Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Matt VandeBerg joins the show to discuss the huge win over Minnesota

Episode Date: November 14, 2020

We are joined by Matt VandeBerg to discuss the Iowa Hawkeyes huge win over Minnesota. We talked about the changes in defense that led to a shutdown of Minnesota's offensive attack, how Brian Ferentz scripts his play calling, and the differences between inaccurate and uncatchable.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! 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. We are back for another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. We're back on a Saturday morning. I have Matt Vandenberg with me. Matt, how are you doing today, man? I'm peachy today. I'm peachy. Thank you for having me on. Yeah, man. We're two weeks in a row. We have wins to talk about, which is very exciting. Before we get into all the good stuff that happened last night, including some of the

end of game antics that I definitely want to cover because it was just funny to watch Kirk Ferens seemingly show a little bit of shade or throw a little bit of shade, I should say. What are you doing around the community? I mean, we're talking on Saturday morning. You got some things going on today. What can you do to help some of the folks in the Iowa City area? Yeah, so as I mentioned before, I'm a realtor with the Bayless team at Urban Acres. So I've got a few open houses today.

So I'm excited to kind of get back out there and hopefully help somebody find their dream home or sell, sell their home. Absolutely, man. Well, that's some awesome stuff. So if you're out there need a house, definitely hit up Matt Vandenberg, Matt, let's get into this game though. So Iowa wins, we get the trophy. It was never really in question. I mean, throughout the game, I was defense. I thought played outstanding. They did a really good job of stopping the rushing attack, especially in the first half, the second half, you know, Minnesota was able to, you know, get a few holes there, you know, here and there, but overall I thought Iowa played pretty well. What were your initial thoughts on the game?

It's with, with Iowa, it's always interesting because it felt like that first half was absolutely dominant on Iowa side, but the scoreboard only showed a two score game. You know, that's one of those things, but and going in i knew that minnesota was going to try and grind i mean i think ibrahim or ibrahim had 41 carries two weeks ago and 40 carries last week and then rashad bateman's obviously got like 20 i think now he's got like 28 29 catches and everybody else has like nine or fewer so we knew that their offense was going to be two guys and if you're able to make tanner morgan throw you're probably going to win the game and thankfully we were able to do that yeah i. I mean, it felt like I got out of that first half and I was upset. I was like, I feel like we should be up by a lot more. I mean,

almost felt like we were losing in a sense. I just didn't feel very confident. The second half comes out and Iowa does a pretty good job of putting that game out of control. So Iowa gets up 26, nothing. They, you know, the field goal, the extra point was a botched snap, which I want to get to. of putting that game out of control. So Iowa gets up 26-0. The field goal, the extra play was a botched snap, which I want to get to. They go for two there. I can make a case for that being a football play and just wanting to get up four touchdowns. But you're in the fourth quarter.

Minnesota probably isn't coming back. And then Minnesota drives down the field with their first team in. Iowa has their second team in. And Kirk Ferentz wants to challenge a, you know, when a complete pass and ends up coming from the replay booth, they get that. And then he calls three timeouts, that whole sequence, that last like eight minutes just seemed to seem like Kirk Ferentz is a little

pissed off at Minnesota. Wanted to get your thoughts on that. Well, so for the two point play, there are times where teams will go for two in that certain instance to go up four touchdowns even of course but also i mean you don't get an opportunity to really run your two play your two-point conversion plays um i mean you're running against your defense but our defense is another defense is right so when we get an opportunity to run something and see that it's successful now teams have to game plan for that okay the only two-point conversion they've gone for is a bubble to the left you know i mean and successful. Now teams have to game plan for that. Okay, the only two-point conversion they've gone for

is a bubble to the left. And that's all they have to go off of. So as far as being able to get those kind of reps and get Spencer to understand those types, one thing Spencer did well is he took a little heat off the ball in the short passes. So the fact that he was able to complete that and get that, I thought that was good.

As for keeping the ones in, I mean, I can understand it. I mean, they're a different team. He doesn't want to get blanked. I mean, that's – Minnesota doesn't want to go blank. So – excuse me. So I understand that. As far as KF's quote of leaving the timeouts and taking Floyd, I'm not going to say anything.

I'm just happy we got Floyd back. That's hilarious. Yeah. I mean, I can see the strategy behind doing the happy we got Floyd back. That's hilarious. Yeah. I mean, I can see the strategy behind doing the two-point play. We saw it even last year. I believe Iowa was playing Rutgers. We had Nate Sandlin. We take him out.

We put Spencer Petras in. And Brian Behrens is throwing the ball even more with Spencer Petras last year in that Rutgers game towards the end. Anyone who watched that realized Brian's just trying to get Spencer ready for the following season. It was definitely a strategic move there. You can be PC on the Kirk thing, but I thought it was pretty awesome being thrown in that shade.

