Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: Score predictions for the 2nd half of the 2022 season w/LeShun Daniels

Episode Date: April 13, 2022

In this extra long episode, former Iowa football player LeShun Daniels and I sit down for the second day in a row to talk about our score predictions for the upcoming football season. Yesterday we discussed the first have of the season for the Hawkeyes and today we discussed the second half and how the Hawkeyes have one of the toughest seasons they've had in the last few years. It's going to be a tough season for Iowa but we're confident they will keep their composure and preform the way we all know they can.In today's "Story of The Day" LeShun and I talk about Iowa's Quarterback Spencer Petras and how he's able to block out the negative noise and focus on bettering his game every day. Petras has been deliberate in his decision to focus on bettering himself and his game rather than worry about how the younger Quarterback's on Iowa's team plan to snatch up his starting spot.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” 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!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Athletic GreensAthletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/COLLEGE.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to another episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked on Podcast Network. As always, I'm your host, Wright Hillpiper. Excuse me. With me today, my co-host, former Iowa football player, LaShawn Daniels. Before we get into things today, I want to thank you all for making the Locked on Hawkeyes

podcast your first listen every single day. You can find the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast for free wherever you get your podcasts at and also on YouTube by searching Locked on Hawkeyes. So yesterday, me and LaShawn sat down, talked about the first half of the upcoming football season for the Hawkeyes and talked about what we thought the Hawkeyes record was going to be after the first six games of the season. I came to the determination that the first game versus South Dakota State was going to be a win 35-7. Second game versus Iowa State, a win 17-10. The third game versus Nevada was going to be a win, 52-3. The fourth game at Rutgers,

42-21 win. The fifth game versus Michigan could either be a loss, 20-21, or a win, 21-20. And the sixth game at Illinois was going to be a 31-17 win. So before we get into the second half of the regular season for the Hawkeyes football schedule, I want to talk about Bilt Bar. This is the time of the year where I've pretty much given up on all of my New Year's resolutions, but not this year. This year I'm sticking to eating right thanks to Bilt Bar, and it almost feels like it's not really a resolution at all because I actually enjoy eating them. And they have these new things called Puffs. If you haven't tried them, you're missing out. They are so, so good. They are the first ever protein-infused marshmallow. They are fluffy, they're light, they're airy, they are so, so good. They're not just a protein bar.

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So if you're interested in checking out Built Bar, go to built.com, use the promo code LOCKED15, and get 15% off your order. Once again, that promo code is LOCKED15, L-O-C-K-E-D-1-5, to get 15% off your order at built.com. So, LaShawn, how are you doing today? We're doing great, doing great, man. Anytime we get a chance to talk about the Hawks and football, as I mentioned yesterday, right, we're always jacked up and ready to go, man.

How you doing? I'm doing just fine. I'm excited to talk about the second half of the season. I'm sure there's going to be a couple hot takes that I have as it goes with wins and losses. But first one that I want to talk about is Ohio State. That'll be the seventh game of the season. It will be an away game for the Hawkeyes.

I have it down as a loss, 35-17. Ohio State went 11-2 last year. Their only losses were to Oregon and Michigan. They beat Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State, Michigan State. And even with Iowa's defense being as strong as it is, Ohio State's offense is so extremely dominant. I just don't know if the Hawkeyes are going to be able to stop Ohio State's offense. Yeah, that's a tough matchup,

especially trying to go into Columbus and get out of there with a W is not going to be an easy task, right? Especially when they're led by their superstar quarterback, CJ Shroud. And, you know, they always have high profile receivers on the outside. And they also have another up and coming superstar running back as well. Right. So they got skill players all over the field that can basically take, you know, a little bubble screen or, you know, a tossy outside, you know, 70 plus yards for a touchdown. Right. And that's and that's not going to be an easy feat to be able to be able to stop those guys but some keys um that are going to be very important for the hawks and being able to pull out that type pull out that win it's obviously playing you know their game right if you think back to when we played ohio state back in 2017 a lot of the reason why uh i was able to have so much success that year was because, one, we were able to press the issue defensively. We were able to create turnovers and put, you know,

