Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Kirk Ferentz goes back to Petras, The beginning of the end of the Kirk Ferentz era?

Episode Date: September 14, 2022

Trent Condon is joined by Biz as they assess the latest in the world of Iowa football.The decision to go with Spencer Petras once again continues to confound. And the press conference today turned out to be more bad for Kirk than good.Stat Boy brings some knowledge about the end of the Hayden Fry era and his final season of 1998 and many similarities to what is happening right now in with this current Hawkeye team.The guys also make some picks, the return of Biz's Beat and more.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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!UpsideDownload the FREE Upside App and use promo code Locked to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more.Underdog FantasySign up on underdogfantasy.com with the promo code LOCKED ON and get your first deposit doubled up to $100! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trenton Biz back with you with another edition of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. It is Spencer Petras' job at the quarterback position. Staff Boy helps us out with some disappointing numbers, and we try to figure things out this week from a betting angle, all coming up on today's Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. 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.

He's Jace Bisgard. This is the Locked Eyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On, Hawkeyes, your first listen each and every day. Come to you daily throughout the course of the week and sometimes instant reaction. But, Biz, no instant reaction when I got back to Des Moines on Saturday as you saw me walking by, stumbling by. I was in no state to be talking about the game afterwards. It was a frustrating day in Kiddick Stadium.

How did the old Instant Reaction podcast go, Trent? I can't imagine that went well for you. It didn't go until Sunday night. That's what it was. I did have to do the one-minute recap from the stadium. You can catch that at Lockdown Now. And it took me about 40 takes to get one that was okay to send over to the

guys in the studio can we get the other 39 takes somehow they were deleted very quickly off the phone i didn't want my wife to see those i didn't want anybody to have to see those so now the phone and will never be seen again unless you can hack into verizon or something well the good news is trent you know as you know i i had to drive home and so i was didn't drink during the game, stopped drinking before the game, and so I sadly was sober during the game. I envy you. Maybe you forgot parts of the game, Trent, because sadly I remember all of it.

Well, I guess maybe I wish I was drunk so I could all be a little hazier because it was all way too clear for me. But, you know, we could sit and talk about that game for hours, Trent, but it doesn't do any good at this point. We're just not – we're not a good football team right now, or at least not a good offensive football team. So what can you do? Yeah, the story of the depth chart being released, no changes, and hearing Spencer Petras early in the week, no changes. It's baffling that this offense is this bad.

A quarterback is struggling this much. You have a backup that is played and at least had moments at the very least. We can talk about Alex Padilla and the issues that he has and some of his limitations, but he's at least been competent at times. And to not give him a look, it's one of the most confounding and confusing things that I can remember in Iowa football now. And remembering back since 1985,

it's been a long time and you go even further back than that, Biz. It's just, it's one of the more crazy situations I can remember. Well, and I think on top of that, I think he's just a better fit right now for what we're looking to accomplish because we've got a bad offensive line. I mean, there's no doubt about that. For two weeks, we'll be having second half.

As the game got on, we started off, you know, first quarter ran the ball pretty well. Second half, we'll be having, I think, eight runs for five yards. I mean, we can't run the ball. And so, I mean, it's – right now he's a better fit for two reasons. One, I think he's a more accurate, short, get the ball out of his hands and throw those slants and drags. He's better than Spencer Petras at that.

Second, I mean, he can elude the rush a little bit and buy us a little bit of time, which we badly need. So my big takeaway from all this, this trend is we live in a society where you can't get a hundred percent of people to agree on anything. I mean, there's people out there that think the earth is flat. There's people out there that think the moon landing is a hoax. Hell there's people out there that think the Holocaust is a hoax. I mean, in any area, you're going to get people that just disagree do you

know a single person right now that thinks that spencer petras should continue to be the uh starting quarterback i mean one you know can you name me a one person anywhere that thinks other than obviously the uh the people uh making the decision yeah that's where we are. It's one person. And I really believe this is ultimately a Kirk decision. I don't think this is, this is Brian Kirk, the whole offensive staff together. I think it comes down to one man and I think it's Kirk Ferentz. And we know when he digs his heels in and he gets stubborn and he,

