Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hawkeyes' future: Are they facing a downward trend?

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

Iowa Hawkeyes Football Faces Uncertain Future After UCLA's Dominant DisplayCan the Iowa Hawkeyes recover from their recent struggles on the field? UCLA's commanding performance against the Hawkeyes, particularly in the running game, has raised significant concerns about Iowa's defense and quarterback Brendan Sullivan's decision-making.This episode explores the critical issues facing the Iowa Hawkeyes Football team, including Coach Kirk Ferentz's controversial clock management and the potential impact of graduating players on the team's future. With the program possibly trending downward, the discussion also touches on whether Iowa should embrace the transfer portal more aggressively to address roster gaps.Join us for an insightful analysis of the Iowa Hawkeyes' challenges and opportunities. Listen now to uncover the strategies that could shape the team's path forward.For your next listen, check out the Locked On College Football podcast! From NIL deals to never ending conference realignment rumors, Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the gridiron! Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Omaha SteaksFrom legendary steaks to mouthwatering desserts and more, save 50% off sitewide at OmahaSteaks.com. Plus, our listeners get an extra $30 off with promo code COLLEGE AND a $30 reward card when you shop early. Minimum purchase may apply.ROYDownload Roy for iOS or Android and enter referral code LOCKED ON and you’ll automatically be entered into a sweepstakes to win $5,000 cash. Visit JoinRoy.com for additional details. No purchase necessary, void where prohibited. Get off the sidelines and into the NIL game with Roy.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM 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)

Iowa gets drilled by UCLA. 2017 in a Friday night game. We react for a second time. Reaction to that one. Season over, feels that way. Career over, we'll dissect. Today, Locked on Hawkeyes. You are Locked on Hawkeyes.

Your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the 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, and this is the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked on Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also watch us on YouTube. While you're there, make sure you hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of

more Hawkeye fans. You can start the season off with a big return on FanDuel. New customers place a $5 bet. You'll get started with $150 in bonus bets. If you win your first $5 bet, visit FanDuel.com to get started. We'll maybe open it up with UCLA on the money line. UCLA plus the points. The Hawkeyes can't get it done against UCLA. Now, as we warned throughout the course of the week, this matchup posed some problems, certainly for Iowa. There were some concerning elements going into the game at the forefront of that is obviously the rush defense of UCLA. And that showed up in a big time way as I was inability once again, to be able to make the plays in the running game that we've just grown so accustomed to.

They were aggressive. They were blitzing. And this was a UCLA team that came into this football game without a ton of guys. Their injury list was incredibly long. They had guys that many of the UCLA beat reporters didn't even think were going to be out of this football game. And yet they went out there. They were the more aggressive team. They were the more physical team and they, I would, I would, I would, that is a huge concern. This is year number one of Deshaun Foster. And I know a lot of people look back to

what we saw at the Big Ten football media days. And as he got up there and kind of got a little stage fright, it looked like as he was talking about his Bruins and his opening statement and people said, well, this thing's going to be a disaster. Chip Kelly leaves the program, leaves the program, not for a head coaching job, but to be the offensive coordinator and thought that this thing was going to be absolutely dreadful. But if you dug a little bit deeper into this UCLA team, you saw a team that was making improvements. And it wasn't just the win the week previous against Nebraska.

There was a whole lot more there. But the physicality for Iowa to get manhandled in the fashion that they were. I think one thing that we are learning is the losses of Logan Lee and Joe Evans from a year ago were much bigger than we thought. This defensive line cannot generate a pass rush. And when Iowa can't generate a pass rush, you're going to see what we saw here, where you're just manhandled up front. You give time all day long for Garbers to make plays, and he was able to do it. The linebackers, Jay Higgins goes out. But even before Jay Higgins goes out, UCLA was still gashing this Iowa defense.

And now another game where we see Iowa not be able to get off the field defensively on the road. It would happen against Michigan State. Did not force a punt against Michigan State. Here they force one punt against Ohio State. It's unconscionable. There's no way that that should be happening, even with an average defense.

We thought this was going to be a good Iowa defense, and not the case. I think we also saw, even though Brendan Sullivan had some nice plays in the game, obviously the big one up top as he was able to hit Jacob Gill for the big gainer, and it just felt so good to see Iowa actually make a play up the field. I mean, it's just such a rarity.

