Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Kirk sheds light on Cash position | Pat Fitzgerald praises Spencer Petras | Can Iowa handle Northwestern's new look offense?

Episode Date: October 28, 2020

Kirk Ferentz and Pat Fitzgerald met with the media to discuss this weekends matchup. We break down what we learned from the two head coaches before diving into the three matchups that matter when Iowa squares off against Northwestern.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and I'm excited to be back for another Wednesday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. And today, we're going to be talking a little bit about the press conferences because Kirk Ferentz had a press conference. A lot of the players got an opportunity to speak to the media as well. We also heard from Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern. And then after we get done with those two conferences

and kind of what we gleaned from that, we're going to touch on the matchups that matter in this matchup of Iowa versus Northwestern, breaking down the three main matchups that are going to be the keys to this game. Just a reminder that on tomorrow's episode, we're going to be doing our crossover episode with one of the managers of the Northwestern SB Nation site, Eli Karp.

He's going to be hopping on the show. Did a fantastic job of talking through what to expect from Northwestern. And then on Friday, we're going to be going through the betting odds, the keys to winning the game, and an overall breakdown of the Big Ten. And if you still want to touch on the Purdue game and you haven't had a chance to listen to our Monday morning episode, make sure to check that out as well. Our Monday morning recap with Matt was a hit across the board.

People loved hearing his insight. I did as well. So make sure to check that out. And you're actually going to find some of the themes we talked about in that conversation are going to show up in this press conference with Kirk Ferentz today. So let's get into it. Kirk met with the media, gave a lot of good information.

If you want to read the full transcript of what he did have to say, go to asapsports.com. You can find University of Iowa's press conference there. Obviously, Kirk did chat with the media. So we're going to break that down. The couple things, let's get the injury stuff out of the way. Austin Schulte and Jack Campbell out another week. It sounds like Jack Campbell has Mono in their place. It's going to be Jack Heflin.

And then either Nick Neiman or Seth Benson. It sounds like Seth Benson is back. We could either see Seth Benson take that middle linebacker spot, Nick Neiman slide back over to the weak side spot, or we could see Nick Neiman in the middle linebacker spot and Justin Jacobs in that weak side linebacker spot with Seth Benson being the backup there. It is going to be interesting after talking to Eli Karp of InsideNU.com, the Northwestern SB site, and also watching that Northwestern game. They came out in a lot of 22 and 12 personnel. So a lot of two tight end sets that I think is going to make this matchup a lot more interesting. Typically in the past, we've seen Northwestern run a lot of spread concepts, having three, four wide

receivers out there. Last year, Iowa predominantly played in a 4-2-5 against Northwestern. And this matchup, though, is going to be a bit more interesting because Northwestern does like to go up-tempo a bit now with their new offensive coordinator, and they're running out of a variety of different formations. It's going to make it very interesting for Phil Parker to keep up with what defense they need to have out there. So be on the lookout for that. Also, in other injury news, Max Cooper was out last week. Sounds like he's getting back and healthy this week.

Logan Lee did travel, was not out, but obviously is not on the two deeps anymore. So let's get into some of the things, though. Three of the main concepts I wanted to hit on from Kirk Ferentz. He was very impressed with Peyton Ramsey. Here is his quote on Peyton Ramsey. He said, I was always impressed with him at Indiana. I'm not second-guessing or suggesting I coached there, and I don't make that decision.

They had two really good quarterbacks. That's what it looks like outside or looking in, because it looks like the other guy is doing pretty well too, and I haven't seen him on film as much because we haven't played them since he started playing. But I was always impressed the way he carried himself on the field, the way he operated. It's not like he's got a tremendous arm or this or that, just exceptional. The guy is just a good football player. I'm not saying he's McSorley, but McSorley the way he was, just his team always won. It seemed like he just

has that knack. He's a coach's son, so maybe it's got a little something to do with it. He's got a little savvy, but he's just an impressive football player. That was talking about Indiana grad transfer over to Northwestern, Peyton Ramsey, who does look like he solidified that quarterback position. Last year, Northwestern had a lot of issues with injuries. They also had an issue with the quarterback position rotating multiple guys in and out. They had Hunter Johnson, a former five-star quarterback from Clemson. He definitely showed us why he shouldn't have been ranked a five-star, and he struggled. With Peyton Ramsey, we saw the offense perform a lot better against