There's definitely something weird. I was really excited for that midfield handshake, but it was very nonchalant. They just quickly shook hands and then walked off as if they really did hate each other. So that was fun to watch. You talk about Mo and Rashad Bateman being the two main people for Minnesota and if you look at the box score I mean they they still were the main people

Moe had 144 yards out of 145 rushing yards average 4.4 yards per carry Rashad Bateman 16 targets eight receptions 111 yards it didn't matter though ultimately Iowa's defense I thought did a pretty good job of bending but not breaking breaking. What I thought was really interesting is I noticed a lot more man coverage. And Iowa's traditionally a zone coverage scheme. Did you notice they were playing a little bit more man? They were playing a lot more man. They were playing a lot of two man. And two man is basically that you're man-to-man across the board, but your safeties are playing kind of their half of the field, which really what that allows your safeties to do is just read the eyes

and go and make a play. And it allows your guys underneath to kind of get beat over the top because they know they've got help. So then they can get into a trail technique. So if they're trying to run like a hook or they're trying to run a curl or something coming back, they have to go through the DB in order to get there. Don't get me wrong. There's a lot of different ways to beat it yeah but as far as like uh what minnesota tries

to do they are able to be in that trail technique and not allow them to come back yeah i mean and i for example rashad bateman i remember there's one play and i can't remember what i think it was the first half but they clearly wanted to go to him he did a double move kind of a post route and i thought iowa did a fantastic job of just switching off over. I mean, he went through three different Iowa defenders and was never open at any point. So, I mean, overall, I thought the coverage was just flawless. We had a Matt Hankins defensive pass interference.

Wanted to get your thoughts on that because I – I mean, it looked like he was basically out of balance. Matt Hankins was turned back looking for the ball. But what are your thoughts on that defensive pass interference, which is really kind of the only big issue I saw – I mean, issue I saw with the defense early on in the first half. So I only saw like one angle. I don't know if our like TV kind of glitched out when they showed the replay of it. But there's a way that you squeeze them to the sideline. And so, I mean, that's going to happen. You know, the DB, you're going to try and run them outside.

Okay, well, and I'm going to force you out and turn and find the ball. So I didn't, I couldn't tell if his arm was extended. Obviously you can't extend your arm. So if that's what he did, then then it's a right call. But otherwise, I mean, everything else, you're just going to squeeze them outside and make him ineffective for the rest of the play. Yeah. I mean, the whole idea of being on that, that side is that use the sideline to your advantage. That's what makes, that's what makes playing slot corner so difficult.

Now at the slot we had date, we had a lot of people kind of moving in and out of the slot we had nick neiman at times uh kind of doing some sort of man at the slot position we also had dane belton there and i thought that was really interesting to see a true sophomore manning up on rashad bateman uh there was one play in particular he got a really nice pass breakup now granted rashad bateman kind of beat him initially but the route was perfect for where Dane Belton was kind of lined up at. What are your thoughts on Dane Belton? You know, two years in, he looks superb. He can lay the wood on a few people. And the fact they're playing him in the slot against a potential first round pick. I mean, that's showing a lot of confidence in the sophomore out of Florida. showing a lot of confidence in the sophomore out of Florida.

So a few different things there on the particular past breakup was a fantastic job of his, of him being able to swivel his hips and then jump back across from where he was initially moving to make that play. I mean, that was, we're talking about the one over the middle, right? Where he's like trying to find his own. So he wasn't a man on that particular one, but being able to come back and get it. And then the way they're playing man with him most of the time is he's

playing really far off unless he's in a zone underneath and they call that a palms coverage. I'm not going to go into all the details of what that means, but essentially he's just playing, he's given more cushion over the top. And then as far as they blitzed him a lot, I saw him come off the edge probably three or four times, and that's not something that's typical of a Coach Parker defense. So being able to see a little bit more pressure and trying to make Tanner Morgan speed up his process,

we've seen that with our guy early on, and now we're trying to force it to others, and you can see how quickly that happens. And especially when they only have one guy. We talked about Sam Laporta had 12 targets, I think, against Northwestern. And then here, 16 targets for Rashad Bateman. Do you really think he wants to go anywhere else with the ball? No.

Which, don't get me wrong, you got a dog on the outside. You want to give him the ball. But at the same time, you have to know your progression and what you're doing. Absolutely, man. I felt like, like I said, Iowa played fantastic defense there. Two interceptions for Iowa, Jack Corner, Riley Moss. The Riley Moss interception seemed like Tanner Morgan just –

and I've always kind of – looking at Tanner Morgan, he's not – he's a great college quarterback. He reminds me of like the old Alabama quarterbacks in the sense of, you know, you're going to be a game manager. You're not going to be an NFL quarterback. You're not a gunslinger per se, even if that's kind of how Minnesota's offense has portrayed him the last year and a half, but not a big arm. So he threw the ball up, didn't get enough under Riley Moss picks that off Jack corner, just doing a great job of reading the defense. I mean, it looked like he was basically

