Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa vs. Wisconsin football Crossover: Who takes control of the terrible Big Ten West?

Episode Date: October 11, 2023

Trent Condon from Locked on Hawkeyes & Ryan Harings from Locked on Badgers join together for a crossover edition with a look at this week's match up.First an overview of each team with the turnover and change into the Luke Fickell era in Wisconsin to the tumult in Iowa City with the Hawkeyes offense.A breakdown of the game on the field this week and what Iowa would have to do in order to pull the upset and old friend Deacon Hill making his way back to Madison.Then predictions on the game presented by FanDuel.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.Athletic BrewingGo to AthleticBrewing.com and enter code LOCKEDON to get 15% off your first online order or find a store near you! Athletic Brewing. Milford, CT and San Diego, CA. Near Beer.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedoncollege and use code lockedoncollege for a first deposit match up to $100! Daily Fantasy Sports Made Easy! GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase.Jase MedicalSave more than $360 by getting these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical plus an additional $20 off by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Time to cross it over. It is Hawkeyes. It is Badgers. It is the Big Ten West Championship game. Not a whole lot there. Trent and Ryan with you today. Locked on Hawkeyes and locked on Badgers. Welcome in here today.

Thanks for joining us. This is a crossover edition on Locked On. I was getting ready to hit the liner, but that's for Locked On Hawkeyes. I don't want to do that. So it's just you and me right here going in and getting ready for this one. Iowa, Wisconsin, 3 o'clock on Saturday. It is Big Fox that will have it. Today's episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes and Lockdown Badgers is brought to you by Jace Medical.

Jace Medical, a presenting sponsor for the podcast. Empower yourself when you purchase a Jace case, providing you with a personal supply of five antibiotics that treat 50 or more infections. Get yours today at jacemedical.com. That's Jace, J-A-S-E, medical.com. Right, let's get into it and start with a little bit of overview. I'll throw it to you first. You're number one of Luke Bickle, one loss on the season. You're playing in a terrible division. Where you guys are and going through, obviously, a very big transition with year number one. Yeah, not quite where I think fans or I expected. I think a lot of us thought it'd be a little cleaner. At the end of the day, though, it's an offense averaging 31 points per game.'s still going through teething processes right like i think i think there is nationally a notion that wisconsin should be a little further along but

when you zoom out you're one for a coaching rebuild brand new staff new schemes on both sides a bunch of new players new transfers and you're four and one and you're averaging 31 points a game right i mean we weren't that's well what would an iowa fan do for 31 points a game, right? I mean, we weren't that's, what would an Iowa fan do for 31 points a game? I'm assuming Annex half your state, right? So, I think it's fine. This is actually the record I predicted we would have at this point. I thought we would lose to Washington State, so

I kind of feel like we're right on track. It's just a little slower than we anticipated the train moving. I can see that, and I have watched every Wisconsin game, except for one on the BTN in 60. So I've got a view. And it's funny because if you just look at the box scores,

you just kind of look at the end game score. You do that and you're like, boy, they must be flying high. But watching each of those games, I wasn't wowed by Wisconsin. It wasn't where, boy, this team is off and running. They're going to run away with the division. I don't think the box score and the final scores have kind of really painted the full picture of this season. Is that fair? Probably to some degree it is.

Although you look at some of the games, the first Big Ten game they played on the road going to Purdue, a Purdue team that needed that game. They really controlled that entire game. They're playing a Rutgers team that looks much better under Shiano. And again, Rutgers never threatened in that game. So they've done a bit of a mini Michigan thing, like make no mistake, they are nowhere close to Michigan, but they've won some games where maybe the score, the box score doesn't look as impressive, but they controlled a lot of the game script. There's really been very few teams where Wisconsin down the stretch has really been stressed by the opponent.

