Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Is This the Low Point for Iowa Football?

Episode Date: October 26, 2022

Trent Condon and Biz return for the latest episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast.They open with the disaster last week against Ohio State and Biz has some incredible numbers on just how bad this Iowa offense was. They are hurting the team in so many different ways. Turnovers being the biggest ones. And a run through the drive charts over the past 2 games from the offense.A look at Kirk Ferentz and how ugly his press conferences have been here as of late and looking forward to the biggest question...is he willing to evolve and change?Stat Boy gives us some hope looking at a team that made a big change.The guys wrap up with picks for the week presented by Bet Online and finish up with Biz's Beat.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!SweatBlockIf you or someone you love is experiencing embarrassing sweat or odor try Sweatblock. Save 20% with promo codeLocked On at sweatblock.com. Also available on Amazon.LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Underdog FantasySign up on underdogfantasy.com with the promo code LOCKED ON and get your first deposit doubled up to $100!SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnCollege to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trenton Biz back with you for another edition of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Have we hit the low point for Iowa football? We will get into that. We'll also take a look back just a year ago, how different this football program was, and we'll make our picks along with Biz's beat all coming up on today's Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Our Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Trent Condon, That's my buddy biz.

And this is the lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making lockdown Hawkeyes. Your first listen each and every day available, wherever you get podcasts. You can also watch our beautiful mugs on YouTube while you're there, hit the subscribe button. A big thank you to everybody for joining us there today. I'd like to thank LinkedIn jobs for being the official college football

recruiting sponsor across the lockdown college network. LinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockdown college terms and conditions apply. Biz, you were hopeful last week, or you were trying to be positive. I tried to be hopeful. Yes. It didn't work out very well.

54, 10, the offense, maybe as bad as it has ever looked. Six turnovers in the game, less than 160 yards. Two quarterbacks, neither could do the job, and the questions remain. Then on top of it, Kirk Ferentz in the postgame press conference, he gets questions that were asked that were difficult for him to answer about nepotism. Also, the reporter from Cleveland.com who was asking, I think, some pretty fair questions,

Doug Lemarie, he also got some quotes from Gary Barta who told us the truth, everything that we knew. Then he'll have to ask Kirk and see exactly what's going to happen here. We know he's not actually Brian's boss. So we have that. Then yesterday's press conference, which was another disaster. It was going all well and good until he had to throw some shade at a newspaper writer and he's talking to media members. This is not me white knighting media members by any means, but just been a bad couple of days, certainly for Iowa football and what's turning into a disaster of a season. Yeah, the question is, have we hit rock bottom finally? I mean, I just keep thinking every week, offense can't get any worse, can it?

And it does. And Kirk's comments can't get any worse, can they? But somehow they do. And so, you know, if you close your eyes, Trent, and I told you that we were going to hold Ohio State's offense to 360 yards, 2.2 yards a carry. They were going to have two turnovers and we'd get a defensive touchdown. What would you have guessed the score was going to be? 24-7? Yeah, I had 24-10 right now, yeah. 10 wrote down yeah yeah i mean for us to do all of those things and still lose 54 to 10 is incomprehensible i mean you talked about the six turnovers trend it's not that we had six

turnovers it's that the majority of those turnovers were were of the junior high variety i mean it reminded me i was an absolutely horrible junior high quarterback the only reason i was the quarterback is because my my older brother happened to be the starting varsity quarterback at the time so they're like ah he can probably be the quarterback also I mean I was terrible I couldn't feel it take a snap I threw balls directly to the defense I mean it reminded me in my junior high football days and you know we talked about it a couple weeks ago that, you know, we've become kind of almost this national laughingstock. And it's kind of like when you drive by a car accident, you have to look at it. Well, four and a half million people drove by the train wreck or car wreck that was happening on Saturday.

