Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Football: The Good, Bad & Ugly from last week, Can the Hawkeyes beat Wisconsin?

Episode Date: October 10, 2023

Trent Condon is joined by Biz on the latest Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast.First a look at the good, bad and ugly from last week against Purdue including good and bad from Brian Ferentz.Thoughts on the match up this week as the Hawkeyes travel to Wisconsin to take on the Badgers. What is the game plan to pull off the upset?Then Locks on the Week presented by FanDuel.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.Athletic BrewingGo to AthleticBrewing.com and enter code LOCKEDON to get 15% off your first online order or find a store near you! Athletic Brewing. Milford, CT and San Diego, CA. Near Beer.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedoncollege and use code lockedoncollege for a first deposit match up to $100! Daily Fantasy Sports Made Easy! GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase.Jase MedicalSave more than $360 by getting these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical plus an additional $20 off by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jace is back. Trent with him as we talk Iowa football, the good, bad, and ugly. From last weekend, can the Hawks beat Wisconsin? And we are red hot in our picks. We'll give those to you at the end of the show presented by FanDuel. You are locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in.

I'm Trent Condon. That's my buddy Biz. And we are here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. Make sure you hit that subscribe button while you're there. Just takes a moment and helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans.

Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKDOWNCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Biz, another week, another win, and yet more frustrations in the Iowa Hawkeye fan base. How are you doing this week? Good. Good. Busy time of year.

I got to coach the successful first and second grade flag football victory last night, Trent. And then as soon as we're done with this, I get to sprint to a junior high conference cross-country meet. So a lot going on. But, yeah, the important thing, I guess, we did get the win on Saturday. And, you know, I don't know. I wasn't frustrated with it. It's kind of what I expected. I didn't think Deacon Hill was going to be very good. I didn't have good feelings going into it.

I thought we would struggle and potentially lose. And honestly, we kind of controlled the game. So, you know, I don't know. Is it pretty? Absolutely not. But it's a win, and it was kind of a convincing win. We were up 13 with three minutes to go in the game and kind of controlled the game we were up uh 13 with three minutes to go in the game and uh kind of controlled the the game from from start to finish which uh it's about all you can ask for right now as an Iowa fan obviously the most difficult opponent coming up this week remaining on the schedule Wisconsin we'll get into that game here in a moment talk about the good and I think you

start with the running game certainly offensively Caleb coming back and having the long run he is just he's so dynamic. He's got the size. He's got the speed. Sounds like he was banged up even before the debilitating injury that kept him out a couple of games. But he is a difference maker. We saw that a year ago, and he's just different

than most of the guys that we have in the running back spot. He's the kind of guy with the woes of this offense. They need not just a guy. LaShawn Williams is a guy. He's a solid running back. Caleb can be a difference maker. He looked good on Saturday. Honestly, early in the year when he was playing, I was kind of frustrated.

I thought he was kind of a little bit tentative. He was not tentative at all on Saturday. He hit the holes. He was decisive. He made a couple nice cuts. He looked healthy, and we badly need him. So, yeah, I listed three good, three bad, and one ugly, Trent. So, yeah, number one on my go was exactly what you said, running game. I just listed Caleb Johnson.

But running blocking was better also. I mean, there were holes there, but that may be due to bad opponent also. Purdue hasn't stopped anybody running the ball. But at this point, anybody we can run the ball on is a bonus. Because that was number one. Number two, and this is a very broad area, but defense in general. That looked more like the Iowa defense, just across the board. We just looked more aggressive.

We looked more confident. We just rallied to the ball better than we did the last couple games. I just thought there was a tentative nature to Iowa defense that you just don't see very often, and that was not there on Saturday. They were certainly, right from the get-go, a little more aggressive. It obviously helped that Hudson Card absolutely refuses to ever get rid of the football. Honestly, the funny thing is Hudson Card's a good quarterback.

