Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Rewatch of the win over Illinois, PFF Grades, Hoops Week ahead

Episode Date: November 21, 2023

Trent Condon returns after a rewatch of the Hawkeyes win over Illinois and starts with a look at the improvements from Deacon Hill at the quarterback position and thoughts on the growth continuing.The offensive line continues to play at an ok level, but Tyler Elsbury has come in a center and played at a high level. What does Iowa do with him and Logan Jones when he's healthy?A look at the grades from Pro Football Focus and what to read into then before looking at the basketball teams as they prepare for their exempt tournaments including the path for the women to get a rematch against Kansas State and the men having to find a way to get at least one win this week.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Listening.comWouldn’t it be amazing if you could listen to a textbook, like an audiobook? Now, you can! Listening.com is an app that turns any academic reading into audio. Go to Listening.dot/LOCKEDON and you'll be able to get your first three weeks free!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 MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedoncollege and use code lockedoncollege for a first deposit match up to $100! Daily Fantasy Sports Made Easy!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! 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

One final look back at the win against Illinois. We take a rewatch of that one. Of course, a Black Friday matchup with Nebraska. We look at the Huskers and a monster week for men's basketball. If this is going to be a tournament team, they got to get some wins today. Locked on Hawkeyes. You are locked on Hawkeyes. Your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us 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 FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 Moneyline bet. That's $150. If your team wins, visit fanduel.com slash locked on to get started. Well, re-watching the game as I do each and every Sunday night. Another run through of everything that we see on the football field.

Just a couple of nuggets as we ran through things with our Instant Reaction podcast and took a peek at some different things. One thing that I want to mention at the top, and I don't think it can be overstated, the growth that we've seen from Deacon Hill. A young guy that was much maligned, looked as bad as any quarterback that certainly I've seen in my 43 years of watching Iowa football.

It was bad. And it really looked like for a while there that there was no coming back. And I take you back to just a couple of weeks ago in Wrigley Field. And it was, of course, after the announcement that Brian Ferentz would not be coming back. And I talked about this, I remember that week with LaShawn. It was a boring game plan. There wasn't a whole lot to it, but it was a game plan that made a whole lot of success for certainly the quarterback. Look, I was going to have to rely on the run game. That's going to be the reality. And it's the reality of just the way that they play football. We get that. But they put together a game plan

that was incredibly simplified. They used play action, some boot action, and it wasn't to make plays down the field. It was just to make the makeables. And in that game, though Deacon Hill only threw for, what, 66 yards, he was 10 of 15 throwing the football. Now, for most any other quarterback at the Division I level, and certainly a Big Ten quarterback, you say, who cares? I mean, that's ho-hum. Of course he should be able to complete that when you're talking about the completions that he made in that game. But what it did more than anything is it created confidence. And he saw that confidence build so much in the Rutgers game. And then it continued on Saturday. It's not that it's perfect. It's not even close to it. It's not that Deacon Hill is suddenly a great quarterback. That's not the case either. a great quarterback. That's not the case either. But they have built around and built the confidence of a quarterback that now makes them okay for their standards. Not okay compared to the rest of college football. They're still not at that level, but okay from what they were. And with an elite defense and elite special teams, that's good enough. Good enough to win this division

and good enough to go to Indianapolis. A couple other notes that I want to get into. We're going to talk about a little bit deeper some of the numbers from Pro Football Focus. I like to do this each and every week where you get an opportunity to dig in a little bit more, see if what you're seeing matches up with guys that grade the field, and they go back and they watch all 11 players, all 22 players on the field, and they each get a grade on each play individually, and then it spits out the number. And just seeing if that marries out. But the offensive line, look, the offensive line has not been as good as I hoped it was going to be this year. I was of the belief with the additions of Rusty Feth and Dajon Parker that we're going to see improvement

there. We've had injuries, and that's a part of it. You saw another one on Saturday as Logan Jones had to go out after a couple of series. You could see he was really debilitated out there as he was limping his way back to the sideline. You could tell that his day was likely over. You see Connor Colby that's gone down, and though Colby has been a bit banged up this year, he's been kind of the workhorse. He's been the guy that's been out there the most,

and he gets rolled up on. And all season long, Mason Richman, who I thought really was going to have a big leap,. He's been the guy that's been out there the most, and he gets rolled up on. And all season long, Mason Richman, who I thought really was going to have a big leap, and he's been better. Maybe not the leap that I thought he was going to have, but he's been better, and he's been battling injury. And you've got guys in and out, and you've been doing all this. With that being said, this offensive line has been adequate this year.