And we put on quite a display for them because it just keeps getting worse and worse. I mean, like I said, where's the bottom? So I think you and I both listen to solid verbal every once in a while. And you ever hear the drive charts they do? Yes. So I'm going to do the drive chart for not just last week's game, Trent, but the last two weeks games. This is the ultimate drive chart because I'm assuming you saw online. You know how many drives it's been since we've scored a touchdown? I believe 28 offensive drives that Iowa has not scored a touchdown. Yeah, 28 of them. So here are your 28 drives. Are you ready to hear them in succession? I'm sure these are going to be beauties. Oh, it's great. Field goal,

punt, punt, punt, field goal, missed field goal, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt. Interception, end of game. That gets us to the end of the Illinois game. Round two, this is even better because this is gold. Interception, punt, fumble, fake punt return fail. Field goal, punt, pick six, punt, fumble, interception, turnover on downs, punt, turnover on downs, fumble, and punt. So the creativity of how we did it against Ohio State,

the most impressive trend, not once in the 15 drives did we have back-to-back drives end the same way. So we did it in a variety of ways we which interceptions fumbles turnover rundowns inexplicable fake punts you know we at least we found new and new and improved ways to fail so when you look at those 28 drives it's truly amazing only three of the 28 do we have more than seven plays. No way. Three of 28.

There was one drive of nine, two drives of 10. Everything else is seven plays or less. You'd think somewhere in there there'd be a pass interference, something to extend a drive, you know, just get lucky more often than that. But that's 10% of the drives we have more than seven plays in a drive. It gets better, though. Ten of the 28 ended with either a turnover or a turnover on downs. You know, we've talked about it in the past.

One of the things that's saved our offense is we usually don't shoot ourselves in the foot. We usually let other teams do that. Well, we certainly haven't done that in the last couple games. And Saturday was just a comedy of theirs. But 11 of the 28 drives went for zero yards or negative yards. And 18 of the 28, 64% of the time, the drives were for less than 10 yards or less. 64% of the time, we might as well just come out and punt the ball right away

because you're – the odds are against us that we're either going to get a first down or not turn the ball over in the last couple games. So here's the last thing on it, Trent, that is truly amazing. They added up 129 plays in those two games. Obviously, we haven't scored a touchdown in those two. But not only that, the ball has never crossed the goal line. In 129 plays, we've never made an attempt. We never passed the ball into the end zone a single time in 129 plays. So I don't think Stat Boy can find

this out, but I think there's ever been a time in modern college football where two straight games, a team didn't at least make an attempt. you know, Hail Mary into the end zone, right? Fade pattern in the end zone, just an attempt of some sort. So we're working on 129 plays straight without even the ball accidentally crossing the goal line. And that question was asked, I think, after the Illinois game, you know, is that something schematic? You're not throwing the ball into the end zone.

And Kirk said, yeah, what a scheme not to throw the football into the end zone. And Kirk said, yeah, what a scheme not to throw the football into the end zone. And that's what we're dealing with here. There is so much going on and you have the nepotism angle, which is a huge one and bothersome for a lot of people. You couple that with the worst offense in the country and the numbers continue to get worse. You tweeted out after the game down to 227 yards a game on average only seven FBS teams have averaged less in the last 23 years not power five all of FBS we're talking about the New Mexico states of the world we're talking about programs like that only seven have averaged less yards than the 227 a game that Iowa is dealing with it's untenable and read the rest of that tweet, what's the combined record of those seven teams?

Seven and 67. So again, it's a miracle that we somehow won three games. So, so, and then you combine with the performance, you know, of course on the field has been awful,

but then you combine the performance, I guess, whatever you call it, performance, comments, whatever in the press conferences. Like I said, when I talked about Kenny, we finally hit rock bottom. I mean, what Kirk Ferentz did on Saturday and then again yesterday is just absurd.

To get in a pissing match with a reporter is so ridiculous. And the only thing I can think, Trent, is there some possibility that he did it intentionally to try to take some pressure off the players? Because I don't get it. Like the question he was asked was such a softball question. It was a question about basically team leadership and what is the team done to try to rally around each other? and he just went off the rails and decided to play the victim and act like somehow the questions about nepotism and whether Brian deserves to continue to coach this team were inappropriate and it had to have been a planned answer and I just keep racking my mind thinking either one of two things either it's intentional and he's trying to take pressure off the players and put all the pressure on him so that they can, you know,

somehow focus on turning the corner here. Or it's just incredibly stupid and it's a guy who's just completely, completely out of touch and has no clue, you know, how the media views this program right now. I don't know which one's the answer, but I sure hope it's the intentional angle. Well, I definitely think it was intentional. And Kirk does not say anything without having a reason behind it. So it was something that he wanted to get out there.