He throws a good ball. He throws a good ball. He does a lot of good things. But, man, his absolute refusal to ever give up on a play was, if you're a Purdue fan, has to be infuriating. Yeah, he's a talented guy. And Iowa just kept coming. We saw a step forward from Graves. That was great to see.

Y.A. Black, these last two weeks, we can see why this coaching staff has been so high on him with the size that just doesn't get guys built. You know, 6'4", 315 like him. His ability to move. He snuffed out that screenplay a couple weeks ago. He's playing at a high level. And then the veterans have stepped up too.

And it sounded like they had an internal meeting just along the defensive line. Whatever said in that meeting, it worked. Let's do that again this week. Yeah, might as well just have one of those every week. Maybe Joe Evans can just be like assistant defensive line. Whatever said in that meeting, it worked. Let's do that again this week. Yeah, might as well just have one of those every week. Maybe Joe Evans can just be like assistant defensive line coach. I love Kelvin Bell, so I don't want him to leave by any means. But Joe Evans is clearly kind of the emotional leader of this team,

and I'm guessing he was pretty fired up. We're going to need them to play at that level or higher next week if we have any chance. Number three on the list of good you're not going to like this and no one else is going to like this, but Brian Ferentz's game plan. It was a good game plan. And before everybody

gets their pitchforks out and screams at you. There we go. Hit the comment section up and yell at Biz. Wait till you hear the bad also. Because I'm specifically saying the game plan was good. I thought he did a really nice job of scheming up some ways to get Eric all the ball. I thought we've scrapped the outside zone run entirely. Everything was – a lot of the counteraction again, a lot of quick hitter runs.

I liked the game plan. Everything was, you know, a lot of the counteraction again, a lot of quick hitter runs. I liked the game plan. I thought we, you know, he gave us some opportunities to be successful on Saturday, which, you know, given the limitations of our offense, that's about all you can ask for.

So a game plan. Good. We'll save the other part for later, but, but you can, you can tell me where I'm wrong. I'm sure you, you know, I've never heard you agree with anything when it comes to positive on Brian. So, so go ahead. Well, I will tell you the game plan.

I was fine with the game plan too. I thought it obviously wasn't executed very well. The thing that drives me nuts, and it's not game plan, it's more scheme, re-watching the game again on Sunday night as I always re-watch it. And just some of the route concepts. There were four or five different plays where you have guys running in the exact same spot. There was one, I think it was a drop pass. Maybe it was to LaShawn Williams.

It was somebody out there. And then there was a tight end running like right behind him. There was two third down plays, two third and longs where the only, there was only one player, even 15 yards down the field. It's the route concepts that they have. And this has been obviously something I bitched about for a very long time, but it just doesn't work so game plan wise i agree it was good it was the scheme it just sucks and trent i'm not smart enough to know the answer to this but as part of that miscommunication or lack of understanding by our wide receivers also because a lot of what we're

doing is option routes yep they're giving decisions to go one way or the other, and they either make the wrong decision or the wrong read. I mean, I don't know. I mean, I agree. The scheme's probably partially to blame, but I think there's plenty of blame to go wrong. I mean, we'll get into the whole passing game down the road here in a minute. But, yeah, I mean, it's – but, again, the game plan I liked,

but you want to flip to the bad? Yeah, let's get to the bad. All right, so we'll just go right to Brian on the bad. Game plan, good. In-game decision-making, I just don't get it. Like, again, I thought his game plan was great, but a couple times in that game, I don't understand what he's thinking. Late in the first half, we run the ball three times great i

mean just 30 yard run 20 yard run five yard run we get the second and five three minutes to go in the second quarter right the 33 yard line or something like that just keep pounding the worst thing that happens is you get stopped you run the clock down to a minute you kick the field goal and it's 13 to nothing right instead second and five he goes pass pass incomplete incomplete field goal block they score and it's a 10-7 game you can't have it both ways if you want to be the bullies of the big 10 then when you become the bullies become the bullies like pound it down their throat in that situation like i swear he just the next play on his sheet was pass there's like oh i gotta pass here but yeah shit rip it up and run the same run again i mean we need the kendrick you know you and i are osage

