Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football Reaction: Hawkeyes beat Western Michigan 41-10

Starting point is 00:00:00 they say a win's a win. This one, not always pretty, but a 41-10 victory for the Hawkeyes. After the rewatch, we react today, Locked on Hawkeyes. You are Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network,

Starting point is 00:00:18 your team every day. Welcome in, I'm Trent Condon and this is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. While you're there, hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, official sportsbook of Locked On.

Starting point is 00:00:56 Make every moment more. Right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed. Visit FanDuel.com slash slash locked on to get started. Well, Iowa gets the win 41-10 against Western Michigan. There were frustrating moments of this one. Basically, most of the first half was that one. But Iowa ultimately gets the win and moves their record to 3-0, perfect through the non-conference portion of the schedule.

Starting point is 00:01:24 We're going to break things down after the rewatch, as I always do each and every Sunday night. Apologies over the weekend. I've been battling a little bit of illness. You might hear it in my voice, but we'll be back with you, of course, next Saturday night after the Iowa-Penn State game with a rapid reaction to that one. We'll be in your feeds right away.

Starting point is 00:01:42 We'll also go live on that one. We got you covered going forward, and hopefully a little bit of this illness goes away. You hear some pauses though during the show today or a couple of deep breaths or sighs. That's me still battling some upper respiratory issues, but we'll be good to go and happy to be back with you to look back at what we saw on Saturday with the Hawkeyes. Obviously the big week in front of us as we prepare for the Penn State game. We'll talk about that and touch on that here just a little bit. But open things up and a couple of takeaways from the football game.

Starting point is 00:02:14 And as always, it's the most important position, not just in football, but in all of sports, and that is quarterback play. And the quarterback play on Saturday was frankly bad. Cade McNamara, I thought, had his worst game in a Hawkeye uniform from the inability to stay away from turnovers, the two interceptions, including the one late in the first half that drew the ire of Brian Ferenc, to just what we saw throughout the course of the game. We heard all week long that he was as healthy as he had been. He had his first full week of preparation going through all the practices, working his way back from the quad

Starting point is 00:02:51 injury. And I was hopeful that we were going to see more from him. That certainly was not the case. From his indecision that he had late getting the ball out a multitude of different times, some double clutching, just not believing his eyes, not believing his reads. That was maybe as tentative as we've seen Cade McNamara in the early portions of his Hawkeye career. So I thought that was definitely a frustrating angle of what we saw from McNamara,

Starting point is 00:03:19 just was not sharp throughout this one. There's a first pause right there as we get a little bit of a swig and hopefully working through this illness. All right, from there, McNamara, not great. Wanted to see the wide receivers get involved more, right? We wanted to see more of that. And we saw a little bit more from the wide receiver ranks, but still certainly not what you're hoping for. We saw a couple of catches from Deontay Vines, including the touchdown. That read on top of it, I believe it was Ragaini that was even more open than Vines as he waited for him to clear and saw the safety move over towards Ragaini.

Starting point is 00:04:00 Both the guys were wide open on the touchdown pass, and it was an absolute thing of beauty slinging it in there for the touchdown. But wide receivers, just not a whole lot there. One catch for Ragginini, two for Vines. Seth Anderson had one catch and had a big play on the end of round. But that leads us to another one of the positives, and that's what we saw out of the run game. Now, it should come as no surprise against the weakest opponent

Starting point is 00:04:23 that Iowa faces in Western Michigan that they were finally able to get the run game going. Still, you're left kind of pondering with this team of what it's going to be going forward. Is this something that they figured it out that the run game is going to get going? Or was it just the elixir that they needed against a bad opponent and Western Michigan? That is to be seen. But as good as the run blocking finally was in this game, it went back the other way.

