Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hawkeyes victory recap with LeShun Daniels Jr: Jestin Jacobs breakout game; Tory Taylor for Heisman; and what needs to improve

Episode Date: September 12, 2021

We are joined by former Iowa running back LeShun Daniels Jr to break down yesterday's win by the Iowa Hawkeyes over the Iowa State Cyclones. We discuss the superb play on the defensive side of the ball from the entire back-7, interesting defensive line pass rush wrinkles including Zach VanValkenburg in a spy, and what went well and what didn't for Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras. We wrap up with a quick discussion on why Matt Campbell pulled some starters in the 4th quarter.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!SweatBlockGet it today for 20% off at SweatBlock.com with promo code LockedOn, or at Amazon and CVS.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.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. 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 a Monday morning morning episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. As you can see here, if you're watching the YouTube channel, I am joined by former Iowa running back LaShawn Daniels. LaShawn, how are you doing today, buddy? I'm doing well, doing well. Happy to be here, happy to be here. I appreciate you, man. And on today's show, we're going to be breaking down the Iowa-Iowa State victory, which, I don't know about you, but I was sweating all week.

Iowa State's a very good team during that game. I was a little bit worried at first, but Iowa pulls out. We're going to be breaking out everything in that game, the good, the bad, the ugly, the MVPs of that game. After you get done listening to this Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, you have to check out the Lockdown Big Ten podcast. There's simply no better place to get all the news on the Big Ten conference than with Nate Dickinson in the Lockdown Big Ten podcast.

Follow the Lockdown Big Ten podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast app. All right, LaShawn. So first, I just want to get your thoughts. What is it like beating Iowa State? What was that game like leading up to the week, the hate week, every single week, right? That's a huge game. What was that always leading up to you as a player?

You know, it was always an exciting week because we know that there's a trophy on the line and no matter how good or bad each team is, you know, that you're going to be in a battle the entire 60 minutes. So going in the week for preparation, obviously everyone's, you know, kind of a little bit on edge, but you're still preparing the same way as you would every other game. But just trying to bring this, same intensity and you know really trying to focus on and hone in on on our game plan so when it comes on on saturday that everyone's ready to go but you know it's always um a fun time because it's always always great and having the opportunity to uh battle for a trophy and to beat your rivals so

it's always fun absolutely man and yesterday Iowa takes on the CyHop trophy again right a streak that started when you were there so very exciting to see them continue to take down Matt Campbell and a very very strong Iowa State team I think what's very important to note is that this is not a bad Iowa State team excuse me I'm going through a little cold is that this is not a bad Iowa State team. Excuse me, I'm going through a little cold here. But this is not a bad Iowa State team. This is a very strong Iowa State team. And there are definitely things that Iowa needs to improve on.

There's also some things that are really great to see. I think defensively, there's not a lot to be upset about. Yes, that second quarter drive at the last minute, that was very frustrating to see. It looks like a defensive miscommunication allowed for a wide open wide receiver. Also, Brock Purdy makes a phenomenal throw right over Jack Campbell's head. The last part of the game with Hunter Deckers coming in, I thought they did a pretty good job of driving on the field. They did a pretty good job against a defense that was alternating and rotating in a bunch of different defensive backs.

So a little bit of unfamiliarity there. But overall, I think defensively you have to say, wow, this might be one of the best defenses we've seen in a long time. Is that what you're seeing from this defense? I mean, you've seen some pretty good defenses when you were at Iowa. What does this defense remind you of? Is this a good defense or is this something that we're, you know, where maybe we're just playing really strong this first couple of weeks?

It's definitely a combination of both. I think the defense has been doing a fantastic job especially on the back end with the defensive backs um we've gone against two pretty good quarterbacks i would have to say and um have caused a significant amount of turnovers um and they haven't been able to get any rhythm going um which i think has been fantastic has been a great help to our team overall. And, you know, a lot of obviously taking a lot of the pressure off of the offense. So the defense has been doing a great job and it's been playing phenomenal. And the key is just obviously being being more consistent and keeping that up and then obviously finding ways to generate more pass rush from our defensive line. I think that's part of the reason why there's a lot of guys being rotated in and out

in combination, obviously, with the weather yesterday as well. But I think this defense has a lot of potential, and they just have to keep stacking weeks together, putting it together in practice, and then obviously, as you see, when it comes along on Saturdays, it's been a great help to the team. Absolutely. You mentioned something that I want to call out as well. Typically when you have a very strong defensive line,