Ohio State in a position where they have to go out and they have to get points because they were behind eight ball, right? And then offensively being able to control the football and have consistent play in the running game, being able to eat up clock and get first downs, as well as being able to make some of the throws in the pass game to be able to convert on third downs and when you get in the red zone, actually come away with touchdowns instead of field goals. So those are definitely going to be some keys again for Iowa to be able to pull out a win against Ohio State. But again,

it's not going to be an easy task. Going into Columbus is going to be a fun environment. I've only played there once, and it was probably one of the loudest stadiums that I've ever played in. So it's not going to be an easy task. And going up against that offense is going to be tough. So I was going to have to an easy task and going up against that offense is going to be tough. So Iowa's going to have to obviously be on their A game for that game. But I'm excited to see how they play against those guys because I feel like Iowa does always step up pretty well whenever they play against a blue button, a big 10. I think that if Iowa can come out and get their offense going as soon as that first whistle blows, I think that they might be able to come out pretty strong against this Ohio State defense.

But I have a feeling that Ohio State's offense is going to catch back up to them. So maybe Iowa can turn this around. This is just my prediction, so obviously I could be wrong. But I just – I don't see Ohio State's offense slowing down at any point during this game. So if Iowa is going to pull out a win, especially going to Columbus to play them, it's going to be very, very tough, and they're really going to have to be,

especially on the offensive side of the ball, on their A game to be able to put points up on the board. Yep, yep, yep, without a doubt. That's pretty much it, man. I mean, those guys can score pretty much at any point in time, pretty much whenever they want, right? I mean, you got a great offensive line like Ryan Day, and then when you have talented players all over the field,

I mean, it makes that job pretty easy. It'd be the eighth game of the season versus Northwestern. It's a home game versus Northwestern. I have it down as a 60-14 win. Personally, I think this is the game that Iowa is going to be able to come out and just completely stomp all over Northwestern. This is one of the very few games in the upcoming season that I think is a sure win.

Northwestern went 3-9 last season. They lost to Iowa last season 17-12. They also lost to Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Purdue. I think this will be the game that Iowa's offense is really going to be able to shine and hopefully give their defense not necessarily an off day, but maybe a little bit of a break by the fact that they should be able to put up several points throughout both the first and the second half on this Northwestern team. I just, I don't see Iowa faltering in this one at all. So I kind of wish I was as optimistic as you were for this one, because in general. So, again, Northwestern's kind of a weird they're a weird team, weird program where one year they're just absolutely just terrible, kind of like what you got last season.

Then you have other years where they have a really good football team and they played in the Big Ten championship game. I think they had two first round draft picks a couple of years ago. So like Northwestern is one of those one of those schools where it's very interesting of the type of program that you're going to get. I feel like they're kind of on the off and on type of type of football, uh, as far as their success goes. And one thing though, that I do know for a fact is that they will play Iowa hard. Um, they play Iowa extremely hard every single year. Um, I don't know what it is with, uh, Fitzgerald. He might, I think he has a thing against Iowa or something, but whenever, uh, his guys,

uh, play, play the Hawks, they play hard and they play tough. I mean, again, they didn't have a fantastic squad last year, but Iowa was still in pretty much a battle throughout the entire game, right? So I honestly think that it's going to be a close one. Whenever Iowa plays Northwest northwestern it always feels like uh you know you're just kind of on edge right because you never really know what you're going to get from from the hawks as far as whenever we play northwestern and then you know

you never know what type of northwestern team you're going to get as well so uh i do think it's an interesting game um northwestern they always put out a tough program for the most part. Every single year for sure does a really good job with his players to get them up and get them ready to go. So I'm not quite as optimistic as you are against those cats over there in Chicago. But I do think with the amount of talent that I was bringing back on both sides of the football and with players that have gotten playing time from the past season that are going to have to step up this year, I do see the Hawks being able to have a bunch of success against Northwestern.

