Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Hoops rolls in exhibition play, potential bowl destinations in football & 2023 could be stacked

Episode Date: November 1, 2022

Iowa basketball picks up an exhibition win over Truman State 118-72.Trent Condon reacts to the win and talks about the new starting line up with Tony Perkins running the point, Payton Sandfort at the 2, Patrick McCaffery as the small forward, Kris Murray at the 4 and Filip Rebraca in the middle.Plenty of positives and then some deeper analytical numbers diving a little deeper into the box score from the win. Thoughts on the season and what kind of team Iowa can be and why the point guard spot will look different this year.After the Iowa football win over Northwestern, people are talking about bowl games. Trent breaks down the Big Ten bowl tie ins and if there is a potential path to the Big Ten Championship game (and if they actually want to see if).Plus, a quick peek ahead to the Iowa team in 2023.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!SweatBlockIf you or someone you love is experiencing embarrassing sweat or odor try Sweatblock. Save 20% with promo codeLocked On at sweatblock.com. Also available on Amazon.LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Underdog FantasySign up on underdogfantasy.com with the promo code LOCKED ON and get your first deposit doubled up to $100!SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnCollege to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, we get our first look at the Iowa men's basketball team. A resounding win against Truman State in the exhibition. Takeaways from that matchup and what that tells us as we get ready for the opener of the regular season next week. A win against Northwestern. What does it mean? We talked about that yesterday. Today, people are talking about bowl games, bowl destinations, and maybe even a path to division title. Oh, we're going to pump the brakes on that one. We'll talk some football with you. And I'm already dreaming of next season, 2023. The defense looks loaded. How good can Iowa be next season in football? We'll talk about that on today's Locked On Hawkeyes podcast.

on today's Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day. Your team each and every day here on the Lockdown Network. We have you covered and so happy that you could join us here today.

On the podcast level, of course, you can find us every way where rate and review while you're there. If you're following us on YouTube, hit that subscribe button helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. We kick things off with a little basketball. It has been obviously football heavy here, but as the calendar turns to November today, after last night's victory against Truman state, plenty to talk about in this one.

Yes, it was an exhibition game. Yes, it's against a Division II team. I get all that. Jeff Horner has done a great job, though, with that program, developing it, taking over for Chris Foster now five years ago. Three consecutive NCAA tournaments for his team at the Division II level. They've won 20 games in three consecutive. They had 10 native Iowans on there, and for a they were hanging around it was back and forth early in the basketball game Iowa was not able to get a whole lot of stops early in the game but really clamped down as the half went on and held the team to just eight points over the final eight minutes of the first half took control of that one and then cruised in for

the victory now as we told you yesterday on the podcast the starting lineup looked different than maybe some people anticipated. Aaron Ulis, some people believed he was going to be the starter at the point guard position. He was suspended for this game, and because of that, they went a different direction. A lot of people thought maybe it would be DeSante Bowen, the freshman that would get the start.

Not the case. It was Tony Perkins running the point with Peyton Sanford at the two, Patrick McCaffrey at the three. Then it was Chris Perkins running the point with Peyton Sanford at the two Patrick McCaffrey at the three then it was Chris Murray at the four and your big man Phillip Rabracha in the middle some takeaways from all those guys in a lineup that you really have to like we know Phillip Rabracha against some opponents in the Big Ten and just in college basketball in general he gives up some size in there but saw a little bit more lift from him you know he's he's got more athleticism, I think, than people give him credit for. Went through the rigors of the Big Ten after transferring in from North Dakota last year

in the Summit League. I felt you saw a big step forward from him in terms of that athleticism and the ability. Had a beautiful play going kind of an up and under move, a reverse layup that he made against traffic in there. Again, this is against a D2 team. You don't want to be oversimplified. You know there's going to be matchups that he is going to struggle with, but you're going to see more, I think, certainly offensively out of him this year. Big issue is going to be keeping him out of foul trouble. He's just so important for this team. The only big that

you can really rely on, game in and game out, to know you're going to be able to get 20, 22, 24 minutes a game. You get with that from Rabracha and he was really good in the basketball game. Other starters as advertised again, it was another great performance out of Tony Perkins. He was all over the place. Speaking of, excuse me, defensive intensity. He really took it to another level in the back half of that first half. You could see he was getting his hands on balls. He was all over the place. He was getting steals, set up the dunk late in the first half. As time was