Obviously Washington State on the road. Washington State's a good team with a real quarterback. And that was a game that Wisconsin was right in. They had a late turnover. They could have won that game, could have, would have, should have. I don't think they deserved to win that game. But I think they've controlled the game scripts for the most part. And even though, again, this is where I went back and said, it's not as pretty as I think a lot controlled the game scripts for the most part and even though it again

this is where I went back and said it's not as pretty as I think a lot of people expected it to be but I think a lot of people overlook the amount of turnover and transition and just there's growing pains with a whole new staff again that being said though you look back to where we were last year under Paul Chris where there should have been no growing pains Illinois was murdering us you know like you saw that version of Wisconsin up close and personal. We are so far ahead of that version of Wisconsin. That was a broken team. This feels like a team still coalescing,

that still has trajectory to grow this year. So there's still optimism on the Wisconsin side. There's a couple of pass plays, deep pass plays we've had that we just haven't been able to connect on. I think we're right there, really where we should be realistically and not where we should have been from the fans' probably heightened expectations. You bring Luke Fickle in and you feel like you're on cloud nine, it's going to click right away because of his history and his pedigree.

I think this is more realistically where we should have thought we would be this year, kind of five games in. And honestly, from my perspective, this is kind of where I thought you were going to be. You know, we talked a little bit in our back and forth on Slack and stuff for lockdown, and I know how optimistic you were coming into the season. I thought the transition was going to take a little bit longer. I'll let you throw it back my way. I also thought things would be a little bit further along here from an Iowa perspective. Injuries have obviously derailed this season and our idiot offensive coordinator. Let me you I have a couple questions I'm fascinated with here the

first is I just want to zoom out a little bit why did you think you'd be better like and that's not a you question it's more of an Iowa fan because I got this vibe from Iowa fans too bringing in you know McNamara and it's going to be different I thought McNamara was fine at Michigan I don't feel like that's was the solution at Iowa I think it's the ecosystem it's obviously to be different. I thought McNamara was fine at Michigan. I don't feel like that was the solution at Iowa. I think it's the ecosystem. It's obviously the OC. Why did everybody think it'd be better after years of seeing this offense?

Well, if you watch Spencer Petras the last three years, I mean, that's a reason for it. He was just terrible. And you look at the numbers and how they regressed after the crazy 2020 season. He was bad in 2021 and even worse in 2022. He had mentally just completely broken. Simple out routes, you know, five-yard out routes.

He couldn't complete them. He was sailing them. He was so mentally broken that you figure with a competent quarterback, a quarterback that his greatest streak that Cade McNamara is his accuracy, was going to get this thing moving along. Now McNamara suffers the injury in August camp, never was healthy all season long before eventually tearing his ACL. So there was no shot. The other part of it, and the reason for optimism is the offensive line was

so bad the last two years, it was as bad as it's been ever in the Kirk Barron's era going all the way back when he was out there playing Bruce Nelson and Robert Gallery at 250 pounds as freshmen his first couple of years just because they were so depleted here those offensive lines were better than what we saw the last couple of seasons they brought in two transfers that was a hope that that was going to help out one still has not been able to get on the field because of injury so you have that part of it and those younger guys that were taking those lumps becoming upperclassmen Connor Colby Mason Richmond you thought all right they're going to take the big leap this year,

and it just hasn't happened. The offensive line has been pretty good, pass blocking actually. Run blocking has gotten better the last couple of weeks, but still not at the level. So that was where the optimism came from. Offensive line is at least going to be adequate, an accurate quarterback, something that Iowa hasn't had in three seasons.

You put those two things together, you bring in a couple of wide receivers, the run game will be fine, really talented running backs, and they're going to be good. That's where the optimism came from, but I guess we forgot who's still running the ship there on the offense of Brian Ferentz. Yeah, the other question I had for you, and this is something I was thinking about in the offseason, what was the vibe for Iowa fans?

Because Iowa continuity, right? Wisconsin and Iowa for the longest time. It was continuity, continuity, continuity. We are who we are. What was the vibe for Iowa fans in general sticking with Brian Ferencz and then seeing Wisconsin, whether it works long-term or not, right, for Wisconsin, but seeing Wisconsin drastically say, no, this isn't working. We're tearing it down.

