Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football rolls in the Music City Bowl, Hawkeye Hoops falls again

Episode Date: January 2, 2023

Trent Condon returns for 2023 with the latest Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast.It opens with a look at the Hawkeye bowl win over Kentucky 21-0. Some thoughts on the elite defense showing up one final time, the defense scoring two touchdowns. Plus a look at the offense and a few good things that they did.Then a look at the future of Iowa football. Will Iowa actually make a change at the offensive coordinator position with Brian Ferentz or will they run it back one more time?Then Iowa falls in basketball again, this time against Penn State.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Iowa Hawkeyes get the win in the Music City Bowl, 21-0 over Kentucky. We react to the game, take a look back at what we saw as Iowa finishes with their eighth win of the season, and then take a look towards the future. Some exciting times possibly on the horizon for Iowa football. Changes in the coaching staff, some good news on the recruiting trail, and the transfer portal with a wide receiver. And we also talk a little Iowa basketball. The Hawkeyes fall to 0-3 in the Big Ten after they fall once again this time

to Penn State on their own battle back, but ultimately fall short. That's all coming up today on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Our Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, what's good? I'm Trent Condon and welcome in. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day. Available wherever you get podcasts. You can find us there and you can also find us on YouTube.

Hit the subscribe button right now if you're on YouTube and help us get in front of more Hawkeye fans as we get ready to react to what we saw, the Iowa 21-0 victory over Kentucky in the Music City Bowl. Today's episode of Locked on Hawkeyes is brought to you by LinkedIn. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates that you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockdowncollege.

That's linkedin.com slash lockdowncollege to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Well, let's get into it here, and we're going to kick things off just talking about the game, just talking about what we saw, 21-0 the final as Iowa picks up their eighth win of the season. We're going to talk about the future. We're going to talk about the future. We're going to talk about the program and what we'd like to see, the possibilities of an evolution out of this program

and a step forward in 2023 as we flip the calendar here today. We're also going to get into plenty of basketball. But let's take a look back at the victory and just talk about the good vibes. I mean, yeah, it's a win. You feel great about that, right? You get the victory and and just talk about the good vibes I mean yeah it's a win you feel great about that right you get the victory there were so many negativities surrounding the program going into the final game after what happened in the regular season conclusion as they fall in that one to Nebraska it was nice to have just some smiles on the face and watching this football team one final

time from another incredible play out of the defense pitching the shutout just the second time in program history that Iowa pitches a shutout in a bowl game Kirk Ferentz getting his 10th bowl victory all time that ties the record of Joe Paterno for most ever for a big 10 football coach you have that side of it I mean you think of it and put it in comparison Iowa Iowa State has won five bowl games ever as a program. Kirk Ferris has won 10 himself during his history in the 24 years as a head coach for Iowa football. The defense with the pick sixes flying around, making plays a little something out of the offense of Joey Labus, at least early in the football game. He had a touchdown just the seventh of the season for the squad.

So we're going to kick things off and just let's be positive here for a while. I know at times it can get negative, and it's been a very difficult last couple of weeks in Hawkeye athletics from the fight between the athletic department and the Iowa Swarm Collective, and we broke that down and talked about that. Of course, leading, easy for me to say, losing Caden Proctor at the 11th hour, right before signing day.

And he ultimately making his commitment signing to play with Alabama. The frustrating season that is becoming Iowa basketball, what's happening. Even the women's team today falling on the road as they dropped one to Illinois. You have all those things and all the negativity around it. And just for an afternoon to watch this team and get the victory. And for the people that made their way there to have that side of it, to just be able to watch this team really be able to cruise in to the win, the smiles, the

positivity. Let's take a look at that. And obviously when you're talking about this Iowa team and how we're going to remember the 2022 Iowa Hawkeyes, it's going to start with that defense. We've had great defenses, obviously during the Kirk Ferentz tenure, we've seen what Phil Parker has done and the change in philosophy of what they've done from the old base. Norm Parker, right? We, the t-shirts were printed up by his players there in the early 2000s and all the adages from Norm Parker. It was 4-3 defense. That's what they were going to do. They were going to stick in their base and it didn't matter

if it was Anthony Gonzalez running free against Iowa linebackers, whoever it was, they were going to do what they did. And it was good and it worked out incredibly well and Iowa had a lot of success. And then after the passing of Norm, Phil taking over for him, the way that he has imprinted his knowledge and his viewpoint of this team. We know he is one of the best defensive back coaches in the country, and you see that showing up once again.