it takes pressure off your secondary. They don't have to cover as long. They don't have to, you know, be on their man as long. I feel like it's the inverse this year. Our secondary is so strong that allows the defensive line to actually get pressure because they have a little bit longer to get to the quarterback. Offensive linemen cannot hold those blocks for years, right? And I think Brock Purdy had some time in the pocket, but eventually, because the secondary was doing so strong and they have been doing so strong,

and I think also mixing up some man principles, in addition to Phil Parker's zone defense, which is typically what we see, it has been confusing the heck out of quarterbacks, and it's been helping our defensive line. And then you see in the third quarter, Phil Parker starts dialing up some blitzes, and that's really where the pressure got there, and that was a lot of fun to see. You win against Phil Parker. What was his defense like? Very basic, like all the time.

Pretty much all the time in practice. very basic, like all the time, like pretty much all the time in practice. It pretty much run the same fronts, same coverage, and really just let their guys play their assignments and play their assignments. Well, I think that Coach Parker loves to have his guys play fast and not have to think too much about what they have to worry about and what they're about to, too many different things. But they're always tough, and they're always fast to the ball. They're always really extremely disciplined.

And then when they do dial up blitzes, right, you have to make sure that you're locked in and that you're not falling asleep because, as we've seen, he tends to call blitzes at the right time, at the right opportune time to get pressure when he knows that, you know, the defense could use a little jolt there to get some extra pressure. So, all in all, I mean, thinking back, you know, going back to practice every single day against Coach Parker and the defense, I mean, they pretty much keep it pretty basic. I mean, they'll do a cross splits every inside linebacker cross splits every now and again. Sometimes they'll bring a corner or maybe they'll bring, you know, the field backer or the nickel on a blitz. But I mean, all in all, I mean, it's pretty basic defense.

They'll be mostly zone. And then with some man concepts every now and again, like you like you had already mentioned. But, you know, going against them, they keep it simple. He likes to have his guys play fast. And I think we see that, you know, over the years since he's been the defensive coordinator. So. Absolutely.

Two guys I want to call out on the defensive side of the ball, Zach from Valkenburg and then Justin Jacobs. Let's start with Justin Jacobs. That is a guy who a lot of people are very excited about. He joined the Iowa Hawkeyes as a four-star recruit out of Ohio. You can relate to that. So can James, right? A guy who grew up probably wanting to play for Ohio State. Ohio State wanted to get him. He ended up going to Iowa. We get him. He sits on the bench. People don't know. You kind of start forgetting about people when they're on the bench for a year or two. Even though it's only been two years,

we're wondering where is Justin Jacobs at? Well, this is a coming out party for Justin Jacobs. We knew coming into this game Phil Parker wanted to play more 4-3 because Iowa State has so many tight ends. They also like to run the ball, so you want to make sure you have some bigger guys in the box. But Justin Jacobs, what I thought was the most impressive thing, is how he handled coverage responsibilities. He was on top of his guys.

He was getting his hands active when the ball was coming down and they were trying to catch the ball. And then that forced fumble on Brees Hall. Yes, Brees Hall probably wasn't holding the ball as secure as he should have. And I want to get your thoughts on that. But also the fact that Justin put his hands right where he needed to to knock that out. And that was such a huge momentum shifting play. So two things.

What are your thoughts on Justin Jacobs? Really his first big time game playing. And second, as a running back, what did Brees Hall do wrong there? Two things. What are your thoughts on Justin Jacobs? Really, his first big-time game playing. And second, as a running back, what did Brees Hall do wrong there? And what did Justin Jacobs do right there? Yeah, so, you know, with Jacobs, I think being in the game, I think, and having that time to develop a little bit over the years has helped them tremendously. I mean, we saw him yesterday playing fast, flying all over the field. And, you know, as you mentioned, his coverage responsibilities

were really good, right? I mean, he's on top of his guys. He's not, you know, having missed assignments, which is another thing, you know, and coverage all on its own. But, you know, he has the ability to stay with his mans and run with his mans and then you know if the ball is coming coming his way he knows how to defend it and fight through the to the man to you know make the passes and you know on the play against uh Brees um you know he he saw the ball and wouldn't go get it I mean I'm sure I know all the time coach Parker is always talking about uh you know ripping the ball out or trying to punch the ball out to create turnovers because turnovers essentially is what helps you win ball games. And, you know, with Brees running the football, I mean, I saw it a mile away.