expiring, he made the play on the sideline, tipped the ball away, hit it out of bounds, knocked it off bounds off the player from Truman State, got that possession, and then just a beautiful play call. Then apparently Connor McCaffrey came up with the play call there. You know he's going to be a coach regardless of what his mom wants. He's going to be a coach, and he's going to be a good one, I think, in Connor McCaffrey. We'll get to Connor here in a moment, but just continuing with the starters. Tony Perkins, we have a star in the making. This dude is so good, so athletic.

The shot continues to develop. Now running the point guard, I mean, he can do it all for this team, and he brings a different kind of element. Just think of the point guards that we've seen during the Fran McCaffrey era. You go back in year one, they bring in Bryce Cartwright. They found him at the 11th hour before the season during the summer. He comes in, he was really good. You know, the offensive numbers that he was able to put up early in the McCaffrey era, he was a godsend of what they needed. But over the last, well, well basically 10 years it's been two guys it's been mike cassell and jordan bohannon at the point guard position two great hawkeyes

jordan bohannon will go down as an all-timer mike cassell helped rebuild that program and a top 100 player coming out of high school making his commitment to iowa along with adam woodbury really turned the fortunes of a morbin program around. After digging out of the Steve Alford and the Todd Licklider era to what we are today, those guys deserve a lot of credit. But limitations with both Bohannon and Gassell, the kind of players that they were as a point guard. And Tony Perkins, though he is not a pure point guard, if you will, he's going the way that we see basketball continue to go.

More guys are going to have to be able to handle it out there. Again, there might be some matchups that he struggles with at times and certainly running the point. But I'm just so excited to see that team and that starting lineup for Perkins. The dude is an absolute stud. Peyton Sanford shot it well again. He finishes the game. Hits two, three, three-pointers, six to ten.

Mixing it up inside a little bit more. Six foot nine now. He continues to grow. He's a big dude. He can rebound, not an elite level on ball defender, but with that size at 6'9", in that frame, he's going to cause a lot of problems out there for this team. Patrick Caffrey continues to show improvement in his game.

And, of course, Chris Murray, yeah, he's an absolute stud. Is he going to beat Keegan? I'm not sure. I don't know if he's going to put up the raw stats that we saw a season ago in terms of points and rebounds that we saw out of him but I don't know if he's going to have to I think this team is a little bit deeper I think they can play a couple of different ways and that is going to help him not have to be a guy that averages you know 24 and 8 like we saw out of Keegan last year Chris is his own guy he's a little more of a facilitator a little more of a playmaker in that role.

He can shoot it a little bit better, at least throughout his career. That's something that has been a strength of his. He's going to be so fun to watch. Had a great poster dunk in the basketball game. He was all over the place and continuing to play at a high level. So that's the starting five that we saw. We'll see now going forward. They won't play again until the regular season opener.

That is next Monday. So we got a week to figure things out. Ulus will be coming off the suspension. We'll see if that changes things. Are France just going to roll with this lineup? I really like what they saw there. Let's get into some guys that we saw off the bench. I mentioned DeSante Bowen a little bit earlier.

You know, and a reason that I'm really excited about DeSante Bowen and what he could potentially be back to that point guard position, what we were kind of talking about in the past, but this is also a guy that Fran identified, the guy that he wanted early on. You look at some of those guys in the past, guys that he's identified. Now, unfortunately, he's missed on a lot of those guys. I think we all know about Tyler Uless, Aaron's older brother,

and the last-minute recruitment that came in with Kentucky and Michigan State coming in at the 11th hour. And those guys, ultimately, the final three were Iowa, Michigan State, and Kentucky. Of course, went to Kentucky, and he was an absolute stud for them. But when Fred identifies these guys early on, you just look at the success that so many of these players have had. Fred can identify talent. He can find guys. You talk about the diamonds in the rough that he has. Obviously, the Murray brothers, whose only offer coming out at the Division I level out of high school was Western Illinois.