You see the two picks of sixes in this game, and those come from two defensive backs. The first one, Xavier Wampa. What a performance out of Xavier here and you can see his abilities really show out at eight tackles had the pick six he said afterwards that he kind of blacked out like he he almost it didn't even remember the return and getting into the end zone and scoring for the Hawkeyes, but watching him in his play, he's long, he's lanky, he's physical. The one thing when I watched him and called him many of his games on radio during his career in high school, I had never seen a player. What separated him from a lot of good players?

Look, I saw guys that have gone on to play at the D1 level. I've seen guys that have gone on to be all Big Ten players. Think of a guy like Jack Kerner, went from a walk-on to a very good player. But the difference watching Xavier Wampa, even at the level, the high school level, was his ability to close on the football. Yes, coming up and run support and doing things there. And his ability was really good in that factor.

But the other part is how he would close on a football. I'd never seen a guy at the high school level be able to cover so much ground. And you saw that on the game in Saturday. You saw what he was able to do. His ball skills are incredibly good. His ability to go up and make adjustments in the air and make a tackle if need be, or going and making the interception. He has a special, something that is a rarity for Iowa football. He goes out there, plays well, great to see. And then Cooper DeGene.

So, first of all, Cooper gets the pick six and makes it 21-0, and for all intents and purposes, this game's over, right? I mean, nothing is going to change. Nothing's going to happen out of Kentucky that they're going to be able to move the football effectively against this team. Really, the only thing that could have gone wrong is the Iowa offense shooting themselves in the foot and making problems. But for Cooper DeGene to get that pick six,

a beautiful read on the football, cuts in front, the ability to get into the end zone, take a step in there, just toss the ball back to the official. His third pick six of the season. Think of this. He is now tied for the program lead in interception returns for touchdowns with three. That is all time. That is over a course of the season. He's still got another year in front of him at minimum, hopefully another two, three. We can hope for that. Probably

not going to be the case. And the other thing to think about when you see Cooper DeGene, you just see what a high level and the IQ that he plays with and how smart he is making plays and making those reads. Remember, this is a guy that has only been playing quarterback for a year. He started late last season. His first start at the cornerback spot came a year ago in the Big Ten Championship game. This is a guy that's been playing quarterback for 13 months, and yet he's still playing at this incredibly high level. You have that part. I saw some good things out of Joe Labus.

Now, is he going to be the starter? Of course he's not. This is going to be Cade McNamara. He's going to come in. He is going to have the job. He has the confidence. He has the swagger. He has the belief.

He has the leadership qualities that you want. And also, he can make the throws. He has everything that you want and also he can make the throws he has everything that you want out of an Iowa quarterback he is custom built for Iowa what they're going to be and what they can be going forward now do you need a different guy manning the offense being the coordinator no doubt about that we're going to get to that here in just a moment but again positive vibes here you get the win 10th full win for Kirk the defense plays lights out couldn You get the win. Tenth full win for Kirk. The defense plays lights out. Couldn't get the run game going, and that

leads hand-in-hand with where we're going to go next. We're going to talk about the future of this program. What is next? What needs to change? What has to evolve? Iowa 8-5. Not good enough. Too much talent on this team. Too good defensively. Too

good on special teams. How about Torrey Taylor? Kind of throw his name also in there when we're talking about these positive superlatives. And he's going to come back for another season. Next year, 2023. What's it going to look like? And what has to change? That's next year on Locked on Hawkeyes. you you you you you you you back with you here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast.