But I think your thought process probably is pretty good. You know, take away the pressure from the players, the quarterback questions that are going to linger this weekend and change the narrative in a way. He didn't go about it the right way. I think he could have done it differently and and playing the victim card too on top of it I mean to have the media in today's environment you know media is not exactly well liked and I know it's not 100 but it is a majority certainly of people that are on the media side on this one that's difficult to do in this day and age that the

media actually gets the backing of people compared to Kirk Ferentz and what he's done for this program. It's slipping away quickly, and it's not just a slip up. It's just not one press conference. I think back to years ago, things weren't going well one season. Luke Meredith, the old AP writer, he got yelled at by Kirk at a press conference. You know, those kinds of things have happened, but we're talking in week in and week out telling David Eichold after the Illinois game, won 10 games last year. You know, David was on the beat and just some of the garbage that continues to be coming out with that.

This is, this is Kirk feeling different. He's always been petty. We know that. Now we'll, we'll take the time. We'll leave the timeouts there and take the pig with us. Pettiness has always been a part. That's the fun petty though. I want fun petty, not just, you know.

Well, you gotta win. You gotta win in order to make that fun petty. And when you're losing that pettiness, it becomes vindictive and it becomes arrogance and it becomes kind of those things that are part of Kirk's personality, but they're looked at a whole lot different when you're losing football games

and when you have the worst offense in the country and when your son is the one that is running that offense and that's where we are it's a lot of questions that remain what it's going to be big picture we get to this season they miss the bowl game be it three and nine four and eight five and seven whatever do you anticipate a big change do you anticipate Kirk making the tough decisions and not only Brian go find another job it's not going to work or you're going to become the offensive line coach, but to really hand off the reins to the offense, to somebody that can move this offense into the 21st century. Look, you don't have to go five wide.

We're not talking about calling up Mike Leach and one of his proteges. And what are we going to do? Illinois, they run out of shotgun over 70% of the time, but they're physical. They're physical. They're tough. You can do that. Is Kirk willing to do that at 67 years of age? You know, the answer to that I think is maybe.

Do I think there's going to be change? Absolutely. Brian's gone. I mean, he's not going to be here next year. But do I think there's going to be wholesale changes? No. I mean, do I think you're going to see some schematic changes? Are you going to see some things different? Are you going to see some adjustments? Absolutely. But if you think somehow we're going to come out and look

entirely different next year, you're fooling yourself. But yeah, there's going to be changes. I mean, but you know, the fact of the matter, Trent, you know, you talked about at the start. I mean, there's three, you know, whatever you want to call it, a triangle of ineptitude. There's what Kurt's doing. There's Brian. And then there's the third part of this, which, you know,

you talked about earlier, but the reporter from Cleveland.com did his job and tracked down Gary Barrett as well. And people that have listened to our podcast that you know the dozen people that have listened to us you know for more than listeners for years know my general disdain for for gary bart i just don't think he he's good at his job i you know i could go off on a ring we'll stay on the rails I could go off on a rant. We'll stay on the rails here, Trent. I mean, I give him credit.

At least he just openly admitted that he has no role here. I mean, here's his quote. I've been with him, meaning Kurt. I've been with Kurt for 17 years. And at the end of the year, he evaluates every part of the program, every staff member. And he goes on and says, that's his plan now, and I'm going to support it. Well, that's great, but that's not the rule here.

You are the boss for Brian Ferentz. They specifically put it in writing that you were the one to evaluate Brian Ferentz. And at least he just openly admitted that he's not doing it. Because we've known it. I guess they're not bullshit in this, at least. I mean, who's the boss here? It's not Gary Varda. It's Kirk Ferentz. I mean, so to get back, this is my roundabout way of getting back to your question.

Is there going to be wholesale changes? No, because Kirk's the boss and he knows it. I mean, you and I talked about it a long time ago. The contract extension he got was just asthma. Not because, you know, I have no issue with Kirk Ferentz sticking around. At this point, I still think he can pick when he wants to leave, but who are they bidding against with that? Not a single person in the world and not a single person. He's not leaving.