grads and old kendrick bird used to uh sit up there with the air horn and holler run it again like christ we need power football someone needs to just be screaming run it again to him in those situations like most of the year we haven't had the luxury of doing that we haven't had a good enough running game to be able to run it down anybody's throats but at that situation we were ready to put the game away at the half and instead he got too cute and then same thing with the goal line situations oh i like the idea of both both the shotgun play it was there and the the throwback to the lineman was there. I mean, the idea of those plays are great,

but to do those plays on Deacon Hill's first game, why? I mean, you're not building to his strengths at all. He has no touch at all, and you're asking him to put a touch to a lineman? Like, it's just not the time to do it. The idea of it is good. I mean, we're really lucky that Deacon Hill screwed the play up because if he did it correctly, that's a backwards pass

and probably a 90-yard touchdown going the other way. But, you know, it was there. It was open. And on the shotgun play that we missed, the guy coming in motion was wide open also. But just because they're there doesn't mean it's the right call. And it's just his in-game decision-making just is infuriating. Like you've got to adjust when you've got the game in your hands in that situation at the end of the first half.

Shove it down their throat. And instead we get pretty in that situation. Same thing down at the goal line. You're running the ball. Shove it down their throat. Nope, got to get pretty because that was what we practiced, I guess, this week. We practiced this neat little play. And that's fine in certain situations. but the game didn't dictate that we didn't need to do that just run it down their throat so so there you go there's the bad so

brian's on both sides of the equation good and bad you know and this is something that we've complained about a long time it's just brian ferentz you know it's football it's not that he doesn't know football he just has no feel is, there is a certain skill to being a play caller and he just doesn't have it. And even when the offense has been at least adequate under him, it's still been a complaint that we have had a ton. He just doesn't have a feel for the game and when to, to pull out those kinds of plays. Mason Richmond, as of Friday, Kirk didn't think he was going to play. And then you're setting up that throwback play for him and even though it was there you're setting that up for your injured offensive tackle it just that's the part of it why get cute why do those things when you just

don't have to it it doesn't make a lick of sense and thrown by a quarterback who had repeatedly shown that he has zero touch i mean zero i mean i mean, I still like Deacon Hill. Everything about the guy is fun. I mean, man. He was a work in progress. To put him in that situation, I just don't get it. Speaking of Deacon Hill, the ugly? Well, no, that's not good. I got two more bad

first. Oh, okay. One bad, I mean, rarely is this in the bad list, but kicker. Drew Stevens, we need, if this team has any chance of, again, of going into Madison and winning, we need to be perfect on special teams. And we've not been. I mean, we were bad at Penn State. We were bad.

I mean, you got one blocked, one missed, and the two that he made were both ugly. I mean, they were not pretty kicks. And the weather wasn't bad. It was a little windy, but it wasn't. It felt windier on the field, or at least it looked that way. It was 10 to 15 Malinar winds and it was a cross wind. So, I mean, there was some, it was enough, but let's be honest, that's probably the nicest weather you're going to get the next six games. It's only going to get worse. So I'm not worried about Drew Stevens. I mean, part of this is being spoiled.

He's been a really good kicker for a year and a half, but we need him to be that really good kicker for him to win. So, but we need him to be that really good kicker if we're going to win. So there's number two. Number three, Trent, and I know this won't be popular with a lot of Iowa fans, but Xavier Romper really worries me. That guy, he just doesn't look comfortable out there. I mean, you know him better than I do. Obviously, you could call games with him in high school.

