Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Is Jaz Patterson the new RB1? Blocking scheme improvements

Episode Date: September 13, 2023

Trent Condon and LeShun Daniels return with the latest edition of the Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast.Some thoughts on the Hawkeyes running game including what LeShun saw from Jaziun Patterson and the possibility that he becomes the top Iowa football running back. And a look at any concerns with the slow start from Kaleb Johnson.A look at what Iowa is doing with the counter run game as opposed to the zone blocking scheme and Trent has a theory behind the change.Finally, Picks of the Week presented by FanDuel as Trent and LeShun make 5 picks against the spread including the Iowa game vs. Western Michigan.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

Of the Iowa running game, we talked to a former Iowa running back, LaShawn Daniels, stops by today on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Trent Condon. He's LaShawn Daniels. And this is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get podcasts.

And you can also find us on YouTube. You can check me out. You can see LaShawn over there looking good in his studio as we talk Hawkeye athletics with you. And certainly Iowa football. LaShawn, it's a win, a rivalry win. They don't always have to be pretty. And that one Saturday certainly was not pretty.

No, not pretty at all, but we'll take it. Hey, rivalry game, you know, got the trophy back where it belongs. So, you know, happy to come out with the win for sure. But definitely a lot of things that he's going to have to clean up, especially offensively. If they want to go ahead and continuing to improve as an offensive unit and, you know, make a push for winning. Obviously, the Big Ten West and the Big Ten. Well, the good news is the Big Ten West looks even more winnable maybe than it did during the preseason. We both talked a lot during the offseason.

Wisconsin was the betting favorite. I didn't understand them being the favorite was fine, just how significant the gap was between Iowa and Wisconsin. I think we've seen that play. And you go through teams, and the Badgers certainly are one of them right now, transitioning, trying to run a new offensive scheme, and going away from their identity for the last three decades. It's just one of those crazy things. Iowa, they know what their identity is, but we're going to open things up here and talk about this running game.

Iowa changing their identity for the last 25 years in the zone blocking scheme. It was not a whole lot of zone blocking. It was a lot more gap, just straight on blocking, straight up, ISO type of plays. And probably the biggest thing, something that I know we talked about quite a bit last year, LaShawn, was some more counter plays, and they're two big plays, the touchdown run and earlier the game, Jazzy on Patterson running forward. Those were set up with the counter plays, something we've been waiting for we finally got to see it saturday yeah i thought they did a pretty good job running running the counter plays um and as i mentioned uh last

week you know guard blocks on those counter plays are going to be huge huge uh blocks and let's see on the first big one um car colby gets a great block on the seal ceiling, the outside man. And then the safety fits wrong. The tight end ends up not gonna have to block anyone and then, then Jazz ends up sticking his foot in the ground and getting vertical fast and creating explosive play out of it. And then, you know, same thing on the flip side, again, you were able to get great down blocks and kind of get the,

the defensive line and those backers kind of moved out of the way to, to create space, to make it easier for the pulling guard. So again, you know, kicked out and man on line scrimmage get the the tight end to lead through and again create space um you know through through the middle for the again for running backs to get through there and get an end zone so you know that was very very encouraging to see it was great great to see and i see i think they're going to continue to build on that because again i feel like that's some of their it's a lot that's where I think a lot of their run game strength is right now. And even though, again, it still wasn't as clean as probably that they would have loved it.

Because, again, there was multiple times, again, where guys were able to, you know, create penetration and, you know, prevent having those positive runs. that I felt like when they were able to have, you know, even a tiny bit of movement with that, you know, minimized a lot of the negative runs that we had been seeing comparison, you know, over the past couple of years. I think the negative runs were really apparent a couple of years ago when Tyler was the running back. So, you know, moving away from that and getting more on the counter schemes, I thought was something that was encouraging to see. And, you know, hopefully for a little bit more and more growth there. Jazzy on this guy showed some juice. And, you know, we saw him so limited last year.

