Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa vs Northwestern crossover episode with Inside NUs Eli Karp

Episode Date: October 29, 2020

Every Thursday we are bringing you a crossover episode with an expert from the other team. Today, we have Eli Karp from SB Nations' Inside NU on the show to talk about Northwestern's Saturday blasting of Maryland and what to expect from this new look offense and grad transfer QB Peyton Ramsey. Karp also breaks down what concerns him about NW vs Iowa and he tells which area of the defense is his biggest concern heading into Saturday.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.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 a Thursday morning 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, and today's episode is brought to you by RockAuto.com. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need, RockAuto.com. And as I've been teasing every single Thursday, we are going to be doing a crossover episode with an expert from the other team.

Today we have Eli Karp from InsideNU, the SB Nation's Northwestern fan site. He did a fantastic job of talking through what to expect from Northwestern today and what to expect in that game, Northwestern versus Iowa. We also talked about on yesterday's show some of the things that both Pat Fitzgerald and Kirk Ferens talked about and what those three key matchups are. So if you want to get more information before getting into this crossover episode, make sure to check that out as well. But without wasting anyone else's time, let's hop into that conversation with Eli Karp talking about Northwestern versus Iowa.

All right. I am joined here by Eli Karp of InsideNU, SB Nation's Northwestern site. Eli, how are you doing today, man? I'm doing well. Thanks for having me on, Andrew. Yeah. I mean, how are you feeling after that opening weekend win? Obviously, as an Iowa fan, I'm a little upset, but Northwestern, you got to be pretty excited

after a rough season last year. Yeah, no, it was certainly, for everything that 2019 was not, Saturday night had 43 points put up by the offense, just an absolute demolition. Really, like, nothing Northwestern fans saw in a game last year. And it was very refreshing. Yeah, I can only imagine. I mean, like we talked about just before the show, I think a lot of people are looking at Northwestern

and seeing what happened last year and thinking, are they really going to improve? But you look at last year and they had a lot of injuries. Peyton Ramsey wasn't there. They got a new offensive coordinator. Was it really that trifecta of coming together or was there something else that happened to make that offensive explosion happen last or on Saturday? I think you look at two things. You look at the quarterback play Northwestern cycled through like four different quarterbacks last year. Hunter Johnson was not the answer last year. Aiden Smith ended up starting the majority

of the season. And he's just frankly not up, you know, he's not a big 10 quarterback in that way. It was never expected to play that role. And then the offensive coordinator, Mick McCall, he had been there for 12 years. Fans probably wanted him gone five years earlier. And Fitz is known for being very loyal to his staff and kept in there.

Mick's had his good moments, his bad moments, but it was long overdue. And after a really, really putrid season last year on the offensive side of the ball, it became clear he needed to go. So you bring in Peyton Ramsey, a very proven, competent Big Ten quarterback who has been seen at all basically in the Big Ten, something Northwestern did not have last year. You bring in new blood on the offensive scheme. It's not the same thing they've been running since 2008. And it looks different. Again, it's Maryland. The Maryland defense is pretty terrible. So you can't read into it too much, but, you know,

and just talking with people last couple of days, people, you know, people who watched a lot of last year, people who know what the Northwestern offense has been, you're like, well, how many points would they put up in that game? If it was last year's offense, I think the consensus was like low to mid twenties and it would take them, you know, maybe, maybe 27, but it might take them the entire game. And the defense would shut down Maryland.

It'd be more like a 27, seven, 27, three victory. They got to 43 pretty. I mean, they got to 30 at halftime. They could have put up 55 if they really wanted.

So this is not to say this is all about Maryland being bad because the offense, it looked different. There were receivers running free. There were, you know, giant holes up front. I think one of the most underrated storylines in the last couple of years for Northwestern is, yes, Mick McCall leaving really, I think, will change the trajectory of this offense

and potentially the program as a whole. But Adam Cushing, the offensive, long-time offensive line coach left after 2018 to take the head job at Eastern Illinois, I believe. Kurt Anderson comes in, has so far through last year and one game this year, been very good, not only on the recruiting trail, landing some of the best offensive line recruits in program history, but the general level of play has gone up.