I mean, the ball's away from his body. He's swinging it all over the place. And he corrected it after that drive. But, you know, it was already kind of too late at that point, right, because that's a huge momentum shift. know, it was already kind of too late at that point, right? Because that's a huge momentum shift. And we were always taught, keep the ball tight to your body, especially when you're that close to your own, to your own end zone. Um, and that, and that negative territory, because, you know, at that point, you're just trying to get positive yards to do as much as you can to try to flip the field. Um, and, you know, having a turnover at that point and getting that ball

punched out is obviously a tremendous play by Jacobs, but it's definitely even a worse play for, for Brees because, you know, he's supposed to be their guy. He's their guy that they trust. And to funnel in that situation, um, I'm sure it didn't feel too good. So I cannot imagine that conversation, the sideline. And also when he came back into the game, he was running incredibly pissed off. I mean, he looked like he was about to run over anything in his way. I want to get to Zach from Valkenburg and obviously Iowa football and the offense, because we want to talk about some offense,

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Check out prizepix.com or go to your App Store and download the app today. PrizePix is your daily fantasy made easy. All right, LaShawn. So we've talked a lot about the defensive side of the ball. I have two last things to say. Zach from Valkenburg, what I thought was really interesting, instead of using your all Big Ten defensive end to rush the passer, several times what they would do is a stunt and then have him,

instead of actually rushing the passer, just be a spy. And that really threw off Brock Pur passer several times what they would do is a stunt and then have him instead of actually rushing the passer just be a spy and that really threw off Brock Purdy several times um Joe Evans got some big hits because of Zach and Valkenberg doing that um I thought that was interesting typically we see Iowa bringing all four of those guys and you don't expect maybe your best pass rusher to drop back into a spy um what did you notice about that yeah uh i definitely noticed that pretty early i was i mean i was that's a wrinkle that i can't recall you know seeing um you know especially thinking back like when we played um i know like whenever they would do twists that those guys were coming like they there was no um chilling back there

waiting for a quarterback to move or anything like that. So adding that wrinkle and obviously gave Iowa State some fits. I mean, Zach, you know, made some plays on being able to do that because, I mean, now you have another guy in coverage. I mean, it's a big guy. He's tall. He's got long arms. I mean, it's a hard it's a hard throw to get over over that. And I mean, I know that defensive linemen are always taught, like, if you're not going to get to the quarterback, you know, get your hands up to try to bat the balls down.

And I think as we saw that there was opportunities that they converted on doing that. So it's definitely a nice little wrinkle that I like that they add. And I'm sure that, you know, as the season goes on, that that's not just going to continue to happen. And then, you know, eventually he's going to end up coming and you know it's going to possibly give alignment fits because then they're going to might look off and try to pick up another guy and things like that and there's all these different other wrinkles that

Coach Farger could add on top of that so I definitely think that that was very interesting and I'm interested to see how that's going to continue throughout the rest of the season and using that. Because obviously, as we've seen, he's a great pass rusher. I mean, when he did brush the passer yesterday, it seemed like he was getting tackled every single time that he was trying to get to the quarterback. So, you know, I think Zach's obviously a great player. And then when you add, you know, wrinkles like that, it's only going to help your own team's success. Absolutely. you add you know wrinkles like that it's only going to help your your own team success absolutely you mentioned that the idea of possibly blitzing or going in and rushing the pass you're kind of

a delayed delayed pass rush at that point and that will confuse the linemen especially if they're like oh he's dropping back into spy i can help out a guy over here all of a sudden there's a lane and he goes in um i think that's a really interesting concept that you mentioned that we could possibly see before we get to to offense, who is your defensive MVP? Defensive MVP. I like Matt Hankins, man. I mean, he's doing great things. It seems like every single year we've got DBs, senior DBs,

who are just going out here and making plays. I mean, last week it was Riley Moss. Now this week we have Matt Hankins going up there and making two great interceptions. The one on the deep ball in the second quarter was fantastic, right? I mean, he went up and really, really got that ball. It was a huge, huge play for a team. And then obviously on that interception return that he almost scored was another fantastic play as well. I mean, those plays like that flipped the field and really flipped the momentum. Obviously, on that interception return that he almost scored was another fantastic play as well.