Went down to Florida, had a prep season down there, and then what they turned into, a guy like Aaron White. We could go on and on because Fran has done such a good job of identifying that talent. And DeSante Bowen, though, he's different. This is a top 100, top 125 player coming in. This is a guy that Fran really wanted, thought he could run this offense. And though he didn't shoot it very well, misses only three-pointer,

goes one of four from the floor, eight assists. How about that for a debut for the point guard of the future in DeSante Bowen? Also off the bench, Connor McCaffrey shooting the ball well. He hits four three-pointers. We see this absolute out of nowhere shooting from Connor last season, late in the regular season, and into the Big Ten tournament. This is something that was absolutely unheard of. He was shooting the ball at one of the worst levels we'd ever seen before. We know he was trying to balance both playing baseball and basketball. This year, he is only working on basketball.

Baseball's off the table now, and that work that he continues to put in goes in. The confidence that he plays with, and there's just something different about Connor. You know, you need that tough guy. You need that big brother, if you will, and he is that guy. He'll jaw, he'll talk, he'll go to the officials.

Now he's drawing up plays. I mean, he's doing a little bit of everything for this team. Are there going to be moments that maybe frustrate you? That kind of comes with the territory with Connor McCaffrey, but the good for me has always outweighed the bad. Even when he was not shooting the basketball well, he just adds such a big element, that toughness factor that he's in there. Last year, he was playing power forward at time.

Garden guys that are six, seven inches taller than him and giving up 40, 50 pounds in the paint. He's out there grinding away. They're just something about Connor McCaffrey. I know, I understand. There are moments that he frustrates you, but there is so much good that outweighs any negatives that you find.

And he was great shooting the basketball. That continues. Boy, look out. A little bit deeper off the bench. Seeing Josh Dix out there. He hits three shots in the game, including a couple three-pointers. This is a guy that I know people harken back to some two guards of the past in the Fran era. Josh Oglesby, just never clicked for him. Shot the ball well in practice. Fran talked about that all the time. Unfortunately, it never really clicked for him in games. And a guy like Brady Ellingson, you know, players like that. Josh Dix is different.

Even before the injury, one thing that people continue to talk about is he's got some bounce to him. And you saw that even coming off that injury. This is not the guy that we're going to see in next year and down the line over his career in Iowa. But he's got, I think, a little more wiggle than maybe people anticipated. That was something that I had a lot of people at the high school level continue to tell me and in the recruiting world telling me last season and last couple of years about Josh Dix. A guy to be excited about.

I'm not sure what he's going to add to the table this year, but need a little more shooting this year. And maybe he can provide that for this basketball team this season. Big man inside. It was not Riley Mulvey. A lot of people anticipated that for this basketball team this season. Big man inside. It was not Riley Mulvey. A lot of people anticipated that was going to be the case. I heard some things going into the week through the last couple of weeks of practice that Riley Mulvey had not been playing maybe at the level defensively

that they were hoping for. That played out. Didn't see him a whole lot until late in the basketball game. It was a gundelay that was out there and got a bulk of the minutes backing up at the five position. Of course, they can play Chris Murray at the five. They can go a bunch of different lineup and play small at times. You're not going to see, I don't think, a Gundle or Riley Mulvey play more than double digit minutes a game. But it looks like at least for right now that a Gundle is the guy that has the backup in there.

And he is what he is, right? Big body doing his thing, having some fun out there. I thought some good, good minutes out of him and we'll see going forward. There's going to be big bodies. He can go in there and bang. You go back to the Illinois and the Purdue games last year and what he had to do against guys like Kofi Coburn, Zach Eadie from Purdue, guys like that. He is what he is.

And I don't think you're going to see a whole lot of more development but that's all right a big guy that can go in there and give you a three-minute glimpse each half something like that pound inside do those things that's all right that's a role that works out very well for big oh Joshua Gundley and we saw that then late in the game we got some deeper reserves also into the game we got to to see Carter Kingsbury. How about that? 14 hitting threes. Looks like the old man too. I mean, he's got the rosy cheeks,

a little bit of everything. That was cool to see him knocked out a couple of three-pointers in the game and a couple others out there. Dante Eldridge, Courtney Eldridge, the assistant coach's son, who's a walk-on, came in from Kirkwood after playing his high school career

at Iowa City West. Saw him in there. Luke Licata saw him a little bit a season ago. He was out there trying to knock down a shot. So that's what we saw overall in the game. Exciting, dominating performances. Iowa wins it 118-72. And to my friends at Circus Sports who, yes, they put up a line for this game.