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Possibilities certainly start. And the question remains, what is the offense going to look like? Is it going to be Brian Ferentz back for another season? Number seven is the offensive coordinator. We've talked about the numbers. They're deplorable. We talked about the year this year. Yes, 21-0 was great.

Got the win, right? Seven points out of the offense. Again, the defense outscores the offense. A change has to be made. A change has to be made at offensive coordinator. There is no way at a Power Five program like Iowa that's had the success that the Hawkeyes have had that you can continue to go down this route with a guy that just isn't good enough at his job.

Brian Ferentz very well could be a great coach. I don't know. But what I do know as an offensive coordinator, he is bad. By any measure out there, he is a bad offensive coordinator. And when you look at next year, the excitement that's going to be there with the new quarterback, Cade McNamara, with Anderson's kid now, Seth Anderson, he's going to be out there running around and catching passes. Eric Gall comes in to go two-headed monster at the tight end position with him and Luke Lachey. You get excited about that. A Caleb Johnson running back season that was incredible this year behind a bad offensive line,

just how good he was. That offensive line was poor this season, but it was incredibly young, and they are continuing to work the transfer portal for offensive line help. They need a tackle. I argue they also need another interior guy, specifically, I believe, a setter. And Logan Jones had moments this year.

I just don't know if it's going to be there. I thought we saw too many issues this year. I'm proud of him just, frankly, snapping the ball and some of the negatives that happened there. I would like to see another guy inside. I think Logan Jones could be good at guard. We'll see. Look, you got to get help. This offensive line has to be better.

A ready-made guy, be a tackle, another interior guy. I think you have enough to work with offensively, but it can't be the same tired offense that we've seen the six years of Brian Ferenc. The numbers, they say it all. He has not been good. 130th we know this year in total offense. But that's not alone. And as I've said before here, this is not just, well, it's Kirk's offense.

This is the way it's going to be. It's old school, zone blocking scheme. They're going to do the same things. And though that is a part of it, no doubt that is absolutely a part of it. This is not going to be a program that's suddenly going to adapt and change. It can be completely different of what they've been in the past. But you have to realize when you look at the numbers, they have taken a huge step back this year and over the last six years compared to the previous offensive coordinators. Ken O'Keefe, even his down years, his team still averaged upwards of 400 yards of total offense per game. Brian Ferentz, his high watermark came in 2018.

They averaged 375 yards per game that year. That was good enough for 92nd in the country. 2020, during the weird COVID year, they were 88th in the country in total offense at 368. And this year, of course, bad. 250 yards of total offense per game. There's nobody that has these numbers that would still have their job. But that's where we get to the rub. Is Brian willing to bite the bullet?

To walk away on his own accord? To take another job if one is out there. I don't know. I keep going back to the press conference that we got at the halfway point of the year. After the Ohio State game, there was a lot of negativity out there for the Iowa program. What was it?

The Ohio State writer out there with the Cleveland Post-Dispatch, he had the article talking about nepotism and saying many of the same things that we've been talking about here for years and years and years and came out and it became a big old national story and that's where we are.

I don't think Kirk's going to make a move. I certainly don't think Gary Barta has the cojones to go out and make a move that needs to happen. It comes down to Brian and if another opportunity is out there, that he will do it. And I'm not somebody that wants Brian to even stay around. I think it would be incredibly difficult for whoever you would put that as the offensive coordinator to still have him hanging around the offices, still have his imprints on what you're doing offensively, and still having him around being the former offensive coordinator. You have to rip the Band-Aid off. Kirk's not going to do

it. Gary Bart is not going to do it. The fan base, as much as we can whine and complain about it, we're not going to be able to do it. It's going to come back to Brian. Will that be out there? Because the defense is going to be rock solid again next year. And even if Lucas Van Ness decides to forego his final years of eligibility and go early to the NFL draft, and even if we see some other guys deeper down there, that defensive line is deep. Do they need help a linebacker? Maybe. You still saw Higgins. He played well again on Saturday. He was really good out there. You know the defensive backfield is going to be elite. You're going to be in good shape. But can the offense not just get more players and more talent? They're getting that coming in because of the transfer portal. That is happening. But the scheme