He was able to maintain his redshirt status and play the four games or less. So got to see him in the bowl game a little bit. A couple other games that he was out there. What have you seen from him? I mean, that run now, TJ Tampa ran him down. I mean, that was a little disappointing there. TJ Tampa, though, is going to be a top 100 pick next year's draft. The dude's a stud in his own right, and he's got some wheels to him. But, you know, I saw the miles per hour. He was up at 19. Remember last year, Caleb Johnson was up at a 21. But what you've seen from Patterson he

he seems pretty decisive there what what he's working to do what you've seen from him and kind of the different type of running style that he has yeah um you know I think I thought it was interesting you know seeing comparing him and um Caleb uh uh like obviously caleb big dude long strider um it can almost seem like it takes some time for even caleb to to really get to get going um just because again just because of the frame uh that he has on him and jazz i see a little bit more compact a little bit more you know built closer to the ground and because of that, it felt like it helped him out quite a bit, you know, the other day. Again, was able to really stay on his thickest foot on the ground,

you know, high behind some of those linemen and, you know, squeeze through some holes that maybe Caleb, just because of his size, may not have been able to take advantage of. But, yeah, Jazz was very, very encouraging. And I think the thing that really obviously helped get him on the field is his ability to block. I mean, obviously everyone saw on the big play where, again, he took out like two guys, two Iowa State defenders on a block.

And then there's been a couple times where, hey, he may be overmatching the size, but, hey, he just went, stuck his face in there and, you know, got run over. But, hey, he just went, stuck his face in there and got run over. But, hey, we'll take you getting run over, then you completely missing the block. And I think that gave him additional opportunity to get on the field. And it was encouraging to see. So you definitely want to be able to have some good skill position players, especially at the running back position, that can come in and make an impact.

And, you know, Jaz Strong, some of his skills was impressive to see, so it's going to be encouraging as the season moves along because, again, you don't want to have to rely, especially in this day and age in football, you don't want to have to rely on just one back. If you can get multiple guys that are up to speed and can go out there and, you know, create plays, want one back. If you can get multiple guys that are up to speed and can go out there and create plays, it's something that's going to help your football team. Well, Sean, we see Caleb Johnson and we know what a talent he is. He showed it last year

behind a bad offensive line. And though the offensive line is better this season, it's still not at an elite level, but he hasn't been able to find anything. Is there anything that you've seen from him in terms of patient, blocks just not being there, not making the right read? Is there anything that looks different to you from Caleb Johnson or maybe look at his steps, whatever it may be, anything that you've seen from Caleb so far two games in?

Yeah. You know, I think part of it is, honestly, I think him honestly just getting unlucky with the blocks that he's on the place that you get i mean sometimes hey that just happens um you know you go through a few games and hey the runs that you just happen to be on like everything seemed to fall apart and you know you didn't you didn't get that kind of look of the draw. So, obviously, I know he's probably frustrated with the way that, you know, his season has gone so far. But, again, it's early in the year. There's still, obviously, lots of opportunities for improvement. And, you know, especially having one more game before you get into Big Ten play, you you know lease for opportunity for that but i don't know um it's interesting because again i kind of feel like

although that he had a lot of success on again some of those counter plays um last year i just feel like maybe because just looking at him in his frame and especially like with his speed and his kind of one cut ability. I feel like he definitely suits more of the traditional Iowa running game style. And that's, you know, that that's the inside zone. That's the outside zone plays, because, again, with his speed and being able to really get the top speed really fast and, you know, put pressure on those second and third level defenders. I feel like that's where, you know, he has potential to really create those big plays. And again, they've had to move away from that more over the past couple of years. And I mean, there's a few times where they tried to get him going on some inside zone plays with some seal seal blocks on the backside and just, you know, just wasn't

working out. So hopefully it's something that they can get corrected both, you know, in the offensive line room and as a whole. So, you know, we can have additional opportunities to create those big plays. When we come back, we're going to get into a little bit more of what we've seen, some of the schematic changes from the Iowa offense. We talked about the running game, and I got a theory. I got to throw it by LaShawn here and see if my simpleton football mind, if I'm on to something here when it comes to the zone blocking scheme. We'll do that as we continue here.

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Trent Cotten back with you alongside LaShawn Daniels on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. If you're on YouTube, hit that subscribe button. And also coming up this weekend as Iowa prepares for the home matchup against Western Michigan. You can catch that game as you can catch every game on Sirius XM with the hometown broadcast. You can also find it on the Sirius XM app and just search Hawkeyes.

