Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football Rewatch vs. Nevada - More Offense Problems

Episode Date: September 19, 2022

Trent Condon returns for another edition of the Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast after rewatching the Hawkeyes 27-0 win over Nevada.It starts at the quarterback position and once again it was even worse at second look for Spencer Petras. Trent talks about some of the problems that he saw even with the return of Nico Ragaini & Keagan Johnson to the wide receiver ranks for Hawkeye Football.Also, a run through some of the numbers from Pro Football Focus including the running game and the questions along the offensive line. Did Iowa Football find a helper in Tyler Elsbury?Late in the game, Iowa was playing deep with the reserves at most every position. Except for the most important position in sports, quarterback. What do we read into the decision to continue to play Spencer Petras, even in a blow out? Should we have seen at least a few snaps for Alex Padilla?Wrapping up with a look at the PFF numbers for the defensive side of the football and the Hawkeye D putting together the shutout. And finally, it looks like Iowa may have found its kicker for the next 4 years.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!NugenixNow get a complimentary bottle of Nugenix Total T when you text COLLEGEto 231-231. Text now and get a bottle of Nugenix Thermo, their most powerful fat incinerator ever, with key ingredients to help you get back into shape fast.LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!UpsideDownload the FREE Upside App and use promo code Locked to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more.Underdog FantasySign up on underdogfantasy.com with the promo code LOCKED ON and get your first deposit doubled up to $100! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a late Saturday into Sunday, as Iowa finishes off the win 27-0 over Nevada, we go back to the tape, a rewatch of the game. What stepped out in that offense that looked better wasn't as good as maybe we thought in the wee hours of the morning. We break things down, get ready for Rutgers and Big Ten play, all coming up on today's Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Our Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Part of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day. Available wherever you find podcasts. And you can also find us on YouTube. Just search Locked On Hawkeyes and hit that subscribe button while you're there. We greatly appreciate it. Well, time to break things down a little bit deeper than we did on the Instant Reaction podcast.

Look, it was two in the morning when I flipped on the camera and got things started in that one. We were groggy. We were late on top of it. Yeah, we maybe had just a little bit of a couple of beers in us at that point in time. So a chance to rewatch it on Sunday night and got some notes that came out of that one. Yesterday, of course, the big conversation was the offense looking better doing it against the Nevada team that had their own set of issues,

certainly. So we talked a bunch about that in the first podcast of the week or the instant reaction, if you will, over the weekend. Now we start to break things down a little bit deeper, rewatching the game and the takeaways that certainly stepped up from that. We also got pro football focus numbers we're going to get into here today and take a look at if that marries what we saw watching, of course, just the TV footage. Don't have the all 22 breakdown, which I would love to have, but unfortunately that is not the case. But let's get into it here.

And we start obviously with the offense and some of the things that certainly jumped out watching through things a second time. Let's start at the top with the quarterback position. And last night, you know, after talking with you guys and going through kind of what we saw on that initial look through, I walked away, not impressed. That was certainly not be the word that I would use for Spencer Petras. Impressive was not the the word that I would use for Spencer Petras. Impressive was not the word I think they would come up with at any point in time. What I did think, though, it was better.

It was much better than what we see in the first couple of two weeks. Now, of course, there's nowhere to go but up. Those two performances were absolutely dreadful. There is no excuse for playing that poorly, even with the wide receivers being out. As we knew, Iowa was without those first couple of weeks. No Nico Reganey, no Keegan Johnson. Those guys got back out there on the field, even got to see a little bit more of Brody Bragg. So it was a full complement, if you will, of the offense.

But let's start with Spencer Petras. As I went back and watched through every one of the throws that he made and watched every offensive snap, I had to go through the DVR. It took a while, of course, with all the delays and had to hit record and record and record. A big BTN final drive and final drive and extending it and going on and on and on. We were able to get through everything, though,

and the rewatch made me a lot more concerned. Rewatching this offense once again, 27-0, over 300 yards of total offense. Look, these are not numbers that are going to blow you off by any means. This offense still as a whole is ranked 131st in the country, last in FBS football, even after the performance that they had against Nevada. And remember, this is a bad Nevada team. This is a very bad defensive team.

And what we saw from a couple of those guys, including the interior of the defensive line leaves a lot to be desired but let's get into the quarterback and some of the notes that i came away and starting with the first completion of the day from spencer petrus is a ball that easily could have been interception there was a slight deflection on the ball catch was made afterwards but that was one of those plays that you said boy most anybody else defensively and the teams are going to play the rest of the way starting this week with Rutgers. They're going to make that play.