And I mean, you see it in action. Peter Skowronski, true freshman left tackle, who starts on Saturday after, you know, All-American Rashawn Slater opts out to prepare for the NFL draft, does not miss one beat. A true freshman, you can't really say that at Northwestern. You can't really say that at many programs to have a true really say that many programs have true freshmen come in and start at left tackle and really hold his own. So I think you look at the offensive line, you get a new quarterback

and you look at a new scheme. It's just the playmakers are still there. They were just not really known as playmakers before because the scheme wouldn't allow them to be. Yeah. I find that very interesting. I want to touch on one play real quick. Cause you mentioned that Pat Fitzgerald is very loyal to his coordinators. And I feel like Kirk Ference has also been known to be very similar in that regard. And I feel like Northwestern and Iowa are very similar programs. Honestly, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Iowa, save for the fact that Wisconsin is recruiting better than ever the last year or two, they're very similar programs. So it's very, it's always a fun game to play

because you're basically getting two very similar type of football teams. You might not get the same offenses. You might not get the same defenses, but the teams themselves have very similar personalities, very gritty, very hardworking, always in the right spots. That's very interesting to me. You did mention, obviously, the fact that you did have a new offensive coordinator and he's changing up a little bit of things. The offensive line coach has done a fantastic job of bringing in talent when I look at this roster as you said they brought back everyone except for Peyton Ramsey I really like Peyton Ramsey at Indiana obviously it shows why he was not going to get the starting job Michael Penix Jr. a fantastic quarterback but Peyton Ramsey is a very serviceable

quarterback but I want to touch on the run game because last year Isaiah Bowser injured throughout the year his breakout game though a year before that was really against Iowa he just dominated the heck out of Iowa in this game 53 rushes 325 yards Isaiah Bowser Drake Anderson Evan Hull a kind of a trio of running backs what do each of those guys bring to the Northwestern running attack? Yeah. So Bowser is the starter, but it's, you know, they're going to go to committee by some extent. But he, he's the bruising back. He is up the middle. You know, he is an old school back. He's like a bowling ball.

So he'll get you the tough yards. At least that's what he's known to be. We saw a little more a Juliet of him in the screen game, at least towards the end of last season. And then on Saturday, you saw, I think he caught like four or five balls. And that was actually really refreshing to see too, just that he's not an old school back who will get you a few yards when you need it, is that he can actually make a difference on the outside as well. Drake Anderson, he's got the wiggle.

I think a lot of people were high on him going into last year, never really panned out. He would kind of rack up yards in garbage time. But you saw on Saturday, he's the change of pace. He cut back all the way across the field to score like a 24-yard touchdown run or something like that and outran the entire Maryland defense. It was a really exciting play. And he said, I think yesterday in media availability, he had a touchdown just like that in practice. So clearly that's something that has happened before. And that is just the style he will, he will seek to find those holes.

And he, he is pretty agile. He's a little smaller, um, but they're very different backs. And I guess having holes kind of just, uh,z is kind of just a mix of the two. He's the third string running back, so a lot of time against UMass or late in the season. And he's the clear-cut number three. Seems like he will get carries occasionally. I don't know how much in close games, but they certainly view him

as a reliable option at least. And someone along with the true freshman freshman cam porter they view the two of them as the future in a couple of years that they're going to be really solid options but um yeah i mean the offensive line did a pretty good job it was a it was a a weak maryland front seven this week's going to be a different test i'm going to quickly pause the conversation with eli i hope you all are enjoying it but i do have a very important message for you. And it's coming from a guy who's always on the go. I'm either working out, I'm working, I'm hosting a podcast. I'm taking care of my pets. I'm hanging out with my wife. I'm cooking dinner. There's so many things I have on my plate. Sometimes I just need to take a

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How did you hear about Usbox? So they know that we sent you. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need, rockauto.com. Definitely, man. And I mean, it's a nice problem to have. It's nice to have four running backs that you feel confident in being able to run the ball. I'm having a two headed monster and Isaiah Bowser and Drake Anderson. I want to touch on how you're running the ball because I'm not obviously watching every Northwestern game, especially last year. I mean,

not to be mean to you being on my show, but Northwestern was terrible to watch. It was not fun football. Um, even the Iowa game versus Northwestern, honestly, was one of the most boring games I watched all year. But the year prior, what I found was really interesting about Northwestern was they were spreading the ball out, so they had three, four wide receivers. They had shotgun formation, and they were doing inside zone just repeatedly with Isaiah Bowser. What is different from that to this year?