he gets that way. It can be incredibly frustrating, but that's the big part that I think ultimately this is at this point in time. It is Kirk making this decision. It is Kirk believing that he is the guy that is going to be able to pull them out of it. I don't know what it is about Spencer Petras, but he's the apple of Kirk Ferentz's eye and nothing he can do seems to be able to pull him off of that. I know the Nebraska game did not go well for Padilla, and he'd struggled the previous game before that,

but that hook was incredibly quick in comparison to what we saw from Spencer Petras. I just don't get it perfectly. He is a much better fit for what I was doing right now, what they're trying to do both offensively and what they can do because of the limitations of the offensive line. So you pose this question to me, Biz. Is this the beginning of the limitations of the offensive line. So you pose this question to me, Biz, is this the beginning of the end of Kirk talking about his stubbornness and digging his heels in and,

and not being able to see something that seems pretty evident to 99% of the population. Yeah. Let's dig into it, Trent. Cause I mean, over, over the years in these podcasts, we've talked a lot about Spencer Petras. We've talked a lot about Brian Ferentz. We've talked a lot about Brian Ferentz. We've talked a lot about offensive lines, Bab. We've talked a lot about lack of skill positions. We've talked a lot about injuries to skill positions.

But we've never really talked about the elephant in the room, which is Kirk Ferentz is the one making all the ultimate decisions. And right now he's the one that's ultimately got to take the blame for how awful this offense is. And so rather than give Stat Boy the low-hanging fruit, I mean, our offense is so ridiculously bad that everybody in the world can go out and find ridiculous stats to show how bad they are. So Stat Boy didn't need to do that.

So I sent Stat Boy boy a different direction this week because, you know, after the game, you know my dad. A lot of people that listen to this podcast know my dad. He is the ultimate Hawkeye homer. And when I started talking to my dad and my older brother about, you know, is this the beginning or the end? And when Paul Bisgard starts thinking it might be time for uh for kirk to move on you know it's time to at least have that discussion so bringing a tear to my eye

yeah and so it's you know you you love kirk i love kirk i think most iowa fans love kirk but his stubbornness right now is is just shocking i mean and it's and it's probably going to be his undoing and so i mean what what i had stat boy look into is this reminds me a lot of kind of the end for hayden and i want what i want to dig into is you know what similarities there are between that last year for hayden and and what we're experiencing right now and what you go see is Trent, there's a lot of similarities. See it. You're ready to dig in. So we're going to 1998.

That's Hayden's final season on 98. Also my freshman year at Iowa. So I'm in the student section watching, sitting there watching the beginning of the end, but it, it went very quickly from 1997, which was a very talented team. Matt Sherman gets hurt.

They lose close games to Wisconsin Northwestern. Look, Matt Sherman's not hurt. They don't lose those games. They're still 10-2 with losses only to Michigan and Ohio State, and they're playing in a high-level bowl game. Instead, they go, they disappoint in the Sun Bowl, but it happened very quickly because that 1998 Iowa team, they were awful.

Yeah, let's dig into it. 1998 year, nobody thought they were going to be awful. I mean, they started the year with a 38-0 win against Central Michigan. Everybody's happy as can be. Second game, Trent, is what? Iowa State 27-9. Hawkeyes favored by four touchdowns. Yeah, home game against an Iowa State team that had gotten blown out the week before by TCU.

And, you know, everybody used to assume the status quo was going to happen. They won 15 in a row at that time. And like you said, things change quickly from that point on. So let's dig into it, Trent. This is where Stat Boys newspaper.com subscription really comes in handy because you find out just how quickly things turned on Hayden Fry. So they lose that second game, 27-9 to Iowa State. So let's start with just talking about that game a little bit

because there's some similarities. Through two games that year, Iowa was averaging 1.7 yards a rush, had given up 12 sacks, and didn't have a quarterback. They tried Randy Reiners. They tried freshman Kyle McCann. Couldn't find anybody. They even tried Scott Mullen a little bit. But, you know, at the end of that game, Hayden had a couple of telling quotes.