Starting point is 00:04:47 And the pass blocking was deplorable. And maybe that was some of the reason for the poor play from Cade McNamara was because the offensive line struggled so much. Pass pro was brutal. After being very solid the first couple of weeks, as the run game was so bad, now they figure out the run game, and the pass blocking goes to crap. I mean, that's where we are still right now with this offensive line. And it's incredibly frustrating

Starting point is 00:05:08 that we're continuing to have this conversation as we're three games in and they just can't figure out what is happening up front. Definitely a disappointing aspect to this game. Cade McNamara playing late into the fourth quarter and he was getting blitzkrieg. I mean, there's guys all over him, offensive line not protecting. One theory this though with mcnamara in his poor play being that he was able to go out there and have a full week of practice he's feeling healthier he's feeling better we saw him tuck it and run and pick up a first down he had a little smirk afterwards as he made his way over to the sidelines on that one. One theory, though, behind maybe some of the poor play is because he felt he had more mobility, more ability to move in the pocket and shift around a little bit and make a guy miss or two because he felt better.

Starting point is 00:05:55 Maybe that led him to holding onto the ball a little bit more. That could be a theory behind it. I guess if we're looking for something on the positive side of things, that's a direction that you could go with what we saw from McNamara. LeSean Williams was an absolute stud. Just a dominating performance from him in the run game. Loved what we saw from Jazzy on Patterson early on. He was running it hard. We didn't see him much as the game progressed. And then you got to go throw credit as well to the young guys. Of course, we got to see our first look at Kamari Moulton, kid from down in Florida.

Starting point is 00:06:29 I thought he really looked the part. Looks young too. I see him on the podium after the game. And boy, you can tell this is a young man. What, 18 years old, maybe 19 years old. He looked young, definitely in the face, but he ran the ball hard. Loved what we saw out of that.

Starting point is 00:06:42 The hard running of LaShawn Williams. And it felt like LaShawn Williams maybe was trending of that the hard running of LaShawn Williams and it felt like LaShawn Williams maybe was trending towards becoming the third running back and really becoming a little bit of an afterthought in this Iowa offense he showed that was not the case on Saturday with his performance with Caleb Johnson dealing with the ankle injury with as we await to see exactly what it is with Jazzy on Patterson there not only are they going to need another huge performance coming up this week from LaShawn Williams they're also going to need obviously one of those two youngsters to step up we also saw Washington late in the game of course the late

Starting point is 00:07:14 touchdown for Max White what a great moment that was for him we'll get into that a little bit more overall got the run game going that's great to. Used more jet motion and used it with different guys from Caleb Brown early in the game, having the big one. Now the dumb play second and two, you're pounding the football right after the rain delay. You're out there after the lightning delay, just pounding the football up. And what do you do? You go jet sweep to the short side of the field. You lose a yard. It's third and three instead of the second and two that you had. Didn't take a shot to the end zone. No, you have to run that jet sweep play. And you do to the short side of the field.

Starting point is 00:07:47 And the next play, Luke Lachey snaps his ankle. Great. Iowa football. That is going to be the stinger. And maybe the biggest impact of the game comes out of the loss of Lachey. What looks to be obviously a season ender and maybe for him a Hawkeye career ender, depending how his rehab is going to go we'll see uh tomorrow on Tuesday we'll probably get more on this front we'll be able to

Starting point is 00:08:10 find a little bit more out about that injury and the possibility is there any chance of him coming back it didn't look good you saw the pictures if you saw the still pictures or just watching on tv it was ugly ankles going one way that it's not supposed to be going look like maybe there's some bone coming out. It was a bad one. No doubt about it. So with all that being said, obviously, hope for the best for Luke Lachey, a great Hawkeye and a guy that is very easy to root for.

Starting point is 00:08:35 And we will see on that front. Iowa has depth at the tight end position. That is a good thing. From the offense, we'll jump over to the defense and the special teams. And boy, were they special once again. Love this Hawkeyes special teams. They get it done once again. We'll do that as we continue here.

Starting point is 00:08:51 Plus, Brian Ferencz was the only man protecting his son. We'll talk about that as we continue Lockdown Hawkeyes. Today's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. BetterHelp out there helping you out, and we appreciate their support here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. There's times you're up at night, you're thinking about so many different things. It might be a relationship.