needs to be fixed. I don't think Brian Ferentz is that guy. That's where we are. And look at the college football playoff. TCU 51-45 over Michigan. Georgia 42-41. To compete at the highest levels of college football, you got to score points. Yes, Iowa can win 10 games with a crappy offense. They did in 2021. Iowa can win eight games and they can compete and go to the final weekend for division championship in the Big Ten West. But the Big Ten West is going away, as we know it. And even if there are some signs of still going with divisions, I don't believe that'll be the case. When USC and UCLA join the Big Ten, still, you have to score points to compete.

And at that level, if there's no divisions, that means you have to finish in the top two just to get to a Big Ten championship game. That plays out. Iowa can't just think, you know what? We're going to do it with defensive special teams because at the highest levels, you can't win that way in college football. That's where we are. It needs to get better. We need to find another guy to do it running the offense. The passing scheme, the passing tree, the routes that they run,

the way that they play, it doesn't work at the highest level in college football. You can be successful for Iowa, but if we want to take that next step, if we want to see this program elevate themselves to a new level, it has to be more, and it has to be with a different person. We come back and put a cap on things with a little basketball talk. That's right. Iowa, oh boy, falls to 0-3. Battle back against Penn State.

We're going to get into that here on the other side. This is the Locked lockdown hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by bet online bet online is your number one source for sports betting information stats news and analysis get the latest odds and trends for every professional and amateur league out there pro football college bowl season coming to a close basketball got it all at bet online and if you love sports podcasts and you're here so i'm sure you do you can find those at bet online always the fastest and easiest way for your sports betting information. Head to the website today or use your phone to learn more.

BetOnline, where the game starts. Trent Cotter back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Again, thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day or wherever you get podcasts. Hit us up with a five-star review. And if you're on youtube

also give us a subscribe just click the subscribe button it takes less than a second it's a click that's all it is lets you know when we're out there with new podcasts new episodes and helps us get in front of more hawkeye fans as things come to a close iowa down 18 at the half felt like a lost cause and yet here they come so we had a uh this evening little get together with our a bunch of our friends and our get together that we normally do on new year's eve i was back home me and my wife and the family so push it back a day got together with all of them and as we're out to dinner what am i doing sitting by the guys and we're watching the phone and watching the end of the Iowa-Penn State game.

So Iowa comes back. Looks like a lost cause. They're battling. Shots are starting to fall. I mean, that was a huge component. It's a very simple equation of basketball, right? You hit shots, you look a lot better. You go back to last time that Iowa looked good for the course of a full game.

That was the Iowa State game. What did they do? They hit shots early in the game. good for the course of a full game. That was the Iowa State game. What did they do? They hit shots early in the game. They raced out to a huge lead. And then were able to coast in for the victory in that one. When you're not hitting shots, though, well, it doesn't matter. You lose to crappy teams like Eastern Illinois. You lose to Nebraska.

That's a pretty simple equation. This team's not going to be a great shooting team all season long. And though they shot it better, certainly in the second half, they finished 9-7 at 25 three-pointers overall, but in the second half of one stretch, hit six out of seven three-pointers. Better. This team looked better. But this is also against Penn State.

Penn State is probably a bubble team. This is the most experienced team in college basketball this year. A lot of veterans out there. A lot of guys that have played a ton of basketball. I mean, it feels like Seth Lundy. That guy's got to be 40. I mean, he's got to be my age. That dude's been around forever.