They want to be better, and I think there's a chance to be better next season. A rusty fat, a nice fill-in guy. Well, we're not talking about an elite level player. He's okay. He's got the big red beard, right? The bald head, and he looks cool. He's not a great player. He's fine. But what I'm getting to is this. Tyler Ellsbury now has come in, and he's played super well. Going back to that game against Northwestern when Logan Jones went out for the first time Tyler Ellsbury's played at a high level we saw him do the same thing a year ago when he was put in there and I think this offseason

what needs to be figured out on that offensive line I know Logan Jones was put in an incredibly difficult spot a year ago in 2022. A guy that was a defensive lineman that hadn't been a center at the college football level, and he was handed the keys and say, all right, replace Tyler Linderbaum. Nobody's going to be able to do that. And he struggled. And we had not just some of the struggles that you see from any young offensive lineman, but certainly in the center and all the calls that you have to make and getting protection in the right spot and getting all the guys working in tandem. That's an incredibly difficult spot, but he also had the weird snap thing with the delay

and the snap, and that's gone away this year, which has been great to see. But there were a lot of issues with that a year ago. Still, Ellsbury has not the same, had the same kind of reps as Logan Jones. Maybe physically, he doesn't have some of the physical traits that Logan Jones has because he is a guy with athleticism and power and speed at the center position, what Iowa wants to do, that he does play at a really high level. Iowa needs to figure out what is best. Ellsbury at center, Jones kicking out to guard or vice versa.

But I believe you have to get both those guys out there next season. I think that is where we're trending to at this point. Rusty Feth is gone. There's a starter right there. And though there's depth, and I think Connor Colby certainly has another one of the guard spots locked up, that's what you got to figure out. Nick DeYoung's going to be gone. Rusty Feth's going to be gone.

You need to have both Logan Jones and Tyler Ellsbury out there next season. It's been bandied about that Kirk doesn't exactly love having his second team center or second best center out there playing a guard position because of the depth concern that happens, but you got to do it. Ellsbury has proven it on the field now for the last couple of years. He needs more reps. More reps for an offensive line that can continue to grow. We'll get into those numbers from Pro Football Focus. Plus, a huge week in basketball. So big.

Kaitlin Clark hanging out with the Mannings this week. How about that? A big bounce back performance from the women's team. And the Iowa men have to find a way to get at minimum one win this week and maybe even two if they're going to be an NCAA tournament team. We continue on the football side of things, the numbers from Pro Football Focus. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by Listening.com.

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Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Your team every day. That's what we do here on the Lockdown Network. We got you covered on the Hawkeyes side of things. Your pro teams, NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, we got you covered there. And, of course, Locked On Fantasy Football, Locked On Wagering, they got you covered on anything that you can imagine your team every day. Let's continue here and take a look at the numbers from Pro Football Focus,

something that I mentioned earlier. Love to do this each and every week, get a better view and see exactly what we see on the football field if it matches up with guys that are actually grading it start with deacon hill at the quarterback position a grade of 62 and a half a pretty standard and average type grade 19 to 29 167 had the touchdown didn't have the big mistake we talked about the instant reaction podcast seth and Anderson late in the first half falling on that fumble. It looked like maybe it was an incompletion. It was called a

fumble. Seth Anderson was there and maybe held Illinois without three points in that one. A deeper look at the numbers here. When he was kept clean in the pocket, 14 of 21, 89 yards and a score under pressure, five and nine for 78 yards. It talked about the touchdown that he had early in the game to a Stranga. That's a play he doesn't make a month ago. That's a play that Deacon Hill just wouldn't wait for it to get there. Game is slowing down. I think you absolutely can see that for him. He's delivering some good passes, still missing on some.