First, he was asked about the O-line and his response. It's great because you forget just how bluntly honest Hayden is. Asked about the O-line's response. Well, they're the best we've got. So, I don't know, they're all glowing, you know, glowing endorsement for the offensive line. And then they're going to go to Arizona next week, a good Arizona team. And Hayden talked about the fact that he just ended.

This is his last quote about Arizona. We're in trouble. Wow. And he was right. They were in trouble quote about Arizona, we're in trouble. Wow. And he was right. They were in trouble. They got beat by 24 in Arizona. But between those two games is when Stat Boy finds this nugget, Trent. So between the Iowa State game and the Arizona game is when it really happened.

Middle of that week, that Wednesday I believe it was, a Chicago Tribune writer writes a open letter to Hayden Fry, and he titles it, Hey Hayden, Bolt Before They Revolt. And there's some really telling, hopefully Statboy will put it up online. It's a really interesting article, but there's some really telling comments in there.

The guy, like I said, it's an open letter to Hayden, talks about everything he'd done, talked about that it's just time. It was time for him to move on, and it's time open letter to Hayden. Talks about everything he'd done. Talked about that it's just time. It was time for him to move on, and it's time for him to leave on his terms. And some of the quotes in there, comments, get out now. Get out on your own terms. Not fair for the fans that turn on you, but they will if you end up hanging around too long. And they end with leave now.

If you do, you help ensure the long-term health of a program that you've helped to build. Boy, do those things sound pretty similar to what we're dealing with right now, Trent. I mean, those three things, if you put those three things in an article this week, Chad Leistekauer, Scott Dockman wrote that article tomorrow and said those same things. Would you disagree with any of those? Not at all. And maybe it should be. You know, it's one little nugget, and it was this summer. Would you disagree with any of those? Not at all. And maybe it should be.

You know, it's one little nugget, and it was this summer. Tom Caker relayed to this on my radio show last week that it was at Big Ten Media Days, and they're doing a little just kind of sitting around, the beat guys talking, getting a few extra nuggets that you don't get when Kirk's up at the podium. And they were talking about the quarterback position, and Kirk finally kind of looked at all of them and said, boy, it's a lot worse out there than I thought. Must be bad out there, I think. Right.

Yeah. It is. It absolutely is. And from what happened this week, from the release of the depth chart to trotting Spencer out there at 11 o'clock before Kirk even talks on Tuesday and to the trolling of the cameos. Right, right. There's a tone deaf nature. And I said this last night to my wife. I said, Kirk feels really old for the first time in my life. He feels out of touch. And yes, the social media thing that we've talked about before and all that,

there has always been an old man element, even when he was 40 years old. He was an old 40. He's always had that kind of quality to him. But this is a time that the oldness feels out of touch and not understanding what's happening in the fan base and a revolt, as was said in that article. It's I don't know, just kind of a scary time. Well, and I think that that tone deaf nature, you can see it also in the comments, other comments throughout the year.

I think. I think they really thought their offense was going to be good. I mean, I don't think they were BS. We talked about it. Part of the reason I kind of bought in and thought we were going to be better than I'm really worried about this offensive line you know I've been negative on offense I was offensive lines for a long time I just don't think they've been consistently good we've had good individuals but we've not had a good offensive line in a long time I mean back to 2015 probably I mean 2016 that we won the Joe Moore award but it was ridiculous we didn't deserve that i mean they haven't had a good legitimate line that just moves people off the ball regularly for seven years now and for whatever reason like you said the tone-deaf nature that they really thought this team i think they saw that kentucky game as kind of a turn in the corner i think they thought man we we ran the ball well we did some