Hey, and I'm all for a disagreement. As long as you're on the same page that you think Iowa's going to be able to pull out a win, it very well could be a close game. Like you said, last year Iowa only beat them by 5-17-12 in a very nitty-gritty game. So it could be a close game and it could be a blowout. But like I said, I'm all for a disagreement. As long as Iowa pulls out a win on Saturday, it doesn't matter to me how they do it.

Going into the next game, it'll be at Purdue. I have, again, as a win, 24-20. Purdue went 9-4 last season. They beat Iowa 24-7 in a game that I think Iowa is really going to be itching to have back. They lost to Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Ohio State last year. And I think this is a game that Iowa is really going to be looking forward to and really going to be as focused as they possibly can be going into. Iowa's offense had a sort of an off game last year, and I don't think that they're going to let this one go two years in a row.

I think it will be a very, very close game down to the fourth quarter. But ultimately, I think Iowa is going to pull this one out. Yeah. So this is another one that gives me pretty much anxiety every single year, at least over the past few years. Right. I mean, I least over the past few years, right? I mean, I know that when I was playing, I don't think we ever lost to Purdue when I was in school.

But the last few years, our success against Purdue has not been great, especially, you know, when you have a player like David Bell at the receiver spot like Purdue did over the past few years. like David Bell at the receiver spot like Purdue did over the past few years. It's tough to obviously stop a guy like that who has pretty much been dominant since his entire time of playing in the Big Ten. That being said, Purdue is always a team that plays Iowa pretty tough, at least over the past few years. They've got guys, skill guys that don't know how to make plays

and as well as having a good quarterback as well that can get his guys the football, right? And when you combine that with, you know, them playing sound defense against Iowa last year, not really letting us get in the end zone, right, getting stops when they needed to get them. You know, it really set us up for a recipe for disaster last year. And I'm sure that's something that they're going to try to repeat this year. Right.

And, you know, I know I was pretty devastated last year after losing to Purdue. I mean, we came off of a huge win against Penn State, you know, ranked number two in the country, right? All the hype, all everything that you want to have going for you in a football program. And then, you know, you go out and lose in the way that you did against Purdue. Yeah, that's definitely something that's going to sting, right? So especially with the amount of guys that are coming back and the amount of guys that were on the team last year. I think that's going to be some really, really big motivation that's going to get them, I think, hopefully up and ready to play and jacked up for that game to try to avenge the loss from last year. But also, it's also going to depend hey can we move the football

on offense can we you know once we get in the red zone are we able to come away with touchdowns and not field goals right i mean all those different things are going to play into a part because purdue you know that they're gonna they're gonna be able to get their skill guys the ball i mean you know that one of iowa's skill players from this past season transferred to Purdue, Tyrone Tracy, who, again, he's going to be a big, big piece of Purdue's offense, both in the I'm sure in the past game and in the run game. Right. Because, I mean, I think I read a report where they kind of want to use him like how the 49ers use Debo Samuel. Right. So that's that's kind of what you're going to be up against when you play a Purdue team. They got guys all over the field that know how to make plays offensively. And if our offense can't stay on the field and get points,

it puts that much more pressure on the defense. And we saw kind of how that played out last year when you relied too much on the defense. So hopefully this year, the Hawks will be able to make some changes and be able to correct some of the mistakes that they had against Purdue last year. Absolutely. And obviously it's always going to be a tough game

when you're not playing at home. I'm sure it's probably preferred from everybody when you're playing at home versus playing away. And going into Lafayette, I don't know that if it's going to affect Iowa's sort of mentality, but it's definitely going to be a close one. I don't see this one being a blowout for any side, Iowa or Purdue. But like you said, it's consistently a tough game, and it's not going to be one where they can go in

and kind of just take an off day. This is a game where they have to be at the top of their game, and obviously you want to be at the top of your game all the time, but it's definitely different when you play a Purdue team that's consistently decent versus when you play maybe a bad Northwestern team. But like you said, it's week to week, and it's really going to depend on Iowa's mentality going into that Purdue game, especially at being away. Yeah, yeah, it's a lot on.