That's still there for Deacon, but a big improvement out of him. And how about the run? Maybe my highlight of the day was that one. Running back position, LaShawn Williams grades out as the top running back with a 61.9 right behind him. Caleb Johnson with a 60.8. Two runs, though, for Caleb Johnson. You know, and throughout the course of the year,

as it just felt like for whatever reason, when Caleb Johnson's been in there, there hasn't been the holes. Oh, there were two holes. A hole on the 30-yard touchdown run that proved to be the game clincher and then on third Nate everybody in the stadium knew Iowa was going to run the football make big Burt make his final use a timeout there they get the first down and that ended it as Iowa got the victory there uh moving on to the tight end position Addisonison Estrenga, a 62.1. Okay, a grade for him. Stylianos and Bacuzzi also out there, a 60 and a 58 for both those guys, along with the true freshman, Zach Ortworth, who graded out with a 54.6. Really, the biggest thing

is that Addison Estrenga played every snap in the football game offensively. Your top wide receiver, Nico Ragaini, he's 67 and a half for him. Right behind him, Caleb Brown, 63.8. Caleb Brown adds different dimensions to this offense, different juice. Another 71 yards through the air on seven receptions from him. Getting him involved in, look,

if they're going to have any shot of even hanging around against Ohio State or Michigan in the Big Ten Championship game, they're going to need Caleb Brown, I think, to be a big part of that. And to think that they're just going to line up and try to play bully ball against not just Michigan, but even Ohio State, who's improved immensely in their second year with their new defensive coordinator, Jim Doles, that's not going to happen. It just isn't. They're going to have to make some plays.

They're going to have to do some things differently to get some points on the board. And Caleb Brown is the guy that can do that. Talked about Seth Anderson. Good to see him with a couple of catches and the big fumble recovery. He grades out with a 59.9. Jacob Bostic, we see number seven out there a little bit more. A guy that just has never been able to stay healthy throughout his Iowa career. He was out there running around a little bit and getting going.

We get to the offensive line offensively, and it is Tyler Ellsbury that grades out as the top offensive lineman. Pretty significant gap. Tyler Ellsbury just shy of 70 for his overall grade. Nick DeYoung was the second graded player with a 64.8. Rusty Feth, third, a 59.6. Connor Colby, a 58. Jennings Dunker, 57. Mason Richmond down at a 55.

And there's Logan Jones, again, who left early with injury. He was down at a 51. So Tyler Ellsbury, I said it a little bit earlier, but you have to get him out there. I think that's incredibly important for Iowa and what they're going to do. Jumping over to the numbers from Pro Football Focus. On the defense and the defensive line,

your top rated defensive lineman was Logan Lee lee who continues to just play good football fundamentally sound filling holes just playing at a high level what you anticipate you know a senior is going to do in his final month of his career and he's been one of those guys that has gone from a very good player and even built upon that this season. Ethan Hercut was the second graded player with a 64. Joe Evans, a 62.3. I don't know what game the guys that were grading this one were watching. Joe Evans, certainly, I thought was a lot better than that one. You got Max Llewellyn next up with a 62, followed by Aaron Graves, Deontay Craig, and Y.E. Black with a 54.4.

It felt like these grades were a little bit low for a defensive line I thought played really, really well. There wasn't a whole lot of anything that that Illinois rush game could do. Reggie Love had a couple of plays in the game, but overall, that defense was really, really stout and good work up front from the Iowa defense. Your top-rated linebacker was Nick Jackson, not Jay Higgins this week, which is a rarity, though he graded out very well. A master performance though for Nick Jackson, the highest rated player overall, as he has an 81.2. Jay Higgins with that 76, and then Kyler