I mean, those plays like that flip the field and really flip the momentum, you know, towards the good guys. Absolutely. I was going to say him, so I'm going to do something different. I'm going to go just the linebacker core in general. I'm kind of cheating here, but I feel like Justin and Seth and Jack did a phenomenal job of staying where they're supposed to in the zone. They did a good job of coverage when they had to do man coverage. I thought they were attacking the football very hard. A couple of missed tackles here and there, but overall I thought the three of them did a phenomenal job, either with the scoop and score, with the interception, with the forced fumble.

I mean, they were just involved in the game throughout. And that linebacker core, I've been saying it since the start of the season, I think they have the potential to be just as good or close to as that great trio of linebackers you were playing with when you were at Iowa, Josie Jewell, Bo Bowers, Ben Neiman. So really excited about their potential throughout the season. You mentioned one thing, the fact that Matt Hankins is flipping the field, right, with his interception, he's flipping the field.

What we were seeing, though, is that once we flipped that field, we weren't able to do anything with it. I don't know about you, but I was sitting there getting so frustrated seeing this get to the 30 and then watching this lose yards. There was a stat that came out yesterday. Iowa, in the third quarter, builds a 10-0 advantage over Iowa State. They had minus six yards offensively. So, hey, that's amazing, special teams. Amazing defensive energy there. over Iowa State. They had minus six yards offensively.

So, hey, that's amazing special teams. Amazing defensive energy there, but that's not okay. So, Spencer Petras, let's get to him. That's always the topic of the conversation. I thought the first quarter he came out, he looked very nervous. I mean, everything was low, high, over. I mean, nothing looked good the first quarter. The second quarter, after that Matt Hagans interception, he looked good. I mean, nothing looked good the first quarter. The second quarter, after that Matt Hagans interception, he looked good. I mean, he showed the potential of what he can be as an Iowa quarterback. From there, it felt like he was trying to not screw up. He wasn't playing to win the game.

He was trying to not screw up. And in doing so, he took several sacks on third down in Iowa State territory, almost pushing us out of field goal consideration several times and did push us out of field goal consideration a couple of times. Open statement, thoughts on Spencer Petras after all that kind of spitting out of words I just did there. I definitely think he's a good player. And I think it's, I don't know if anyone's touched on it, but I'm sure it's been touched

on before. You know, as a young quarterback, like he is what she is. I mean, like when you think back to last season, as far as reps goes for a starting quarterback, he probably didn't get anywhere near as many as, as you would like your starting quarterback to have. And, you know, obviously as this season has gone on, as this year years has gone on, I mean, now they've had, you know, obviously as this season's gone on, as this year's has gone on, I mean, now they've had, you know, all these different opportunities to try to get him ready.

And I think he's a really good player. I mean, there's times where he makes throws that are really just on point, they're on the money, they've got good zip on the ball. That Charlie Jones throw. Yeah, that was fantastic. Oh my God, what a beautiful pass. And I mean, that's what you want in a quarterback. You want your quarterback to be able to make plays like that. But also, we know that with being a quarterback, there's there's experience involved as well. Right. And knowing, you know, not being able to take a sack when you're at your at the plus 30 yard line and, you know know you have opportunity to get points on the board

um so obviously like there's decision making things that he can improve on prove upon um but you know all in all he's a starter for a reason right i mean at this point they've had you know months and months of preparation um and the coaches have seen, continuously seen something in Spencer to say like, hey, he's going to be our guy and we're going to rock with him. So, and I'm pretty much on board with what the coaches think because, I mean, they're the ones

being paid to do the job, so. I like it. The trust in Kirk mantra, I think people need to be reminded of that a lot. He's not doing anything to jeopardize the ability of this team to win. I think it's easy to say, oh, he made these mistakes. He made this mistake. Let's bring in Alex Padilla. Let's bring in Deuce Hogan. But at the end of the day, there's a reason why he is the starter and he does do some good things. I think for me,

it's a matter of can he string together four consecutive quarters of at least above average play against a quality opponent. I think that to me has been the biggest issue. It'll be really interesting to see how he does against Kent State because he has not played a team that has not been a Power 5 team since he started. He has played 10 games of football as a starter, and they've all been against Power 5 teams. It'll be interesting to see, can he get some of that confidence?