That's going to be an interception. Pro football focus had him as one turnover worthy play. I'm not sure if it was that one or the play later on in the game where Nico Reganey goes up biggest play of the day offensively in the passing game. Reganey though, more than anything, he just took the football away. The touchdown pass to Arlen Bruce, that was a poorly thrown ball. They ran the wheel route two different times. That first time there led to a touchdown, the first passing touchdown of the year for the Hawkeye offense, but certainly that is one that you leave out there. There is absolutely nobody there, and Arlen Bruce had to make a diving grab to go down and get that football. I think that's a huge

concern when you look at it in that fashion and just how difficult what should be another easy pass was. Still floating the ball. Mechanics were a little bit better, but still at times sloppy with the footwork, standing in the pocket, and times not keeping that pitter-patter going, standing statuesque at times. It was better, but it wasn't great. Spencer Petras is still going to be a problem for this Iowa team. When you look at the schedule going forward and what they still have

in front of them, even the guy that we saw on Saturday night into Sunday, he's not going to be good enough to win many Big Ten games. He just isn't. Now, the defense certainly can. Special teams absolutely can. Those are two areas that you feel good about. Running game has to get going. But Petras, looking back at it, the minuscule, little, just little bit of confidence that I had walking away from it after the first viewing live on Saturday into Sunday, dissipated on the rewatch, certainly for me. Left plays out there on the field once again.

The opportunities that were there, there were a lot more gettable plays than they ended up doing in a game where Petras goes against a Nevada team that, remember, a week before against Incarnate Word, they had given up over 400 yards of passing in that one. Petras goes 14-26 for 175. A couple of drops, sure. Also, some plays that could have gone easily the other way.

It was better, still wasn't good for Spencer Petras at the quarterback position. We talked a lot yesterday about Caleb Johnson and what we saw out of him and his performance in getting the first extended carries of his career. Seven carries in the game, 103 yards, had the two long touchdowns. The early one, the 40-yarder where he runs through a tackle. Then the second one, the 55-yarder, great kickoff block there from Monty Pottenbaum, maybe his best block of the year. He's really been struggling in the ground game as a blocker this season, and that showed up outside of really that play, I think, again, on Saturday.

But overall, he was the man that made that play happen. But again, the concerns. Gavin Williams comes back, and Gavin Williams, he looked ding, 3.6 yards per carry, 16 carries for 57 yards, and outside of those big plays from Caleb Johnson, and that was a guy that did a lot of that on his own, they really struggled. I also struggled against the interior of the Nevada defensive line. The young man in there, Dom Patterson, Peterson, excuse me, for Nevada. He was a problem all over the place.

There was three straight plays where he just completely blew up what they were trying to do. It was problems in the interior once again. Logan Jones still has a long ways to become. Obviously, it's going to be incredibly difficult for anybody to be Tyler Linderbaum or going back in the day to be a Bruce Nelson or be a Hilgeberg right in the middle. That's an incredibly, incredibly tall task for anybody. It's a guy that's still young and young in his career, not just as a

player at the University of Iowa, but also at the position at center. That's going to get better, but they got to get help at the guard position. Connor Colby, he really struggled in the game. In fact, let's go right there and talk about some of those numbers offensively from pro football focus. Want to go to the offensive line and the concerns that go there. We talked about Petras, his numbers from pro football focus, 52.1 is his final rating. That's terrible. Under pressure, and when he was blitzed, 42.4. His best passes were screen passes. Look, you're not putting a whole lot on there when that's what you break down. The offensive line, though, had its own set of issues. I mentioned Connor Colby, one of the

more frustrating games, I think, from him. He was a 56.3. Across the board, really the only guy that played over an average level. There was two of them. One was Tyler Ellsbury, a guy that we'd heard about. He'd been on the depth chart. He played a lot and played well going back to the open scrimmage in August, the only time that we got to see this football team before the season began. I don't know if it was an injury. I don't know what it was, but I thought Tyler Ellsbury, I thought he played well, and it

certainly showed up in the numbers from Pro Football Focus as he finished with a 75.3 and 27 snaps. You hope those numbers obviously increase if he continues to play at this level. Iowa needs so much help with this offensive line. If they're going to be a team that can even get to 7-8 wins this season, this offensive line is going to have to be a whole lot better. Mason Richland was the other. He continues to play probably at the best level out of the tackle group. Mentioned Connor Colby. It was a struggle for him. Logan Jones, by the way, 59.7 below average still, but out of this group, not too bad. Nick DeYoung, he was down.