He wasn't going to leave. You want to give him a contract extension through 2029. That's fine, but don't make everything guaranteed. I that's fine. I get it. I get it. You got to have a contract extension so that people can't use it against you. You got to have at least four years or five years so that you can tell every recruit I'm here through the time you're going to be here. But they already had it at five. They gave them two extra years guaranteed for no reason. So, I mean, like I said, I made up the term, the triangle of an aptitude between Brian Kirk and Gary right now is just, it's incomprehensible.

And, you know, like I said, I hope we're at the bottom finally, because I'm, you know, I tried to be optimistic last week, but it's impossible to be optimistic about Iowa football right now. So we have nowhere to go but up. So let's turn the page and talk about hopefully going in the right direction. Well, you said, is this a low point for Iowa football? A loss this week to this Northwestern team, it can get a little bit lower. We're going to take a look back at a year ago, though, and when things were a little bit brighter, when there was a lot more positivity to go around. We'll do that as we continue here.

This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. You want to be 100% certain you have access to the best qualified candidates available. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the right people for your team faster and for free. Going out there, hiring people, it's always a difficult process. I have people that help me with my small business, and it is something that can be incredibly time-consuming. Well, LinkedIn Jobs can help you with that. Add your job in the purple hiring frame to your LinkedIn profile to spread the word

that you're hiring. Simple tools like screening questions make it easy to focus on the candidates with just the right skills and experience. You can quickly prioritize who you'd like to interview and hire. Right around the corner, we flip the calendar to 2023. If you're looking to make some new hires, jump on LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockdown college. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockdowncollege.

That's linkedin.com slash lockdowncollege to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Trank out and biz back with you on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast as we get ready for the matchup with Northwestern. But before that, a look to some better times. You put Stat Boy to work this week. What did you come up with, Biz? Well, you talked about a year ago, but actually it's kind of talking about, yes, where we were at a year ago, but where, you know, best case scenario, where can we be a year

from now also? Because I put him in an interesting kind of analysis because, you know, as everybody knows, a little over a year ago, we were the number two team in the nation and we were riding high and we just beat Penn State from a national audience. And now basically we are a national laughingstock. But the one positive of that Ohio State game is we show without a doubt on one side of the ball, we can compete with everybody. we show without a doubt on one side of the ball, we can compete with everybody. Ohio State, I mean, they got rolling there in the third quarter, but it wasn't because we were making defensive mistakes. It's because Stroud made a couple of unbelievable passes

and their wide receivers made a couple of unbelievable catches. But he was thrown into tight windows, and not once in the entire game could you say our defense just got manhandled by Ohio State. We battled with them. And that's as good an offense as there is. So, you know, let's look, Trent, at the best-case scenario. And what I did is I had Stat Boy look into a remarkably similar situation. Because when you look at this year's version of Iowa, the team that kind of came out of nowhere and is a top-ten team.

Who is that team, Trent? Undefeated. Undefeated Power 5 team. TCU. Exactly. TCU is undefeated. They're kind of the nation's darling. They can compete with everybody on one side of the ball,

which is the offensive side of the ball. They're a mess on defense. They give up a lot of points, but man, can they score. And they've got some athletes. So let's look at where TCU was one year ago. That was the assignment for Stat Boy. And it's pretty amazing. You remember where TCU was one year ago?

Well, they fired their longtime coach in Gary Patterson. They moved on. It was difficult. There's a statue of Gary Patterson. I mean, they're still toiling in the Mountain West or the American Athletic Conference, something like that, without Gary Patterson. And they said, we've got to make a change. Gary Patterson's an absolute legend when it comes to UZU football.

Like I said, they've already built a statue for him. He took them from Conference USA to Mountain West to the Big 12 and won conference titles in all three places. But a year ago, it's eerie, the similarities. A year ago, going into this weekend, the last game of October, do you want to guess what TCU's record was? Three and four. Three and four.

And they're going into a game against a bad Kansas State game, and there's an article that Stat Boy digs up that says, nobody's working harder than Gary Patterson to get this turned around and get the Horned Frogs on track. And the article comes out earlier that week, Texas Tech had fired their coach. And it basically makes the comparison that TCU would never do that. And that they had no plans to make any changes mid-season. And that Gary Patterson was here to fix everything. Well, what happened that weekend? They go and get stomped by a mediocre Kansas State team.