good things against kentucky against a good sec defense And I think they really thought coming into this year they had an above-average offense on their hand. And I think they still think that, which how they can, I have no idea. But I really, truly think Kirk still is of the opinion that a little better execution here, a little more, a little something here and there, and things are going to click. And, hell, we're 72 and a half yards behind the second worst offense in football, Trent. At some point, it's truly the definition of insanity

to just keep doing the same thing and expect different results. But, you know, yeah, I think you're right. Tone-deaf nature is kind of a good way to put it. I think they do a good job of sheltering themselves from the outside noise yes sometimes sometimes you need to hear the outside noise and that they don't and right now the outside noise is uh is what's going to get him it's going to like i said i i want to see things end well for for current ference and i want to see them end on his terms but i just it doesn't doesn't feel good right now so let's go back there's a couple more articles that we found that so after that article after things really snowballed and stat boy it was

kind of crazy some random guy in the chicago tribune writes this article i mean it's like a skip bayless type article and everybody runs with it so by the time i mean the next couple days it was all talked about there was a big article in the one register on it was a big article pat hardy was at the press solicit that time he wrote an article about it but the demoy register article is interesting remember mark hansen oh absolutely yeah absolutely wonderful article and he kind of wrote a rebuttal and said don't retire his title was don't't Retire, Just Delegate Some Duties. And he talked about that, hey, you need to get better at delegating.

You need to be better at, you know, kind of reading some of those things. But in the article, Mark Hanson said, it is kind of hypothetical, says, but let's say they finish three and eight, then maybe it is time to retire. Guess what I ended up finishing that year? 3-8.

Yeah, went 3-8. Not only did they go 3-8, but, I mean, they got throttled down the stretch. Lost Arizona by 24, lost by Wisconsin by 31, lost Ohio State by 31, ended the year losing to Minnesota by 42. And I'm not saying that's going to happen with this team, but right now do you feel more confident with this team going 8-4 or 4-8? 4-8. It's not even close.

I mean, look at the schedule and looking at, I mean, could they go 8-4? Sure. Absolutely. I mean, the defense especially is good enough. They can win by the skin of their teeth a few more times. But if you're a betting man, Trent, which I think you are, if I gave you the two options, 4-8 or 8-4, which one are you putting money on? Yeah, it's four and eight. And that Illinois game obviously looks more difficult. The Rutgers game looks more difficult. The ones that seem like they, the layups, those ones are a lot tougher right now. There are no

layups the rest of the way outside of what you'd anticipate this week against Nevada. And well, when you're putting seven points up a game and 158 yards of total offense, there's no such thing as a layup, even against the team as putrid as Nevada. Well, I better be a lab. If they lost by 21 at home to incarnate word, if,

if we somehow lose the Nevada, it might be timing. We might be talking about some different, maybe talk about some firings at the end of this week. So yeah. Yeah. Again, at this point, I don't think you can assume anything with,

with this offense and this team, but if you can't beat Nevada, then we're talking about an all time, an all time collapse. So, yeah, but that's, I mean,

I just thought some of those quotes that, that stat boy dug up, I mean, just eerily similar. I mean, we're talking about 25 24 years ago but they can be plugged in an article tomorrow and you know the exact same thing so you know i i hope i hope we're jumping the gun here i hope we're both just you know being overly

dramatic but it feels like the beginning of the end to me i hope i'm wrong but it just doesn't feel like like you said he it feels like hey it feels like hayden part two here it feels like the game passed hayden by these last couple years and he wasn't up for the recruiting he wasn't up for you know some of those things that passed him by and like you said it kind of feels the same with kirk right now it feels he feels old it feels like it's maybe the game's passed him by a little bit. And so hope we're wrong, but the evidence certainly seems to be pointing in that direction. Betonline.net,

your number one source for all your pro and football college betting needs and sports info this season. You can find all the latest football developments, game matchups, news, and podcasts, including the opening lines for each week's games. BetOnline, your continued source for all your sports wagering information, live betting, esports, and scores. Head to the website today or hop on your phone

and learn more about the trends and action. BetOnline, where the game starts. Wrapping up here, Biz, we're going to make our BetOnline picks coming up in just a moment. But one final piece. Petras will be the quarterback this week. What can be done to fix this offense? Not going to be able to go out in the transfer portal right now and find different players. The offensive line is what it is.