Both Stevens really struggled, and that also showed up, I thought, in a big way a couple of times where he saw that big 70 with his back turned the other way. Looking back towards the quarterback, his guys were blowing by him and blowing through him. Not a great effort out of him. Jennings Dunker, he'd been good at times this year. He played one of his poorest games of the season, just a 51.8 out of him. So that's what you get when you go through the offensive line. Jack Plum played 10 snaps in the game, rated out all right, but it was late in the game for Jack Plum,

and a guy that developmentally certainly has not gone to the level that a lot of people anticipated out of him. Caleb Johnson, your top running back from the pro football focus numbers, no surprise, 85, his final number in their grading scale. Gavin Williams, very above average, I guess you will, 65.8 for him, but there just was not a whole lot of running room. Then wide receiver group, you had Arlen Bruce. He led the way, 66 in the grading scale, 62 for Nico Reganey in 32 snaps. Keegan Johnson didn't play after the second delay, just 15 snaps for him. He graded out at a 55, also a 55 for

Brody Brecht. Now Brecht had a couple opportunities to make some big plays. You can point to obviously the throws. Were they on the right side? Was it Reganey? Excuse me. Was it, was it Brody Brecht not being able to adjust at the right time? Just, just not a great effort overall out of this wide receiver group, but they have wide receivers and they were taking shots. And that's, I guess the encouraging part here. As I said the other night, I think Brian Ference, he played a whale compared to the way he called the game against Iowa State. It was a whole lot better. It wasn't great. Well, we're certainly not there with him and the game calling, but it was better at the very least. So that's a look through the offense, the numbers, and again, full circle here, re-watching it. This

is something that I've done the first couple of weeks. South Dakota State re-watching it this is something that i've done the first couple of weeks south dakota state re-watched the game thought boy it can't be as bad as it was live right it was worse re-watched the iowa state game maybe not quite as bad because it was brutal i mean it was maybe a d minus and compared to an f and this one same thing you thought and maybe this was a b minus effort re-watching it this was a B minus effort rewatching it. This was a C minus this Nevada team defensively has been absolutely brutal all year long. The win against New Mexico state that they had at the beginning of the season, this New Mexico state team that's been just awful. You see them against Minnesota or Wisconsin last couple of weeks. You

see just how bad they were. And after they made a change at the quarterback position, being New Mexico state, they were able to move the football through the air against Nevada. 175 yards from Spencer Petras, not good enough, and left a lot of throws out there once again. Again, not nearly as encouraged as I was initially here. I always got a problem. One final thing. We're going to take a, when we come back, I want to talk about this.

The decision up late in the game, 27-0, and Kirk Ferentz, we're playing everybody, right? I mean, we got guys out there that it took a long, long time to go through the depth chart and figure out in the roster, figure out who these guys are. Taylor Fox was out there on the offensive line. You're going deep, deep into the trenches defensively. There are some guys that, frankly, I didn't know who they were. And I think I keep a pretty close eye on things.

Jamison Hines was out there. He played five snaps late in the game. Kind of names like that that were out there. What name we didn't get? Alex Padilla. What do we read into that? We'll talk about that as we continue. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast.

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Head to the website today or just hop on your phone and learn more about the trends and the action. BetOnline, where the game starts. So as I mentioned going into the timeout there, look at what we have with this group and with this team and the decision late in the football game by Kirk Ferentz. Everybody's playing. You're playing the backups.

Great to see they do that. I am a big fan of that. Even as you're trying to hold on to the shutout, you're getting everybody's snaps, right? You're getting guys opportunities. You're seeing those young defense alignment. Of course, we got to see Aaron Graves, and he was playing at an incredibly high level.

You get to see all this, and you get excited. But the decision by Kirk Ferentz to not go to the backup quarterback. Look, Kirk dug his heels in, and there was a lot of talk this week. Scott Dockerman from The Athletic, Tom Kakert at Hawkeye Report, David Eichold, 24-7 Sports, Hawkeye Insider. Guys that I really respect that are on the beat. They're there day in and day out. They know the coaches.