So going into Wisconsin, now this is another one just like the Michigan game where I really think it could go either way. I have it down as a 35-27 win versus Wisconsin. Granted, Wisconsin did beat Iowa 27-7 last year. They went 9-4 last season. They also lost to Penn State, Notre Dame, Michigan, and Minnesota. And this is another game that Iowa's really just going to be looking to get back. I don't think they'll let Wisconsin come into Kinnick

and take away a W against a very solid offense and defense that Iowa is showing that they're going to have. But like I said, it definitely could go either way. I just think that this is one where Iowa is really going to be kind of, you know, itching and on the edge of their seat to, to put them away early. I don't think that that will happen. But this is, this is one where, like I said, it's really, they really, really are going to have to put some points up on the board early to stay ahead of them yeah so wisconsin is i mean i first off i have a ton of respect for that program that they have um they do a great job uh with their players um getting obviously quality guys in putting players in the nfl year in year out right And the thing that I love the most about Wisconsin

is that they play their brand of football no matter what. They don't change it up for anyone, no matter who they're playing. They're going to play, you know, their brand of football. And what's that look like, right? They're going to run the football, right? And they're going to do play action when they have to. And, you know, if they need to pass the football to obviously make conversions, right, they're able to do that. And then defensively, you're going to be going against a stout defense that's going to have a really, really good front seven and typically one or two really, really good DBs that know how to play in the back end, right?

So trying to combat that has been honestly one of Iowa's struggles. I mean, I know pretty much, I know for a fact since I was there, I mean, I only had the pleasure of beating Wisconsin once. And I don't think our record has really improved too much against Wisconsin since then as well. Right. So that's that. That's a tough football team. And the thing that really sticks out to me, I think every single time when we do play them is it gets to a point where we aren't able to play our brand of football. Right. I just mentioned how Wisconsin plays their brand of football

and they stick to it no matter what. That doesn't change against Iowa either. They play their brand of football and they do it very, very well. And the issue comes where they actually do a pretty good job of stopping things that we typically do well, right, and offensively, right? They find a way to stop us in the run game and kind of once our run game has been virtually neutralized then wisconsin basically just pins their ears back and start getting after the passer and um they get a lot of success that way by getting a lot of

tackles for loss or they'll get a lot of sacks right or they'll force turnovers so being able to combat that brand of football is not going to be easy um and that's why usually i feel like uh it's going to be some type of low scoring game um and looking at iowa's offense moving forward that's really going to be the story for pretty much the rest of the offseason through the season starts is how does Iowa's offense improve versus last year? Right. Last year, watching Iowa play against Wisconsin on offense was very, very frustrating to watch. I mean, I think at one point you ran like two fullback dives to try to convert like towards the end of the game. And I know everyone was kind of scratching their heads at that point. Because, I mean, I really believe that we were just honestly just out of

answers for Wisconsin at that point, right? So being able to get back into our brand of football and being able to run the football consistently, being able to put our players our brand of football and being able to run the football consistently, being able to put our players in the position to succeed by whoever the quarterback is playing to their strengths. So, you know, they can hit some easy passes, they can get some conversions and get some confidence going. So when the times do come where a play does have to be made,

the offense is going to be ready to be able to do that. And that's the thing about Wisconsin. They're going to force you to play their brand of football, and Iowa's just got to figure out a way to combat that. Yeah, and like you said, Wisconsin is a consistently good team, and they're going to be a Big Ten championship contender regardless of whether or not Iowa beats them. And same with Michigan.