Maryland. Now, let's take that all with a grain of salt. Maryland is not a good football team, so what we're going to see from Northwestern could very much vary. We don't know where they stand on the Big Ten scale, right? The Mendoza line of good versus bad in the Big Ten, because we've only seen them play arguably the second or third worst team in the Big Ten scale, right? The Mendoza line of good versus bad in the Big Ten, because we've only seen them play arguably the second or third worst team in the Big Ten, which is Maryland. So that'll be interesting. But nevertheless, quarterback is definitely a position that is better. The running backs are back. That's right. Isaiah Bowser is back, the guy who torched us two years ago. Drake Anderson, more of a change of pace back, is also back as well. So they have some talent there.

They have a lot. They're returning a ton of production across the board on that offense. And with Peyton Ramsey at quarterback, it does make this offense a little bit more dangerous and they are able to run a few more varieties of formations, personnel groupings, and also going up tempo, which is something we're going to talk about later on as well. As far as last game though, we noticed that Iowa really struggled with penalties. And this is something I thought was really interesting because Matt Vandenberg also talked about this as well. He said on the penalties, there's definitely some concentration errors. And if our cadence is a little different because we have a new quarterback, all those

things, we're motioning, shifting, that's just concentration. We just got to get that done. Otherwise we can't do all those things and we're not going to change quarterbacks. We've just got to do a better job concentrating there because five yards is a lot. It's a lot on offensive series. Any negative yardage plays offensively are bad things. And that's exactly what Matt said. I think what we don't realize as outsiders to the program and maybe outsiders to playing college football is that changing a quarterback does make a difference. These guys are so used to playing college football, is that changing a quarterback does make a difference. These guys are so used to playing with Nate Stanley and the way he has a cadence and how he speaks that playing with Spencer Petras and not getting that springtime definitely factors into that.

I expect us to clean it up a bit as we get into game two and they get more acclimated to Spencer Petras. And then Coy Cronk, you know, one of the guys who had a very, very detrimental false start penalty. He also mentioned, I think we need to take this as well. That was his first game in 13 months. The dude was just excited to get on the field. He said, first game in 13 months, there was a lot going through my head. My goal was to play hard and physical before quarters. He knew he wasn't going to be perfect and he wasn't, but he did say he was excited to be out there. He got a little bit of the rust off. So it was unfortunate because typically in a normal season,

Iowa gets the opportunity to get the rust off in a game against a middle Tennessee state or northern Illinois, a game where they can afford to have a little bit of rust and deal with some of those penalties and clean that up before they get into a big-time game. This year, not the case with COVID, but nevertheless, Iowa moves on in a division that is looking more winnable every day, especially considering we don't know what the hell is going on in Wisconsin. They might actually be the first team to have to not play a game due to failing the COVID protocols from the big 10, because they would have too many players possibly test positive for COVID within their program. More to come on that as we get information on that,

but that is an interesting development coming out of Madison, Wisconsin. Also, one of the things we're going to talk about later is how does this defense match up with Northwestern? Against Purdue, we knew they were going to go very heavy on the defensive backside, and we saw Matt Hankins playing that cash position when Dane Belton was actually listed as the cash player. I actually called that. I thought that Iowa would want to get more of their corners in. They want to get the best players on the field. They decided to move Matt Hankins inside.

Now Matt Hankins is actually listed on the two deeps. Kirk Ferren's a little bit coy on the subject, but it does seem like they're happy with either Dane or Matt in there. And I do think it comes down to what type of plays they're running out of that certain personnel. So if they are going three wide and they're doing more power runs, they might be putting Dane Belton in there and move Matt Hankins outside. But if they're actually going to do some spread concepts from that, Matt Hankins is probably a better spot there. Dane Belton, a bigger, kind of a little bit bigger of a guy or plays a little bit bigger, I should say. So that'll be interesting.