Schematically, I mean, is that what we're looking at here? What schematically can Brian do to open some things up? I don't know i i'm the one that asked you the question what can we do and i i thought about for a couple days trent and i don't know the answer i mean i think the number one answer is get healthy if you can get nico reganian i mean you got to find a way these next two weeks beat a terrible nevada team go to rutgers no matter how ugly it is, find a way to win, and then get healthy and hope that we can get back to being at least average at offense. Because, I mean, let's be realistic. This team is not going to be a good offense no matter what happens.

But if they can get back to being average, they can be an 8-4 team. So get healthy and then hope for the best. You've got two weeks to get things right here. You should be able to run the ball against Nevada. If you can't run against Nevada, then like I said, get ready for 4-8. You've got to establish some sort of a running game

these next two weeks and then hope that your wide receivers get healthy and somehow Spencer Petras turns the corner and gets back to respectable because I think we realize at this point, ride or die with Spencer Petras at this point, Trent. That's what it is. Kirk said in his press conference on Tuesday,

he's sticking with the body of work when it comes to Petras. Of course, his body and work includes one touchdown in the last nine games against nine interceptions. That's the body of work when it comes to petrus of course his body and work includes one touchdown in the last nine games against nine interceptions that's the body of work that kirk is going to continue with absolutely baffling let's make some picks let's make some money before we get out of here brought to you by bet online uh last week well i know i had iowa state that was a positive there we both had had Alabama. That was a disaster. You had the Dukies. Good call there.

And then I got beat, getting six and a half, but losing overtime with Pitt plus six and a half. That shouldn't even count as a loss. You should give me a win on that one. Yeah, they had that covered the whole game, Trent. Yeah, there was no moral victories in our bets. Not at all. So we both go one and two ultimately last week as we are somewhat in

a tie though you have the tiebreaker over me let's get into the picks this week and miami a&m that's our game of the week yeah that's it's i'm not sure there's any of them there's a lot of interesting games out there this week a lot of unique matchups but i think from a national standpoint that probably carries the most national significance. But yeah, actually, it's an interesting week of games, but there's no Alabama-Texas this week. That is true. So I want to start there with our game of the week

and that Miami game down at Texas A&M. It's going to be loud. They're going to figure out the quarterback spot. I believe in Jimbo. Look ahead spot last week, maybe something like that. And though as much as I like watching Van Dyke i still don't know if this miami's ranked 13th are we sure they're at that point i don't think so i'm going to take a and m here and i'm going to lay it to kick things off i believe in jimbo you might you might be the only person i've ever

heard say that yeah it's a rarity at least so give me the over in this one trent it's 45 i think everybody's down on texas a&m they didn't score any points against app state but you know how many plays texas a&m ran in that game it was like 38 or something like that 38 i mean 38 yeah so i i think you're going to see a very aggressive jimbo for better or for worse i think things might be an ugly game there might be some defensive touchdowns. It's going to be a crazy game. I think Texas A&M is going to want to try to send a message a little bit. Win or lose, I think both teams will

score a few points. Give me over 45. Over 45 in A&M Miami. Game number two, we go to Kinnick Stadium. It'll be a night game and it'll be Spencer Petras and the Iowa offense trying to figure out a Nevada team that gave up over 400 yards through the air, over 200 yards in the ground against the biggest Catholic school in

Texas incarnate word as they give up 55, the Hawkeyes are favored by 23 and a half. Give me the wolf pack. If we heard that it was going to be Padilla, my pick would have been different, but I just can't lay that many with Spencer Petras. I have zero confidence in taking the Hawks, but I also have very realistic.