Forget tradition in a certain sense. We're going to modernize. What was the thought? Because I've always thought for the longest time Iowa and Wisconsin are kind of co-patriots, right tradition in a certain sense. We're going to modernize. What was the thought? Because I've always thought for the longest time, Iowa and Wisconsin are kind of co-patriots, right? We're very similar. And then to see Wisconsin just so quickly flip it, I'm curious what the perspective on that change for Iowa was.

I think there's some frustration from some of the fan base, certainly, to see that. And there are very few people that want to see Kirk Ferentz be pushed out of the door. I mean, what he has done with this program, the kind of person that he is, the successes that he's had, people don't want to do that. And for us older people out there, we also remember the transition going from Dr. Tom Davis on the basketball program, pushing him out the door. A successful coach, didn't get to the heights he wanted to see, wanted to get to that next level.

So you don't renew his contract. He has a lame duck year. You bring in Steve Alford thinking that's going to lead to these heights that you hadn't been in a long time. And he took a step down and then it cratered under Todd Licklider afterwards. And it still hasn't come back. Now, Fran McCaffrey's put together a very successful program, yet fans don't show up. There's not the interest that there was once for Iowa basketball. And there's a concern interest that there was once for Iowa basketball. And there's a concern that the same thing would happen to football. If you push out a successful coach, you can become like Iowa basketball became. You can be going through the 20-year

and wandering through the wilderness like Nebraska football is at this point. So there's a part of the fan base that is that way. And then there's the other side that just said, blow the whole thing up. Who cares? And another part of that is though Iowa has wins and you stack them up the last three, the last five, the last 10 years. Now this is a team in the nation that is top 10, top 12 in the country in terms of victories, but it just isn't fun. I mean, it is a grind and you get out there and you beat Purdue 20 to 14 last week. And, and there's still angst about it because the enjoyment of what you hope for with football it just isn't there it's just not a fun experience anymore so the back and forth

continues and the fan base fights and well i'm sure you're used to that from a year ago right yeah it's gonna be exhausting right i imagine you have one faction who's just frustrated because it does feel like there's a bit of a ceiling as well until at least brian until uh kirk friends is able to adjust this a little bit and then on the other side you have a group of fans who understand that it is difficult to win eight nine games a year right and that's not something that you should just uh forget about that wisconsin had the same type of internal battles the the fan base right and then you know if what i learned not even learned like this is obvious but you make a right hire and everybody gets on board. Like nobody cares, right?

I shouldn't say nobody, but nobody cares if you make the right hire because you elevate the ceiling. And in the age of NIL, in the age of athletes that we live in now, whether people like it or not, excitement around the program is paramount. Like you have to have excitement to build NIL. you have to have excitement to build nil you have to have excitement to land recruits and it was just getting progressively harder with the type of staff that we had which is i think similar in a lot of ways to the type of stuff you have to do that so yeah i hear it man i'm glad that we have moved off that to be honest and i all do respect to paul chris who did great things at wisconsin but i think your fan base would be if you'd made the right hire, would be totally on board.

Rejuvenated and probably something that the fan base definitely needs. Well, we're going to talk about this year's matchup. We're going to get into that. Also the future, the Big Ten West is going away after this year. What does that mean for Iowa, Wisconsin? We'll touch on the hoopsters and make our predictions

presented by FanDuel. We'll do that as we continue here. Locked on Hawkeyes, locked on Badgers. It's a crossover edition here as we continue. Everyone should be empowered to care for themselves and their loved ones during the unexpected. That's why Jace Medical offers the Jace Case. The Jace Case provides five life-saving antibiotics