The tip of the ball cap to them for doing that. And we took a win as we had the over at 159. That thing cruised in. We were in good shape there. Iowa was, in fact, favored by 48 in 45, excuse me, in the game. How about that? They were favored by 45. What did they win by?

46. Vegas knows. Circa knows. No doubt about it. We got more basketball talk coming up here throughout the week. Some analytical numbers also that were, I thought, very interesting in the game. It's just one game. It's against a D2 team.

I get all that. You don't want to get overly excited about it. But some pretty good numbers on defensive rating from a couple of the players. Peyton Sanford, he was higher than I anticipated. He was at a 115, 117 from Patrick McCaffrey. Those are two guys that are not certainly dubbed as great defenders. And to see them over 100, which is average, if you will, in defensive rating, that was really good to see.

Josh Dix, DeSante Bowen, both those guys also 100 as well in the game. So a couple of takeaways. Defense, hey, this is going to be a standard Fran team, right? This is going to be the kind of Fran teams that we're used to. They're going to have to outscore teams, but the is going to be a standard fran team right this is going to be the kind of fran teams that we're used to they're gonna have to outscore teams but the weapons appear to be there fran could draw plays he can run offense as well as anybody in the country when you look at the raw talent that he has what he does year after year after year it's gonna be another exciting year of iowa basketball gonna be frustrating at times yeah there's gonna be those performances where they give up 95 and they lose 95-78.

You're going to be pulling your hair out, and we'll be here reacting to it, but for a night. Good start to the season. Got to see a lot of the guys out there. Now, what does that mean for the starting lineup going forward? We'll talk about that. Leading into the opener coming up, and then, of course, a couple weeks into the schedule, it is incredibly daunting

for this Iowa team. Plenty of basketball there when we come back. Time to talk some football. That's right. After the win against Northwestern, people excited about a possibility of a bowl destination. There's a projection out there that has them going somewhere and will also remind you a little bit about the potential bowl destinations. Is there a path to the Big Ten West? And do you want to get there knowing that Ohio State is going to be waiting in the Big Ten championship game? We'll do that as we continue.

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and it's got to be the throw in the end zone to Luke Lachey. Was it a thing of beauty from Spencer Petras? It wasn't. It was a little bit offline, but just a great adjustment by Luke Lachey making that touchdown. It was only third one of the year. We got to talk about it, right? When you get a touchdown pass, they have been few and far between.

This week, no doubt about it, this is the one for me. Into the end zone, a throw past the goal line. Yes, something that has also been a little bit tongue-in-cheek this week, but hey, that's where we've been with this Iowa offense this season. This segment has been inspired by the thrilling new designs featured across Nissan's new lineup of vehicles. Pursue what thrills you in the all-new Frontier, Armada, or Pathfinder today. Available now at NissanUSA.com.

I'm Trent Cotter. Welcome back once again to the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Again, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day. Also, we have a new great sponsor here, a new podcast on our network. It's called Locked On Sports Today. From the games that matter to the biggest stories in sports, go beyond the scoreboard and behind the scenes

with local experts and insights that only Locked On can provide. Locked On Sports Today. Look for it wherever you are listening to this podcast. YouTube, wherever you get podcasts it is the place to go to get the biggest stories in sports each and every day so we go from basketball over to a little football and iowa now after their fourth victory of the year against northwestern a lot of conversation about this basketball team over to the football team. And now, all right, we had a big win. You beat Northwestern.

It's a nemesis. We've had so many good Iowa teams that have fallen to some bad Northwestern teams. In the past, there's some good ones as well. You get the win. Offense looks better. Best offensive output in 17 games from this team. We talked about the caveat you have to throw in there yesterday.

It's not a good Northwestern team. That team's bad. But the defense piling up the sacks that they did, that was an offensive line that had been playing pretty well to this point. A running back that had put up yards both in the run game and the pass game. And Iowa was able to negate that. Defense played at a high level. Offense played as well as we've seen all season long.