They dropped to three and five. And two days later, Gary Patterson and TCU agreed to part ways. Basically, he was given the option to finish the season out and become a glorified athletic director. And he said, to hell with you, I'm leaving. So, but Statboy found some articles. And the article, you could basically take out Gary Patterson's name, put in Kirk Ferentz, and just write the article today. This is the quotes in the article. This is the day after he gets fired.

Frankly, this is from the athletic director of TCU, frankly, it's a place that was almost kind of unimaginable not too long ago. This program has very high expectations, and those expectations are because of Gary. That's the irony of it. He built this program up, and now we're simply not meeting those expectations. There you have it. I mean, that's pretty much what's going on right now is you've got a fan base that's revolting, and we're not living up to the expectations that Kirk Ferentz has built for himself.

And that's the facts. And you fast forward one year, TCU is miraculously 7-0. They're ranked in the top 10. I mean, am I advocating that we need to fire Kirk Ferentz tomorrow and this is going to happen? Absolutely not. But when you look at the two, I mean, just eerily similar situations. The numbers don't lie. Both coaches, last year, Gary Patterson was the second longest tenured coach behind Kirk. They both coached 20 years at the same place. coached behind Kurt. They both coached 20 years at the same place. They both have an exact win total right now of 181 wins at their schools. Patterson had 113 conference wins. Kurt has 111.

You know, the fact of the matter is, Trent, it's really, really hard to coach any major college for a decade right now, much less two decades plus. I mean, at some point, I hope we get Kirk 3.0 and we get new Kirk and somehow miraculously all the things you talked about, that we make these changes and things work out. But, you know, I'm not optimistic for that right now. And you've got to look at, at some point, what's best for this program and what's the best way to get the ship right and whether that's wholesale changes or minor changes there has to be changes coming

difference tcu it wasn't just last season though his uh two years previous he went six and six and five and seven the two years kirk was 10 and four last year and as we talked about he's brought it up he reminds us of that occasionally in the covid, they went 6-2 and ripped off six straight victories. This program has had a level of success. And because of that, I am not advocating that Kirk Ferentz be fired. I am not at that spot. He has earned the right to try to pull himself out of it. But as we talked about earlier, I just don't believe he's going to make the necessary changes

to get them on the playing field to make that happen. And that's, that's where my concern is. Yes, he deserves the chance. Will it work? I don't believe so. Yeah. It's going to be, you know, as an Iowa fan, every week is interesting. It's like, it's like a soap opera, but it's really giving me an interesting off season to see, like I said, I think it's changes are inevitable. It's just the, what extent those changes are going to come. Is it going to be wholesale changes or is it going to be some minor tweaking?

Because I just think at this point, minor tweaking we're beyond that point. I mean, you can make the argument Trent, and this is the amazing, you can make the argument that right now we have the worst quarterback room in power five football we have the worst offensive line in power five football and we potentially have the worst wide receiver core in power it's not a good combo I mean

and the worst offensive coordinator I mean that's yeah that's you don't you don't make minor tweaks and fix those things but the good news is in the way of the world now, I mean, get the transfer portal, you bring in some new blood, and TCU is a perfect example. I mean, is TCU going to win the national championship? Obviously not. I mean, they're where we were last year. They're in the hunt and undefeated halfway through the year.

And we're one year away from doing that and hopefully not that far away from being in that conversation again down the road. Well, wrapping things up here. We certainly are still in that conversation. Yes, that is for sure. Well, we talked about it last week, Biz.

You're somebody that sweats. I've got a story here. Bam! Heights in her office bathroom every 30 minutes. She has to dry off her armpits so no one can see the wet circles under her arms. Finally has her life back because of sweat block. She was able to fix her problem with sweat block. It gives you the confidence to wear what you want without embarrassing underarm sweat. The sweat block wipes were featured and tested on the Rachel Ray Show. I know you're a big fan of that, by firefighters. If you or someone you love is experiencing embarrassing sweat or odor,

try Sweat Block. Save 20% with promo code LOCKEDON at sweatblock.com. Also available on Amazon. Biz, it's time for pics. I don't know how, but I missed that episode of the Rachel Ray Show. I know that's a big part of your afternoons, right? Hide away, go do some depositions, and then back quickly of the Rachel Ray show. I know that's a big part of your afternoons, right? Hide away, go do some depositions, and then back quickly to watch Rachel Ray.