Fisher after that. Your top defensive back, Jamari Harris, stepping in, of course, with Cooper DeGene and taking a little bit more of the number one responsibilities this week with a 79, followed by Quinn Schulte, Sebastian Castro with the 70, Xavier Wampa, 66, Deshaun Lee down at a 59. I thought he played a touch better, certainly, than that, but a really solid performance overall for this Iowa defense. Those are the numbers from Pro Football Focus. And now we get ready for Nebraska on Black Friday,

a matchup that in the grand scheme of things means nothing for Iowa in terms of bowl destinations, in terms of rankings that just don't matter at this point in time. It's all about Indianapolis. And every day, as you know, we touched on this. I think it's going to be a continued conversation. It'll be interesting to hear from Coach Ferentz a little bit later in the week

and see what he has to say about it. He made a snide comment both in the postgame press conference and also on radio with Dolphin Eddie after the game about using this, maybe like the NFL does, and leading into the playoffs. And you don't have anything to play for. Yeah, it's a 10-win season. It's been in Nebraska. Yada, yada, yada.

But what this is about is winning a Big Ten championship. For the first time in 19 years, Kirk Ferentz can win a Big Ten championship, something he hasn't done since 2004. What's giving you the best shot? Logan Jones can't go this week? Don't play him. That's where we are.

Because what are you going to remember more? If Iowa wins this game, 13-10 against Nebraska, it goes on and it gets beat handily in the Big Ten championship game. Or if they pull the shocker upon shockers and win that game in the final week against either Michigan or Ohio State. It's the latter. There's no doubt about it. I understand a lot of you in Western Iowa,

people that have to deal with those Cornhusker fans. I get it. I understand. And some of the issues that probably crop up in the office or family or whatever it may be. I understand. However, we know what's most important. Not a rivalry game. That Big Ten championship game.

Even if it's a long shot. Even if you have a 2% chance of winning that, you take the 2%. You give yourself a chance, and if it's being a little healthier going into it, we'll see. We'll see if Kirk has to say anything more about that. Well, Monday Night Football is wrapping here, and earlier got to see from Kaitlyn Clark. Kaitlyn Clark was on the Manning cast. Talk about a star that continues to rise, and Kaitlyn Clark, what she did while the team played Sunday, and they played their best game certainly of the season offensively. An incredibly beautiful performance out of the team. We'll talk about them just a little bit as they depart down to Florida.

And the men's team making their way to California. The Hawkeye men, well, they need a victory if they are going to certainly have a real chance of being an NCAA tournament team. We'll break things down a little bit deeper as we continue. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Score this NFL season with FanDuel. It's America's number one sportsbook.

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That's FanDuel.com slash LockedOn to continue the NFL season. That's FanDuel.com slash LockedOn. FanDuel, official partner of the NFL. Trent Conner back with you again here on the LockedOn Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making LockedOn Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Wrap it up with a little hoops talk and start with the Iowa women. Just a beautiful performance in their win against Drake. One of the best offensive games you're going to see out of this squad. We talked about after the loss to Kansas State. Who's going to step up? They needed a number two and a number three to step

up. They could not find it in that one. Well, seemingly, excuse me, everybody stepped up. Kate Martin with a career high 25 points in the game. She was outstanding. Molly Davis not just doing what she did, getting to the rim a little bit in the K-State game. However, she was knocking down shots from the outside, something we haven't seen a ton for her even a year ago after she transferred in from Central Michigan. Kaitlyn Clark was her normal great self.

35 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds, 7 steals. Are we going to get a quadruple-ple double this year uh we'll see on that Sharon Goodman's really good off the bench she had 15 seven from fear Bach they need her in a big time way oh great he had a couple of plays he even got to see McCabe somebody that I would like to see maybe a sprinkling of some more minutes for McCabe and certainly you know if Gabby Marshall's struggling with her shot, if people outside of Caitlin Clark are not hitting shots from the outside, maybe McCabe, Taylor McCabe can be somebody that can help them out a little bit more. I know there's some concern maybe on the defensive end of the floor, but I think she can help them because she is an elite level shooter. That's what you have in this one. Now they get ready to depart down to Florida

and they will open things up their first game in Florida coming up on Friday as they will play on Black Friday 630 against Fort Wayne Purdue all right they'll win that one easily likely in the second game though they'll take on Florida Gulf Coast no not Dunk City but the Florida Gulf Coast women's team has been really good now for a number of years and they've been a team that has been successful getting to the tournament, winning games in the tournament. A top 30-ish type of program throughout, I'd say, the last half decade or so. They've done a really good job. They're also the host school down there.