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Ryan Herrings as we get ready for Iowa-Wisconsin. Three o'clock matchup. You can catch the hometown broadcast on each side on Sirius XM. You get to hear our guys Dolph and Eddie. Who's your guys' radio broadcast over there? I don't even know. Oh, you're a young guy. You're young guys. Never listened to a game on the radio in my life. Really? No. So how old are you ryan uh 40 okay you're a couple years younger than me see growing up that was a huge thing i'm 43 and i guess that three-year gap is a big one because we grew up now iowa was weird back in the day too because each one of the radio stations across the state many of them had their own broadcasters so there were four five six different broadcasts that you can listen to. The big one here in central Iowa, in Des Moines, was WHO,

nationally known radio station. Ronald Reagan worked there back in the day. And so 1040 WHO goes across the country. It's a huge clear channel signal. And Jim Zabel was a play-by-play voice. My grandpa hated him as a play-by-play broadcaster. So we listened to Rob Brooks on the WMT. That was who we listened to all the time. A little bit different these days that you could catch the game on Sirius XM. Well, Ryan, let's get into the matchup here. And where I start with this is we've talked a lot about the offense, the change, the evolution, still a team that's going to be based out of the run with what Longo's doing with that offense, even though you're doing it more out of the spread. My question is defensively, because

Iowa, since they shifted to the 3-4, they have not been able to figure this thing out. Though Iowa's got a couple of wins over the last decade plus, it has usually been a grind to be able to get there. So how does the defense look for the Badgers? How is the new system? Of course, no Jim Leonard there, and that was a sigh of relief when we saw that he didn't stay on with the Badgers. Yeah. Leonard had success against Ferentz to put it mildly. Leonard's a great defensive coordinator. The thing that I think fans, Wisconsin fans struggle with this a little bit, but I think nationally people saw a bit of a dropout this year with Wisconsin defense and they say, well, Leonard, Leonard is gone. that you know it's all tied together and again not to minimize anything leonard did leonard

had a lot more nfl talent played that than this wisconsin defense does right now uh leonard last year for example i just can't have been to the nick herbig those are nfl guys the year before you know you're talking about leo chanel's played a lot for the chiefs you know so yeah you're gonna have good defenses if you have nfl guys all over front seven. And obviously Leonard was good as well. Honestly, the defense has been okay. There's been some breakdowns. The staff has been trying to mix a little bit of what they want to do with the personnel that they have. It's kind of some mismatched parts fitting into different areas. I will say this, they're coming off a Rutgers game where Rutgers came in wanting to run the ball. Gavin Wimsett, not a huge threat throwing the ball.

And Wisconsin really shut it down. And that's going into this Iowa game, like they're just going to put 10 guys in the box. And Hunter Wolder is going to be flying around near the line of scrimmage. I think they're going to be really good. I think this team is more built to play the Iowas, right? They still have those pieces, those bigger inside linebackers, a bigger defensive line. Remember their first couple games they start against the buffalo team a georgia

southern team a purdue team a washington state team all these teams are heavy spread throwing the ball everywhere that's not really where wisconsin is fully at yet with the personnel change against iowa they're gonna put 10 in the box and they'll say deacon hill beat us and deacon hill is not going to beat wisconsin and madison I think they're going to be really good in this game, actually, even though it's not the same caliber of Jim Leonard defense. A little bit different, but you mentioned Deacon Hill. You saw Deacon Hill, obviously in his couple of years at Wisconsin, he is a guy that has a big arm. He is a big man. He's not accurate. And it is a bit of a problem. 6-21 last week against Purdue.

A couple of drops, not many, not much that you can place, certainly on the blame of the receivers there. Iowa goes for the first time since the 1970s in a football game where a wide receiver does not catch a football. That is the Iowa offense that we're dealing with here. You saw Deacon Hill for the Hawkeyes and the perspective and the hope that he's going to get better. Look, I don't want to kill the kid, but I've said from the get-go,

he's just not a good quarterback, and you can see that. He does not have the necessary accuracy to even be a starting caliber quarterback at the FBS level. He was on his way to Fordham for a reason, and now he is starting for the Hawkeyes. So what you saw from him, and did you see anything that gave you, maybe, any hope? Because it's very difficult for me to seeyes. So what you saw from him, and did you see anything that gave you, maybe, any hope? Because it's very difficult for me to see it. No.