Felt like, I mean, in the desert, he finally found some water. Look at that, a deep shot, and it connected. Oh, man, you could do that. You don't have to do everything within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage. No, you can go down the field. It works. And it worked on that one. But that was about it. You jump up to a 10-0 lead. You're gifted on a terrible play by Garbers

and interception. It felt like this was going to go Iowa's way. And then the second quarter came and it was physical domination from UCLA. Brendan Sullivan finishes the game 6-9, 157 yards, but two interceptions. And both of those interceptions are just plays you can't make. Get the ball out late, across the middle, and they're picked off. Picked off by a tremendous player, a guy that was a walk-on.

Yes, he was a walk-on, but we know that Schwessinger is a really good player. I mean, this guy was a semifinalist for the Buckus Award for a reason. Didn't have any interceptions in his career until that moment, and he got two against Sullivan. One thing I think we also realize,

I think we need to walk away. Look, there was a reason that Brendan Sullivan was available. Northwestern was ready to, ready to move on. And he was never the full-time starter outside of because of injuries. He was never a guy that they had complete confidence in. And I think we saw the reasons for it, right? I think we see a guy that has some physical tools.

He can throw the football. He can run the football. We know what a great runner he is, but it's decision-making. It's making that right choice, making that right read, and it just isn't there enough for Brendan Sullivan. This is going back all the way to August. And when I brought it up throughout the first month, month and a half of the season, and people would freak out about it, but it was true. The gap between the two as a thrower, and as a thrower is just not physically throwing the football. It's not just who has a stronger arm or who can throw that 20 yard out round.

It's not that being a thrower, being a passer is also being able to read and dissect what defenses are doing against you. And that was the knock against Brendan Sullivan. Physically, physical tools. Yeah, he's a better quarterback than Cade Bactamara. We'll get into the quarterback a little bit more on what this is going to be going forward. Got to give credit as well to Jackson Stratton coming in there. This dude showed up this fall, August camp, fifth on the depth chart. Cade Bactam, Brighton Sullivan, Marco Lyon, James Rezar, the true freshman,

and then Jackson Stratton. And to think at this point that he'd be playing, and not just playing, but a Southern California kid, Mission Bay, California, playing in the Rose Bowl. His first action at the power four level comes at the Rose Bowl.

In the second half of a game, the chance to win the football game. Now, unfortunately, I would didn't get that chance. I would didn't get that chance because they didn't get the ball back. They punted it away. UCLA was able to drain out the clock, but the reason they were able to drain out the clock is because of Kirk Ferentz. Four minutes left, they punt it. Another brutal punt by Reece Dakin. He's not consistent. He's not Torrey Taylor, and that's okay,

because the likelihood is we're probably not going to see another Torrey Taylor. But two dreadful punts at just terrible times for Iowa in this one, including that one. UCLA gets the ball back. Inside of four minutes left and they run it out. And they run it out because A, the defense again can't get a stop, but they were not helped out by their head coach. We're going to decipher that a little bit more. We're going to talk about the future of this Iowa football program. Where are we trending with Iowa football in, in a year that was supposed to be the big step forward? This was supposed to be

the year. They're 6-4. We'll tackle Kirk when we come back. This is Locked on Hawkeyes. Today's episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Get ready to tackle the NFL season with FanDuel. It ready to tackle the NFL season with FanDuel. It's America's number one sports book because right now new customers, you can bet $5. You're going to get 150 in bonus bets. If you win the FanDuel sports book app gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place. So when you get a hunch in the middle of

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Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDuel, an official partner and sportsbook partner of the NFL. Trey Connick back with you again here on Locked on Hawkeyes. Thanks for being with us and making Locked on Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So as we're going through the game and the decision that drives me absolutely crazy, time in and time out, the frustration of clock management by Kirk Ferentz

is something that drives me batty. He's terrible at it. And I think you see just in terms of the way that the game dictates it needs to go, this is not one of his strengths. We talk about Kirk Ferentz's strengths. We talk about him, a leader of men. A guy that, when the chips are down, when everybody's against him,

back against the wall, pushed into a corner. That's when Kirk Ferentz is at his best as a coach. And in game scenarios, late clock situations, though, he is brutal. And this is the latest example. So they start using their timeouts. And as they're using their timeouts, with 2.11 left on the clock, they use another. Now, the problem for that is using your timeouts in front of the two-minute warning, before you get to the two-minute warning.