How are they running the ball? What does the scheme look like this year? I have a couple of follow-up questions on that, just based on how Iowa's defense is going to handle that. But I'm curious, what is the difference now? How are they running the ball this time? Sure. So I think the emphasis is still on the power run game. But what I would say is you look at the formations and the personnel on the field, and it is different. Mike Bajakian, the new offensive coordinator, comes in, makes sure – I mean, first I'll start with the superbacks are out. Whatever combination of halfback, fullback, tight end,

the superback position was, that is gone. They are now just tight ends. And I think everyone around the program, at least us media, are kind of happy about that, as much of a joke as it was in a unique Northwestern thing. But, no, I'd say – I think someone tweeted out, happy about that as much of a joke as it was in a you know unique northwestern thing but um i know i'd say i think someone tweeted out our prior editor-in-chief who is incredibly analytical with all this stuff and has been watching northwestern football since like 2011 um he said

i think on saturday that was like northwestern ran a play with two running backs in the backfield for like the first time that he can ever remember so you have two running backs in the backfield for like the first time that he can ever remember. So you have two running backs in the backfield more often. There's a lot of window dressing that goes on with Mike Pajakian. You have two tight ends on the field more often. You have John Rain, who's more of the pass catching threat and Charlie Mangieri, who's more of the pure blocker. Northwestern hardly used two tight ends last year, two super backs following the departure of Cam Green last off season to medical retirement he was really supposed to be the guy he leaves they had no production out of the position last year so i think you see northwestern actually really did well on the on outside runs against

maryland maryland could not contain the edge inside runs not as good but again it's all getting uh shaped out but on the first touchdown with Isaiah Bowser, they brought Trey Pugh, who's a giant, or actually, no, not Trey Pugh, Joe Spivak, who's a backup defensive lineman. He was a second-string defensive tackle. They brought him into block, absolutely cleared the hole on the left side, and Bowser, you or I could have walked in for six. I mean, it was actually just, again,

things, the little creativity, the little nuances that weren't there, that even if the plays don't look crazy creative, it's just like, oh, that's new. That's different. We hadn't, we see other teams doing that, but Northwestern has never done that before. So again, you're going to see more 12 personnel where you have more running backs in the back foot. You're going to have two tight ends. It's going to be an emphasis on winning the line of scrimmage as opposed to simply lining up in the shotgun with 13 personnel. And that's gone. Definitely.

And I think that actually it makes the it kind of changes my point because typically I've seen Northwestern do it from a spread attack. And that puts Iowa in a scheme they're not as familiar with they just recently implemented the cash which was revolutionary for Iowa having five defensive backs oh my gosh what are we coming to a college football but the fact that Northwestern is running more 12 and 22 personnel means that Iowa is more likely going to be back into their traditional 4-3 defensive. And with the weakness they have at linebacker, I don't want weakness is a loose term. They are struggling with some of the depth, with some of the injuries and whatnot linebacker that'll make this a really interesting battle.

Um, especially with Northwestern running so much up-tempo, if they're able to switch guys out, or if they're able to, you know, if the tight ends are able to be a little bit, um, crafty route running wise, that could really get Iowa on a tough position. If Northwestern, you know, is running plays every 10, 15 seconds. Yeah, no, I think, again, one of the most underrated storylines with how smooth the offense was running on Saturday was the tempo. You know, Northwestern will always strive for a ball control offense under Mick McCall, which was basically code for,

we're going to try and score just enough touchdowns and go three and out on virtually every other drive that's not a scoring drive, and the defense will hold on for dear life until something happens at the end. You had on this up-tempo offense, you had – they went 55 plays in two minutes once. That was quick. That was a, you know, a lightning strike offense.

And then at the beginning of the second half, they went 17 plays for eight and a half minutes, virtually all on the ground until Ramsey found finds Isaiah Bowser for a short rollout touchdown. I mean, it was dynamic in that sense. And I think that was encouraging that the tempo, just because they're going tempo, that doesn't mean, you know, it's a, they're off the field in two minutes because they're going down the field in three plates. It's, it's methodical. At least it was against Maryland. I don't intend to see that. You know,

I don't think we'll see that on Saturday, but I think the tempo is something teams never had to prepare for against Northwestern. It would be, you know, teams rarely had a game plan for Northwestern's offense before this. And I think that adds a new element. Definitely. And you're speaking to a guy who understands the concept of score, just enough touchdowns and let your defense hold on. I, again, I get it from an Iowa perspective

and I mean, that is every game is close, especially these Iowa versus Northwestern games. I mean, heck even last year, I think it was 20 to nothing. It was, I mean, it felt like Northwestern, if they just were able to ever put a drive together, they would have been in that game, but that offense was honestly so historically inept. It wasn't even that concerning. We talked with the linebackers from the Iowa standpoint. Iowa's linebackers, you know, Jack Campbell's out due to, we're honestly not sure. It's a sickness injury.