I mean, listen, it's not like he played at Wisconsin, so we don't have anything to do. But I'll tell you, he came in, and again, it's not to kill the kid, but you got to be in shape, right? And it just is what it is. And he very quickly, when Phil Longo took over, Luke Fickle took over, he was like the first guy to transfer out. He very quickly realized, I'm not going to get playing time here. He's got a big arm that was all the way back to high school.

We were excited about the big arm. Then he came to campus and, you know, Miles Burkett, an in-state quarterback that really didn't have any other offers, jumped him right away. That charge essentially. Then that just right there. I other offers, jumped him right away on the depth charge, essentially. Then that just right there, I was like, it's not going to happen, right? Like it just quarterbacks, you have a finite window. And I don't think he has the goods whatsoever to beat Wisconsin because he can't run. Like Wisconsin is going to tee up on the running game and they're going to dare Deacon Hill to beat him. And he's not accurate enough to do that. So I don't know, man.

I look at it like how is Iowa going to respond when Wisconsin does what they did to Rutgers? I know Caleb Johnson came back. I know the running – He was great. Yeah, he was great, 7.9 per pop last game I think it was. Their offense line looked better, but they're not going to be able to block nine guys in the box.

So what is Iowa's counter to that? It's got to be deep shots. And you talk a lot in games going in, hey, got to hit a couple of deep shots. Does that hit a couple? If Iowa realistically can win this football game, does that hit a couple of deep shots? They're probably going to have to hit four or five deep shots, right? I mean, they're going to have to have three plays of 20 plus yards in the air and another couple of 50 plus yarders. I mean, that's, that's the only way that I can see it

happening. And he coupled that with Brian Ferentz's inability to do anything against this defense. You go back to what the 38, 14 game where I was only points came off of two pick sixes from Josh Jackson. You go back to last year. I mean, that was at the time a broken Wisconsin team. Iowa wins a game 24 to 10. And you're like, oh, that was really good. Iowa, what do they have? 146 yards of total offense. I mean, it's just, it's not going to happen. We'll get into our predictions a little bit later, but that's kind of where we are. So yeah, it's not just Iowa hitting a couple of big plays in the past game. I think they have to hit five, six, seven big plays in the past game. And with the inability of the wide receivers to get separation outside of Eric Hall, nothing

in the past game. Now, maybe it is Caleb Johnson. Maybe Caleb Johnson's able to go. You know, I was running a lot more. It's not the traditional run scheme that you're probably used to seeing inside outside zone. And that's all they do. A lot more counters, a lot more ISOs, a lot more hat on hat blocking kind of some old school wisconsin stuff that we're seeing a little bit more and it has worked out certainly much better because the zone

blocking scheme doesn't work in today's environment after they changed the cut blocking rules five years ago kirk ferentz wasn't willing to move with it but you can't cut back that outside backer you can't cut down that defensive end and how many times on the outside zone looks like, oh man, it's blocked out in front. And then somebody comes from behind and it's a two yard loss. It just, it's happened so much over the last five years. Iowa has worked to evolve past that. That is good to see in the running game. So yeah, there's a scheme there.

There's the game plan, but right. My question for you, we've had this conversation a lot here. The big 10 West is going away and it's been a godsend for really both Iowa and Wisconsin to have this division where you're the heavy heads, right? You are the power programs in this division. That's not happening anymore. What's been the perspective from Wisconsin

when the schedules came out last week and you look, oh boy, we don't get Purdue and Illinois and Northwestern every single year. Now we got UCLA, USC, Washington, Oregon on there, plus some more against Michigan, Penn State, oh boy. We don't get Purdue in Illinois and Northwestern every single year. Now we got UCLA, USC, Washington, Oregon on there, plus some more against Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State. What's been your guys' takeaway? Probably similar to yours from a fan perspective.