There are some positives. So the question becomes, first of all, is there a path to this team to get to the Big Ten championship game? I don't think you want to get there. I mean, yeah, you're a competitor. Of course you want to get there. Is there an opportunity? We know Illinois obviously leading the division right now

as they sit at 4-1. Right behind them is Purdue. First of all, for any shot of this happening, Iowa, of course, has to get to a 4-0 run through November. I mean, that's the only way that this becomes a realistic possibility. I don't think it's going to happen. I think it's a little crazy talk, but I had people in the comments section said that they wanted to hear

at least what the path is. So here's the path. Well, because of that, Illinois, of course, has the tiebreaker against you. That's a problem. Iowa would finish six and three. Illinois then would have to finish worse than six and three if it becomes a head-to-head. Now, if it becomes a three-way tie between Iowa, Illinois, and somebody else, and Illinois loses that game against the somebody else, Then you get into a tiebreaker scenario,

and then it becomes a little bit more plausible. Well, the team that could make that happen in the division is Purdue. So, obviously, Iowa has to beat Purdue this week, then Wisconsin, then Minnesota, then Nebraska. All right, seems like a stretch in its own right after what we've seen out of the offense this year, but okay, we're playing this game. Then you need Illinois to lose to Purdue, lose to Michigan, and then you need Purdue also to tie for the regular season crown,

and that means that for the division title, and that means after Iowa would beat them this week, they would have to beat Illinois. It has to happen. Northwestern, okay, and Indiana. All right, so there's a path, and then it comes down to tie breakers, and to be honest, I got to look a little deeper what the tiebreaker would be if all three of those teams would sit at six and three. So that's what it is right now. That is the path, but more realistically, Iowa getting to a bowl game. Get the 15 practices, that's one thing. Get to a bowl game means two more victories. All four of these games are winnable. All four are losable. Yes. But you can get there. Absolutely. So what would it look like if Iowa

qualifies for a bowl game? Well, I did see just earlier yesterday, Brett McMurphy, who longtime scribe with ESPN, ESPN.com. He's been all over the place. He now writes for the Action Network. So I read him a lot because I'm a degenerate gambler and I love gambling and I love reading about gambling. So I see a lot of his work and hear his podcasts and the like. So he has his bowl projections out right now and he has Iowa going to the Armed Forces Bowl. That obviously means Iowa qualifies for a bowl game.

That's in Fort Worth to be played on Thursday, December 22nd. Has them playing Houston. The point spread currently would be a pick-em. That's according to Colin Wilson with the Action Network. But that aside, that's not going to happen. We know with the way that Iowa travels that Iowa is going to be selected over so many teams. We've seen this so many times in the past,

and they're not going to fall to the Armed Forces Bowl. They're not going to be the ninth selection out of the Big Ten. Look, they're not going to fall to the armed forces bowl they're not going to be the ninth selection out of the big 10 look they're not going to take a team like purdue if the records are similar i would get a nod over them because of the way that they travel it's just realistic and it's the world that we live in it can go the other way we get it but here's a rundown of the bowl games obviously champion that doesn't go to the playoff they go to the rose bowl we get that Bowl, the second choice. Now the old Outback Bowl. It's got a new name.

It's now called the Relia Quest Bowl. That is the third pick. Then you have Duke's Mayo Bowl that is played in Charlotte against an ACC team. How great would it be to see Iowa rip off a three out of four here down the stretch, something like that. Get to the Duke's Mayo Bowl because if you remember a year ago, South Carolina, they played in that bowl game against North Carolina. Mack Brown, another old coach, guy that's back in coaching,

has got Carolina maybe in line to get to the ACC championship game this season. They played really, really well here as of late, figuring out their defense along with a high-powered offense with Luke Mays' little brother, who is just an outstanding prospect at the quarterback spot. That aside, so old man Mack Brown said, yeah, we, when you could dump mayo on my head. And then he had Shane Beamer who said the same thing. And he actually did it because South Carolina won that game. Could you imagine Kirk Ferris getting mayonnaise dumped on his head?

No shot, but at least the question would be fun. A little bit deeper after that, the fifth selection is the Music City Bowl. Got the Pinstripe Bowl after that. Of course, Iowa played in that bowl game a few years back against Boston College. The Guaranteed Rate Bowl, that's down in Arizona. Then the Quick Lane Bowl is the eighth selection out of the Big Ten against a MAAC team. That's how things would wrap up. So that's the way that things break down.

That's the way that things go and how it would look. I don't see if Iowa gets eligible. They would fall down to something like Detroit or have to go to the Armed Forces Bowl. So little disagreement there with Brett McMurphy, but we'll keep an eye on that. Just a little bit of a review of what happens. Well, speaking of reviews, we're not going to review now. We're going to look forward. When we come back, I'll look forward to next year's team and especially that I would defense. I know I've been negative this year. I know there's been a lot of frustration. I've been right there with you with all the frustration, but I just took a look at what's coming back next year for this team and what they potentially could be in 2023. It'll be the final year of the Big Ten West. And can you say already, maybe the team, they figure out the offense. They could be. We'll talk about that as we continue here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Well, you know, sweat. We all do it, right?

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by firefighters. If you or someone you love is experiencing embarrassing sweat or odor, try Sweat Block. Save 20% with promo code LOCKEDON at sweatblock.com. Also, you can find it on Amazon. Trey Conner with you one final time on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast as we put a close on things. Of course, you can see me each and every day here on YouTube.

You can hear me in podcast form throughout the week. Also on the radio. I'm on Monday through Friday on Des Moines Sports Station KXNO. You can hear me from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. each and every weekday over there. Myself and Ken Miller talking the world of sports. Not just talk, guys. We talk everything over there in Des Moines. For you listeners in eastern Iowa, It's a different market. Of course, we got Iowa State on that side. So we talk a lot of that. We talk Big Ten, we talk Big 12, and we talk sports in general. 11 to 1 is where you can find me. So wrapping up and just had this thought as I was looking through the two deeps as they came out yesterday and just thinking about next year. We know it has a lot of work to do in the season, regardless of how this thing finishes.

They get to bowl eligibility, get to six, seven wins, something like that. The wheels fall off again. The offense continues to struggle. And they go four and eight, five and seven, and miss a bowl game or anything in between. Look, they need to fix this offense. This offense needs to look better. We get that.

We've talked about, hey, things look great on Saturday. It was against a bad Northwestern team. And not against just the elite-level teams. Not against the Michigans and Ohio States, but against the Illinois. The struggles that we've seen Iowa have against Wisconsin year after year after year. And the struggles that they've had in that game. They need to go in a new direction. That is not completely ripping up the playbook,

but there has to be an evolution of this team. And I think we saw that a little bit Saturday using more of the jet motions, more of those kinds of things. And it feels unsustainable for Iowa to continue down this route with Brian Ferentz as the offensive coordinator. It's just, it's so toxic inside the Iowa environment when things go bad and the blame.

Look, everybody thinks they can call plays, right? Everybody believes that they're the one that can get this thing figured out. You play bad, you played NCAA football back in the day on your PlayStation, you think you have it all figured out. I get it. We all think we're offensive coordinators. I think I'm an offensive coordinator. We all think we can do it. It's a difficult job. It comes with the territory, right? Absolutely no doubt about it, but it feels like a new direction has to come.

They'll need a new quarterback. That guy on campus, well, we've never seen Joey Labus. Alex Padilla, in his limited opportunities, has been okay at times, but that is probably the high watermark that you can say he's been okay. Do they go back to the transfer portal? There was talk last year that they reached out to Adrian Martinez. There was some rumblings that maybe Max Duggan, if he would have entered the transfer portal from TCU, as it looked like he wasn't going to have the job. In fact, he didn't before an injury gave him the job at TCU this year. And now look at the season that he's having. Now there was talk that that was a potential. He's a kid from Council Bluffs, went to Lewis Central,

that maybe that was something that could have been in the works. Do they go to the transfer portal? Do they evolve offensively? Do they help out, get another wide receiver or two? Those are the things that have to happen. But I was just thinking, first of all, guys, it'll be coming back this year. You'll get Brody Breck possibly back for another season. We'll see what happens with his baseball career and what he decides to do.