But the way Northwestern showed up on tape, you know, obviously a little bit different from the previous offensive coordinator. Like I said, they play a little bit more 21-22 type offense. We talked about it with Eli Karp on the show tomorrow, is the fact that they had two running backs in the game at the same time for the first time, and they couldn't remember how long. So those are things to watch out for with this game, with Iowa, and trying to play defense against them. It's going to be an adjustment battle throughout the competition.

Before we get into that conversation, though, about what Northwestern said and what Northwestern had to say about Iowa, because, you know, Phil, Pat Fitzgerald had a lot of positive things to say about Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa football program. I do have a message for you from one of our sponsors of the show today. Because if you're like me, I'm constantly on the go. I just can't turn it off. I'm always on, on, on. And sometimes I just need to take a second, unwind, and chill. And that's why when I need a chance to chill, I get my go-to beer, Coors Light, because it is literally made to chill.

It's a mountain cold refreshment. Coors Light is cold lagered, cold filtered, and cold packaged. It's literally made to chill. It's as crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies, perfect for a moment to unwind. Coors Light is the one I choose when I need to unwind. So when you want to hit reset, reach for the beer that's made to chill. Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door at get.coorslight.com. That's right. Coors Light can be delivered straight to your door at get.coorslight.com. And as always, remember to celebrate responsibly with Coors Light from

Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado. And on these days, especially the days where I'm recording, this is a Wednesday morning episode. I'm recording this on Tuesday. It has been go, go, go. I've been on conference calls since 5 a.m. my time. I've recorded three podcasts today. This is the third one I'm recording. And sometimes I just need to take a second and get a bite of protein, get a little snack in me. I didn't even have a chance to eat lunch today. So instead of lunch, because I wasn't able to grab anything, I grabbed myself a Bilt Bar. That's right. Bilt Bar is the protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. It's what I typically go to for my pre-workout or post-workout snack, depending on how I'm feeling. If I'm a little hungry, I'll grab it before the workout. After

the workout, it's always a great opportunity to get a lot of protein for a minimal amount of calories, but sometimes I just need it for a little snack. So it's literally used for any type of situation throughout the day. And they have 18 amazing flavors to go along with all the fact that their bars are covered in 100% chocolate and they are soft and easy to chew. And while the Bilt Bars pack a punch in the flavor department, they also pack a punch in the health department as well. My favorite flavor profile, cookies and cream, 17 grams of protein, 130 calories, 4 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of net carbs. Right now, if you go to BuiltBar.com and use promo code LOCKEDON, you'll get 20% off your next order.

Use promo code LOCKEDON for 20% off at BuiltBar.com. And as I was talking about before, we took a quick break. Northwestern had a press conference as well, and I think it's important to not only pay attention to how Kirk Ferentz is talking about Kirk Ferentz, excuse mez is talking about the upcoming game, but I think it's important to look at how the other team is talking about the upcoming game and what they believe they've gleaned from looking at the tape. So that to me is very important, and we're going to talk about that.

But we're going to start with one of the players from Northwestern, Drake Anderson, a current running back for the Northwestern Wildcats. He mentioned this, and I thought it was really interesting because I also heard about the fact that Northwestern wants to push the tempo a little bit. And I think that could be a little bit tough for Iowa to get their personnel groupings in, depending on how Northwestern utilizes that. And Drake Anderson said, I think Coach Jake said there were 20 or more plays that had 20 seconds on the play clock.