We're not really sure at this point. Another linebacker, Jamon Colbert, opted out. From the linebacker perspective for Northwestern, though, Y'all have a pretty darn good linebacker group. I actually called it the top three linebacker group in the big 10. I would say that was me being cautious just because I don't follow all the teams in the big 10, but it's pretty darn good. Led by Patty Fisher. What impressed you about that linebacker group going as Maryland. And again, with the caveat, again, Maryland is not a good football team, but we know that Northwestern linebacker group is pretty darn solid.

Yeah, I actually have to say the linebackers were fairly quiet on Saturday. I think what showed out was the secondary with three picks and really not giving up much at all against what we thought might be a decent Maryland passing attack, that their strength is at the receiver position. And, you know, you put the name T of ILO behind a quarterback and everyone gets excited. So I think there was a little bit of concern as to how a young secondary, you had Greg Newsome Northwestern's number one corner out for that game. I would venture to think he would be out on Saturday as well,

but you have no Greg Newsome. Travis Willock, one of the senior safeties had opted out. And so you're basically left with Jr pace, camera, we's filled in. He was projected to get that second starting quarterback spot. He's now a veteran. He played very well. Pace play well as usual. Uh, and then AJ Hampton and Brandon Joseph, the two other defensive backs who really haven't seen as much time. They played well, you know, also.

So I think you look at the linebackers and it was just pretty quiet because the defense didn't have to do anything great i think north uh the defense did what it had to do but defensive line didn't get all that much pressure um and the linebackers just kind of had a quiet night you know none of them really stood out as having a good or a bad game but maryland shot itself in the foot a couple times missed a couple open opportunities and you know it was i didn't take take anything away from what the linebackers did as being good or bad. I still think they were the top unit on the team.

Definitely. And the other unit I want to touch on, you already touched about the secondary. That seemed to be a strength in the Maryland game. The linebackers I know is a strength. The defensive line, though, you're missing a few guys there from last year. That, to me, appears to be the weakness of the defense for Northwestern and Iowa's offensive line, say for, you know, there were some things they need to work on. There were some penalties and whatnot. I think just getting used to the new cadence from Spencer Petras, but Iowa's offensive

line is one of the strengths and their wide receiver group is also a strength. I mean, I could honestly, Iowa's offense has a lot of strong talent along that. And so your secondary is going to be wrapped up covering a pretty darn good group of wide receivers. So it's going to be really important for your defensive line to get some pressure on an Iowa offensive line that I think is going to be better coming into this week. What are your concerns with that Northwestern defensive line? So my concerns are about, I mean,

they're previously about depth and now they're about inexperience because, you know, after someondre Miller leaves, ops out announced a couple weeks ago, there's a little bit of concern, projected to be a starting defensive end, but defensive line coach Marty Long has just made a career out of plugging guys in and making it work. I think he's one of the most underrated position coaches, not only on the team, but maybe in the Big Ten,

just because Northwestern's defensive line year in and year out just does a solid job. It's not going to blow you off the team, but maybe in the Big Ten, just because Northwestern's defensive line year in and year out just does a solid job. It's not going to blow you off the table, but it's going to do a solid job. But Trevor Kent's starting defensive tackle, no indication that he was going to be out for Saturday's game until the inactives report. Now he's off the depth chart. We don't know exactly why. Could be COVID, could be injury, we're not sure. Defensive tackle, Jason gold, who steps in, he then goes, leaves with an injury, no update to him. And he's not on the depth chart. So factoring that in those players barely played, you know,

in the game combined on, on Saturday, they only got one sack that was not on a blitz. And I mean, they had two sacks total. One came on a corner blitz from Cam Ruiz. They just didn't hurry Maryland enough. And the Maryland offensive line is okay. It's not a terrible offensive line. It's probably better than the rest of the units around them.

But for what they were going up against, it wasn't an especially great performance. And there's a lot of youth. I think Ernest Brown got a lot of talent. Very athletic, huge size, projected to be a really exciting player for Northwestern, was out with a lot of injuries last season. This is his senior year.