It'll pop up right there. Here, Gary and Ed and the whole crew with the Hawkeye Radio Network on Sirius XM. You got MVP, played the game a couple of times. You got to talk to Dolph after a football game a time or two, right, LaShawn? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's always good. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, did you wonder, you know, what these guys have been up to up in the booth for the last three, four hours when you're talking to them back in the locker room? Here's something. You guys are in the locker room. I'm sure there was somebody that was like screwing around, right? Trying to mess with you as you're making the call back up the locker room and here's something you guys are in the locker room i'm sure there was somebody that was like screwing around right trying to mess with you as you're

making the call back up to the booth and talking with the guys i mean is there a prankster on the team that was always trying to get whoever was on the phone so funny thing so actually they would take us into like an entirely separate room actually so so yeah so so you didn't have to worry about you know people messing around with you because there was definitely a bunch of guys that would, especially in the running back room. I feel like in the running back room during my entire time there, they were just full of just jokesters, guys that were always messing around

and just trying to have a good time. But you didn't have to worry about it. They moved you to the side and got you out of there. Probably a good call from the staff to make sure that that happened. So I got this theory. I got to run this by you. We talked about what we saw in the blocking scheme, and it was pretty easy even for somebody like me, very much a football novice in comparison to what you know and know about the game, is you can see the counterplays. That's easy to see. You see the pulling guard or whoever you end up pulling on that.

But I had this thought. Cade McNamara is limited. Kirk talked about it last week. He's getting better. He said on Friday, I got some news that he was feeling a lot better than he was the week previous before Utah State. And it got me a little more excited. And I, in fact, changed my pick and picked the Hawkeyes

after I heard that McNamara is feeling better. But we still know he's limited with that quad. A big part, especially what you guys do with the outside zone, right? Where you're stretching it out there, the quarterbacks run in six, seven steps to hand the ball off, and then they tuck

it, and they do the waggle, the bootleg off of it. Well, that's not part of the playbook right now. Do you think that that could maybe coincide with what we saw? And they said, look, we're taking out basically half of our playbook when we're not able to do that part and not being able to play action off of it on those stretch plays. Do you think maybe that has something to do with what we've seen a little bit more with the blocking scheme? Would that make sense just knowing that you don't really have the play action off of it? That would, I mean, that would make a ton of sense because first off,

like when you think about outside zone plays, the backs, like we're running, like we're running fast, like we're, like we're trying to get to that edge as fast as possible. And, you know, not saying that quarterbacks aren't the fastest guys in the world, but they're not, they're not the quarterbacks aren't so like um you know they they really got a strain to try to get that ball out there and you know you think about it from a coaching perspective you're like okay i want to minimize the amount of space that kate's gonna have to run on you know any given any given game at least right now we're dealing with this

injury so you're like okay if we take, you know, we take out the outside zone plays and we take off the play actions off of that, like we can cut down, you know, his amount. He's got to run, you know, significantly. Because again, you see it multiple times where, hey, he's just kind of standing in the pocket and he's not really, he's not really looking to run at any point in time. Like, like, hey, if there's an open hole, like he's not really he's not really looking to run at any point in time like like hey

if there's an open hole like he's pretty much not taking it he's just still trying to find you know opportunities downfield and again that's probably that probably played into a part of why you know over the past couple weeks some of the throws may have seemed like they'd kind of come late because again he's really not thinking about running. He's trying to get the ball out. And then when you look at running those counter plays or you look at running isos or, you know, inside zone plays, quarterback doesn't have to move as much to get that stuff done. So I could see that playing a part of why they have gone away from it a bit. why they have gone away from it a bit, but also again, they haven't,

Iowa's not been good at outside zone runs in quite a little long, little while now. And who knows if there'll be something that'll end up even coming back being a significant part of the game plan. So I know that they they've been running tosses to try to get the ball outside and they've had a little bit of success with that. So I can see them staying with that versus kind of going back to running those outsides all over the place. You know, and another piece of that is just working under center. You think of the push off that it takes and getting back away from center quickly, getting the football, moving back. I mean, that's still putting a lot of pressure on your leg, on your quad,

just backpedaling there on that. And, you know, I thought we'd see a little bit even more out of the shotgun this week, but it sounds like he's getting better. You know, Cade on Tuesday during the media availability said this is going to be the first time in a month, right, that he's going to be able to go through a full week of practice, which for a guy that missed spring football, coming off of surgery, don't have the reps that it takes during spring, you get injured halfway through August camp.