And when you're setting it up on a third down and eight, you give the ability to UCLA to have two options. Instead of calling that timeout, instead of calling a timeout there, you let it go to the two-minute warning. You hold your final timeout in your back pocket. UCLA is not going to throw the football there. I mean, the likelihood of that is incredibly, incredibly low. So you keep it in your back pocket.

You stuff them. You hope to stop them on third and eight. And you get the football back, even if you have to use your final timeout. That's what you do. That's football 101. That's clock management. Simplest, simplest way. That is how you control the clock and control the game.

And Kirk Ferentz didn't do it. To save a couple of seconds on the other side of the two-minute warning. It's an aptitude. It just is. Because what happens on third and eight, knowing that the two-minute warning was coming, UCLA had two options. They throw the football. Jamari Harris gets his hips turned the wrong way. He's not able to make a break on the football. First down, game over. Iowa loses. Now, yes, you can argue it didn't matter. It's not that Jackson Stratton

was going to get the football back for Iowa. They were going to march down the field and they were going to get it there. That likely wasn't going to happen. However, wouldn't you like the opportunity? Wouldn't you like the chance to at least see it? As opposed to them taking a couple of knees, game over, and yet another time where Iowa can't get it done on the West Coast. It's something that is not just an Iowa issue, but this is a new reality for Iowa and the rest of the Big Ten. Traveling to the West Coast has been a disaster. And this is not just this season.

This is overall. How can you combat it? It doesn't feel like this is something as simple as, well, you're in the flight an extra hour, hour and a half, something like that. There does feel like there's more to it. But last trip to the Rose Bowl, the trips to Arizona State and Arizona, they've been bad for Kirk Ferentz. Do you go out a day early?

Is that something that needs to be reevaluated? And will Kirk Ferentz do you go out a day early is that something that needs to be re-evaluated and will Kirk Ferentz be the guy that does it a lot of questions there Caleb Johnson never could get going here's another thing that just I don't understand Caleb Johnson when Iowa had the football before

the preceding conversation the late game scenario where was he he had Kamari Moulton out there the preceding conversation, the late game scenario. Where was he? He had Kamari Moulton out there. And Kamari Moulton is a fine running back. Kamari Moulton could turn into a really good running back. But Caleb Johnson is your offense.

He is your guy. This is the old Hayden Fry adage, right? Dance with the girl that brought you. Yeah, it wasn't going great for Caleb Johnson. 18 carries, 49 yards. But what have we seen out of this guy throughout the course of this season? What have we seen from him when he's been healthy throughout the course of his career?

He can hit a home run. That team needed a home run. Instead, they went with the singles hitter, Kamari Moulton. I don't get it. But there's a lot of things I don't get about this one. I don't get how you can't get off the field. I don't understand how you were physically dominated at the point of attack

by the worst rush offense in college football. That's right. UCLA going into the game was 133rd in the country in rush offense. And TJ Harden was a dude. That offensive line was impactful. Iowa is in some big trouble. And not for this year, because this year's over. The difference between 6-6 and 8-4 doesn't feel like much.

Maybe if you have an over ticket at 7.5 wins, that'll be impactful to your wallet. But short of that, who cares? Bowl games are not what they once were. I know Kirk Ferentz, an aging football coach, still says there's no such thing as a bad bowl game. They're all kind of bad. And this new environment, in the new 12-team era

of the college football playoff, the opportunities for Iowa to get there are not going to be a yearly occurrence. Regardless of who comes in and becomes the next head coach at Iowa, if your expectation level is that Iowa, Iowa, should be in the conversation every single year for the college football playoff, you're nuts. It's not going to happen.

It's not happening for a program like LSU right now, who was handed a loss on Saturday night, their third of the season. LSU, USC, programs like that, it's not going to be a yearly occurrence for them. It's not going to be for Iowa. And you can whine and complain and say, well, your expectations need to be higher. They can be, but they're going to be wrong. Come live in reality. The windows of opportunity are going to be every few years.

That is the likelihood where you have a A, team that is ready to play at that level. B, you catch breaks throughout the course of the season. C, you probably have a schedule that's advantageous to make that happen. You're going to have to have a lot go right just to be in the conversation by the time we get to this point in the season. And you're going to have to be, at minimum, probably 8-1, maybe 7-2, and you can backdoor your way into a Big Ten championship game. A 10-2 regular season, not getting to the championship game.