And one of the things I would like to see is seeing him progress through his reads it really does feel like he is staring down receivers and if they are open great if they are not it's panic there was a couple times where i felt like he had a open or he had a guy deep that he was supposed to go to and he chose to check down which is good good. But he fired that ball in so hard. I mean, Tyler Goodson was getting from rockets three yards in the line of scrimmage. How hard is that for you to catch? You probably had a couple of those. CJ Beathard has a strong arm.

Did you ever have any rockets three yards in the line of scrimmage? And what did you say to CJ after that? Like, dude, what are you doing? Thankfully, CJ never did any of that, at least not to me um so i never had to worry about that too much but um i know that as a running back i mean heck you can barely see the quarterback kind of over the line anyway so like when you when you do throw that ball like that uh you know it's it's a lot harder for us to catch the ball i mean obviously we practice catching the football every single day in practice we catch it um during the games you catch during the warms um you know we know how to catch football but when you know you throw the ball

that hard and because i mean they're only you know seven ish yards away from us i mean you think like you know he's back there he's five yards behind line of scrimmage you know you're in a three yard deep route i mean he's like right there in front of you so uh you know it can be tough to catch that football and i know the exact play that you're talking about because tyler was lined up out wide and he ran um basically the crossing route right and um was waiting for it to get past the linebacker and then obviously like he he, he, he saw that he was open, um, but didn't wait and just fired in there.

Ty wasn't even ready for the ball. Um, so I definitely think that, you know, Spencer, obviously like those types of throws are going to be good for Spencer, right? I mean,

they're, they're easy throws for him to make. It's just more of him being confident in himself, I think. Cause obviously like the coach staff and the players are confident, really confident in himself i think because obviously like the coach staff and the players are clearly confident in him or you know he wouldn't be out there so it's just i think you know him being confident himself and kind of slowing himself down um will be a big help because yeah firing those fastballs in that rvs is not a great way to get

completions so yeah i mean he literally hit him in the hands, but Tyler wasn't even looking for the ball. I mean, he was open and just whack. And then I think two quarters later, he did the same thing, except for he didn't do it as early in the play, but he just hit it. He threw it so hard. Tyler couldn't get his hands up, which kind of puts Tyler in an unfortunate position.

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15 for 15 off at builtbar.com and i gotta tell you these bill bars are actually amazing i ate one for breakfast literally every single day i have this white chocolate birthday cake with sprinkles it's the closest thing i found to an actual candy bar so i will i will send you some and i will send you something they are delicious um before we took a break though we were talking about the offense and we talked a lot about spencer peters let's talk about the running game the running game on paper did not do very well when you look at the overall stat i think tyler goodson averaged 2.8 yards per carry um obviously spencer got sacked several times which equates to a bad rushing you know advantage ivory kelly martin had three and a half yards per carry that doesn't tell the full story though i feel like because when they needed it they got some big chunk yards and a lot of it

was behind the fearless blocking of monty potter bomb and then also him getting some carries i mean monty getting some love there i mean fullback love um what is it like being a running back trying to run behind our fullback like that i think you had drake kulik actually right yeah so yeah i mean we had a lot of great fullbacks while i was there i mean my, my senior year, we had Drake. We had Brady Ross, who both those guys did fantastic jobs. And then

the year before that, I mean, we had Macon Puella and Adam Cox, who again, guys who like to knock people's heads off. I mean, we always say that you got to be kind of crazy to want to be a fullback to be quite honest. I mean, we always say that, but you got to be kind of crazy to want to be a fullback, to be quite honest. I mean, those guys do all the dirty work. They clean up so much, so much different things, especially in the run game. You know, if someone misses a block, they'll clean it up. If, you know, a linebacker scraping, you know, quickly downhill, right,

they go and, you know, really hit them him in the mouth so running behind guys like that just gives you so much more confidence because you're like okay i know for a fact that he's gonna get his block so all i know that i have to do is as long as i follow him i'm gonna be getting positive yards and um i think we've seen that and over time with i mean he's done a fantastic job being out there. I mean, he's a big guy. He's got the neck roll going on, and he runs in there like a bad man. And, you know, I know that for a fact gives Tyler, gives Ivory, and the rest of the running backs a whole bunch of confidence that if they follow him that they're going to be all right. Yeah, man, I mean, I love the neck roll.