They know the players at an intimate level. They're talking to them all the time. They got information. Look, I got one source. One source. That's all I got. These people have a lot more sources and know a lot more what's going on on the day-to-day basis. These are people, yes, maybe they don't ask the questions in the way that we want to be

asked when it comes to postgame press conferences, but that's also professional respect, right? This is Iowa. That's the way that we do things here. That aside, though, these are guys that do have their ear down and really get some good information. And anytime I get information, I'm always going to pass it along to you guys. That's what we do here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast and on my radio show on KXNO. But that's what we're going to do. When I get it, these guys are a little bit different. They get more

information, certainly. And it sounded like there was some dissension. There was, first of all, an opportunity where it looked like maybe going into Monday that they were going to make a change at the quarterback position. Ultimately, Kirk slept on it, came back and said, no, we're giving Spencer one more opportunity, give him one more chance. Wide receivers are coming back. We got Reganey. We got Keegan Johnson coming back.

We're giving him a shot here against this brutal defense in Nevada. One more chance. That's what they went. It might have been some dissension, but ultimately it's his call. But you could tell he was digging in his heels. He was a guy stubborn. We talked about the stubbornness a whole lot. You can go back and listen to those podcasts and watch them

on YouTube. But the stubbornness at times, it's what makes Kirk who he is. And the success that he's had is some of that stubbornness and doing things his way and what he believes is the best for the Iowa football program. And you have to obviously give credence to that. He's had a whole lot of successes here at the University of Iowa inside this football program. But this is one, I don't know if petty is the right word. It was just odd. As everybody's out there, young guys getting shots, names that I didn't know, names that you didn't know,

if you're there or if you're watching on TV and staying up until past 1.30, watching the conclusion of that one central time. That aside, to not put Alex Padilla in, what is this? Is this a middle finger to the fans that were booing before the game? Spencer Peaches was announced, and many people that were there relayed this to me, that there were boos, and not just a smattering, a loud, audible boo when he was announced as the score starting quarterback. There were a few bird birds that came out at times,

even as Iowa was coasting early in this football game is still there because he's still missing passes and missing passes that are very makeable. Okay. You're not expecting him to drop it in the bucket, 70 yards like he did at the Manning passing camp. That was in shorts and t-shirts. And we can know he can make those throws when a pass rush isn't coming his way. That's all well and good.

Is that what this is? Is this what we read into it? That this is Kirk saying, look, I know football. I know this locker room better than you. We're not even going to give the backup. Here's the part of it. And if that's the case, so be it. He's the head coach.

He gets to make these decisions. This is all about Kirk Behrens. The thing that is frustrating, though, to me about this aspect is just this. You're one play away from needing to get Alex Padilla out there. And though things were better, as we talked about at the top, they weren't great. To not give him an opportunity, to not let Alex Padilla, even if he's handed the ball off three times to Jazzy on Patterson as they were running the football late in that game to not even put them out there. It just, it was, it was something. I don't know how much we want to read into it. I don't know how deep we want to go, but again, it goes to this stubbornness. And this is Kirk saying above everybody else and above

maybe some members of his own staff that believe it's time for a change at the quarterback position that he's not willing to do that, to not try them out there, to not give number eight another opportunity. Remember, Alex Padilla, they moved the football. Were there issues? Sure. Is he a great elixir that's suddenly going to change his team and they're going to be a great offensive team if you put him in there? Absolutely not. He is, at best, an average quarterback. I think that's a step up from where they are right now with Spencer Petras, but that is probably the best case scenario that you're going to get with Alex Padilla. I think there's more upside. I think there's more that this offense can do if you put him in there, but to not play him late in the game, to not get snaps, to say and go through all this song and dance, going back to after the season

concluded, going into spring practice. This is going to be an open competition. Both guys are going to have an opportunity. What he said, we think both these guys, we could win with both these guys. And we like both of these guys to go through that, say all these different things and then to not even trot them out there. Is there something more going on? Is there an injury? Padilla is going through warmups. He's going through practices. He's doing all those things. Is it something like that? I think if that was the case, we would know this. I think Kirk would relay that to everybody if that was really the case. As we see Padilla going through everything and going through warmups before games,

it doesn't appear to be the case unless it's something we just can't see with the untrained eye. That would make sense. But again, if that was true, I think we would know about that. Is it about what Kirk's talked about a lot, the practice habits, and not just what he does on the practice field, but the habits in the film room. Now, that's one thing that I have heard, is there's no doubt Spencer Petras puts a lot more time into being an Iowa football player than Alex Padilla as it pertains to doing those kind of things, being in the film room. Now, if I was Alex Padilla, and I saw what happened the first two weeks, it'd be pretty difficult to drag yourself into the film room and watch film when you know, boy, we got

the worst quarterback in college football statistically, and I can't get an opportunity. What's the point? I completely get that. But those are some of the things that are talked about. I looked at it as very odd, very petty, I think, from Kirk. Playing all these different guys, but not even letting Padilla go in there for the final possession of the game and give him an opportunity. That one, at the very least, was weird.