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Starting point is 00:10:48 here on the LockedOnHawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making LockedOnHawkeyes your first listen every day. As we roll through here, it's time to talk about the defense. And boy, early on, there were some shaky moments. Of course, the big touchdown play by Western Michigan, that was a piece of it, of what we saw out of them making the play up the left sideline in just a simple hitch and go move, right? Little stop and go, fake the out, go up. And everybody was pointing to Jamari Harris on that play, and they should. He was, let the guy go, I think, a little bit early.

Starting point is 00:11:21 But also, I think a lot of that also has to go to Xavier Wampa. Wampa was slow getting over, and that was disappointing to see. Xavier Wampa, we know about the talent. We've talked about the talent, the five-star, and that definitely has showed up at times. But another piece of this is definitely what we see from Wampa, just at times a little bit out of position. This is a young guy, still just a true sophomore, and the physical skills are going to catch up and going to be there. Obviously, what you're waiting for is the other portion of it going forward, but one to keep an eye on there.

Starting point is 00:11:53 It's a little bit late getting over. Harrison is back. First game back, though, there's going to be some growing pains. The touchdown that was taken off the board on the ineligible man downfield. That was also Jamari Harrison. We'll see. Does that mean a little more to Sean Lee? Is it going to become more rotational? Or is it just a guy that hasn't played a football game in basically two years getting out there on the field for the first time and that being an impact?

Starting point is 00:12:16 I think that is definitely a direction to go. We saw a little more pressure out of the defensive line. Joe Evans got a sack. Great to see that. We saw Jay Higgins just doing Jay Higgins things. Dudes all over the field. Sebastian Castro almost had another pick six on the screenplay as he just jumped up and fell on top of the ball carrier there.

Starting point is 00:12:35 And if there wasn't a whole host of offensive linemen in his way, he might have jumped in front of that thing and went the other way. But just a great play. Loved the way that Castro was playing. And he continues to ascend here in his final go around in a Hawkeye uniform. A lot of positives there. Nick Jackson, still some concerns. The tackle numbers were good in pass protection though, still seems a step slow. You know, we mentioned this last week in the Iowa state game where after the first quarter, I thought he really improved, but there's still

Starting point is 00:13:04 those moments. He's playing a different position. He's not in the middle like he was before. He's playing outside. He has to play in coverage a whole lot more and still waiting for it all to click for Nick Jackson. Hopefully he can get to that point. Quinn Schulte, he was physical. Love to see that out of him. And of course, Cooper Dijon. But as we're talking about the defense, defense was good. They were stout, really liked what we saw. You don't have that prototypical edge rusher. I think at this point, Deontay Craig has been a little bit of a disappointment.

Starting point is 00:13:32 Three games in, got the sack in game one, but overall has not been the impact guy that I thought he was going to be on this defensive line. The depth is definitely there. We saw Ethan Hurkett. He made a couple of good plays. He got sucked into one of them too, but he made some really good plays definitely there. We saw Ethan Hurkett. He made a couple of good plays. He got sucked into one of them, too. But he made some really good plays out there.

Starting point is 00:13:48 Had the ball that was flipped back and the pass that went backwards. And they got a big loss on that play. He's been really good, I think, at times. We saw Allen come into the game a little bit later. He didn't play against Iowa State. The depth is there. I mean, they're in good shape, especially at defensive end. Llewellyn had a nice play.

Starting point is 00:14:05 The kid from Urbandale. Overall, this defensive line is there. I mean, they're in good shape, especially at defensive end. Llewellyn had a nice play. The kid from Urbandale. Overall, this defensive line is deep. Just maybe don't have those outstanding stalwarts we were hoping for up front. Those first, second team, all Big Ten guys, but the depth is definitely there. And maybe we did overstate this summer just how good this defensive line is.

Starting point is 00:14:20 Not to say it's not good, because it's still really good. And it's really deep. Maybe as deep as they've ever had up front in terms of sheer volume and number of guys that they can throw out there and be solid Big Ten players. But still waiting for that next jump, right, to get up to that dominant level and going to need that this week against a really good Penn State offensive line. But as we talk about the defense, we also have to talk about the special teams. The special teams definitely showed up in a big way. I can't remember the number exactly. I heard it on a podcast this morning, but it was talking about the hidden yardage totals from this game.