He just didn't do a lot on Saturday. Tommy Adeboware, the other defensive end now with Miller gone. Also a lot of talent. He had a sack, but they just didn't generate enough consistent pressure. I think the line only generated three more quarterback hurries. So you factor that in, you know, Tug of Iowa made some mistakes, throwing the ball, helped out the secondary Northwestern has to generate more pressure. And that is something they've had trouble with. Now with Joe Gaziano gone, that becomes more of a problem. So if they can generate more pressure

and be more consistent up front that then may expose the secondary against those Iowa receivers definitely man and so leading into that what on the surface what are your concerns about going into this Iowa game and what are the things you feel pretty confident about you can just give me like one on each side yeah so I mean I say I think I stick with the defensive line, just being able to hold its own up front against a much better offensive front and trying to get pressure on Spencer Petras. On offense, I'd say, because they did everything pretty well, I just think Ramsey's going to be under more pressure. And I think everything they did was on cruise control. They didn't need to be under more pressure. And I think he's, you know, everything they did was on cruise control.

They didn't need to hit any big plays. I think their longest play, it was 37 yards. And that was later in the game when it was out of reach. So I think it's going to be, it's going to be adjusting to, to what an actual defense throws at them, you know, is the running again, the running game was pretty darn good 325 yards but they ran the ball the entire second half for like 176 so i think you know it's just hard to read into that too much you're not going to expect northwest to put up 43 points i would venture to say if this offense is actually good they'll put up somewhere in the mid to high 20s

and that should be enough to win this game but um i just say you know peyton ramsey is someone who doesn't exactly have the most arm strength it's good enough but he doesn't have a huge arm and and i'd say we've noticed this at least in a lot of film reviews and analyses that we've done is he likes to float the ball and he's very good against his own coverage and he's very good in those short to intermediate passes the ball and he's very good against zone coverage and he's very good in those short to intermediate passes if those aren't there i'm concerned about you know peyton ramsey going one-on-one compared to some of these iowa corners who are better than the maryland corners yeah absolutely man i appreciate that insight from you and you know obviously you've done a lot of research i've been looking at some of your articles on inside and you.com and clearly you all do your research

on the opposition as well which is pretty awesome to see definitely folks out there go check out inside and you.com before we get into your prediction for the game I wanted to get your thoughts on the Big Ten West as a whole because I don't know about you but watching Saturday and watching Friday I thought oh my gosh Wisconsin's gonna Wisconsin's gonna murder everyone and then Wisconsin now is down to their fourth string quarterback and they're back up to him as a walk-on who had a d2 scholarship offer out of Iowa Wisconsin's going to murder everyone. And then Wisconsin now is down to their fourth string quarterback and they're back up to him as a walk-on who had a D2 scholarship offer out of Iowa. Wisconsin is now no longer in the driver's seat.

Minnesota did not look that good under a new offensive coordinator. I think Tanner Morgan kind of regressed back to what I think he's always kind of been. I mean, he's a good quarterback, but nothing great. What are your thoughts on the big 10 West this year? And does Northwestern have a shot to kind of surprise people? It's all there. It's all there. I mean, I think at least the way we viewed it before the season is it was Wisconsin, Minnesota, and then kind of Iowa, a step below them.

And then everyone else was kind of, what's it going to be? And it seems like Illinois has come crashing back down to earth after a bullet period parents last year um again minnesota did not look very good wait to see how good michigan is but aside from tanner morgan that looked great that defense is a lot of trouble lost five of its top six tacklers from last year did not look good um you know in wisconsin this this you know with with grammar it's testing positive and wait to see if it was confirmed or not. We'll only kind of know on Saturday, cause it's unclear with all the depth charts, where does that leave them?

I don't, they don't play the toughest schedule. I mean, it would be hilarious if they beat Nebraska this weekend with, you know, chase goal for Danny Vandenboom under center, but they could do it. They could. I don't think that of the question at all. And a lot of people would tell you they could do it. They could. I don't think that of the question at all. And a lot of people would tell you they should do it. Then they play, I think Purdue and Michigan. So you could lose to Michigan. And who knows with Purdue, because I mean, you just saw Purdue play. They're like this every year. And so it's so unpredictable.

So I think you look at that and everyone's like, Oh, Purdue the sleeper while everyone's viewed them like that for two years. And what's really changed. They're very inconsistent. Although they were able to do that without Rondo Moore and their head coach so they're just a very hard team to grasp but you know Iowa everyone's looking to Iowa for consistency they didn't find it week one um you know their their schedule isn't terrible but it's all there for Northwestern in my mind there's you know if Wisconsin doesn't do well the next few weeks and Northwestern is able to

take advantage of a manageable schedule of the first four weeks where I, the Iowa game is probably the toughest one in faces. They can afford a loss to Wisconsin potentially, you know, and what's playing Minnesota at the end of the year going to look like at that point. So after, after a positive, very positive showing for Northwestern week one, I think fans are confident that it's just take this game by game. It might be there.