It's just another game that really could go either way, and it's really just going to depend on whether or not Iowa can impose their game plan from the very first snap. And I think that that will really determine how the rest of the game is going to go. Not to say that if you do bad or if you, if you don't have the game and go the way you want it to go in the first quarter, it's not going to go how you want it to the rest of the game. But I think it's really,

this is one of those games where it's really heavily momentum based. So if you, if you start off rough, it's, you dug yourself a hole that you're really going to have to try to get out of. But if you start out if you start out well and you start out with, you know, the game plan that you had coming in is working well and you're putting points on the board and you're stopping and you're converting on second and third down situations, it's one of those where once you get the momentum going, you can really start to run with it and kind of not not

let it slow down that's one point yeah i love it i love it and you can't forget it's another rivalry game right trophies up for grabs uh trying to win the bull um so you know you know it's going to be a battle you know the guys are going to be jacked up for it it's just how well can we execute on saturday so yep 11th game at minnesota i have it down as a 22 to 10 win for iowa minnesota and four last season obviously i mean wisconsin went down in four last season so records tend not to matter a lot um from the previous season but they lost to ohio State and Illinois, and they're not necessarily always a team that has been able to compete with bigger schools in the Big Ten. They managed to beat Wisconsin last year, 23-13, but I don't necessarily think it was because that

they had a really, really good game on the offensive or defensive side of the ball. I think that was more based off of the fact that Wisconsin had an off day on the offensive side of the ball, but it's not going to be an easy game by any stretch of the imagination, and it hasn't been. It wasn't an easy game last year, obviously. We only won by 5-20. I really think Iowa is going to be able to pull it off. Once again, it's going to be tough going to Minnesota. Not necessarily that far of a trip, but like I said earlier, it's never easy going into an away game against a team that you know has the tools

and has the ability to beat you. It's just not comfortable. I think that's where Iowa really thrives is when they're outside of their comfort zone. They're really able to kind of adapt and overcome the sort of problems that they may face going into a game against Minnesota, especially when it is an away game. Yeah.

Hey, that's another tough's gonna be an it's another tough game right you're going to minnesota uh they are it's another rivalry game right i mean so first off the hawks finished the season with uh three rivalry games in a row right a lot of a lot of emotion um you're in the end of the season you're in november that's when teams need to play their best football so it's going to be a tough, gritty game going up to Minnesota. It's going to be cold, right? So it's going to be a matter of Iowa playing their brand of football, right? We've been beating Minnesota, I think, the past six years in a row,

something like that, which is crazy, right? And, you know, I know the guys are going to want to keep that trend continuing, right? And, you know, I know the guys are going to want to have to keep that trend continuing, right? So I think some things, though, that Iowa has had a bunch of success against Minnesota doing is, again, being able to play fantastic defense. I know last year, it felt like there were times where, you know, they may have been missing tackles that they usually make. But when push came to shove and the game was on the line, Iowa was able to make the plays on defense to get a stop to prevent the Gophers from going ahead and getting the winning score. to prevent the gophers from going ahead and getting the winning score. And then, obviously, Iowa is going to have to play strong on offense and being able to get points, right?

I think last year Iowa was able to put together a few drives. They were able to score. I think they scored three touchdowns and had two field goals, which, again, that's much better than the way that they were trending throughout the season last year. And for them to be able to beat a Minnesota team in Minnesota, they're going to have to really kind of continue that same trend, right? They're going to have to be able to one, be able to get points on offense. And I think another piece that's really kind of tied into them getting points

on offense was them being able to create explosive plays. I know last year they had the biggest explosive play to Charlie Jones. I think it went for 60-plus yards on a beautiful throw. And then there was a fantastic play by Keegan Johnson where he caught a little screen, broke out of a couple tackles, and then took it to end zone for a score. So creating plays like that and creating explosive plays are going to be a huge key to be able to win a game like that in Minnesota.

But another big piece is going to be able to take care of the football. And I think Iowa did a fantastic job of that against Minnesota last year. And so being able to continue that trend and being able to take care of the football, not throwing interceptions, not having fumbles, and creating turnovers against Minnesota is going to be a big key. And, you know, it's another trophy game. You're battling for the pig.