There's still a lot of catch up here. I wondered the question before the game began and before we found out he was starting to trend in a positive direction leading into the Iowa State game. If I was 2-0, do you sit Cade McNamara this week against Western Michigan? Well, as it sounds like he is improving, he is getting better. I just think it's too important for him to get game reps, even against somebody as bad as Western Michigan, just to keep getting that timing down.

I mean, when you look at the offense, we talk a ton because of your background as a running back about the running game, but you've got to find a way to get these receivers more involved. I just don't think Iowa can afford right now to put McNamara on the shelf and say look we can beat Western Michigan with Deacon or with Labus or whoever it is we can go that route I just think it's too important right now for them to get the reps do you agree I agree um there's you can't mimic game reps in practice no matter how hard like you try to make it as a live scenario as possible, like, getting those live game reps is very important. No matter what level of football you're playing, whether it's, you know, little league, high school, all the way through the NFL.

I mean, we saw a ton of sloppy play in the NFL from the offenses this past weekend. And, you know, you look back, a bunch of of those teams they had a bunch of players that really didn't play during the entire preseason and you know not having those live reps can can contribute to you know teams kind of playing slower and not kind of having that uh you know chemistry that you that you would come to expect and again it calls football with you know you have you have less practices nowadays. You don't have two-a-days and whatnot. You only have limited to one practice a day.

And then you don't have scrimmages against other teams. So when you get out there, especially when you think about a quarterback who has had to miss some time in practice that hasn't been with the guy, the entire team, working with them over the past couple seasons. Like you're put behind the eight ball a little bit and you want to have those live game reps. You want to, you know, have everyone operate, go through the entire operation from getting the personnel into the game, getting the play called, getting everyone out to their positions, you know, making any checks as you have to at the line of scrimmage and then going ahead and operating at a live speed. personnel into the game, getting the play call, getting everyone out to their positions, making any checks as you have to at the line of scrimmage,

and then going ahead and operating at a live speed. I don't think you can – there's no way you can really mimic that. And in practice, no matter how close or how good of a coaching staff you have, getting those live reps I feel like is very important, especially for some of these guys at the cultural level. Well, Sean, one final thing on the offense and trying to find a way now to get the receivers involved. It just hasn't been a whole lot out there

outside of Nico Raggini. It has been really limited. We were hopeful that we'd see a little bit out of Seth Anderson. I think he's been okay. Had the up and the stop and go route that could have been a big play and just missed on that one. And that was a good play call by Brian on that play

and just missed on that front. But getting the wide receivers involved this week against a team that's going to blitz a ton. Team blitzes a lot like Western Michigan does. That means it's going to be a lot of one-on-one opportunities for these receivers. Yeah, yeah. So I think this week is an excellent opportunity

to really kind of get these guys going and get in some consistency there in the pass game because, let's see, Iowa runs a ton of two tight end sets, especially when you've got two pretty good tight ends in the receiving game. They take advantage of those guys, but you know that you're not just going to be able to rely on those guys the entire season.

Once you get into big time play, teams are going to do their best to take those guys away and force you to work those receivers and get those guys involved. And I think this week is an excellent opportunity. Again, like, you know, we know Western Michigan is going to blitz quite a bit and when teams blitz it opens up opportunities in the past game for everyone involved as long as everyone's on the same page you know who has um the hot routes when certain guys blitz you know um protections and who's picking up who because if you're able to do that now you've got one-on-one opportunities, and now all the quarterback has to do is say, hey, and throw it to any of those receivers to give them a chance

or an opportunity to win on these one-on-one situations. So that's going to be something that I'm going to be looking for on Saturday because, again, really want to get these guys involved because we're going to need them if you really want to push for, again, really want to get these guys involved because we're going to need them. If you really want to push for, again, winning the Big Ten West, winning the Big Ten, really kind of accomplishing your season goals that you're looking for, I mean, hey, that's why you brought these guys in. You brought them in to use them. So that's something that I'm going to be looking for quite a bit on Saturday.

All right, let's get into Saturday. We'll make our prediction when we continue here on Locked On Hawkeyes. We will make our picks for big games of the college football weekend and then our bet on the Iowa game. It's all presented by FanDuel. We'll do that as we continue here. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Stay right there.