Starting point is 00:14:57 And Iowa outgained Western Michigan by like 300 yards in the hidden. That was basically special teams. It's punting. It's returns, those those things Cooper Dajin was just making them look silly how about Wetchin coming out there and showing his wheels on the kick return it feels like Iowa has found their guy back in the kick return game and excited about him there's some pieces back there we know the special teams are going to be a lead and then Ontario Thompson who gets the block punt he almost had a couple a couple of times before that Lisa Byingyington, who was on the call, along with former Hawkeye Anthony Heron, I thought they did a great job

Starting point is 00:15:29 of really pointing out beforehand what it looked like he was going to get to the football and a really good job there. Overall, special teams were elite, and that's what I was going to have to do. If this is going to culminate for this Iowa football team to be great, the offense is better.

Starting point is 00:15:44 It's at least adequate. It's not great. I'm not going to look. I'm not going to pee on your head and tell you it's raining. This is not a great offense. It's still not going to be throughout the course of the season, the way Iowa plays and their scheme just does not lead to this being some kind of great offense. But with a solid defense and with elite special teams, this team can still win the West. They're, I believe, the prohibitive favorite now to win the West. After what we saw from Wisconsin, they pulled away late against Georgia Southern. That's still a program, obviously, going through transition, changing their identity. And we'll see the growing pains.

Starting point is 00:16:16 I think that's going to continue for the Badgers this season. They got a big one Friday night as they take on Purdue. But I think Iowa is still the favorite in the West. They have to go to Wisconsin, though. And obviously the Penn State game coming up this week is going to dictate a whole lot of that. For them to get there, though, these special teams need to continue to be there.

Starting point is 00:16:34 Drew Stevens, after the rain delay, yanked a field goal left. That's as badly as we've seen Stevens ever miss a field goal. And I think we can just chalk that one up to coming off the delay, not sure how many kicks he got beforehand, but just a field goal. And I think we can just chalk that one up to coming off the delay. Not sure how many kicks he got beforehand or just a bad one. I didn't see if the snap or hold were bad as I rewatched it. I forgot to go back and look back at that part of it, but I'm fine with Drew Stevens. I have no concerns. Dude's rock solid and still in good shape in the kicking game.

Starting point is 00:17:00 Torrey Taylor, just pinning them deep. Just a thing of beauty. And it doesn't matter who's down there. How about TJ Hall? Also coming down. We're at number two. Reminds me a little bit of Terry Roberts, right? The last couple of seasons and what he did in special teams. Basically going down there inside the five and catching the football or tipping it back. Great workout of TJ Hall making that play.

Starting point is 00:17:17 Najeen down there, the special teams unit. They're good. They got the pump lock in. And we could use another coming up this week. Let's bring back what we saw in 2009 with the Adrian Claiborne, a block putt that changed the direction of that whiteout game. And Iowa got the victory 21-10 against the Nittany Lions. Wrapping things up on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

Starting point is 00:17:37 And one of the big conversations that happened after the game was what happened late in the football game. Iowa tacking on another score. Is this Kirk Ferentz helping out his son? What do we read into what happened there? The drive to 325, it's become a national conversation piece. Is that fair? Is that the way it actually should be?

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Starting point is 00:19:38 Trent Conant back with you one final time on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day as we work our way back. Try to feel a little healthier, feel a little bit better here. And you know what? An athletic brew sounds pretty good at this time as we're working our way back from a little bit of illness.

Starting point is 00:19:57 Well, we will hear on Tuesday from Kirk Ferentz. We will hear from the players as they prepare for Penn State. This is going to be a Nittany Lion team, obviously, that is going to be ready to go after what happened in Kinnick Stadium two years ago. The Boo Birds were out. Hand raise. I was amongst them and looked like trying to slow down that high-powered Hawkeye offense.