I was under the understanding this guy loved to hit. It just doesn't show right now his lack of physicality and lack of willingness to come up and tackle people is not good right now and I'm not saying I mean part of this he's just young I mean he's a second year in the program I think he's gonna end up being a really good player but it shows that it's the second year of the program right now and the third and 30 play that where they should have got it on third and 30 i have no clue what he was doing on that play he bit and came up on a crosser for some reason no reason third and 30 and it's just lack of awareness of the situation was was concerning

i mean it looks bad because it looks like it's jamari harris's fault but they were playing quarters coverage jamari harris was sitting waiting for him. He was like, I'll pass him off to you. And he wasn't there. But it's, yeah, I don't know. I hope, you talked last week that it was his best game, I think, the Michigan State game. It was his worst game last week. He looked bad.

He couldn't tackle. He was very tentative. He, I don't know, I hope. And he's banged up. I do know that, that he is banged up. I think he is, yeah. And hopefully that's, that's where we're seeing the lack of physicality.

Cause yeah, at the high school level, he was a physical player. His closing ability is unlike anything I've ever seen. And nobody even close to him at the high school level, but he just looks really tentative. He just looks like he's thinking, thinking more than he needs to,

which again, I get it. I mean, you're being asked to do a lot, but he's got to learn quickly. Cause Wisconsin, Wisconsin Wisconsin in years past has exploited our weaknesses, and I think they're going to come after Wompo on Saturday.

Any more on the bad? Nope. Is everybody ready to get to the ugly? Okay, let's do it. Well, the ugly is easy, Trent. I mean, it's our passing game. I mean, good Lord. I mean, that was six for 21.

Worst completion rate in a game, I think, was Lord. I mean, that was six or 21 worst, worst completion rate in a game. I think it was since the seventies. And also I'm sure, have you seen any of the articles in the last 24 hours about our passing game? Well, just the hideous nature of it in comparison to, yeah. I've got a list of things here to tell you. And 90% of this comes from, I think it's black heart and gold pants. I think it wrote the article. It's a really, it's a good article slash incredibly depressing article.

Just because, I mean, basically it just talks about our passing game right now is historically bad. I mean, we're completing 45% of our passes on the year, which is a full 4% lower than any team. But the average completion rate across the nation is 62%. 84 teams or more are completing 60% or more. We're at 45%. So you're thinking, well, maybe we throw deep. Maybe we're aggressive more than our teams. No, we're actually second to last in yards per attempt.

So we're throwing short and not completing the ball, basically. And we're second to last in passer rating. And then add on, in addition, I think it's Hawkeye Game Film. Is that the name of the guy on Twitter? He's awesome. Yes. He posted a couple things about our passing game and how it's just been a steady, slow decline over the last six years,

basically, and how, honestly, Nate Stanley, we should be dreaming for the days of nate stanley because he was consistently you know completing 60 of his passes and throwing for 25 30 touchdowns a game the last four years you know how many games in four years we've passed for 250 yards three two two and none in the last 25 games you know how many times last four years we've had a 300 yard passing game i don't think any zero yeah zero yeah and uh we've only had two games in the last 39 games last two and a half four years ever with a passer rating of over 150 ever and you go back to nate stanley that years they still did it 17 times. And so it's not like, you know, we're not asking to split the atom here.

We're just asking for mediocrity. Is it too hard to ask to complete 55% of your passes? Apparently it is. 200 yards? I mean, the average per game passing is 240. We're at 130. So we're 110 under the average right now. So, yeah, ugly might be a kind word for a passing game right now.

Those are some hideous numbers. Well, this week it'll be a chance for not revenge, but an opportunity for Deacon Hill. We'll see what they can do with the passing game. One final note on the game. can do the passing game one final note on the game i've been freaking out about kirk's decision not to go for two when it's 19-7 after scoring that there's 14 minutes left in the game the difference between 12 and 13 points is negligible it's two touchdowns two extra points that beat you what could possibly be the thought process honestly i don't think they ever even thought about it it wasn't even prepared being at the, it wasn't like we were debating it and decided –

I mean, it was – everybody sprinted off the field immediately, kicking King Green off the field. I honestly think they just got caught up in the moment and didn't even think about it. Holy crap, we scored a touchdown. What do you do after a touchdown, Trent? Yeah, you go kick and exploit. Yeah.