What's the best case scenario for Nevada as far as how many points scored? 10 maybe? Without a defensive score or something like that. Yeah, yeah, absolutely so i don't see any way nevada scores more than seven points in this game which means i always got to score more than than 31 for the over to hit so yeah the old runner i think it started at 40 and a half it's dropped so i think give me give me whatever it is 40 39 and a half whatever it is give me the under

because uh i don't see nevada scoring at all and i don't certainly don't see us scoring above 30 so uh give me give me the under at 39 and a half 40 40 and a half whatever it is so it can't get low enough whatever it is i'll take it well it was a lock last week and uh we'll lock it up right there your lock of the week for this week biz is what you know? I liked Nebraska when it was plus 14, but that number has dropped a ton. I really liked Texas San Antonio against Texas when it was plus 14, but that number has dropped a ton. So I probably should just stick with Texas San Antonio because I really like Texas to lay an egg after last week.

But give me Mississippi State, Trent. I think they're just a significantly better team than LSU. And they've played two decent opponents and played really well against them. I just don't think LSU is very good right now. And I could see the natives turning on Brian Kelly really quickly in the year here. So as much as I hate betting with Mike Leach, give me Mike Leach. And I think it's minus two or minus two and a half. It's a good call.

That's one that certainly was circled on my list. And I'm going to buy into the buyback once again. Give me Notre Dame laying 10 and a half at home against Cal. Cal's 2-0, but it's not exactly a pretty 2-0. Tyler Buckner goes down. He's going to be out for the rest of the season, the quarterback for Notre Dame. But this is going to be, I think, going old school, physical, grind out a 24-7 type of win. I'm going to lay it here with Notre Dame

minus the 10.5 at home against Cal. Kind of the opposite of the Texas side of things. Notre Dame's got to get... It's a must-win game for Notre Dame. I hate to kiss a death, Trent, but I agree with you. Uh-oh. Here, that is big-time trouble. Those are our bet online picks each and every week.

We pick the Iowa game, a game of the week nationally, and then our favorite game outside of the docket. Biz, you've got to get back to work. I've got to get back to work. We will talk again next week. Hold on, Trent. You asked me for a business beat this week. Oh, that's right.

I almost forgot. It's time again for business beat Hold on, Trent. You asked me for a business beat this week. Oh, that's right. I almost forgot. It's time again for business beat. Now you've got to sing the tune, too. Do you want me to rap the biz marquee? Yes. So, Trent, we've been uber negative today. There's not much to be positive about right now, so I wanted to end on an upbeat note.

Statboy looked, and I asked him, I said, when was the last time we started a season by scoring seven points or less in back-to-back games? And his answer really surprised me, because it was actually exactly 40 years ago, 1982, the year after Hayden went to the Rose Bowl. They started the year by getting throttled against Nebraska, 42-7, and then laid an egg against the Clones and lost 19-7. So what are you thinking? Like, well, where's the positives? Well, the silver lining is that team went 6-2 in the Big Ten,

went to a bowl game, won the Peach Bowl, and ended having a good year. So there's your best-case scenario, Trent. Start with laying two complete eggs, and you turn it around and have a successful year. Let's hope for a repeat of 1982. We'll see you in the Peach Bowl in January,

Trent. See you there. These days, that is an access bowl in one of the top six bowl games. We're aiming high, Trent, aiming high. Looking a lot different. The Peach Bowl today looks a lot different than the Peach Bowl back then being played at Fulton County Stadium way back in the day in that awful grass field.

Biz, we'll talk next week. Enjoy Kinnick Stadium. I know you're going to want to be one of the few out of our group making it there. In fact, I had plans. I was going to bring the kids over this week, and, well, the quarterback decision changed in my opinion. I'm not going to make that drive after, after that decision. I guess I'm a selfish fan.

Way to punish your children. I'm not going to punish them. They don't have to go watch Spencer Peterson play quarterback. Poor Ella. She just wants to wave to the sick kids and you won't let her. We'll find a better game for that. We'll find a better game for that. We'll find a better game for that down the line. Biz, we'll talk next week.

All right, go Hawks.