Yeah. I mean, it's literally anyone's, anyone's division at this point. I actually projected Wisconsin at one and two over the next three weeks. I think they lose that Michigan game. I think either lose Purdue. I thought Nebraska actually played. I don't want to give Nebraska any praise that I honestly hate them more than any team in the entire conference, but they played pretty darn well against Ohio state, all things considered Ohio state's always going to just beat them anyways,

but I thought they actually improved on a lot of things. So I appreciate your insight there. I completely agree. I mean, I talked about it for Iowa. I was still in the driver's seat from their own perspective. They can clean some things up. I mean, it's literally anyone's division, which makes it so much more fun going into this game. Iowa versus Northwestern, always a great game. Eli, what is your prediction for this game?

You know, call me a homer, but I'm going to go with Northwestern here. Because why not? You know, it's week two. They look really good week one. Iowa's going to be fired up. I think, you know, it's always a close game. But I think, you know, there are no fans in Kinnick. And I think Northwestern has adjusted well to there being no fans. Um, you know, there's always the joke that Northwestern

is playing with no fans. I wasn't going to say it. Yeah. I mean, but they're good playing on the road in very hostile environments anyway. Um, so I think I'll go Northwestern 26, 21. I think it'll be another close game come down to the wire. Um, but the defense being able to force turnover is I think it's big. Um, I would turn the ball over a few times. It really self-inflicted wounds is what I read. I really had trouble with those penalties. So Northwestern played a very clean game against Maryland. Might not be as clean against, against Iowa,

but just take care of the ball. And I think, I think Northwestern would be able to eke out a win. Definitely, man. I mean, a lot of unknowns going into this game. I'm obviously going to project an Iowa win, but I do agree regardless that it is going to be a close game I would be shocked to see anything over seven points in either direction for the team Eli where can fans find you I mean I know you you cover Northwestern but I just want to make it very clear to any Iowa Hawkeye fans listening to this that you guys do a fantastic job but not just covering Northwestern

but actually doing your analysis and the real analysis of the teams around the big 10. Sometimes you see sites and it's very high level, but I think you guys do a great job of looking at all aspects of the big 10. So where can folks find you at and where can folks find your website at? Well, I appreciate that, Andrew. So, I mean, my, my personal Twitter, which is somewhat football, somewhat occasional other stuff is a carp underscore Eli, but I'm mainly do most of the Northwestern related tweeting from at inside and you and the website is inside and you.com. We are the Northwestern blog for SB nation.

And we're proud to say we are entirely student run. So it is something we take a lot of pride in as, you know, Teddy Greenstein from the Chicago Tribune just moved on. He had a great 24 year run there. I'd say right behind him, we've probably done some of the most coverage. So it's us and the daily Northwestern. We are constantly, you know, we are there on the Northwestern beat and it's really just the students who are doing most of the coverage.

That's pretty cool. I mean, obviously it speaks to the fact that Northwestern in general is one of the smartest schools in the country. And I think you guys do a fantastic job there. So Eli, obviously it speaks to the fact that Northwestern in general is one of the smartest schools in the country. And I think you guys do a fantastic job there. So Eli, thank you for coming on the show. I'm hoping when we talk on Saturday that it's after an Iowa win, but either way, it's going to be a great game regardless.

And it's good to see Northwestern not be Northwestern of last year. It's always good for the Big Ten to have Northwestern back in that competition. So thank you for coming on, man. Have a fantastic day. And we'll talk to you later, buddy. My pleasure.

You too. All right. And that will wrap up our Thursday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. I hope you enjoyed that crossover episode. We're going to be back next week as well with another crossover episode. And every single week we have a football game. We are back. Make sure to tune into tomorrow's episode as we break down the betting odds.

Talk about the keys to winning tomorrow's game versus Northwestern, and also talk a little bit about what to expect in the Big Ten this upcoming weekend. Thank you all for tuning in. If you loved the show, make sure to let us know. Give us that five-star review. Send me a Twitter DM. Send me an Instagram message. Whatever it is, let me know your feedback for the show. I appreciate you all tuning in. I appreciate the love and the support and the listenership. As always, Hawkeye Nation, thank you for letting me do this. Have a fantastic Thursday, and let's go Hawks!