So that's one that you want to win um really really really bad because you know minnesota has their we hate iowa thing chant whatever that they do um which is uh total nonsense but that's another story for another day um so but you know the guys are going to be ready to go and and lock and loaded especially knowing when you have coaches on the staff that played at Iowa and you know how much it really means to them. So they'll definitely be ready for that one. And rivalry games are always so much fun to watch because you know it's going to be a fairly close game

and you know that it's two teams that know how to play in the cold, Minnesota and Iowa. It's going to be a cold game, and I hate cold-weather football games. But that's just how it was. I hated them in high school. I hate them now. It just makes everything so much more tough. But obviously both of these teams know how to play in the cold.

And like you said, they've beat Minnesota the last six seasons, and I don't see that streak coming to an end this year. But it may be closer than 22-10. It may end up being a 22-21 win. But like I said, I don't see Iowa having the same off day that Wisconsin had last year when they played Minnesota. Yeah, I feel that. So the last game of the season,

of the regular season versus Nebraska, this is always my favorite game to watch. I don't miss it any year. I love seeing Iowa play Nebraska. It's a home game this year. And I love seeing Iowa play Nebraska simply because I have an extreme dislike for the Nebraska football team. It's nothing personal. It's just the fact they're one state over. There's a lot of talk that happens leading up to the game every single year. You see it on social media. You see it everywhere you turn when you look at Iowa football and Nebraska football.

Nebraska went 3-9 last season. They lost to Iowa 28-21, but they also lost to Illinois, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Michigan, Minnesota, Purdue, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. So to say the least, Nebraska was not a very great team last year, and they have consistently been, you know, not necessarily easy, but a good win for Iowa every year, and I don't think that they necessarily pose much of a threat, but it is a rivalry. It is a rivalry game. It is a home game against a team that is just one state over, and like I said, there is so, so much talk that happens before this game every single year. But I think playing Nebraska this late into the season is going to benefit Iowa in the fact that this is the team that they're going to be able to see play the most games before they get a chance to take a crack at them. But like I said, I have it down as a 24-10 win, and I don't think that Iowa is going to have very much trouble with this one.

I have it down as a 24-10 win, and I don't think that Iowa is going to have very much trouble with this one. Yeah, so this is another one where, well, first off, last year, like going into the game, where I kind of just threw out their records against other teams, just kind of threw it out of there and forgot about it. The only thing that I did note was that they played a lot of teams very, very closely, and they just weren't able to finish a few of those games but they have a i'm not they have a good football team um where they got players i know how to make plays kind of all really pretty much all over the field um but they weren't they didn't do a very good job finishing their football games at all right and i knew going playing against iowa that you're going to get a very very kind of similar play of how they've been playing how

they're playing all year they're pretty much playing everyone down to the wire um and you know lo and behold they make a few mistakes and you know we capitalize on it that that was really the biggest thing that was the game changer last year. I mean, we were down by double digits and going into the fourth quarter. And we get a block, get a block punt early in the third that we took for a touchdown. You know, they had a fumble that we covered. Right. We go down, we score some points. Right. Those are some of the things that uh really propelled propelled iowa

into getting the victory against those guys last year right and you're probably gonna not necessarily gonna get that type of magic every single year against those guys um but making those type of big time plays right from all phases of a football team right from offense to defense to special teams right that ended up being the game changer against against nebraska and that's going to be another they're another team that we've beaten i don't think we've lost to them since what 2014 was the last time we lost to nebraska so, that's another, it's another program where they're looking at like, Hey, like is this going to be our years? Is this the year we finally turn it around? So their guys are going to be jacked up and ready to go.