I love the mullet. Well, it looks like a blonde mullet. I mean, he looks like Tim Riggins out there from Friday Night Lights. I mean, he is bringing back the fullback love, which I think is absolutely exciting to see. He also gets two carries. Fullbacks don't get a lot of carries in Iowa's offense, but he was running hard.

I mean, I would love to see him get a few more carries a game. The way he was running, I mean, just downhill, bulldozing type of running. We don't really have a running back like that between Ivory and Tyler. Tyler is a bit shiftier. Ivory is kind of a speedy kind of guy. So it'll be interesting to see how they incorporate that going forward. I thought another thing I want to cover on the offensive side of the ball is play calling. If you're on Iowa Twitter, which I tried to avoid during the game because you get tags from everywhere, right? I take saying phil parker should be fired after that second quarter touchdown drive i was like really guys i mean really phil parker is i mean phil parker is amazing right so anyways offensive play calling is where a lot of people get very

frustrated with especially early in the game when things aren't going the way people want people wonder why are we doing wildcat on a second down on our second drive i want to just give you an opportunity to talk about play calling and how it sets up everything later on in the game sometimes that first couple drives you're just trying to figure out what looks are they going to give you so you know what play to call later on in the game so i wanted to get your thoughts on play calling and why maybe sometimes we don't need to overreact early on in the game for certain play calls because really we're trying to build off of it yeah i mean you're you're exactly right there uh you know we have we have our game plan right i mean we

every week in practice uh you know we go through pretty much all the plays that we're going to run um and like in practice then obviously with film study, we look at, you know, what things have worked against them over time, what things have worked well against that particular defense. And, you know, when we come up with our initial game plan and our first 10 plays that we're going to run, these are plays that we feel pretty good about going into the game. And, you know, we feel like we're going to have success with it, but, you know, football is dynamic, right? So when you get in the game, you know, maybe, uh, you know, half the things that you, uh, practice pretty well. And, um, you know, during the week doesn't actually work as well in game as you would like. Right. And so that's a part, a big part of the

feeling out, um, you know, defenses and defenses and getting an idea of how they're playing. And that translates to, OK, what adjustments do we need to make? Right. I mean, every single time that the offense is on the field or coming off the field, I mean, they're making adjustments all the time. I mean, we got guys on the sideline. We got guys in the booth. Right. We got guys all over the place you know making adjustments so uh we got some of the best in the business right working on making adjustments to have success for the game right so if one of the guys on twitter would like to you know toss in their application to go be offensive coordinator they can go ahead and do it but um on all seriousness um i just think it's you know most of the time overblown i mean yeah i mean there's be offensive coordinator, they can go ahead and do it. But, um, on, on all seriousness, um, I just think it's, you know, most of the time overblown. I mean, yeah. I mean,

there's times where, you know, I might see a play and I'm like, uh, I don't know if I would have run that, but I mean, heck, I have no idea what they've been, what they've been talking about in their meetings. I have no idea what they've been talking about during practice and what they've been running. Um, you know, I always have a general idea because I will offenses are, have been very similar over the years. Obviously now it's a little bit more modern, right? We got more,

you know, got more shotgun stuff. We got more running backs out wide and all these different things, but all in all the, I just think that stuff is too overblown. You know, the coaches aren't just out there just running what they want to run because just for the heck of it right they're doing it for a reason because they've

seen um success with it um you know through film study and and during the game so absolutely man um one one play i do want to call out is the bubble screen so we did a little bubble screen down towards iowa state's end of the goal line or end zone and one of the things i want to call out is the bubble screen. So we did a little bubble screen down towards Iowa State's end of the goal line or end zone. And one of the things I want to call out about that is the way Spencer Petras, so he started off in shotgun, and he kind of ran up looking like what he did against Indiana last week, where he ran up as if he's going to quick snap it and go right behind Tyler Linderbaum and get a couple yards, which at QB sneak sneak I just absolutely love. It's just so degrading to the defense to just get three to four yards on a quarterback who can't run getting behind the center.