Or tape it. You can always just watch it later on. One way or another, I missed that episode. Pass forward through the commercials. Time to make some picks. You won the week last week. You went two and one. I was one and two.

Am I lock of the year dominated? Yes, that was a great call. You nailed that one. And I had a family play that one and jump aboard is everybody was on Purdue last week and absolutely loved that angle. So this week, our national game is also a big 10 game. It is Penn state against Ohio state big noon kickoff though. This thing should be under the lights. Come on. I get it. It's TV. It's what pays the bills. But we've been there for a whiteout at night. It's an incredible experience. And it just feels like this game, it should always just be locked in for a night game.

Unfortunately, it'll be a noon Eastern kickoff, 11 o'clock for us Central time. Yeah. And with the whiteout against Minnesota instead, which I think maybe they, Penn State sees the writing on the wall. I think it spreads, what, 15 in this game? Yeah. I don't have a great feel for this one, but give me Ohio State. I just think, you know, if there's such a thing as a bad 54-10 win,

I think Ohio State coaches can go back and point out a lot of things they did wrong last week. And, you know, really, I think they're, we saw, I think Ohio State's about C game last Saturday, and they still beat us by 44. So I think they come out and blow the doors off Penn State. So give me the Buckeyes minus 15. And I definitely agree with you in this spot. I think you're right. Ohio State did not play a great game. It's going to be easy for them to be motivated this week. The environment's not going to be the same here. And seeing Penn State against Michigan,

that was a game that Penn State had the lead late in the first half. They're being absolutely obliterated. I think the first downs at that point were like 16-2. They had to pick six in one long run by Clifford. They're just not up to the task here. I'm going to lay it with you, and we'll both take the Buckeyes here this week. Pick number two, your best bet of the week. I love the college slate this week.

It was nearly impossible for me to pare things down, but we only make one pick, and our favorite pick of the week, I'm going with West Virginia. We just talked about TCU. Just some funky things always happen out there. Mountaineers looked terrible last week, but it's the time they'll get you. I'll grab the eight points. Give me the Mountaineers.

You've got to be the only person in the world that's on the West Virginia train right now. They got destroyed by Texas Tech. I guess when everybody goes one direction, you go the other. You do it. This is the world's biggest look-ahead game for the Tennessee Volunteers.

They go to Georgia next week, and they're playing a legitimately good team in Kentucky with a legitimately good defense. I don't think Kentucky beats them, but it wouldn't shock me if they beat them. But give me plus 12. I think Tennessee is in for a dogfight, a four-quarter battle with Kentucky. So give me the Wildcats plus 12. Family play there.

I'm jumping aboard. That was on my list for this week, and I'll definitely be betting that one. We wrap it up here with our bet online picks, and let's finish up with the Iowa game. The Hawkeyes currently up to a 12 and a half point favorite in this matchup. Circa opened the lineup. Iowa favored by nine. Their opening total was 31 and a half.

I talked to their vice president of operations earlier today, Mike Palm, an Iowa native. And he said he thought 31 and a half was too low. They're obviously taking a bunch of money on the over at this point, but it's up to 36 now, which is incredible to me. It feels like way too many points. I'm obviously going to grab them here. This offense still needs to answer questions. Northwestern right now, they have the 97th ranked defense in the country.

That's worse than Nevada. They scored 27 there. I don't see them scoring 27 again. Give me Northwestern and the points and get it. Yeah, I agree with you, Trent. I mean, at this point, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable betting the Hawks minus 12.5 against West Des Moines Valley at this point. I mean, Iowa getting 12.5 against anybody is not a bet you're going to be comfortable making. So given Fitzgerald's history, especially in Kinnick, of giving us fits, especially when they're big underdogs,

that's how it was that they've won five out of the last six when they're double-digit underdogs against us. So, you know, it wouldn't shock me if we covered, because I think Northwestern is truly that bad. But I can't comfortably take the Hawks at 12 and a half points. So give me Northwestern plus 12 and a half. So we're both on Northwestern. We're both on Ohio State.