So we were really pushing the tempo. And then with the rotation of backs, somebody is able to come in when you need to catch your breath. So we're always able to have a running back at 100%. That is going to be huge. If Northwestern is able to switch out their personnel groupings quickly and continue to go up-tempo, that's going to be huge for Iowa, who traditionally likes to play that 4-3, but has been leaning more towards a 4-2-5, especially for these spread attacks. If Northwestern is able to consistently switch between a 21-22 personnel and then going to 3-4 wide,

that could get them in a good personnel grouping that favors them over Iowa if Iowa has three linebackers, let's say, in there, and Northwestern has three wide receivers. That's an opportunity for Northwestern to possibly take advantage of Iowa's zone coverage defense. So that'll be interesting to see how Iowa handles that. We're going to talk about that more as a matchup to be aware of. Pat Fitzgerald also just spoke very highly of the Iowa football program, and we all kind

of knew that. Pat Fitzgerald really respects that program. Here's what he said. He said, He said, Every year I've been to Iowa City, people have really liked me. Kinnick is a cathedral of college football. It'll be disappointing because I think Iowa's fan base is one of the most high-level football IQ fan bases in the country.

It's a challenge for all of us in every game. Having a night game, you could watch everybody. But we're just thankful for the opportunity to play. I love the respect that he shows to Iowa, and I think as an Iowa fan, I respect a lot of the things that Northwestern does because they've really emulated what Iowa has done, what Kirk Ferentz has done in the Iowa football program.

So when you get a Northwestern game, you're going to get a very tough game because they play you kind of like Iowa plays other teams. He also talked about the fact that Iowa is consistently fundamentally sound. They communicate very well, especially on defense. That's a hallmark of Coach Ferencz's team. That front seven year in and year out has been a physically dominant team. Their secondary is outstanding. They call it their cash package. Coach Parker does a great job with that back end, so it's definitely something they are aware of. Northwestern had a fantastic game offensively against Maryland.

Rushing-wise, 325 yards on 53 rushes with three main running backs. I thought Peyton Ramsey also did a great job, very consistent, 23 of 30 for 212 yards and one touchdown. That is going to be a difficult test for the Iowa defense, especially considering how much they struggled defending the running attack. So that is something to watch out for. We're going to talk about as a matchup as well. And then also Pat Fitzgerald talked about Spencer Petras. And we've talked about this on the show, especially with Matt Vandenberg. People need to cut him a little bit of slack. First time quarterback, first time starter, I should say. He's been in the program a while, but sometimes

you get a little bit excited. Here's what Pat Fitzgerald said about Spencer Petras. He's really impressive. You read about everybody's team. He was excited like most first-time starters would be. Some really uncharacteristic things happened for Iowa in that game, especially the turnovers and the pre-snap penalties. They had a self-inflicted wound with the ball getting punched out by a teammate. That's an anomaly. They just missed a screenplay when they are about to score at the end. We'll see a different Iowa team on Saturday. They'll get those things fixed. Really impressed by their O-line and their physicality. They got great weapons in the backfield and with the receivers and their personnel is outstanding. So not only complimenting Spencer Petras, but complimenting the Iowa football team and realizing

that what took place against Purdue is not going to always happen. He's not going to get that same level of team. And we talked about this again on Monday, that the fact that Iowa definitely showed that they were at a, not a disadvantage to Purdue, but at a disadvantage in general due to what has transpired over the last six, seven months, they were just not as prepared as you typically see an Iowa football team. And then factoring in the fact that they are playing in their first big 10 game, the first game of the season, it showed. I think we're going to see that cleaned up. I think Pat Fitzgerald is planning as if we're going to see that cleaned up. And he knows this is going to be a battle.

A battle that I think Iowa can win. So that's my kind of personal takes on it. That's a couple of the quotes that I got from that Northwestern press conference I thought was really interesting. Again, the high praise for Iowa, the high praise for Spencer Petras, and the fact that they are not taking into account the fact that Iowa struggled with some of those uncharacteristic penalties and turnovers. That is not an Iowa football team performance, and he knows that. He knows they're going to be ready to play against Northwestern on Saturday.

Coming up, though, on segment number three, we're going to talk about those matchups to be aware of. We've already touched on them a little bit, but I'm going to go into a little bit more details as to why these are important matchups for this game. So that's coming up in just a few short minutes. All right, we are back for our third and our final segment of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. And I also apologize. You might hear a sniffling here and there.