But I think that's a very obvious concept of building off of principles. Starts in shotgun. He runs up very quickly as if he's going to quick snap it. And instead of going up the middle, says hike, and turns and does a bubble screen, and we get four or five yards, and that gets a first down. So, so again you talk about building off of principles game to game building off principles even within the game uh trying to understand what iowa state's going to do we never saw the wildcat again i think because it got shut down pretty quickly iowa state

had a good game plan i think we're going to need to see some more wrinkles from that going forward but yeah definitely some interesting stuff uh last question before we kind of wrap up a few, few concepts, offensive line play has been something that people haven't talked about a lot the last two weeks. I was offensive line is traditionally very good. We are rotating in a lot of guys. We have a lot of younger guys in there and Spencer is getting a lot of the blame. It's easy to put the blame on Spencer. It's always easy to put the blame on the quarterback,

but I would argue that the offensive line is not where we need it to be from a pass blocking perspective to this point. What are you seeing from the offensive line and pass protection? Yeah, so there's definitely times where, you know, Spencer might be able to help out his offensive line, right? Whether it's stepping up in the pocket or maybe, you know, not holding the ball too long. But that being said, you know, as offensive linemen, I mean, you're taught to block to the whistle no matter what. It doesn't matter what the heck's going on, you know,

downfield and the backfield, right? Your job is to block the guys that are in front of you. And when you have a lot of young guys, I mean, it takes time. I mean, Division I football is hard. Power play of young guys, I mean, it takes time. I mean, division one football is hard. Power play football is hard, right? It's not easy to be successful with that. I mean, the other guys you're going against, they're on scholarship too, right? So the biggest thing is just hitting the fundamentals, understanding what their assignments are and, you know, just being consistent with it. You know, I'm sure the coaching staff is doing whatever they can to try to get a unit together that is consistent. And, you know, it takes time. I mean, you know, you see these guys in practice a lot over time,

You see these guys in practice a lot over time, whether it's through the spring, through fall camp, throughout the season. You see them all the time. Even then, it can be harder for the offensive line to get a true look, especially when offensive linemen in a game i mean so many different things are happening and things are happening so fast that um you know there can be confusion um but you know it's offensive line it's iowa they're gonna figure it out um one way or another right and um you know i think we have some injuries on the line right i mean i think uh we're missing we have some injuries on the line, right? I mean, I think we're missing Kyler, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I mean, he's a really good player as well, right? So when he's back healthy and he's able to be back inserted in there, it's definitely going to help out the offensive line a lot because, again, he's a seasoned vet and, you know, he's going to be able to help the communications as well, just as well as Tyler does, you know, kind of manning the line at the center spot. So, again, it's offensive line at Iowa. They're going to figure it out.

It's just going to take some time. There's going to be a little bit of growing pains. And I think the coaching staff is doing things as far as play calling goes as much as possible to try to help those guys out. Definitely, man. My three final topics before we wrap up the show, I'm just going to give a quick special teams appreciation post. Caleb Shudock, a guy who people are not as familiar with, but just as good of a kicker, arguably,

as you could say Keith Duncan has a bigger leg. I don't want to take any credit away from him after that bad snap. There was no way he was going to really get that to be a good kick. Torrey Taylor should be an All-American, should be the Ray Guy Award winner. Torrey Taylor, just a phenomenal punter. And I am going to seriously miss Charlie Jones when he is no longer returning punts

because I've never seen a guy have as big of balls when a ball is coming to him. He just, there is no fear in his eyes. He doesn't care what's happening. I would be scared crapless if I were him. But here we are, Charlie Jones, phenomenal. Special teams, we know Iowa's bread and butter. They do such a good job there.

We talked a lot about defense, talked a lot about offense. I just did a quick recap of special teams because we don't need to dive too deep in there for this game. We have Kent State coming up. What does Iowa need to do to improve in that game against Kent State? Kent State's a great opportunity to say, let's look at these two games, say, what did we do wrong? How can we fix these things? In your mind, what is the main thing they need to work on

going into that Kent State game? You know, for special teams or offense or everything? Anything. Yeah, everything. Okay, yeah. So definitely offense being putting together consistent drives. I think when we look at the past two games, a lot of the offensive scoring has come off of, you know, some sort of big play that we've had, you know, in the drive that kind of jolted the drive. And and then that was it. Right. There's there hasn't been any sustained drives from you know where we start at you know our own 20 right and take it 80 yards you know really down the field right we haven't really

seen us convert you know multiple uh third downs um you know in the in in a row right i think yesterday we converted like four third downs or something like that so it wasn't it wasn't very very great right so i think the biggest thing i we want to see is from the offensive side of the ball is just being consistent and putting together some drives, right? And I think that's going to come with getting our run game kind of up to speed, right? And, you know, we've already had a hit on the offensive line, but it's also going to fall back, you know, on the running backs as well, right?