Well, a lot of negatives early on. The offense, not as good as maybe initially thought. We get into Kirk. What was he doing not playing the backup in a blowout game and one that you feel like you got two quarterbacks. Kirk has said that. Well, that certainly didn't come to fruition we're going to cap things off here with some positives a look at those numbers from pro football focus Iowa pitches the shutout gets things done on the defensive side of the football that was great to see we'll do that as we continue

the lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. We're talking defense next. Trey Conner back with you one final time. It's the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day. Find us on the podcast page wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, on YouTube, you can see me here today. I am down in the man cave and be back in the studio this week as we get back to work and get ready for the matchup against Rutgers. We'll break things down with that.

LaShawn Daniels, he's going to join us tomorrow. We'll talk about that running game more. What did he see from Caleb Johnson? I'll get a breakdown of that. Really looking forward to our conversation with LaShawn. Jace will join me later in the week. We'll talk with Biz about his perspective of things. He was inside the walls of Kinnick Stadium over the weekend.

We'll get his thoughts on what he saw in the 27-0 victory and what the environment was like. A night game against Nevada, and then, of course, the impending storm, just the goofiness that was happening late in that football game. That's all coming up this week on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today, we finish up with a look at the defense one final time and some of the numbers that we saw. Outstanding effort once again.

John Wagner played 35 snaps in the game. He grades out as the best player. Thought he played well. Certainly did not anticipate he was going to be the top graded defense alignment in the football game. Joe Evans was second. Saw him in the backfield a lot. 13 was really making plays. And you can see he's a guy that has now made the leap. Starting off early in his career, he was undersized. He was just a guy that came in in third down situations. Third and long know third and long second and long those types of spots where the likelihood they weren't going to run at him that was joe evans he has now turned himself into a complete football player love joey the bull and

what he has been able to turn himself into aaron graves he popped off the screen didn't he made the sack of course had four tackles in the game and the numbers back that up as he is the third graded defensive lineman right behind him is Lucas Van Ness he was really good out there here's a new name though Jeremiah Pittman and last week we got to hear a little bit more about Jeremiah Pittman you know down in the rotation a little bit but I thought he looked incredibly good it was against a tired very tired offensive line obviously from Nevada at that point as it was into the 1 o'clock hour. But I thought he popped.

He played 15 snaps. And a guy, maybe he's found himself a little rotational work, and he can go out there and play. A few other good names out there, Ethan Hurkett, he played a little bit. Logan Lee played 41 snaps again, but they were able to at least ease him back. Max Llewellyn, a guy that I saw a lot in his days at Urbandale. Good to see him on the field. Chris Reams, another Central Iowa guy. Looking forward to seeing the continued development out of both those defensive ends. Llewellyn, though, got a little happy a

couple of times, came across the line of scrimmage, but heard he has been practicing really, really well. Great to see. Deontay Craig also had a sack in the game. Defensive line, they were outstanding in a day where Noah Shannon tried to make it a go decided not only played five snaps in the game they said we're gonna hold him back hopefully he's good to go and are ready to go against Rutgers coming up this week at the linebacker spot grayed out well once again Seth Benson is your top linebacker at that spot at a 79 behind him Jack Campbell and they got to see the youngsters including 26 snaps for Jay Higgins he's gonna be a, Jack Campbell, and they got to see the youngsters, including 26-snapser Jay Higgins. He's going to be a big piece next year, and I'm looking forward to him.

Of course, his dad, always a character, always fun on Twitter. Give him a foul, and he loves his chance of hawk, hawk, hawk. That's the linebacker group. Finish up defensive backs. A ton of them played. Cooper DeGene, he is a star continuing to bud in front of us. He is going to continue to make plays as teams more and more stay away from Raleigh Moss. It's going to be a whole lot of Cooper to Gene.

Jerry Roberts didn't grade out very well, but he was all over the place. I thought once again, the one area that he did not grade out well was tackling. A couple of missed tackles there that led to that. So got to see a lot of guys. Quinn Schulte, well, speaking of tackling, he was outstanding. In fact, him and Merriweather were really good in the tackling spot from the safety position. Both those guys played at a high level.