I am getting over a cold. It has been a long day, but I love talking Iowa Hawkeye football, and I wanted to do this. So I'm day, but I love talking Iowa Hawkeye football, and I wanted to do this, so I'm here talking to you all about Iowa Hawkeye football, and we're going to wrap up the three matchups you need to be aware of coming into this game, Iowa versus Northwestern. And there are quite a few that I think are going to be a lot of fun to watch, but the one that's probably going to be the most exciting to watch,

in my personal opinion, is the matchup of the rushing attack versus the defensive line. And we talked about this, but Iowa struggled against Purdue, a team that is not known for being able to run the ball very well. Against Purdue, they allowed a nobody who was a former walk-on outside linebacker to run for over 100 yards. They really struggled with tackling. They struggled with getting pressure on the running attack. I thought they did have some good things happen. Davian Nixon did a fantastic job on the interior. Austin Schulte was

not in, so Jack Heflin is going to be getting the start as he did last week. That is, to me, a weakness, though, and I feel like Northwestern is going to look at this and they're going to attack it. Now, that being said, Northwestern was able to run the ball quite a bit, so 325 yards on 53 rushes is not a testament to they want to run the ball all the time. It's a testament to the fact that they were up so big on Maryland that they just ran the ball a lot. So don't expect them to do that every single play. Reminder that Peyton Ramsey also had over 200 yards passing as well. That is going to be a weakness though to watch.

We saw when Iowa lost to Northwestern two years ago. I'm not going to factor in last year's game because Northwestern, that was an anomaly of a season for them. They were just absolutely terrible offensively. But two years ago, they beat Iowa by running the ball down our throat in a spread attack with Isaiah Bowser. So how does our defensive line handle this rushing attack? How do our group of linebackers handle this rushing attack? And then we talked about that 4-2-5, and if they're in a spread concept, is Matt Hankins at that cash, or is Dane Belton? Is that designed from a tackling perspective? Do they want Matt Hankins at the cash and Julius Brents and Riley Moss on the outsides because of

the tackling? A reminder that to play secondary for Phil Parker, you need to be a strong tackler, and especially to play that cash position because you're playing so far up and you're playing the run game so much, you need to be a good tackler. So especially to play that cash position, because you're playing so far up and you're playing the run game so much, you need to be a good tackler. So maybe that's why they have Matt Hankins there, one of the more consistent tacklers on the team, being an upperclassman at this point, being a senior in that kind of young secondary. So that's going to be one of the matchups that Iowa needs to stop. They need to be able to control the line of scrimmage defensively and stop the run.

That will force Northwestern to move to the passing attack, and I do believe our secondary can match up well with Northwestern's wide receivers, unlike how we matched up with Purdue. Now, back onto the defensive side of the ball again. Phil Parker versus Mike Bojikin. I always struggle with his name, but the offensive coordinator for Northwestern, he's changed a few things. This is not the same old Northwestern offense.

Now, there are a few similarities, but there is a lot of differences as well. They're using a lot more motions. We're seeing an evolution of Northwestern offensive football, kind of like we've seen with Iowa football as well, with Brian Ferencz, especially this past game where we saw the wild cap. We saw a lot more end-around type concepts. We're going to see that from Northwestaround type concepts. We're going to see that from Northwestern as well. We're going to see it be done from a variety of formations.

They're going to be coming out in a ton of different formations. It's going to really throw off the defense, and they're going to be doing it at an up-tempo pace. So how does Iowa handle that? For example, we saw against Purdue, Iowa struggled with some of those personnel groupings, and I thought that was really interesting, especially because Purdue does throw the ball so much, but it might have been because Iowa was struggling so much against the run. They were in a 4-3 on that David Bell touchdown, that third touchdown of the game to seal the deal for Purdue. They were in a 4-3 when David Bell scored.