It's a rarity. I think they were literally surprised by it. They were like, Oh, Hey, that play worked. He scored a touchdown. What do we do? Kick the extra point.

Yeah. I think it's as simple as that. I don't think it was even like thought of. So it wasn't like they were like 50, 50. That's way both sides. It was like, we scored, we got to kick the extra point.

That's what we do. So yeah, it's, it makes no sense. So I don't get it. Not at all. We'll get into the Wisconsin matchup coming up this week. Can the Hawkeyes really beat the Badgers?

Going to be a tall task in Madison. They've done it before. What's it going to take? We'll get into that. Plus, our picks for the week presented by FanDuel all coming up here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of Locked On Hawkeyes is brought to you by PrizePix. PrizePix, really simple to play.

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This has not been a very fun one. Wisconsin is what we were growing up, right? Football, basketball, very good, very solid year after year. And there in the late 90s, at least both programs, kind of took a little bit of what Iowa was. And we look at our successes and Wisconsin's just had a tick more recently. Bucky this week, they're going through transition.

It's not a great Wisconsin team. I've gone back and rewatched every one, except for one, I think game, at least on the BTN and 60. And every time you kind of look at some of the final scores, I don't know. They must've dominated.

They have it. They haven't, they're just, they're going through a transition. You can definitely see that. Yeah. I don't, I don't think they're a great team, but certainly we're not a great team either.

But I mean, to me, it's really simple. We need to replicate exactly what happened back in 2015. I mean, it's almost identical situation. I went back and looked, pulled out the box score.

They were favored by seven and a half, somewhere in that area, about the same. I went back, pulled it up. We had a total of 221 yards in that game. So it wasn't like we moved the football. But of that, 77 passing, 144 rushing. Jordan Kinzer ran for 125 yards uh we were nine for 21 passing the ball um you know we're gonna have to commit to running the ball and have at least some decent luck doing it we only ran for 3.6 yards of rush that game but the key is you know we moved the

ball enough that we made them earn their points. And as you know, they continuously shot themselves in the foot that day. They had four turnovers. I mean, they outgained us by 100 yards. They're going to outgain us on Saturday. They are. But time of possession in that game was almost dead even. We won the turnover battle.

We had less penalties than them. We weren't perfect by any means. We had two turnovers and six penalties. But we were somewhat efficient on third down. We were five turnover battle. We had less penalties than them. We weren't perfect by any means. We had two turnovers and six penalties. But we were somewhat efficient on third down. We were five for 15. We got to do all those things. I don't think it's possible to think that we're going to play a perfect game. Deacon Hill is going to make some mistakes.

But the mistakes need to be similar to what he did on Saturday, which is overshooting someone by 20 yards and putting it in the third row and not putting it directly in the linebacker's chest. So, I mean, the recipe for winning this game is make it as ugly as possible. And, you know, nobody does that better than Iowa. So do I think we can win? Yeah, I think we can. But I'll ask you, Trent, on a scale of zero to 10, zero being no confidence, 10 being confident, how confident are you that Deacon Hill is going to handle himself well in his first road game?

Two. I just think you're asking a ton for him, his first road game, to go into Madison in basically a de facto Big Ten West championship game, it's just asking a ton of him. I mean, we're going to have to, like I said, ugly it up, keep it simple for him, and hopefully hit one or two big plays. I do like the shots down the field. Brian's game plan, Trent, brilliant.

That's what you have to do with him. It is his strength. Play to his strength. Intermediate routes, short routes are not his strength. So play with what you have. And I think it did help the run game a little bit, just with that little bit of thought that, hey, maybe they're going to take a shot here.