Biz's best bet is Kentucky. And I got West Virginia for our best bets of the week. We got Biz's beat coming your way here in a moment. I want to say thank you for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen today. For your second listen, check out Locked On Sports Today. From the games that matter to

the biggest stories in sports. Go beyond the box score and the scoreboard and behind the scenes with local experts and insights only Locked On can provide. Locked On Sports Today, available on this app, YouTube, or wherever you get podcasts. Wrapping up here with you, Biz, and let's get into it once again. It is time for Biz's Beat. Well, Biz's Beat is a shout out to our number one fan, Arkansas Alley. She turned me on to this. She's got kids that are in the band, and she sent me the YouTube video of the

Iowa-Ohio State band collaboration with the Elton John tribute last week. If you haven't watched it, find it and watch it, because it is quite good. Sadly, it was probably the best thing that happened at the SHU last Saturday. So if there's one positive to take out of last Saturday's trip to Columbus is that the band did one hell of a job at halftime. So go watch the Elton John tribute and enjoy the trombone play because I believe that's what Arkansas Alley's son plays.

He's a third-generation tromboner. I love that.'s what Arkansas Alley's son plays. He's a third generation tromboner. I love that. And you're right. I did see it. I just saw kind of a sped up version of it, as you can see kind of all the moving parts and everything that they were doing there. Didn't hear the actual musical part, but it was sped up and it was pretty cool. I enjoyed it.

Not exactly a big band guy. We don't see the marching band much at halftime, do we? No, no. not exactly a big band guy. We don't see the marching band much at halftime, do we? No, no. I honestly can, I can honestly say in my, all my years of, of Kinnick, I'm not sure I've ever, ever watched the band more than like 10 seconds. So that's something I should probably change.

I mean, we need to get more culture in our life and, you know, maybe this week I will, I will make a conscious effort to stay and watch the band. Watch the band for a little bit. It might be more exciting than the game itself. Very well could be. Speaking of, we talked about the point spread. Team total at Bett Rivers right now, Iowa, 24.5.

I didn't put the mortgage on it, but I put a bundle for me on the under on that one. Again, short of defensive scores, 24.5. I just can't buy it. Well, that falls in the same category as Iowa being favored by 12.5 over anybody. I mean, if you're betting Iowa to score more than 24 points against any team in the world right now, you're seeing something I'm not seeing. So, yeah, I'm not. You and I talk about it a lot, Vegas knows,

and this seems like a Vegas knows game because I can't understand why we're fair by 12, and I certainly can't understand why the team is going to score more than 24. So I guess lock it up for a 31-7 Iowa victory on Saturday. That's probably the way it's going to play out. Well, let's hope that's the case. You got Floyd a boner this weekend. I'm staying away because the executive committee sucks so bad.

I just can't handle it anymore. There are rumors that the executive committee have got some new ideas for this week, Trent. You're going to hate them, so it's great. Oh, boy. Thank God I'm not going to be there. Hopefully by year number 20, you guys will get things figured out and actually put on a good tournament for once.

Well, I did see that they put out their schedule today. So if we're going to take year 20 on the road, I see we can go to Penn state late September. That doesn't sound like a bad idea. Let's put it on the calendar now. We should have left with that trend. Did you see the schedule? Yeah.

Yeah. It was right when we were on the air and I was opening the show, yelling about Kirk. So pretty clearly going to be a big, the last ever big 10, one big 10 West champs, right? That'd be great.

Right. Schedule's in our favor, Trent. So just burn the tapes for 2022 and get ready to win the last ever Big Ten West title this year. Beautiful. Yeah, the crossovers for next year, Penn State, Michigan State, and Rutgers. No Ohio State, no Michigan. Obviously, that's a big help there. You mentioned the road trip.

So it's Utah State, Iowa State, Western Michigan in the non-conference. Iowa State on the road. They open up at Penn State, Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Minnesota, bye week, and then the final four. Northwestern, Rutgers, Illinois, Nebraska. Sounds like four in a row to wrap it up with a new offense. Fingers crossed. Feels like 11-1, Illinois, Nebraska. Sounds like four in a row to wrap it up with a new offense. Fingers crossed. Feels like 11-1 to me, Trent.

Look at you bringing that optimism. It's back. I can never shake it out of you. Yeah. You got to end the podcast on a high note. So, again, go buy your 2023 Big Ten West champ shirts now. It'll be the final one of the two-division format. Miz, we'll talk again next week.

Enjoy Florida Boner. Rick sucks, and we will talk to you in a week's time. All right, go Hawks.