So they're going to have a good contingent of fans that are going to be there. And if you get by that one, a possibility of getting the rematch against Kansas State. I mean, how cool is that going to be? Potentially getting a shot that quickly after rematch against Kansas State. I mean, how cool is that going to be, potentially getting a shot that quickly after the loss against Kansas State? North Carolina is also on the other side of the bracket, so UNC or K-State are the likely teams that they'd face in the championship game if they'd get there. Regardless, it'll be three games open up with the game at 6.30 our time

against Purdue Fort Wayne on Black Friday. Speaking of Black Friday, all of these Thanksgiving tournaments on the men's side of things, the men's team, they go to San Diego. Pretty good place, right? To hang out and get your Thanksgiving going.

So they take on Oklahoma in the first game, an Oklahoma game. It's basically a coin flip type of game. You look at some of the projection systems out there. Iowa, a slight favorite in the game, but the importance for Iowa basketball this week on the men's side of at minimum getting one win. And if they can get two, it's going to put themselves in really good shape.

Look, the schedule, it's going to get difficult here. What they face after they have this one, they'll come back home. They'll have another bye game against North Florida. And then it's a road trip to Purdue. Really, the only Big Ten team that you can say is playing at a high level right now, all 14 teams, there's one, and it's the Boilermakers. And they got a nice win tonight, earlier this afternoon against Gonzaga. You know, Purdue's going to be really good, and not just Zach Eaddy, but those freshmen from a

year ago are now sophomores in the backcourt. Purdue's going to be really talented, and they're going to be really good, and by far the best opponent that they're going to face. Not only that, it's on the road. Then you go to Iowa State. Cyclones are playing great. Now, they're beating up on terrible competition. That'll change also for them this week, but Iowa State is playing really good basketball. And then a Michigan team that has looked better than I thought they were going to coming into the season. That's a home game, but that's one they definitely should win. Now, they just lost last week, a Friday night, I think it was, to Long Beach State, but they beat St. John's by 16 in the Gavin Games.

Michigan minus Jet Howard, playing a little bit better. Doug McDaniel's back. That guy's just annoying, right? He's a little guy, a little bugger that just annoys you. We'll see. Still, back to the original thesis here. The importance of getting a win, incredibly important. If Iowa goes down and they go 0-2 in San Diego, it's not over. Thought it was over a year ago and they lost to Eastern Illinois and they pulled themselves out, but it's going to be incredibly difficult, Especially now with the Big Ten looking as bad as it is at this point in time.

I mean, that's another consideration that you have to look at here. It's not just what you do individually. Seasons change. Seasons are different. I mean, there's been years where the Big Ten's only got four teams in the NCAA tournament. And outside of Purdue right now, the Big Ten as a whole, it's down. Wisconsin got a nice win tonight against Virginia, but before that, got blown out by Tennessee, got throttled by Providence. They were not looking very good. Michigan State can't shoot

the basketball. Illinois has been certainly inconsistent, and though they lost to Marquette, that was a home game. And I don't want to say it was not competitive, but wasn't at the level that you'd look. The undefeated teams, Penn State and Nebraska, we don't know anything about those teams at this point in time. What I'm saying, though, is even a 10-10 type of record in the Big Ten this year might not be good enough to put yourself in consideration. Beat Oklahoma, take your shot against USC or Seton Hall in the championship game. Iowa needs it this week. We're going to be talking about them, likely as an NCAA tournament team.

Your team, every team that day. That's what we do here on the Locked On Network. This is Locked On Hawkeyes, and thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Also want to tell you, Locked On has launched the first ever national sports 24 streaming channel on YouTube.

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LaShawn Daniels is going to stop by. Week's a little bit different than it normally is. Black Friday game against Nebraska. We'll have an instant reaction podcast after that. Thanksgiving night. Also be back with you in instant reaction after the Iowa men's basketball game against Oklahoma. Things a little bit different.

We're shifting things around. We got you covered every day, though, here on the Lockdown Network. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks!