Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa vs Minnesota crossover episode with Daniel House of Gopher Guru

Episode Date: November 12, 2020

We are joined by Daniel House of Gopher Guru to talk about tomorrow night's game between Iowa and Minnesota. He gives us the inside scoop on what has changed offensively from last season to this and why things appear to be clicking now. He also sheds light on the defensive struggles of the Gophers and why we can expect a bit of improvement from Minnesota's special teams.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. Excited to be back for another episode. We are one day away from Iowa taking on Minnesota tomorrow night, which means we have a crossover episode today.

That's right. We brought a Minnesota expert on, Daniel House. You can find him on Twitter, DanielHouseNFL. Does a fantastic job of being realistic and covering the Minnesota Gophers and the Minnesota Vikings. Thought he would be a perfect guest to bring on and give you a little bit of a preview about what to expect from Minnesota and how this relates to the Iowa game. What can we expect from this game?

It was a great conversation, so that'll be coming up in just a few short seconds. As always, if you liked the show today, make sure to subscribe wherever you downloaded it at and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. With that being said though, let's hop into the crossover episode with Daniel House covering the Minnesota Gophers with our game tomorrow, Iowa versus Minnesota. What to expect right now. All right, I am joined here by Daniel House. You can find him on Twitter, Daniel House NFL. Daniel, how are you doing today, man? I'm excited to talk about the Minnesota game. I'm doing well. Big week, pig.

Everyone's jacked up in Minneapolis right now. It's a weird game because it's on a Friday night. I mean, going into the season, Minnesota scheduled this game for Friday night. I have some conspiracy theories on that. I think Minnesota was conveniently doing that because Iowa would have a short week after the Iowa State game.

But now these two teams are playing on an even field coming into this game. It should be a good one. Yeah, it's an evenly matched game in my eyes just because they have similar identities. I mean, Iowa loves to run the football. Minnesota's extremely efficient. Top five offensive line right now in run blocking efficiency in terms of line yards. And Iowa being the 20th best rushing attack in college football, Minnesota being 17, who's going to stop the run? I mean,

that's the takeaway I I'm looking at right now. Whoever does that is probably going to end up winning this game. I couldn't agree more. I mean, I was running attack has been up and down. I've watched Minnesota's rushing attack. And one of the things that's interesting to me is the fact that coming into this season, I actually, I thought Minnesota, this was going to be the toughest game on Iowa schedule three games in. I'm not so sure about that. There's definitely some weaknesses on this Minnesota team, but the one thing I'm actually confused about is the passing game last year, Tanner Morgan, Rashad Bateman, Tyler Johnson, Chris Autumn bell. I mean, that was an explosive passing attack. And now with a new offensive coordinator, it seems like the rushing attack is more of a focal point.

How big of, what does that have to do with the offensive coordinator? Is that more of just the personnel you have? Why is that happening? It took some time to get the offense going with the unique off season. You're bringing in Mike Sanford Jr. And he's the co-offensive coordinator with Matt Simon,

the wide receivers coach. So I don't think people are putting enough stock in how much time it takes to meld those offensive systems together because they're taking a lot of the same concepts they used the prior year with Kirk Scirocca and adding some Mike Sanford Jr. flair to it. And with the way the defense has been playing, P.J. Fleck has taken the approach of ball control. He's always been a ball control coach, time of possession, you know, really milk those possessions. Now with the defense, the way it's playing, they almost have to adopt more of a shootout mentality because, you know, these games are going to be high scoring and you have to value

possessions more than ever. So last week was the adjustment. They came out with 60-40 pass rush rate at the start of the game, close to 50-50 pass run ratio in the first half. And I've talked a lot about it over on Gophers Guru, about the importance of passing to open up the run. And when they did that, the efficiency of the rush game, I mean, it just went to new heights. Last week, offensive line moved up to fifth in line yards per rush. Muhammad Ibrahim is one of the best running backs in the country right now, number two in average EPA per rush. So you're seeing an offense that's just starting to get going. And without a non-conference slate, I think it took some time to just get in a groove with all the new people in there.

Yeah, it's an interesting situation we're dealing with, obviously, in the pandemic. I took a lot of teams that first week on the betting lines came out. I took a lot of teams where they had new coaches, new offensive coordinators, and I bet against them. I decided not to do that against Minnesota. I thought they still had a lot of returning weapons. I was the fool there. They end up losing to Michigan, which is unfortunate. But you are right.

I mean, they're starting to click a little bit more. And right now, you've got to think, at this point in the schedule, they would actually be starting their first conference game, technically, in a normal season. So they're starting to click a little bit. Iowa, as well, is starting to click, too. I mean, offensively, struggling in the second half the first two weeks. I still think there's a lot of work on from an offensive perspective,

but still a lot to like coming off that last game. I do want to focus on the rushing attack real quick before we get into the defense. Cause I'm really, I have a lot of questions about that defense and the impact of kind of some of the losses you have, but Muhammad Ibrahim, I definitely butchered his last name. So I apologize there, but 97 attempts, 571 rushing yards, 5.9 yards per K last week, 224 yards. I believe he's went over 200 the last two weeks. This guy's insane, man. What about that? Talk about opening up the rushing attack with the passing game.

What about Minnesota's blocking scheme is allowing him to get up? Is it Muhammad doing this? Because you lost two offensive linemen, right? Two opt-outs coming into the season as well? Correct. So they shifted things around. Move Blaise Andres to right tackle. Axel Rushmeyer stepped in, a walk-on that's turned into a solid player. He was pushing for playing time last year.

So the unit came together very fast. There's experience up there. Those guys have been around one another, work together. John Michael Schmitz, the center, is one of the best guys at center in the country right now. I mean, you watch what he's able to do with this outside zone blocking scheme, being able to reach defensive tackles consistently. They're doing a great job of creating movement to the second level, which is opening up creases. Muhammad Ibrahim's vision is incredible. That's the trait that impresses me the most with him is he can find those small creases, the patience that he has, just a natural feel for the game those small creases, the patience that he has, just a natural feel for the game. And the contact balance when he gets in space one-on-one, he has the physicality.

He has every skill set that you're looking for in a running back. And with the way that he's playing, being a number two back in terms of efficiency nationally right now, and it's a lot of reps. I mean, he's leading the Big Ten in carries right now. I would honestly like to have seen him get out of the game down the stretch against Illinois because he's just been racking up the carries. But the execution up front has been the takeaway. Very physical interior. The edge guys at tackle have been sealing off things. The combination between inside and outside zone, their outside zone has been phenomenal I think the execution has been great so Iowa's defensive discipline on the perimeter I mean they got to

be able to get penetration at the point of attack and and cut off those backside rushing lanes because that's how outside zone thrives yeah I mean that is that's my biggest concern because you look at Purdue is a terrible running team. Typically they did a fantastic job of just running all over Iowa. I'm going to chalk that up to the fact that there wasn't a lot of live game prep or, you know, pregame preparation, a lot of not a lot of tackling drills due to the COVID stuff, a brand new defensive line. We are missing one of our starters going into Northwestern.

What concerned me was the fact that we were getting a lot of penetration at the initial point of attack, but they were finding cutback lanes over and over and over again. It looked like we were going to stop him 10 yards later. Isaiah Bowser burns us again. That really concerns me. Also kind of a side note. It feels like you guys have had the same running backs the last decade. Is that just me? Like, I feel like I've been talking about Muhammad. I talked about, I know Shannon's gone, but I mean, these guys have been around for freaking ages. It feels like in Minnesota's program, they used to call I mean, these guys have been around for freaking ages, it feels like, in Minnesota's program.

They used to call Rodney Grandpa because he'd been around so long and he graduated this past offseason and Shannon's gone. So now Mo elevates in. And I always said it, like, Mo could easily be the best back out of those three. And he's getting the rotational snap share. So now you're seeing the mark that he's making. I mean, that guy, it rubs off on everybody on the team. He is the key leader. When you talk to players, everyone is mentioning Mo as that guy that sets the tone.

I need to quickly pause the conversation with Daniel because I have a very important message for you because if you're anything like me, you're constantly on the go. You're always on. You're always moving around. You always got something to do. But sometimes you just need to take a second and relax and chill. One of my favorite activities to do is hike big old mountains in Colorado. 14ers is what we call them, 14,000 foot mountains. I got a couple just

an hour away from me since I live in Denver. And one of my favorite things to do is hike up those and grab an ice cold refreshing Coors Light out of my bag and drink it on top of the mountain after a grueling hike to the top. Because Coors Light is cold lager, cold filtered, and cold packaged. It's literally made to chill, especially on top of a mountaintop. It's as crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies. See, it just makes sense. Coors Light is the one I choose when I need to unwind though. So when you want to hit reset, reach for the beer that is made to chill.

Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door at get.coorslight.com. That's right. Have it delivered straight to your door at get.coorslight.com. And as always, remember to celebrate responsibly. This message is brought to you by Coors Light, a part of the Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado. And when I'm trying to hike up to that mountain, you know, before I can have that refreshing Coors Light, sometimes I need a little pick-me-up, something to get me to the top. When I need to do that, I grab myself a BiltGo.

BiltGo is made by the folks who made that delicious protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. That's right, the same people who made BiltBar made BiltGo. BiltGo comes in one-and-a-half-ounce packages. It is a fantastic workout gel. It has 100 milligrams of caffeine. It's basically five hour energy without the same crash feeling because it's natural. So it's better for your body. It's like drinking a monster drink with a third of the caffeine and better results.

And it comes in three delicious flavors. Peanut butter, honey, chocolate, coconut, and chocolate mint, which is my personal favorite. You can put it in your briefcase, put it in your golf bag, or pack it in your pocket when you're hiking up A14 or on the way to drink an ice cold refreshing Coors Light on the top of that mountain. BuiltGo combines energy gel with collagen protein, and it's loaded with the good stuff to ignite my work. Beta alanine, B3, honey, and a kick of caffeine. And right now, if you go to BuiltGo.com,

use promo code LOCKED, L-O-C-K-E-D. That's right, go to BuiltGo.com. Use promo code LOCKED, L-O-C-K-E-D. That's right. Go to builtgo.com. Use promo code LOCKED and you'll get 20% off your next order. Use promo code LOCKED for 20% off at builtgo.com. Let's go. Absolutely, man. And then transitioning over to the passing game.

When I look at it, Rashad Bateman accounts for 50% of the yards thrown by Tanner Morgan. Chris Autumnbell, 25%. What are defenses doing to stop those two? Or, I mean, I guess, are they trying to say, you know, you let us, you know, try to burn us with the shot, but I'm just curious. Cause that's a lot of yard share for one guy. Um, it seems like he's really the focal point, which makes sense. He's the best wide receiver, a projected first round pick a guy who wasn't even going to play with Minnesota, but how are teams scheming to potentially stop them, or what are they doing that isn't working to stop those two?

Well, Bateman's been getting shadowed quite a bit, double-bracketed. I mean, they're putting a lot of attention into stopping Rashad Bateman, so they had to get creative with their route concepts to get him open. I also noticed an adjustment that they made from the Michigan game. They had Rashad playing a lot in the slot and at Z sometimes occasionally. Now they flipped it where Rashad's playing at the X, and then they've got Chris Altman-Bell at the Z. So with the way that Rashad can get open against tight coverage

in his releases at the line of scrimmage. It's helpful because it, it, Chris Ahmed Bell was struggling to get open when he was getting pressed at the line of scrimmage a lot in that first game. So Minnesota adjusted by tweaking those alignments up a little bit to just create more favorable matchups. And then they, they dialed up some different route concepts to get him get Rashad Bateman open. And you just got to get this guy, the ball. I mean,

there's so many opportunities when you get it to him in space. He makes incredible plays. That's the most underrated aspect of his game. Everyone talks about the route running and all that. But the guy, when he gets in space, he can create. And then not only that, but the contested catch skills. You get a little bit of space, body position, and just go up and make a play. But I want to see Minnesota have a wide receiver three emerge with Daniel Jackson, a top player

in Kansas. He caught a couple of balls last week. He's becoming more involved. They got to start to think about spreading these targets around. I know Mike Sanford Jr. wants to involve the tight ends more, and he did the first game, but they're going to have to continue to find ways to spread the ball around because I have a feeling that Iowa's definitely going to try to scheme to take away Bateman and force someone else to beat him absolutely that was actually one of my key matchups coming into this game was specifically Rashad Bateman versus Iowa secondary Iowa

secondary you know they typically run an off his own concept they're not going to be pressing they're not going to be playing a lot of man but we also have seen them do a pretty good job of, of covering some of the top guys in the big 10, save for anyone on the Purdue team, um, David Bell specifically, but Rondo more, I thought about Purdue Rondo more when they played him as a freshman, they held him to about 30 yards, I believe because they were so focused on him. However, they got burnt by a guy named Terry, right. Um, which should be, uh, uh, which should be some sort of trivia question in 10 years of who had 200 yards and three touchdowns against Iowa for no reason. But anyways, my point is, this is the opportunity for a number three wide receiver to potentially break out for Minnesota because that attention should, and rightfully so, be placed on Rashad

Bateman. Yeah, it's something that I've noticed on film too. Iowa last year's approach, they really at times even doubled Rashad during that game because he was having so much success and they found ways to, you know, use their zone coverage scheme to take him away. And then that opened up opportunities for Tyler Johnson. They had that Batman and Robin last year, and then Chris Ottman Bell was the three. Now they need to get to that point where it's Bateman, Bell, and then another guy that can threaten you in the intermediate passing game. Yeah. Before we get into the defense, just a quick, you know, recap of last year, if Tyler Johnson catches like two extra balls and doesn't drop them, especially at the goal line, I think Minnesota wins that game, man.

I do too. There were a couple of defining moments in that game, especially at the beginning when the long missed field goal that occurred, like that 50-yard field goal they tried. And then Iowa just took control of the game, got off to a quick start. And that was the key with that Minnesota team was when they got behind, they didn't play as well. If they got ahead and just got after it right away, they were able to control the ball, play action, open up the whole offense. And Iowa did a nice job of just putting the foot on the gas right away. And there were just so many defining moments. Like you said, Tyler Johnson, a couple of those balls,

especially that one over the middle. Oh, my gosh. Man, I think about that one a lot when I watch that game back this offseason. Just think if he catches that ball, just a totally, totally different outcome. But the Gophers were so close to winning that game back this offseason. Just think if he catches that ball, just a totally, totally different outcome. But the Gophers were so close to winning that game. It honestly changes the season too for Minnesota. I mean, you're now looking at a potential Big Ten championship berth, I mean, a college ball play.

I mean, there's a lot of things that are on the table with that game. Personally, we talked about it before we got on the show. I had a lot of hate last year from Minnesota fans. So that was almost like a collective sigh of relief for me. Like, oh, thank you. That would have been terrible on my Twitter mentions. But I do go on to the defense because, to me, defensively,

I think some people coming into the season didn't realize maybe how important Antoine Winfield Jr. was or even Carter Coughlin. I loved Antoine Winfield Jr. as much as it pained me to love him. I loved watching him play last year. I got to interview Carter Coughlin down at the Senior Bowl as well. And I thought he was a fantastic player, obviously trying to find his fit in the NFL.

But those two guys, I mean, how big of an absence are those two guys? And is that showing up on defense for Minnesota this year? Winfield's like having another coach on the field. And teams had to directly scheme for him. The instinct's incredible. You see it now that he's in the NFL.

He could be defensive rookie of the year. Just all the plays that he's making, just the impact that he had on this team is truly, it can't even be discussed. I mean, it's just, it's hard to put into words. But Carter Coughlin being gone up front, and you have Thomas Barber and Kamal Martin in the second level. And you have Antoine Winfield Jr. at safety, Chris Williamson at the nickel spot, which is a huge part of run game, setting the edge, the run fits that are required in Jaurasi's defense to funnel things back inside. inside definitely missing that with the young defense and limited offseason contact the the way that everything went down losing seven starters on that side of the ball I've always felt like we

didn't know what this group was going to look like coming into the season you had to like slowly progress back into it two games in three games in now and I thought the defense was much better against Illinois at setting the edge more consistently but it's still a problem with the physicality of Iowa's offensive line you look at where they are and rush efficiency being 20th right now 39th in the line yards per rush so this is definitely the matchup that I'm watching if Minnesota can't stop the run and their linebackers are getting run out of gaps I know with, with the outside zone blocking scheme and these boots and the system that Kirk Ferentz runs, this is this thing that messes with linebacker discipline. You get too far downhill, it's over and you're going to

get burned. So this is a game that concerns me just because of the way the scheme matches up and then the strengths of Iowa matching up with the weaknesses of Minnesota's defense. then the strengths of Iowa matching up with the weaknesses of Minnesota's defense. I couldn't agree more. Offensively, Iowa has been up and down this year. The rushing attack non-existent against Northwestern. They did primarily shotgun, only ran seven times in the second half, but we saw them get a little bit back in line this past weekend against Michigan State. And as we saw, when you get a rushing attack going, like you said, you can use the passing

attack to open up the rushing tech. You can also do vice versa. And I think with Iowa, they like to run, run, run, and then play action pass. And they have the wide receivers. I mean, you were very, you praise the idle Iowa wide receiver group quite heavily before we got in the call. I mean, that's a wide receiver group. You don't want to leave in one-on-one coverage. And if your linebackers are creeping up, now you have Sam Laporta getting behind them.

You have Amir Smith-Marset who's returning. You have Brandon Smith. I mean, that could be a huge matchup to watch. What is the most vulnerable part of your defense? So is it secondary or is it defensive line or is it linebackers? You talked, I mean, seven out of 11 guys, that's a lot. But is there one key weakness in this defense do you think is the most exploitable? The thing about it is all levels are making mistakes right now.

It's edge set on a play. It's a linebacker getting out of a run fit. It's a linebacker being unable to get off of a block and deconstruct. It's a third level player who takes a bad angle and misses a tackle in space. Now, last week they made some adjustments bringing an extra defender to the box sometimes to help get better angles against the run because they were playing a lot of too deep safety. So they had some guys taking horrible angles, trying to make hero tackles in space in the third level. So when I look at it overall, it's there's holes at each level of the defense. Each week, you just don't know exactly which one is going to be magnified. So, I mean, that's not something that

you really want to have defensively is question marks at each spot. The corners, I would say, are the strength with Kony Durer and Benjamin St. Juice. Kony Durer is one of the more underrated cornerbacks in the Big Ten. I want to see the type of defensive scheme they take. My guess is they are going to try to load the box, really stop the run, and force Spencer Petras to beat him. Because when I watch the film, I'm going, okay, you can play single high, bring an extra guy in the box, play hard coverage on man on the outside, force them to try to get open, send blitzes. This gopher defense is at its best when they're successful in early down situations, trying to limit the amount of success they have there. Joe Rossi is so creative when they get to third down with stunts and twists

and then blitzes from all over the place. Last week, they were able to do that, but the prior weeks, they couldn't because teams were having success rates on early downs at like 55 to 65% clips. So if you want to win this game, if you're the Gophers defensively, you got to try to stop the run and get after Petras and force him to make some mistakes because that seems to be the theme that I have noticed while watching Iowa's games.