But you've seen his evolution. Deontay Vines, he is a guy that, at the very least, he's got a chance, right? He's got a chance to improve and do some things. Arlen Bruce will be back for another season. The running backs, Caleb Johnson, the best playmaker on this team. And then an offensive line that has been much maligned, that has taken a lot of arrows this year. But then an offensive line that has been much maligned, that has taken a lot of arrows this year, but you got to figure, boy, another year of developing.

Logan Jones then after just moving over from the defensive side, playing the center position, the improvements we've seen out of him this season, moving Connor Colby inside the big step forward that he made just on and on and on. Oh, by the way, he got one of the best tackles in the country, if not the best, coming in in Caden Proctor. Is he a day one starter? It certainly appears that that could be the case. You have all these things working together. It gets you excited, but it's not just that. Of course, it's about the defense.

You're going to lose some studs. Riley Moss, Jack Campbell, those guys are going to be moving on. That's going to be difficult to see. A couple of guys that have been great Hawkeyes but start with the defensive line lucas vaness deontay craig who continues to pop every single time that he's on the field it feels like logan lee there's a guy finally healthy and look at the season that he's putting together why a black ethan hercate healthy getting healthier and the play that he made against the first round draft pick at the tackle spot for his sack max llelewellyn, I think we've seen a little bit out of him. Pittman

has made a couple of plays when he's played late in the games on the defensive line. Eric Graves, and we haven't seen a ton of him this year, but we know immense upside to him. He was an Army All-American getting his feet wet this year and excited about his future. The linebacker spot, Jay Higgins, how about the improvement we've seen out of him? Justin Jacobs coming back off the injury next year. He was a guy that was on a ton of people's NFL draft radar. Obviously, with the injury, you'd anticipate he's going to come back. That's the linebacker spot.

Then the defensive backfield. Bill Parker always figures it out. We got Schulte coming back. And you got, of course, Cooper DeGene and what we've seen out of him. Castro, how big of a step forward he's made this year. Xavier Wampa, another five-star that's been out there and getting his feet wet. Hall, just on and on and on. Terry Roberts, maybe even he could come back this year. Reggie Bracey, we've seen him a little bit. He's played really well in special teams. This defense is going to be absolutely loaded again. You got the right defensive

coordinator. At least I say that right now. We'll see if Purdue continues their witchcraft against Phil Parker's defenses as they had year after year with Brown. But it's exciting to think about that. You need a quarterback. I get it. You need an evolution of the offense

and a step forward there. But there's a chance Iowa will be right there in 2023 with one big thing, fix the offense. That'll do it for today. Coming up on tomorrow's program, we will hear from our man LaShawn Daniels. He was the honorary captain in the win against Northwestern, got to talk to the team on Friday, got to go through the locker room,

a chance to go back, shake hands again, talk to Kirk again and the other coaches that were part of his career and a great career that he had at the University of Iowa. We'll talk to LaShawn about the experience. Then later in the week, Jace is going to stop by. We got a lot more there. We'll talk basketball. We'll talk football with him. A busy, busy week as it always is on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast.

Again, thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day. We are always out there. And of course, Locked On Sports today, another place to go, not for Hawkeyes stories. No, you're looking for the big stories in sports. Locked On Sports today has you covered. Next listen, check it out. Biggest stories, instant reaction,

recaps of the big games, and, of course, their take of the day each and every day. It's available on the Odyssey app, YouTube, or wherever you get podcasts. Back at it tomorrow with LaShawn. Thanks for joining us against a win in basketball. That one felt good. It was an exhibition game. Jeff Horner, great to see Jeff back on the sidelines.

Knew Jeff a lot from his time back at West Des Moines Valley. We worked in the same school together, so got to know Jeff really well. It's great being able to see him on the sideline and some smiles on his face. Team competed hard, just didn't have the horses to keep up with this Iowa team. Going to be a fun basketball season. Going to be maybe a fun November for the football team. More on that as the week continues. We'll do it again tomorrow. Thanks for watching and listening. More on that as the week continues. We'll do it again tomorrow. Thanks for watching and listening. Go Hawks.