddy Chad Leistekal from the Des Moines register. He just sent out this tweet out. Cade McNamara says this is the first full week of game week practice in a year and is feeling the best he has in a month. That's pretty good. That seems like the kiss of death right there. I assume that you will be blowing out that quad,

but eight minutes into game three. Great, great, Tres. Way to get the album. We'll walk out with Deacon into State College and Beaver Stadium. That'll be a rough one. Well, Biz, it's good to get you back in the fold. Let's not make it nine months again, okay?

Yeah, give me more than a six-hour notice and I can usually make it work. I'm a busy man. I know you're a busy man too, and I know you have a real job, but appreciate it. We'll talk again next week. All right. Go Hawks. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen

every day. We'll be back with you tomorrow here. More on Lockdown, including former running back LaShawn Daniels with the Hawkeyes. We'll talk about that run game, what he saw with the counterplays that got us excited. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.