We're back with more here in a moment. Today's episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by Jace Medical. Everyone should be empowered to care for themselves and their loved ones during the unexpected. That's why Jace Medical offers the Jace Case. The Jace Case provides five life-saving antibiotics for emergency use and gives you peace of mind so that you're just not hoping to have access to medication in an emergency. Jace Medical makes sure you have the medication in hand. Jace Medical is simple.

They handle everything from the online evaluation to licensed pharmacy, medication delivery, and ongoing consultation and care. Don't get caught unprepared. Save more than $360 by getting these life-saving antibiotics with Jace Medical, plus an additional $20 off by using code LOCKEDON at checkout at jacemedical.com. That's J-A-S-E medical.com, promo code LOCKEDON. Trent Cotton back with you one more time alongside LaShawn Daniels on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. All right, LaShawn, let's get into it.

Our picks of the week. It was brutal for your boy, GC, last week. I couldn't pick a game if my life depended on it. It was an 0 for 5. Now, admittedly, after we did our podcast last week, Friday, I told you I heard the McNamara news that he was feeling a little bit better, and I relented, and I had Iowa win in 17-12. Pretty close, and that means covering the point spread, but it doesn't work for our contest, and now you are the new leader in the clubhouse. So here we go. Let's get into it, and we kick things off. Game number one in a college slate that, frankly, is not very pretty this weekend. It is game number one. Oh, what did I put at the top of the list? Let's find it here. There they are. Ah, Penn State, who the Hawkeyes, of course, will see in the whiteout game coming up next week. They travel to

Illinois against a line-eye team that has not looked great two weeks in. Take it away, LaShawn. The tee box is yours. You get the first pick. Yeah. I don't know how Illinois is going to come out this week. I mean, again, they haven't looked great over the last couple weeks. I mean, last week they just got really ran out of the building against Kansas. Their quarterback was just lighting it up against them. And I kind of see a similar trend continuing.

I think our over there at Penn State is going to be a really, really good quarterback. And Penn State has a really strong defense where Illinois hasn't had the greatest amount of success offensively so far this year. And I don't see that continuing. So really give me give me Penn State. I feel like they're a really strong team. They're going to come in there with the right mindset and obviously just get it done. Three different times last week, we disagreed on picks. Three different times, you beat me in those picks,

and we disagree here. I'm going to take Illinois in the points. I know they haven't played well. They're just, I don't think it's really a look ahead. Look, Penn State playing Iowa, though it's their whiteout, they're not playing Michigan or Ohio State. It's not quite a look ahead, but maybe a peek ahead. How about that? I just, I think Illinois, I really like Luke Altmyer. I think he has a chance to be an upgrade at the quarterback position. I love their

defensive line and they just have not impressed. They lost a lot in the running game. They lost a lot in the defensive backfield. They're still finding it, but I think they just ugly this one up, you know, a B-level special Penn State still wins, but it's 23-13, you know, something like that. So I'm going to grab the points here and I'm going to take Illinois. Game number two, it is the Huskers. Nebraska at home as they welcome in Northern Illinois, Rocky Lombardi, the former Michigan State quarterback. Yeah, he's still bouncing around. I think he's about your age, LaShawn. He's still out there playing college football here in West Des Moines. And, uh, I'm going to take the Huskies here. I just, I need to see that Nebraska can play a clean game. If they play a clean game,

they're going to win this by 20 plus points. But until Jeff Sims can show that I just can't do it. 20 plus points, but until Jeff Sims can show that, I just can't do it. I'm going to take Northern Illinois and I'm going to grab the points. So I was thinking about taking the Huskies. I mean, I don't see in the past they played, you know, very big 10 teams, pretty tough, but they've been abysmal really over the past couple of weeks. I mean, they beat a terrible boston college team lost to southern illinois last week um and really what was it like it was like 14-11 battle so not good but if nebraska again it's really going to come down to them and taking care of

the football and you know it depends it's honestly going to depend on how long the leash that Simmons is going to have in this game. Obviously, last week against Colorado, they were really in it throughout the entire game, but turn the football over, you can't win football games like that. This week, they're not going

against a strong opponent. I feel like the line's not that big, so I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to take the Huskers on this one. Going with Nebraska. Pick number three, back to LaShawn. First pick up here, a former Big 8, Big 12 battle. Now SEC versus Big 12.