That could be a path to get there, but it's not going to happen on a yearly basis. This was the year. This was the opportunity. And I wonder for Kirk Ferentz, and I wonder this coaching staff, if they got a different look at this, and if this has changed the equation of the way they look at roster building,

they brought back all these guys for another season. Coming back, we're going to run it back one final time. And what this has happened in the past, it hasn't gone well for a lot of programs. Now, Michigan was one a year ago that it did work out well for them. Bringing all the guys back for another year, that did work out. This has not. And it's not to say individually the guys haven't played well. I think the linebackers, obviously Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson, those guys have played at a really high level. But from Quinn Schulte,

Jamari Harris has played well. You look at some of the pieces. Does it make more sense instead of using your NIL funds to bring guys back? Guys that'll have an opportunity at the next level. That'll be late round NFL draft picks or free agents. To use your money that way or instead your developmental, to see what your development is doing, and if there are holes in your roster, to plug them with guys from the transfer portal. Now, Indiana is an outlier, because they bring in 40 new dudes, and it's not like they were beating the who's who of college football for these guys. I mean, they're bringing them in from the Sun Belt and from Conference USA. They're bringing in lower-level prospects, and it's all click for them and credit to them for

making that happen. But you also bring with it guys with a little fire, guys that have an opportunity to play at the power conference level for the first time. You look at Nick Jackson playing in the ACC, making the jump up to the Big Ten, and it's a jump forward. There are guys out there like that. Two years ago, Iowa attacked the portal, and it went well. Even with the Cade McNamara injury two years ago aside, it went well for them. Now, we're just going to roll it back. You're 6-4. You're 6 and four with 19 starters coming back and that's not going to be the case next year the future of Iowa football what it feels like and what's going to happen at the quarterback spot we got a lot still to get into here as we look back Friday night loss to UCLA try to do this on Friday evening and people out there maybe you saw the short little clip

I was on radio duty on Friday night on 1040 WHO. So gave you a couple of minutes before I had to jump on the radio. We went a little bit earlier than anticipated. So wasn't able to get you a full show. So we're doing it again here. Rapid reaction, not quite as rapid here as we look back at the loss to UCLA and some big questions concerning this Iowa football program. We continue as we're back with more in a moment.

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So the big questions that are out there, and we're going to be talking about them a lot this week, really two weeks. We got basketball, a great win on Sunday by the women's basketball team. We'll talk about that more tomorrow. We'll set up the matchup for the men's team, their most difficult opponent here in the early going

of the schedule. It's not a vaunted squad by any means against South Dakota. Still, it is a step up, and after, I would say, a slow start in the first two matchups for the men's team, we'll talk plenty of basketball. But with the bye week now here again, Iowa will not play this weekend before they make another road trip to Maryland.

Will the defense be able to get off the field? We will see. As we're talking about the transfer portal, Iowa's going to have a ton of work to do. You start at the most important position in sport, the quarterback position. From what we saw from Brennan Sullivan, have you seen enough to believe that he's a starter?

I haven't. I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think that you can go into next season, a rebuilding year with Brennan Sullivan as your quarterback. Can he be on campus? Can he compete for the job? Absolutely. But twofold.

Him as a passer, that's a part of it. But secondly, when he does play, the way that he plays. This is a guy that plays physically. This is a guy that was banged up at Northwestern. When he was playing, the way that he plays. This is a guy that plays physically. This is a guy that was banged up at Northwestern. When he was playing, he got banged up. Why? Because he plays with reckless abandonment. And that's what you get.

Injuries are going to happen. I don't think he is the thrower to be able to unleash exactly what Tim Lester wants to do. I think that's another component of it. You have to rebuild your offensive line. Likelihood, you're going to have maybe one starter coming back next year. Caleb Johnson is going to be gone. You feel okay with Kamari Moulton and Jazzy on Patterson? You got Xavier Williams and Brevin Dahl redshirting this year at the running back position. Okay, you're all right at running back. What about wide receiver? We saw Van Der Zee show flashes.