You got to keep doing it. And we've seen quarterbacks that have looked a lot different from early in their career to late.'t take that away from deacon it is probably the one positive that he has is the big arm of the ability to take shots you got to do it first play the game i'm fine go and play action go max protect and take a shot with somebody you know up the field just you have to give some kind of semblance that you cannot just have everybody within, you know, eight yards of the line of scrimmage against us because we've seen Iowa struggles enough running the football against this three, four front.

And though it's different and Jim Leonard isn't there anymore, they struggled so much and it looks so ugly at times against this Wisconsin defense. You have to give them something that they haven't seen before against Iowa. And that's Deacon chucking it down the field. Well, you just said it, Trent. The best hope we have in this game is that Jim Leonard's not there anymore. I mean, Jim Leonard completely owned Brian Ferentz, as he had figured out ways to blitz four or five. I mean, just do it in different ways and get someone home every time. I mean, he just totally had figured out our offensive line and made us look awful. I was

there two years ago. It was like watching a junior high offensive line. We couldn't block anybody. It was embarrassing. And the good news is, I mean, I think Wisconsin made the right call in the end. I mean, it's pretty hard to argue with Luke Fickle as your coach, and I think they're going to be really good down the road. But like you said, they're in transition right now.

Their defense is not that great. I mean, it's good. But it's not the Wisconsin defense from a couple years ago where they held us to 100 yards. We're going to get some yards on them. Are we going to get 300? No, we don't get 300 on anybody. I think we can do what we did eight years ago.

Get 200, 250 yards, commit to the run, make it a grind, and hope to win 13 to 10. I mean, that's our best chance. Probably have to dominate special teams again. Yeah. Well, as I said earlier, we can't have – I mean, Drew Stevens has got – I mean, we have to have a good special teams game again. And, like, that's my worry a little bit.

We've been – obviously, we've had bright spots on the special teams side. I mean, Troy Taylor has been – Troy Taylor and Coop's been great. But we've had some iffy moments on special teams side. I mean, Troy Taylor has been Troy Taylor and, you know, Coop's been great, but we've had, we've had some iffy moments on special teams this year, which has been kind of non, not, not what you expect. So yeah, I don't, I don't like our chances, but I'm not sure if you're a Wisconsin fan, you're like going into this thinking automatic victory either. I'm not sure Wisconsin, I mean, I don't know. You talked to Wisconsin.

Sometimes I know you have people from other sides in there, but what are they saying? Are they confident? Yeah. We had a guy on the radio show today, a Wisconsin grad, and yeah, I think everybody just looks at this Iowa offense and just how ugly it is, and they're not real concerned. We'll just put it that way, which coming from their perspective,

I don't think I would be either. Just looking at how bad it's been for, for this team. It makes a whole lot of sense, but weird things happen, you know, come up with a game plan and find a way to get out of there. 13,

10. I, I think that's your hope. Yeah. Well, and I think we're also going in there. Expectations are obviously low, you know,

get a break early on and get ahead and put the pressure on them. Cause you know, I'm not sold on Tanner Mordecai being a quality big 10 quarterback at all. And the weather is supposed to be low fifties and some wind on, on Saturday, which I'm guessing he didn't get a lot of that on Texas. So, you know, the worst the weather is and the uglier we can make the game, the better. Let's let's do that. When we come back,

we will make our picks for the week. Biz, he's giving you a winner every single week. I have given you a winner every week but one. We will do that. Also talk about things as it pertains to the point spread as the Iowa game up to a 10-point spread right now. Iowa the underdog at Wisconsin. We'll do that as we continue here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

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We simplify things. In the past, we'd do three, five games going all over the place. Now, we're just going to give our favorite pick of the week. We've been, for the most part, doing this early in the week, and the one that jumps off the page, you still have the honors, though, as you have not missed so far this season. What's your lock of the week. We've been, for the most part, doing this early in the week, and the one that jumps off the page, you still have the honors, though, as you have not missed so far this season. What's your lock of the week? Well, I love Kansas State, Trent. It would not break my heart if their coach was coaching in Kinnick in a few years, but they're kind of a mess right now. They look like crap against Oklahoma State, and now they've got to go on the road to a good and desperate Texas Tech team.