Kansas State, they're laying four and a half at Mizzou. Yeah, I think it's going to be a pretty interesting game here. I mean, both teams have some strong defenses that are going to be able to stop the run and limit the pass game, but Kansas State, again, they're coming

off of a big 12 title last year. Had a really strong team last year. They lost some guys, but they title last year. Had a really strong team last year. Awesome guys. Awesome guys, but they've started off the year the way that you would expect them to. Both in blowouts against teams

that probably aren't going to be as good as Mizzou, but I feel like coming into Mizzou with that short of a line, I think they're going to go ahead and deal with it to cover that. So you're going with K-State minus the four and a half, and we agree on this one. I'm also going to lay it here.

I just believe in Coach Kleiman so much, and if Kirk would hang it up, that would be one of the first calls that I would like to see is what Chris Kleiman's done. A guy from the state of Iowa, knows it very well, Just always impressed by him. All right, we continue here. Our fourth game of the week, it is Minnesota. The Gophers going on the road to North Carolina. I love this game just because I think the uniform matchup is going to look pretty cool, right? You get the burgundy helmets against the baby blues of Carolina. I think it's got a chance to look good on the field. Now, can Minnesota keep up with North Carolina? Absolutely not.

If this is a shootout, the Gophers are going to be in real trouble. And some of the improvements we saw from Carolina defensively week one dissipated back in week number two. Same thing that I kind of thought in that first game with Illinois ugling it up against Penn State. I think the Gophers do that as well. I think they get enough going. They got the running game going last week against Eastern Michigan. I got the Gophers keeping it within the touchdown here.

Give me Minnesota plus seven and a half. Yeah, so I think this one's going to be interesting because, again, North Carolina, they've got offense. They're a very, very balanced team. You know they got a superstar quarterback, and they've been really consistently on the offensive front. But now you look at north carolina defensively it has not been good for them at all uh to start the season and if

minnesota can be consistent they can grind that ball out and limit the amount of times that uh drake may has an opportunity to football like they're going to be able to keep this close even even on the road so uh giving minnesota in the points i don't think that they're going to be able to keep this close, even on the road. Giving Minnesota the points, I don't think that they're going to be able to pull it off, but I definitely think that they can keep that run game going and keep the ball out of UNC's hands that they'll be able to keep it tight. Back-to-back agreements. We wrap things up with Iowa. Hawkeyes currently a 28.5-point favorite. Very rare you see a 28.5 point favorite at an over-under at 42.5. That's where we are right now in this one. You get the final pick. You get to go first here, LaShawn, with your win last week. What do you have the Hawkeyes laying north of four touchdowns?

north of four touchdowns. Yeah, I'm going to take Western Michigan on the points here. You know, Iowa hasn't even scored 28 points in a game this year yet. And even though they've had opportunities offensively to hit that mark, it seems like once Iowa really gets past their scripted plays and outside of the first quarter that the offense is kind of just plateaued and really is kind of reminded us of the offensive old. So until they change that,

a line that's this large, I'm going with the other team. So I got Western Michigan to cover. This is the breakout performance from the Hawkeye offense. They get out early. They race out there. Western Michigan, they suck. They're awful.

It's a bad, bad football team. Their best players are playing over for Phil Fleck now at Minnesota. I got Iowa rolling in this one. Crews out to an early lead. They're up 24-0 early in the third quarter. Cade goes out. Deacon maybe throws his first touchdown in his career. I got Iowa winning this one 34-3.

I'm going to lay the points here. Give me the Hawkeyes. Prove me right this week, Hawks. Let's get it done and get it. Those are our picks presented by FanDuel as we pick five games each and every week here. FanDuel. Find them online. FanDuel.com. five games each and every week here. FanDuel, find them online. FanDuel.com and great promos going on right now.

LaShawn, another week in the books, and we look forward to a big weekend in front of us as we have this one. And then it is Penn State week, and there's a little bit extra juice in that one. You can tell that's one Kirk certainly has circled. And he doesn't like James Franklin very much, I don't think. No. I don't think he does. Thinking back when we played him,

you kind of got that feel. You never outright say anything like that. It was definitely a feeling. There's definitely going to be some juice for that one. No doubt about it. We'll talk to you again next week LaShawn, appreciate it as always yes sir, go Hawks