Starting point is 00:20:17 And what'd they do? Well, a few guys that were limping around out there and then quickly came back into the game. Now, there was one significant injury, and that's what Penn State fans will clamor about, and they will say that it was all just absolutely wrong, and the Hawkeye fans had it wrong. Oh boy, how loud it was in that north end zone too. What a night. Well, this is going to be different. It's going to be on the road and expect a charged up crowd out at State College. Before that though, final thoughts on the Western Michigan and what we saw late in the football game after Iowa gets a stop on fourth down.

Starting point is 00:20:51 The backups are in. Saw a bunch of new offensive linemen out there. Saw Max White, who also played a little bit in the first half of the game with all the injuries at the running back position. Saw him out there, and he's in there. Deacon Hills running the quarterback. Made a beautiful pass on

Starting point is 00:21:05 the a little slip play and the skinny post up the middle a seam route there just a thing of beauty put it on the money love to see that from deacon hill but final moments of the game fourth down one more shot does i will put a knee on it does i would kick a field goal or they go for the score they went for the score and max white darted into the end zone. Now this is a great, great thing. A guy that his dad, well-renowned coach in Eastern Iowa for a long time. A family that obviously has connections to the program. Dad sent a lot of guys to the University of Iowa throughout the years. And that moment was great. Unfortunately, it turned into a moment where everybody made it about the 25 points per game. And this is just Kirk trying to run it up

Starting point is 00:21:51 and help out his son and do those kinds of things. You're dead wrong. You just are. That's not what this was. Iowa football has done this a ton. And in fact, before my radio show today, I went out there and I just grabbed a couple of past seasons to find different years that this kind of thing happened before. In the final minutes of the game where Iowa tacked one on. I went back to 2003. Happened two times that year. Iowa ending a five-game losing streak at Iowa State that year. What do they do? A couple minutes left. Marcus Schnoor runs it in for a touchdown. That same year, Iowa's up 34-10 against Illinois. With three minutes left, Drew Tate throws a touchdown pass

Starting point is 00:22:30 to make it 40-10. 41-10 was the final there. Then I look more recently, 2015, same thing. Against Iowa State, against Purdue, they continue to play. That's what you're doing. This was not Cade McNamara and the starters out there. That's not what this is. You need reps.

Starting point is 00:22:49 You want to see these guys out there. And Max White, he might become a more important part to this team with the injuries to Jazzyon Patterson and to Caleb Johnson. You want your young offensive lineman to see, is there anything out there? So Tyler Ellsbury, a guy that's a former starter, does he have anything out that he can help out this team? These are the things that happened. 2018, Iowa did it again. Makai Sargent ran in a two-yarder with a minute 27 left. Iowa does this. This is not a one-time thing. This is not about just helping out Bryant. Look, I think anybody that listens to the show

Starting point is 00:23:21 understands that I am no fan of Bryant Berenson. I'm not going to defend him unless it's absolutely necessary. This is a time you can't go after him. You can't go after Kirk. You're playing a game. You play 60 minutes, and they played 60 minutes. I have no problem with it. Keep piling it up. And if you got a chance this week, do it again.

Starting point is 00:23:38 You got a chance against Wisconsin or Minnesota or Nebraska. I don't care who it is. Keep piling up the points. Keep going. That's where I am. I think you're dead wrong if you think this has something to do with that. I don't believe that Kirk Ferentz

Starting point is 00:23:52 and Brian Ferentz care one iota about the 25 points per game. That's not what this is about. And if Iowa has a successful season, like I believe that they still can this year, it's not going to matter about 25 points. And even if Iowa does not get to the 25 points per game, Brian Ferentz, if they have a successful season,

Starting point is 00:24:10 he's going to be back. It'll be with a different contract, but he will be back. That's the reality. We like to live in reality here. All right. Well, as I choke again, we're out of here. We'll be back with you tomorrow tomorrow hopefully feeling a little bit better and we will continue to battle three through we got to get healthy

Starting point is 00:24:31 for Penn State that's what we need thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day we'll talk to you again tomorrow go Hawks

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football Reaction: Hawkeyes beat Western Michigan 41-10

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