It's probably very similar. There's a mix of, oh, dear Lord, we're not going to win a game. You have that segment of the fan base, and then you have the mix of, thank dear Lord, we're not going to win a game. You have that segment of the fan base, and then you have the mix of, thank dear Lord, I don't have to spend my Saturdays watching Wisconsin-Purdue. I get to watch a USC game, a UCLA game. It's exciting. It's fun. It goes back to your original point.

Sports are supposed to be fun. They're supposed to be exciting. Sometimes the buildup to big games is better than the game itself. You spend a whole week looking forward to Wisconsin, Iowa, when we're both good. But, you know, Ohio State, USC, you spend three minutes looking forward to Wisconsin, Illinois or Iowa, Indiana, whatever the random Big Ten matchups are. Right. So it's a mix. I personally said where I'm at, man, I think it's good. I think I think it's a good thing. Let's be honest.

The Big Ten West, in a way, I feel like has throttled the teams in that division because they haven't had to evolve. They haven't had to get better, right? Because you had nobody you had to race against. If you're racing against a bunch of slow people, you're going to stay slow. And that's what we've done. That's what collectively the West has done. So I like it. I think it's going to raise everybody's game i think it raises the excitement the exposure i think that leads to better recruiting better nil opportunities and it's

also listen you don't have to be perfect anymore right you're going to be able to lose a game or two and still get to a 12 team playoff in the big 10 so i'm all for it but certainly there is that aspect of fans that are frankly terrified that w, Iowa, that type of program is never going to win the Big Ten again. Yeah, and 18 teams got to be in the top two just to get there. But that silver lining, you know, nine and three, if you play a tough schedule and you get a quality win or two in there, you might be able to sneak in the back door and be an 11 seed and get your shot in the college football playoff and how exciting that would be. Or, you know, even finishing the in the five to eight range and get a home game,

how incredible that would be. There's still that hope out there. Yeah, absolutely. And the chances of winning the big 10 are going to be few and far between for Wisconsin and Iowa. Just that is the reality to actually win this conference. It's going to be tough, but to be there, to get a shot against the big boy,

to, to be a seat at the table. I think that's going to be really exciting going forward. We're talking about the, yeah, go ahead. Right. On this topic,

before we move on really quick, Wisconsin fans, one of our, the big things we've talked about this year prior to these, these bigger schools coming in. And I say bigger, mostly with USC, like UCLA, UCLA has gotten a little these bigger schools coming in and i say bigger mostly with usc like ucla ucla has gotten a little too much hype coming in i've seen people say be careful of you i don't

know um traditionally that that's not some power program but my bigger point is wisconsin fans have been excited moving off of chris thinking that fickle is going to better prepare us going forward against this tougher schedule is there a concern that b Ferencz is – or not Brian, sorry, Kirk Ferencz and that coaching tree, because obviously Brian is kind of attached there. Like, do you need to evolve now with a tougher schedule? They do, but will they? Probably not. I mean, and that's a dichotomy of the back and forth that we continue with at this point in time.

They need to, absolutely, but they needed to three years ago, and here we still are doing the same kind of things. And there's a real chance. Iowa gets blown out on Saturday. Iowa loses 27-7 again to Wisconsin. They go on. They could easily win out. I mean, the remaining schedule is an absolute joke. It's Minnesota, it's Rutgers, it's Northwestern, Nebraska, and I think that's it the rest of the way. I mean, they easily could be 10-2, 9-3 at minimum, and Kirk will just run it back. Hey, we're successful. We won nine games again this year.

Maybe they'll go win another Outback Bowl. And see, look, this still works, not understanding what the future is going to be. And then the other burning question, if it has become a force piece from the athletic director, whoever that turns out to be, of getting rid of Brian Ferencz, does Kirk just walk away? Does Kirk just say enough is enough? I'm not going to be here while my son is fired

and I'm going to retire. So that's kind of lingering out there too. What kind of damage has been done to the Iowa program? I mean, there's a lot of big picture questions that are out there if we get to that point. Hey, one quick one for you, Ryan. Basketball, we had Big Ten Media Day early in the week. Just a quick overview for us out there.