They're 3-3, and I think Texas Tech's a good team. Look at their losses. Wyoming is not a shame at all. They had Oregon up against the ropes, and then they lost at West Virginia. I just think this spread's just too low. It's 1, 1.5. I think Texas Tech beats Kansas State. I think it's two very similar programs,

but you got home team at night and a wild atmosphere at Texas Tech. They're kind of, you know, they're pretty nuts in the night games there. So give me the Red Raiders to take down every man a wildcat. Texas Tech. All right.

For me, I'm going to stay in the Big Ten this week. I know I'm not taking the Hawks. We'll get to that game in a moment. Give me Rutgers laying the five against Michigan State. Of course, we saw Sparty a couple weeks ago. It is a lot of trials and tribulations, a lot of question marks about what that future of the program is going to be. Rutgers needs this game if they're going to get bowl eligibility.

They have to put this one in the win column. I've been impressed by Rutgers. I think we've seen enough from them that they've at minimum become competent, something that they haven't been in a really long time. So kind of that weird number, I'm going to lay the five, give me a Rutgers minus five for my lock of the week. On paper, that sounds good, but anytime you have to bet Rutgers you gotta be a little nervous Trent like it's just I I can't I can't bring myself a good faith like yeah I really feel good about Rutgers fair enough fair enough all right let's get into uh the Iowa game the point spread sits at 5 36 and a half is the number right now at FanDuel in the over under I think

if you're going to do something with this game if you're feeling confident with the Hawkeyes what you said I think you butchered the point spread what did I say 10 you said 5 I think if you're going to do something with this game, if you're feeling confident with the Hawkeyes. When you said points, I think you butchered the point spread. What did I say, 10? You said five. I think it's nine or a half or 10. Oh, yeah. I was typing out the five for the Rutgers there as I was sending our picks to you.

Yeah, 10 is the number. If you feel confident with Iowa, I would say do the Iowa money line and same game parlay it with the under because there's no way that I was winning this game 20 to 17 and getting over that number. I think the only path to victory 13, 10, nine, seven, eight, five. I mean, that's, that's the path there. If I was going to do it and take a shot here, I'd add a little bit more and also throw the under on top of it.

Eight, five. We'd get a, get a score. Yes. Honestly, if it was below 10, I'd probably like Wisconsin. Now that it's up to 10, I'd just leave it alone. I don't, like I said before, I just don't have any confidence that Deacon Hill is going to handle this situation well.

He didn't handle his first start at Kinnick well, and he just didn't show any signs of being able to go on the road and manage a football game. I just think a couple of those errant crows are going to find their way into Badger's hands. I mean, we got lucky.

He didn't turn the ball over more than once on Saturday. So I just don't think we can play a clean game on Saturday. So I hope I'm wrong. I hope we go in there and we find a way to pull it out. You know, we make it ugly and get the job done. But if you force me to bet it, I think I'd probably take Wisconsin. I think that's where I am too.

I just, and I could see this game. They're just grinding, grinding. They pull away. And Wisconsin's done that a couple of times this season. Though they're running spread offense, they still run the football with Braylon Allen a lot. Malusi goes out for the season and then their backup just looked really good last week too.

It just, they keep finding the dudes at the running back position week in and week out. That are our locks of the week here. Presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. We'll be back with you with more next week. We will recap, of course, the Wisconsin game coming up later this week here on the Lockdown Feed, your team every day. We'll hear from former Hawkeye running back LaShawn Daniels,

get his perspective on what the running game did and how it looked better on Saturday at a chance against Wisconsin, what the Hawkeyes have to do to pull off the victory. Biz, we'll talk to you again next week. All right, go Hawks.