Being able to make the right reads, ensuring that we do things to get downhill and get positive yards to help us, um, stay ahead of the change instead of being, you know, second and long and then getting in third and long. Right. So I think that's, that's the, that's the thing that I want to be able to see, right? I want to see consistent drives, um, and I want to see us you know have a much stronger run game yeah I love it and I think to build off of that I would love to see the wide receivers be incorporated a bit more we know Iowa always love their tight ends but Tyrone Tracy Jr. is a phenomenal player with the ball in his hands Charlie Jones shows what he can do collectively between those three guys in this game. I'm pulling it up right now. They had eight total targets. Sam Laporta had six. I would love to see the wide receivers get involved a little bit more. I think that could open up the offensive game plan right now. I mean, it's Sam Laporta or Buss, it feels like, on offense most of the times. If you're going to pass the ball, it's easy to then key on Sam

Laporta in those games. The last thing I want to mention, the fourth quarter was really weird in this game. Iowa's up 27-10. It feels like Matt Campbell just kind of quit. What were your thoughts when he puts in a redshirt freshman quarterback, he takes out his All-American running back in Brees Hall, and they start punting on fourth down as opposed to going for it I really felt like Iowa State just gave up yeah that was I mean I couldn't wrap my hand or head

around that I mean whatsoever I mean uh weird to you too you thought that was bizarre yeah I I like the game like I mean we've seen teams you know score a heck of a lot of points, you know, within the last half of a fourth quarter. And when you start throwing in backups, you know, at that point in time, I mean, basically just submitted to and just like, you know, we're beat. I I know that as a player, I would not have been happy. I mean, especially, you know, in a game like that. I mean, heck, like they went down and they scored anyway, and they made it just a two possession game. And to just kind of just give up. I mean, that's literally what they did. I mean, that's literally what Coach Campbell did. He's throwing the towels like, hey, we're just going

to get some other guys in and then, you know Instead of letting those seniors, those guys kind of rock out and make plays to try to get them back in the game. I think that was frustrating for me to watch. I couldn't imagine being on the Iowa State sideline and being a player, especially like Brees or like Brees, right? Or like Brock, right? And coach taking you out the game in that type of situation. I mean, maybe he was trying to get some extra energy in there or something because, you know, Brock probably wasn't playing his greatest. But I don't know. I can't explain that whatsoever.

I just can't believe he did that. It was so weird to me i think um taking out brock i could understand to a degree they mentioned maybe he was cramping up a little bit but also he's playing terribly so what are you going to get out of brock it looked like he had lost all confidence when they took out breeze as well that's really what i was like what is going on here because outside of that fumble which yes that was a bad fumble he was running the ball hard after that and i mean he was getting chunk plays every single time. So, like, why are you taking out Brees Hall?

And then the thing that kind of the dagger in the coffin was them punting with eight minutes left, down three scores. Like, you have a fourth and six. I think you kind of need to go for this. But, I mean, in Iowa State's defense, they almost made that a pretty close game. They barely missed an onside kick recovery that went off of Nico Organi's hands. They missed a field goal.

I mean, I was sweating that thing down at the end, but I was shocked by Matt Campbell's decision to do that. But anyway, regardless, we get the win. We get the W. We're on to Kent State. LaShawn, I appreciate you coming on the show. Where can folks find you at these days? Yeah, I mean, you can find me on

Twitter. It's just my name. At least Sean Daniels Jr. Or you can find me on Instagram. I don't really be on Instagram like that anymore, but you can still drop a follow there. And it's my same thing as well. It's Sean Daniels Jr. You guys can check me out there.

Awesome, man. It sounds like you're going to get into some streaming as well, which will be a lot of fun watching you stream some video games. We'll talk about that at another point in time as well. Yeah. But I appreciate everyone coming into the show today. Appreciate everyone tuning in. And we'll be back every single day this week, breaking down a little bit more about this game

and also talking about the upcoming game against Kent State, which should be an easy win, but nothing is easy in college football. So there's going to be a lot of improvement as we see the Iowa football team make over the course of the week. Thank you all for tuning in, Hawkeye Nation. Have a fantastic Monday, an even better week, and let's go Hawks.