You know, you guys kind of took what we were the last couple of decades, what Iowa basketball was for me growing up in the 80s and 90s, and Wisconsin has taken that here as of recently. Didn't make the tournament a year ago. We're used to them pretty much year in, year out, being in the top five, though. A lot of returners for the Badgers. Where's the expectations for Wisconsin this year in hoops?

Probably back in that four to six range. I mean, if they don't make the tournament this year, guards are going to be on the hot seat, at a minimum expectation. College basketball is about, to some degree, experience. You know, experienced teams play better. They have every starter back. They a big time transfer i i think there's there's a clear kind of top couple teams right with purdue is up there i think indiana is gonna be really good this year michigan state and i think wisconsin slots right in that next tier of programs so people are

excited about it it should be better i think they're still a little limited on star power on this team. They're a little limited in the front court depth wise, but yeah, I think, I think Badger fans are pretty excited about this year and definitely, definitely, I would say a four or five, six type big 10 basketball finishes is very likely. If the team hits the ceiling, maybe a tick higher, but it's an exciting time. I think we're ready for it. Yeah, absolutely. You know, for Iowa, it is preseason number nine. Iowa's been here a ton. It's crazy. Ten of the last 11 years, Iowa has finished in the top six in the Big Ten.

And you kind of look at the years, year in and year out, lose all Americans. You lose a national player of the year, Luka Garza, and here comes the Murray Twins, right? We've seen them the last couple of years. McCaffrey's teams are normally not big expectations. Same thing here. I think this team is going to suck even worse defensively, which says a lot about Iowa and how bad they've been on the defensive end of the floor, but they're going to score with everybody. They're probably going to surprise some people. Is it going to be good enough to be an NCAA tournament team? I say no right now. I think they're going to be in the

outside looking in, probably an NIT type of year. But you got to give credit to Fran because that guy, what he has done, I mean, he could take you, me, and three listeners out there right now, and we'd probably put up 70 points in a college basketball game. He is such a wizard offensively and the way that he gets, frankly, not great skill position players overall. You look one through five, and he makes them really good offensively year in and year out.

So, should be a fun season. Maybe we'll hit up again in basketball season. But before that, let's get into our predictions as we will make them as we continue here. Ryan's got a little something as we continue. It's a crossover edition. Locked on Hawkeyes and locked on Badgers. Today's episode is brought to you by our good friends over at PrizePix.

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That's prizepix.com slash lockdowncollege. Use code lockdowncollege for a first deposit match up to $100. PrizePix daily fantasy sports made easy. Ryan and Trent back with you one final time here. Lockdown Hawkeyes, Lockdown Badgers. It's a crossover edition.

Well, we cut on Friday our college football live. It is an opportunity for everybody to find out everything that's going on in the world of college football with college football season here. It happens for an hour each and every Friday and you can find it on both

the feeds right here. Locked on Big Ten. We got it on all the locked on college stations. Locked on college Ten. We got it on all the Locked On College stations. Locked On College Football kickoff live every Friday at 10 a.m. Central time on any Locked On College YouTube channel. You won't want to miss it. Ryan, as we wrap up here, it is time for our predictions in this game. I think people, if they've been listening all the way through,

certainly know kind of the way that we are leaning. But kick it off here. I'll put it together. I think we know where you're going, Whiskey. How big is the number currently sits? Badgers favored by 10. Let me ask you this even before we do that quick. The winner of this wins the West, right?

Is there any? No doubt. We didn't really touch on that, but this is the barring craziness, and craziness does happen in college football at times, but there's nobody left on your schedule that really terrifies you. You'd have to lose two games with Iowa loss. And for us, we play Ohio State. But outside of that, that would just equal out your Penn State loss.