They probably should have been in a 4-2-5. They probably should have called a timeout there, but they didn't. It's all good, but we have a few newer guys in the secondary where there were some communication errors, as we talked about with Matt Vandenberg, but that is going to be a big deal versus Northwestern. You need to be able to make sure you're in the right personnel groupings, especially with a young linebacker group and a young secondary that haven't played as much together. That communication isn't going to always be in sync, and while Iowa has thrived on a zone concept, which allows their linebackers not necessarily man up with the slot wide receivers,

you're still, that's not a great matchup and you would prefer to have a defensive back playing that zone coverage. So how does Phil Parker handle that chess match with Northwestern's brand new offensive coordinator, especially in an uptempo setting? How do they make sure that we get the personnel groupings we need in there to match up perfectly or as perfect as we possibly can with Northwestern? And then the third key matchup to be aware of is Spencer Petras versus that secondary. That secondary looked pretty darn good against Maryland. They had three interceptions. They're returning quite a few guys, but we have a fantastic wide receiver group. They even made a comment, I can't remember which of the players from Northwestern,

but they said they've got a great receiving core, starting with Amir Smith-Marset, and then going to Brandon Smith and Nico Reganey, and their quarterback, Spencer Petras, has a great arm. We need to make some picks and make some noise again. So that was one of the secondary players for Northwestern. That's what they had to say about Iowa's wide receiver group. Now, they had a good game against a bad Maryland offense.

I think that that is not going to be the case in this game. I do think Iowa's wide receiver group matches up with almost any cornerback, any secondary group in the country. That's how good they are. Now, if Spencer Petras can get a little bit more in sync with these guys, if he can calm the nerves a little bit, I do expect that to be a matchup Iowa can win, but we do need to get that passing attack going. The running attack was there. We got it going against Purdue. Now, if we can use that to then open up the playbook and hit some of those deep shots and hit some of those crossing routes and not drop those passes, those are big-time plays that separate. That's a difference

between a four-point loss and a 20- point win. Imagine if he hit Brandon Smith who had a step on his corner. Imagine if he hit Amir Smith-Marset who got turned around a little bit. Those are two touchdowns right there. So Spencer Petras versus this talented secondary is going to be a huge matchup that I'm going to be watching. He needs to be able to hit more consistently on his throws. We know he has the arm strength. We saw it happen. We need to see the touch and the accuracy from Spencer Petras and taking advantage of that secondary with this elite wide receiver group. I hope they can get Amir Smith-Marset more involved. We saw it, you know, he wasn't able to make that happen in that game. We saw Brandon Smith do a couple good things.

Nico Regani had a fantastic game. Obviously, there's just so many playmakers on this Iowa offense that it's not going to be easy to get everyone the ball. But when you have a playmaker like Amir Smith-Marset, a game changer, you need to be able to get him the ball. And it needs to happen when you hit some of those deep shots on a play-action pass or whatever it may be. But allow that run to set you up, and you have to capitalize on those situations. So that's the third matchup to be aware of. The rushing attack versus the defensive line. Phil Parker versus Northwestern's offensive coordinator. And Spencer Petras versus the secondary. Those are the third matchup to be aware of. The rushing attack versus the defensive line. Phil Parker versus Northwestern's offensive coordinator.

And Spencer Petras versus the secondary. Those are the three matchups I think are going to be the most crucial to Iowa coming away with a victory Saturday versus Northwestern. And that will do it for our show today. I appreciate you tuning in. I appreciate you dealing with me having a cold. I know it's tough. When I have a cold, I'm sniffling. I'm kind of mumbling through some of my stuff.

I tried really hard today, y'all. I apologize if anyone was disrupted by that, but I do appreciate you tuning in and listening to today's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Tune in tomorrow for a crossover episode with Eli Karp of Northwestern, their SB Nation fan site, InsideNU. He gave some great insight as to what he expects from Northwestern and what to expect from

Northwestern vs. Iowa, so tune into that as well. Thank you all, Hawkeye Nation, for tuning in to today's episode. Have a fantastic day, and go Hawks!