Because I think you mean you got multiple senior classes at this point that haven't been in Iowa. And when you think about Nebraska's program, right, you think of it over, over time, right? They're, they're really, really good program historically haven't been so much, um, since pretty much 2010. Right. So, uh, I'm anxious to see the type of Nebraska football team that comes out for 2022. Um, we'll see if they do make that leap forward. But my guess is that they don't, mainly because I'm not

really, honestly, not a big fan of their coach. I don't really like the way how he kind of carries himself and kind of really throws people under the bus. Not a big fan of it. So I'm anxious to see the type of program that gets put out from those guys this year. But all in all, Iowa's success on them is going to be dictated about how Iowa plays their game, right?

Most of these teams, it's going to be how Iowa decides to play, right? Are they going to play their brand of football, which is tough defense, smart special teams, and being able to make plays on offense when need to be. So it being a rivalry game to finish a season, Black Friday, all that stuff is exciting. And I know the guys will be ready to go as they usually are. It just makes for a fun weekend for sure. It's definitely going to take, you know,

the A game from offense, defense, and special teams to win against this Nebraska team. But as I mentioned, it's not really a game that too many fans necessarily kind of worry about year to year. Because like you said, we haven't lost nebraska since 2014 since i was young and but i it's it's not really a game that i as a fan necessarily worried about um year after year i always thought i was like oh i was i was playing nebraska this week at least at least you know at least we can end the week on an on an. You know what I mean? So it's definitely not an easy game, and none of these games on Iowa's schedule this year are easy. We talked about it yesterday.

Iowa has a very tough schedule this year, but I don't see this being a problem, like a quote-unquote problem game for Iowa. As long as they're playing to the best of their abilities on offense, defense, and special teams, I think this is definitely a game that they can pull out a win on. For sure. Okay, so before we get into the story of the day, today's story has to do with Spencer Petras, Iowa's current starting quarterback.

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When I say competition in regards to the QBs, I'm talking about on the field. We're working really hard against the defense every day. I'm focused on myself. I'm focused on improving the things that Ference wants me to. Any energy spent on anything else is a waste, which I absolutely agree. You shouldn't focus on anything else but improving your game, but I'm wondering if he's kind of downplaying the competition he has at the quarterback position. Both Brian and Kirk Ferenc have expressed that there is in fact a currently open competition at the QB spot for the upcoming

season, and that Petras knows that, but hasn't expressed any concern about losing his starting spot. Brian Ferentz has also been complimenting both Padilla and Labus, the two other quarterbacks that Iowa currently has on the roster during spring practice, but has noted that as of right now, the starting spot still belongs to Petrus. So LaShawn, my question for you is what was your mentality back in college when you were competing for a starting spot? Were you worrying about how the other guy was doing or were you trying to focus more on how your game was going, how you were playing and how you were able to excel in practice. Yeah. So I have pretty, pretty, actually pretty good experience with this. Um, to be honest, I mean, so, I mean, I came in, you know, as a freshman, um, you know, had a pretty good camp,

um, to the point where, you know, coaches thought, Hey, this guy can help us. Right. So, you know, you didn't get redshirted. Right. Which was which was good. Right. I was excited. Played a little bit. Didn't play as much as I would have liked, but it is what it is. And then the following spring. Right. You know, we have competition. You know, we still had Mark Wiseman. We had the late Damon Bullock. We had Jordan Kanziri. We had Akram. And, you know, we're competing for a really spot to help the team as much as possible, right? You know, unfortunately, I didn't end up coming out very strong with my spring practice, nor did I come out very strong with my fall camp. It got to the point where it was possible considering a redshirt year,

but I ended up did picking it up a little bit during fall camp, which prevented that from happening. And then that season, I ended up having a stress fracture in my ankle, missed a bunch of time, basically the entire season um after the halfway point and then didn't start playing again practicing again until bull prep so going into the spring i was kind of a little bit down a little bit further down on the depth chart a little bit um i was behind jordan kanziri um you know i was competing with uh akram oddly I was competing with Akram Wadley, was competing with Derek Mitchell as well for for a spot. And, you know, you can't worry about kind of what the other guys are doing, because if you once you start doing that, then your play kind of suffers. So all I could do was focus on things that I knew was going to make me better.