This is for the West, barring something insane. And it's unusual at this point in the season to be playing a game that's probably, right, that speaks to how bad the rest of the conference, the division is, not the conference, the division. Yeah, listen, the over-under is, the last I saw it on Fendul is I think 35.5, which is insane. You see my board back there, take the under. Wisconsin is a nine and a half point favorite right now. This is the last line that I saw unless I changed, but it's in range listen i don't think iowa has much of a shot here i'm just going to be completely honest barring craziness barring is it maybe cooper has a couple more scores which

is always possible given that dude's that dude's skill set but i think this is like a 24 to 6 game 20 to 6 it's it's in that range i don't know how they score i just don't know how iowa scores in this game given that it's an offense that's already limited and now you've brought it even more into a dangerous area with a quarterback that's not accurate he's going on his first road game he's inexperienced he's going up against the mike trestle defense that trestle's a pretty experienced dc even if it's not the perfect wisconsin defense i don't know how they score trends i outside of a pick six, a punt return, which we know that can happen with Iowa,

but I have no clue how they score. And I think if that's the case, the defense wears down. Wisconsin is going to struggle with, I was really good defense as they always do, but eventually cracks in the dam break and water gets through. I'm right there with you. And that's what I keep coming back to an inability to make the makeables in the passing game, a run game that has really just never been able to get going

against Wisconsin. I, in fact, I think this thing could get really, really bad. This thing could get away. I would can't pick up their doubts and that defense. And we saw them wear down in the, in the second half against Penn State. I have a feeling a similar thing is going to happen in this one. I got Wisconsin running away and winning it 30-7. So just over the number, but Wisconsin easily wins this one. It might be relatively close at half. I could see it, you know, be in 10-7, something like that. It's just the second half things get away and Iowa, that defense on the field so long. So I am definitely late at this week with Wisconsin,

and prove me wrong, Hawkeyes. I don't have a good feeling that that is going to be the case. Hey, Ryan, this is a lot of fun. I'll say really quick, is there any chance, obviously Deacon 6-21 last week, if he, in the first half of this game, I don't think this is Francis style, is there any chance he pivots to, I don't know who your third team quarterback is it labas is it labas

yeah joey labas yeah so labas started the bowl game last year they basically gave him nothing i mean after the opening drive they took the ball out of his hands they're running sam laporta as a wildcat quarterback during that football game last year kentucky they don't trust him he was injured uh throughout the offseason. He had, the rumors were he had a sports hernia. It didn't get back until late August, but Kirk Ferentz's brain is broken as it pertains to quarterbacks.

I mean, he has mishandled quarterbacks for so long. You look at last season, just not moving off of Spencer Petras when it was obvious he wasn't the guy. Now, Alex Padilla wasn't either, the former backup, but you go back to throughout time from not putting in Ricky Stansy and keep playing Jake Christensen as he's chucking balls into the dirt. The Ricky Stansy, Jake Rudolph, or the Jake Rudolph into CJ Beathard.

There's been so many instances, his brain's broken. I don't know what it is. He's willing to play other guys in other positions, but quarterback is not the case here. So it'll be freaking Deacon all game long likely and if not maybe he'll put labus in in the fourth quarter when it is 30 to 7 and give him a couple series there but not until it gets really ugly will he pull the switch you know he was asked as deacon was really struggling in the first half of the game do you ever give thought he looked at the

person that asked the question the press conference like they had two heads he couldn't believe the question last week that's where we are with Kirk Berenson and quarterback play. The Big Ten West is yours. We gave it to you, Ryan. Enjoy it. And then enjoy Penn State or Michigan or Ohio State in that championship game.

We'll worry about that when we get there. Absolutely. And we'll do it again. That is Ryan Herring. You can find him on Twitter at Ryan and Bucky. I'm Trent Condon with Locked On Hawkeyes at Trent Condon on Twitter. X is where you can find us. Our predictions presented by FanDuel. We'll talk to you again soon. Coming up later this week, I got more including former Hawkeye LaShawn Daniels will jump in.

We will talk to him about the renewed running game. And if there's hope on that, Ryan's got a lot more on the Badger side of things, locked on Badgers. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks and Ryan. On Wisconsin. Let's get it.