He's out there making plays. But really, the biggest difference maker in the game was Jalen Pickett. I mean, every time that Penn State needed a bucket early in the game, he was controlling things, both with the dribble, his passing and his scoring ability. He was incredibly good in this one. Ultimately, it wasn't enough. And then you finally get back to two, you get the ball, you get an opportunity. Tony Perkins tried to get the ball back to the guy that got him back in the game. And that was Chris Murray. He was making the right play. Defense came from behind, picked it off, two free throws, game over, and a final four-point victory for Penn State. So we said it after the Eastern Illinois loss, the team was in trouble. And then after the Nebraska loss that

it was over for this team being an NCAA tournament team. And I still believe that's the case. At 0-3 here, this team realistically has to win a minimum 12 games because of that Eastern Illinois loss to be an NCAA tournament team. At least feel good with it going into the Big Ten tournament. Now look, the Big Ten tournament's going to be there, right? And if they can rip off a bunch of wins again and win the championship, regardless of how poor the season goes, they're going to be back in the NCAA tournament again because there's an automatic bid. But let's slow down on that front. We've got to see this team play better than 20 minutes of good basketball before we can even start dreaming of anything like that.

Encourage the way they played in the second half. That's the positive. But this team has a long, long ways to go. And it's not going to get easier. You've got Indiana that comes in, maybe the most talented team in the Big Ten. Yes, I know Purdue's ranked number one in the country, and they're undefeated. E.D. is an absolute monster. I don't know about the sustainability, though, of that Purdue team. Talent, you know, one through, I don't know, out of your main rotation, I really like the talent of this Indiana team. So they come in to town on Thursday. At least you get them a carver. Ken Pomeroy has it as a one-point game, so it's going to be a tight one. You'd

anticipate I was going to have a shot in that one. You go back on the road again to Rutgers, and then you come home for Michigan and Michigan State. It's a stretch, that a minimum. Again, to get back into at least giving yourself a little bit of hope, you got to be three and one. And that means either winning all the home games and dropping one at Rutgers or winning two out of three with a road win against Rutgers against Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State. Now, Michigan and Michigan State themselves not played great. Michigan was very good today against Maryland, but overall, it's been a very disappointing season out of them. Same thing out of Michigan State. Even Indiana, to a certain degree, has been

disappointing. I think you say the same with Rutgers. I mean, all these teams were considered NCAA tournament teams coming in. And short of Indiana, the other three teams are looked at as more bubble teams at this point in time. It's not impossible. It's great to see Chris Murray back. I mean, he looked like the Chris Murray that you'd anticipate that we're going to see all season long.

Didn't see much lift out of him. He looked really rusty in the game against Nebraska. And the second half really started to turn it on in this one against Penn State. Have to have him play. This is not a deep team. Because of that, you're just not going to have a ton out of this group where there's going to be a lot of different buttons that you can push and trying to find that right combination and that right group of guys.

So you have that component of it too. But just overall, this squad and what they are and what they can be, certainly going forward, got to see better out of Peyton Sanford. You got to see more consistency out of him. He is now 0-4, I think 0-4-18 shooting in Big Ten play. And when he's not shooting, same thing here. You just can't play him a whole lot. Saw a couple of minutes out of DeSante Bowen.

I thought he'd give him a little bit at times. Had four assists in the game in 12 minutes. I mean, that's incredibly good. We'll see if that's going to be something we're going to see more and more. Perkins looked more like the Tony Perkins that we are used to. He finishes 6-12 from the field. Hit a three-pointer in the game. Rabracha was doing his thing in there. These are there for this team to turn it around, but there's still a lot that has to be better.

Have to be better in defense. I mean, the defense, again, was a joke in the first half of this game. They got some stops in the second half. It was aided by some missed shots out of Penn State, but that's another component here. This team, at times, is just so poor defensively. Your offense has to be incredibly good, and though they're good offensively, they're not elite.

And Iowa's been elite in the past. Will it be enough? We'll see. Big, big hole, though, for this Iowa team to build out of. And it's frustrating a team that I felt was certainly an NCAA tournament team that we're talking about. Kind of moral victories here against Penn State. Not the place we thought we were going to be with Iowa Hoops. Again, on Thursday, they'll be back out there. We'll have a ton to talk about here on Lockdown Hawkeyes here all week long. Happy New Year. Thanks for joining us once again.

Looking forward to a great 2023. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.