We know the defense, right? They're going to be there. Finally, special teams. Torrey Taylor was All-American. Torrey Taylor, once again, Drew Stevens. I think Iowa has their kicker for the next four years. He looked that good, and it was that impressive what we saw out of him. That's a look at the defense. The defensive numbers, a lot of them married very well, I was that impressive what we saw out of him. That's a look at the defensive numbers.

A lot of them married very well, I think, to what we saw and what we did in the Instant Reaction podcast. They were very good. Nevada's not very good. Still, this Iowa defense playing at a high level, lead the country in points giving up at this point in time for teams that have played three games so far on the season. Rutgers this week, the total come out.

So first on Sundays, the first place that you can find the betting lines is Circa. And I've been out there before. It's the biggest sports book in the world. It's incredible. It's available here in the state of Iowa. Love the place. And when those opening lines come out, I always just like to kind of trot out what exactly I think. My lines are going to be.

I was off on this one. First of all, the total of the game at 35 over under of 35. Look what it gets into the upper thirties. That's crazy in its own right. And that's where it was, of course, this week. And it flew under again in an Iowa game for the third straight week, but to see a number this low, in fact, 34 and a half at a couple of shops as well. So 35 at circa in the opening lines. It's just something that is absolutely unthinkable in today's college football that shows you Rutgers the way they're built, and it shows you the continued struggles out of this Iowa offense.

Iowa, though, favored by a touchdown in this game. In fact, see a couple of places it's gone over a touchdown now, over eight points, something to keep an eye on this week. I think this is another slugfest type of game set into it. We'll break down Rutgers. We'll go a little bit deeper into the Scarlet Knights here. This is not your little brother's Rutgers team, right? This is a team that is improving.

Shiano has done it before at Rutgers. Doing it in a more difficult spot. This is not the Big East of the past. This is, of course, the Big Ten, and they also play in the Big Ten East where you have not just Ohio State and Michigan, how good they look. How about Penn State over the weekend and dominating that game against Auburn and doing it, making plays in the red zone where Auburn was not able to do that.

Michigan State over there as well. Indiana's 3-0. In fact, the only team that has a loss right now in the Big Ten East is Michigan State as they fell and really got handled pretty well in their loss as they fell to Washington on the road. But you look at the standings right now in the Big Ten, it's incredible. 3-0 for everybody in the East except for Michigan State. On the other side, well, Northwestern currently is in first place because they have a 1-0 conference record, but that's their only win, of course. They lost to Southern Illinois this week. What a bad loss. That was a Southern Illinois team.

Speaking of Incarnate Word, we talked about them a lot last week. They got 68 points to Incarnate Word themselves, and they come back and beat Northwestern. Only team that is undefeated right now in the West, that is Minnesota. They've done it against a couple of tomato cans to this point, including Colorado. That's got to be one of the worst Power 5 teams we have seen in a really long time, and Minnesota really put it to them. Mo Ibrahim was back. He had three touchdowns in the first half. Going to step up this week, a road trip for Minnesota as they will go to Sparty. Speaking of them, Iowa 2-1, Wisconsin 2-1, Illinois 2- one, and then Purdue, Nebraska, and Northwestern all at one and two on the season. Somebody's got to get to Indianapolis and take their shot against Michigan or Ohio State.

Good luck to whoever that proves to be. And good luck to you as you get out there today. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day. Also, you can get deeper into the Big Ten as Big Ten play is now here with Locked On Big Ten. Nate Dickinson takes you around the Big Ten in 30 minutes each and every day. Locked On experts stop by and talk with him about everything happening inside the Big Ten. Make Locked On Big Ten your second listen each and every day. Thanks again to everybody out there for listening.

We'll be back with you tomorrow. LaShawn Daniels, we will talk with him about what he saw with that running game. What kind of improvements did he see out of the offense? Today, a little disappointing in the rewatch. This Hawkeye offense, the offensive line, the quarterbacks still got a long, long ways to go. We'll also talk about the schedule. Take a look at that thing. How important is this Rutgers game? I'm going to make the case incredibly important this week. Important not just for conference standings and supremacy and trying to win a division title. Maybe even more than that.

Maybe even bowl eligibility. Don't want to talk about the sky is falling quite yet, but take a look at that schedule. A little more daunting with the offensive struggles that we've seen. That's all coming up this week on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. We'll talk to you again soon. Go Hawks!