I was going to make the team better. Right. So making sure that, you know, first off, I know what I was doing when I was out there on the field, when I'm in there and actually getting an opportunity to, to perform right, going out there and making a play, right. Part of being a running back was definitely going out there and making a play creating, you know, an explosive play for your team. Um, whether that be obviously getting a first down, running somebody over, making a guy miss and, you know, creating an explosive play there. Right. And those

are things that, you know, I focused on pretty heavily, uh, going into, to my third year, um, as well as improving and pass protection and just improving in passing games in general. So you can't focus on what the other guys are doing because that's going to cause all that stuff to suffer and you're not going to be at the top of your game. And because I didn't do that, I was able to earn the starting spot and win the starting job and outright out of the spring at a spring practice. And it really continued that throughout the fall camp, throughout fall camp as well. So I'm sure Spencer is going to be probably doing the same thing. Right.

I mean, obviously, he's had the starting job for the past couple of years. had the starting job for the past couple of years last year, had a lot of ups and downs. And obviously I know that he's not going to let the starting spot kind of be taking away from him very easily. And he's going to go out and really improve on some of the things that he knows he has to improve. Right. I mean, there's times where his accuracy just isn't there. Right. You know that he has a can for an arm,

but the accuracy was something that was really a big problem for him. It was a problem for the Hawks last year. So that's something that he's going to have to improve upon because we know he's not like Lamar Jackson back there. He's not running around and creating explosive plays with his legs. We know that he's going to have to use his arm as much as possible. And for the guys that are behind him, right, you can't really worry about, you know, the starting reps that Spencer's getting,

right? They got to kind of focus on themselves and focus on the things that they can do better and focus on how they can improve day by day. And then things will take care of itself. But at the end of the day, I know Spencer's not going to let that spot go pretty easily. So if there is going to be a quarterback change and say Spencer doesn't win the job or doesn't keep the job, it's going to be because the other two guys outperformed them that much. You're right. You're right. Personally, I don't see Petras losing that starting job. Like you said, he did have some struggles last year,

but I think he will be Iowa's man this year. I think he can consistently be good. And with Padilla and Labus obviously not having the same amount of experience as Petrus does. I, I just, I don't see him losing that job. Like you said,

if he starts to focus on, you know, what these other two guys are doing and how he's supposed to be better than them, that's when he's going to start, you know, slipping and, you know,

not necessarily getting worse, but not getting better at that position. And like you said, he's not, he's not Lamar Jackson. He's not back there making moves. He's not, I shouldn't say that he's, he is back there making moves, but it's not with, it's not with his feet. He's not, he's not rolling out to the right side of the pocket and running for a, you know, a 65 yard touchdown run. It just, it doesn't happen. So I think if he, if he focuses on, on himself, he focuses on his game and he focuses

on the fundamentals of being a good pocket quarterback. I think that he will be able to secure that starting spot. Obviously he has it right now. So right now it's, it's his to lose, uh, basically. So we'll, uh, we'll see how that goes for him. I'm, I'm excited to see him out on the field next year. I don't, I think if he think even if he does manage to lose that starting spot at some point, I think that we will see him on the field for a decent amount of

time next season. With that being said, a little bit of a longer episode today. I think we're about 45 minutes into recording right now. So I apologize. I'm sure I'm going to hear about it from Zach, but whatever. He'll be fine with it. So thanks for tuning in to today's episode. Make sure you go follow me and LaShawn on Twitter and Instagram at LaShawn Daniels Jr. and at Rye Hill. Follow me before you follow him. He's already got 5,400 followers on Twitter. I need more Twitter followers. So go follow me on Twitter. Go follow LeSean on Twitter. Go follow the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast on Twitter as well at LockedOnIowa.

And make sure you are tuning in to the episodes every day. We put out daily episodes today. We put out quite a bit longer of an episode. But like I said, it doesn't matter. The content's all there. And we talked about even more than I thought we would be able to. So thanks for joining in today. And we will see you all tomorrow.