A big start to the season. Jacob Gill, he's been outstanding. He's been their best wide receiver. Dayton Howard's played a little bit. We've seen some Jared Bowie. Wide receiver is actually okay as long as everybody stays around. Tight end position, we've had to see a lot more than we wanted to of Ortworth to this point in time, but Lachey's gone.

Estrenga, hopefully will be back healthy next year. So you're looking at a quarterback, they're expensive in the portal. You're looking at offensive line, that's incredibly expensive. Then you go to the other side of the football, and that's where it becomes even more concerning. Your defensive line is veteran. Now, if Aaron Graves comes back for another season, that's great. Hawaii Black is done. Deontay Craig is done. You have to fill a couple of big holes there. You need to find a pass rusher, an edge rusher.

This Iowa team is greatly missing that. And without an edge rusher, you see this Iowa defense look pretty average this year. And they certainly don't have it. That you'd hope for. Why a black does so much. Statistically, it doesn't show up. Good luck going out there and finding, though,

a run stuffer. A guy that can fill finding, though, a run-stuffer. A guy that can fill the hole that Y.A. Black is going to go. We've seen Jeremiah Pittman. He is adequate at best. And then you get into some guys that have never played, or if they have played, they're walk-ons, and they're frankly not very good. That's defensive tackle.

Linebackers will be new faces. Quinn Schulte, gone. Jamari Harris, gone. The second quarterback, they haven't been able to figure out all season long. They must not like many of those guys. This thing's getting scary in a hurry. And Iowa does not have the funds in the NIL to do what many other programs have been able to do. This isn't about filling a couple of gaps. It very much has the feeling of what we saw at the end of the Hayden era.

We brought this up from time to time, and it has those memories. 1997, got off to the great start. Davian Banks is running all over everybody. 300 yards against Tulsa, 314 in the game against the Golden Hurricane. And then Andy Katsamori and Ohio State changed that. Matt Sherman gets hurt against Michigan. And it was basically season over. That year, the long winning streak against Wisconsin came to an end.

They lost to a bad Northwestern team. And they finished 7-4, lose the bowl game. But we're going to run it back in 98. Even though they lost a ton. And it was dreadful. They went 3-8 in Hayden's final season. He retires. but we're going to run it back in 98, even though they lost a ton, and it was dreadful. They went 3-8 in Hayden's final season. He retires,

and it was a long rebuild that Kirk Ferentz inherited. Are we trending the same direction? Is this where we're going? I don't think there's any doubt that Kirk Ferentz would love to have the all-time Big Ten wins record. He's not getting there this year. That's now off the table. Had to have the all-time Big Ten wins record. He's not getting there this year. That's now off the table. Had to run the table to make that happen.

And in order for it to happen, he comes back for another year. Well, the roster that we just mentioned, with the questions that abound inside this program, there probably aren't going to be a ton of wins in 2025. You throw in the fact that this is what they're going to have next season in terms of the schedule. I'm trying to find wins next year for this Iowa football team outside of these two games. This is what they have next year. Florida Atlantic. UMass. Okay, there's two.

The other game, they go to Iowa State. Your home games, Indiana, ranked fifth in the country. Michigan State, just blew you out. Minnesota, well, you got them this year. Oregon, ranked number one in the country. And Penn State, also ranked in the top five. Your road trips include Wisconsin, USC, Rutgers, and Nebraska. With what we know about this Iowa football team

and what they have coming back, that looks to be a 3-9 football team. 4-8. It's trending down. This was a missed opportunity. This was the chance. And that's why there's so much frustration. What's going to happen to quarterback?

We'll talk about that here throughout the course of the week. A lot of basketball talk. As mentioned, we will get into that as well throughout the course of the week. Watch a little bit of Iowa wrestling over the weekend on Saturday as they wrestled Stanford. And some thoughts on that as well as we start to move our way into the winter sports season, fall wrapping up and Iowa football still two games to go,

but a bye week this week before the next road trip out to Maryland, we got you covered on all angles on the lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, your team every day. We will be with you here. You can also check out lockdown, big 10 Craig Sheeman doing a great job of putting the Big Ten first. You can also find Locked On Big Ten on YouTube and wherever you listen to a podcast.

We'll be back with you tomorrow. Some thoughts on Iowa women's basketball, thoughts of the quarterback situation for Iowa football, and a whole lot more. Thanks for being with us. We'll talk to you then. Go Hawks.