Yeah, I mean, you're absolutely spot on. That was actually my, I had three matchups I really wanted to watch in this game. One of them was also Spencer Petras versus this Minnesota secondary, simply because I feel like Iowa has the advantage in that running match in the Russian game matchup of, I think offensively, they're going to be able to run the ball pretty well against a Minnesota defense that has been pretty porous from a rush defense perspective. But now we need to see

Spencer Petras turn it on and complete those open passes, complete the play action deep. I mean, against Purdue, I believe it was Amir Smith-Marset had a couple steps on the corner. Brandon Smith also had a couple steps. And both times, those were went for long touchdowns. He missed both of those and we ended up punting the ball. That's 14 points we left on the field because he couldn't complete that pass.

So I think that's a very key thing as well. It wouldn't be Big Ten football though, unless we talked about some special teams. Now coming into this game. Yeah, we got to love man. I talked about, you know, Michigan state loves talk. I mean, everyone loves special teams, the big town. I think that's what makes the big 10 so special. We love running the ball out of a 22 personnel set. We love special teams. I mean, that is just not traditional in college football anymore. Iowa has one of the most electric punters. I know that's a ridiculous statement to make,

but one of the most electric punters in the, you know, in the big 10 in the country right now, Australian kid who's only played three football games in his entire career. He has been punting the ball. Fantastic. On the flip side of that though, Minnesota's punter has one of the worst punting, you know, punts per yard per punt averages, I should say in the country. Now that doesn't tell the whole story.

So I want to get a sense from you. Is it him trying to direct the punt and let his coverage get down the field? Can he not put a leg under the ball? Is he actually skying it well enough? Cause against Michigan state, Michigan state was booting line drives 55 yards, but that was giving Charlie Jones 20 yards of leeway to then run it back. So I want to get your thoughts on what this Minnesota punt game looks like. This is the matchup I'm excited about. It's the battle of the Australian

punters because Mark Crawford is coming back now. He played last week for the first time. The Gophers had a big specialist problem. They were without their primary punter, primary kicker, primary kickoff specialist. And last week was the first time that they had all those guys back. So Dragan Kesic was doing kickoffs. And this was like a moment that was so big for the Gophers because the kickoff specialist was able to boot it out of the end zone four times and was able to kick to the end line twice. So this was a big moment for the

special teams group because it makes such a huge difference. Last week, Illinois' average drive start was at the 22.5 yard line, which is the fifth best mark of P.J. Fleck's career here at Minnesota. So the kickoff game and the kickoff coverage units are playing a lot better. The punting, Mark Crawford, he only had to punt once in that game before, but he's an Aussie roll type of guy, one of the best punters on the Ray Guy circuit in the international punting landscape. So this is a game where I'm excited to watch Torrey Taylor versus Mark Crawford, the battle of the Australian punters, because both of them have a lot of talent and Minnesota special teams are going to be a lot better now that they have the personnel that they need.

Yeah. I, you know, this is the kind of insight I was looking for, man, because when I was looking through some of the Minnesota stuff, I didn't even notice that you were on your backup punter, which can make a huge difference. I mean, the difference between our backup punter and Tori Taylor is quite a difference. There's a reason why he's in there and just crushing it. So that will be a lot of fun to watch. I do want to, you know, quickly get into two other things. This is a non-game related, but why do Minnesota fans hate Iowa so much? I don't know the answer to that question, honestly. Like I've always wondered where it stems from,

but I believe it's probably the goalpost incident sparked it the most. Like that was the flame that ignited the just blazing fire between those two fan bases. And when I went to school there, it was so interesting to me to see the rivalries in person on campus. And I always felt like sometimes that Iowa was the bigger rivalry than Wisconsin. When Iowa came to town, it was just like the hatred level went up another notch, but then Wisconsin comes and I'm like, gosh, it, it, it just matches that. So those rivalries are probably on the same playing field, but Minnesota fans, they, they do not like Iowa at all.

Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, I've never seen a team chant, who hates Iowa, we hate Iowa, when they're not even playing Iowa. That was just bizarre to me to see. I think from an Iowa perspective in recent history, right? I mean, we've won the last five or six games against Minnesota. Basketball, we've been relatively successful against lately as well. I mean, we've won the last five or six games against Minnesota basketball. We've been relatively successful against lately as well. I mean, I think it's been tough from an Iowa perspective to to see that as this is a huge deal. But I have felt the hate from Minnesota fans. So it's definitely an interesting concept for me. What is your prediction for this game, though? This game, the two teams are so similar because it's taken a few weeks to just get everything on track.

They had moving pieces. Iowa had a brand new quarterback, which creates an even more difficult barrier because you're trying to move the team forward with a brand new guy under center. Minnesota has a lot more continuity offensively. On the other side of the ball, it's a work in progress. And with Iowa's mentality of physical running, you know, being able to rush the ball at an extremely efficient level. Tyler Goodson has killed the Gophers last season. He had a phenomenal game against them. How will the Gophers handle the outside zone, the boots, the play action? Are they going to be disciplined enough to limit the scoring attack of Iowa?

And this is a game where it has to be a shootout. You have to just let it loose. And with Iowa being a top 15 defense in efficiency and overall defensive efficiency, opponent success rate and rush defense efficiency, opponent success rate, and rush defense efficiency. Past defense is top 40. This matchup for the Gophers concerns me a lot. I think Iowa probably wins this game by about seven to ten points. Yeah, man, that's about, I mean, I'm thinking a little bit closer, but I do believe Iowa can out, I think their matchups they win are going to be a little bit more advantageous than winning this game ultimately.

I'm also predicting Iowa to win. That being said, coming into this season, I actually thought Iowa was going to lose this game. I thought they would start 3-1 with a loss to Minnesota. Things clearly have changed a little bit. Daniel, I really appreciate your time, though, coming on. You've been a great resource for knowledge to get an understanding of what Minnesota brings the table. You also cover the Minnesota Vikings though, too.

We have a lot of Minnesota Vikings fans who are listening to this that are also Iowa Hawkeye fans. What an interesting concept there, but where can folks find you at to get all of your knowledge between the Gophers Vikings, everything else you do. Yeah. If you're a Gopher fan, head to gophersguru.com. It's $5 a month for the premium subscription. You get access to film breakdowns, analytics, all the stuff that I hinted at during this podcast.

And then if you're a Vikings fan, go over to Vikings Corner, mnvikingscorner.com for analysis there. And then follow me on Twitter, at Daniel House NFL. I put out a lot of film clips on the Vikings and talk about some of the things that they do well from a week-to-week standpoint. Absolutely. Daniel, it has been a blast having you on.

I've learned a lot about Minnesota. I really enjoyed talking to you. I hope for the sake of my Twitter DMs and the sake of all my Minnesota friends, I hope Iowa wins. But it was great talking to you nonetheless, and we'll have you back on in the future, man. Hey, thanks for having me. Awesome. Talk to you later, buddy.

All right, and that concludes our Thursday morning crossover episode with Daniel house. Again, a big shout out to him for hopping on the show. Really appreciate his insight. Make sure to go check out his work. If you're a Vikings fan, or if you just like to get a little bit more insight on the opposition,

go check out his work at go for guru and follow him on Twitter. He's a fantastic follow. Clearly knows his stuff again. Thank you all for tuning in. We're going to be back tomorrow morning, breaking down the betting lines, talking about the three keys to winning that game, and giving a little preview of the Big Ten

because there's a few things kind of going on there. And if anything breaks in the next 24 hours, we'll make sure to cover that as well. So make sure to subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And as always, Hawkeye Nation, have a fantastic Thursday.

And let's go Hawks.