waiting for a potential tip. The ball gets thrown a little high, hits the fingers and he's just right in the perfect position. Is that something that Phil Parker teaches? I mean, it looked like he was trying to position himself because he knew he wasn't maybe going to get the tackle, but in case there was a deflection, he was in a perfect spot for that. So the way that, uh, coach Parker talks all, almost all the time is talking about rallying to the football, all 11 hats on the football. Uh, so anytime you get everybody focused in on where the ball is, because there are some times where you lose the ball and then that's when you become ineffective. But when you're rallying to the football and you get everybody going to the

same spot, something's going to happen. Whether somebody, you know, whether he does make the catch and we're able to force a fumble, we've got nine other guys, 10 other guys that are coming, you know, in order to scoop that up. So the same thing here, being able to know where the football is at and a tip drill, obviously everybody's got to work the tip drill because those kinds of instances happen. Absolutely, man. And along that line,

we're starting to see D two transfer Zach and Valkenburg. We've talked about him a couple of times now on the show, but what a game for him last night. I mean, what, how he was getting around the pressure. I mean, how he's getting around the offensive line, I thought was really impressive. He was doing it with speed. He was doing it with nice moves. I didn't see necessarily any counter moves specifically, but there was a really nice time where he worked off his,

his other linemen to get around and make a nice play on Tanner Morgan as well. Just very impressive watching him. I really just wanted to use that as an opportunity to, to shout out Zach Van Valkenburg. Wanted to get your thoughts on that or if anyone else you wanted to shout out among that defensive line. Yeah, Zach, I thought played extremely well. There was one time where he got caught, he got caught going inside and they were able to kind of get on the outside because he lost his contain there but then i think kerner was able to come up and make the play uh so he got he got bailed out unless that was the scheme to bring him in but they didn't have anybody on the outside for that um but as far as uh that yeah

i thought he played extremely well uh anybody else i mean i just thought the defense as a whole looked like they're starting to gel and starting to go. Obviously, Jack Campbell came back. Schulte came back. So now you're able to spell some of those guys, get guys like we talked about earlier, get Neiman back out to the Leo and get everybody into kind of their positions that they feel the most comfortable, that they take the most reps at.

Absolutely. Along that front, so I've noticed with iowa maybe again it seemed a little bit against purdue and definitely against northwestern but iowa's defensive line has done a really great job of of attacking that initial point of attack right like where the ball is initially supposed to go but there's a lot of open cutback lanes it seems like it seems i mean we didn't see it nearly as bad last night um but you know mo did have some and i'm not saying his last day mostly because i'm gonna butcher it butcher it. So I'm just going to stick with Mo. Everyone knows who Mo is. I thought, I think Iowa's backside containment hasn't necessarily been the best. Is that what you're

seeing as well? Or is just, you know, they're doing a great job of pursuing. And then there's just a few things that are always going to naturally open up in that case, especially when you have a good runner who has great vision. Well, that along with anticipation anticipation so being able to see the flow and wanting to get there to the point of attack and sometimes you want to be able to meet the ball there and then you lose that like oh wait I'm the cutback guy I'm the guy that waits for that and sometimes you get a little excited you want to go make a play and that's what happens but again that's football I mean things are going to happen like that with cutback lines just as long as they don't go for 70 and they only be able to go for seven. I mean, that's kind of the biggest thing there.

Absolutely, man. And last thing on the defense, before we get into some offensive talk, we talked about Jack Horner again, you know, being in the right spot at the right time. Was he around when you were there? Was he a freshman? I believe. I believe. Yeah.

I think Kerner was a young, young, young guy. Yeah. Did you have any opportunities to work with him? Because I think his story is truly impressive again we always talk about um the mentality and the fact that walk-ons are um they're valued in the program unlike maybe other programs walk-ons give the exact same chance as anyone else right doesn't matter if you had one star two star three star no scholarship a scholarship whatever um block field goal interception a huge boating accident this year um hopefully his friend is doing all right.

I mean, that's a lot of adversity to face to come into the season. And I've just been really impressed with how he's responded throughout the year. Oh, absolutely. I mean, to be able to bounce back from something like that and be ready to go, granted the Big Ten helped him out with giving him a few extra, you know, four extra weeks to get prepared. But he really came on the scene in Iowa State. I think Kayvon Merriweather went out.

Jack Kerner came in. And Coach Parker's going to play whoever's best for the position. So the fact that Kerner came in, played at a high level. I know Merriweather still finds his way onto the field. But the fact that Kerner was able to come in and play at a high level, I mean, that just speaks that he was always ready to go. Yeah, I mean, it's a good problem to have to have that many good defensive backs. It is a lot of fun to watch them all play. And the fact that you can kind of rotate

them in and out. One of those defensive backs, who's, I think the number four defensive back is also a fantastic punt recur punt coverage, man. You've talked about Terry Roberts quite a bit. So I've been kind of watching and stuff like that and notice it's always him. He's always one down him and Tori Taylor. I mean, it is like a beautiful quarterback wide receiver combo, but a punter and a gunner. And that is the most Iowa thing to ever say. Again, last night, you mentioned that every single game,

the first punt return that the other team has, they struggle with. And the exact same thing happened. He at least caught it this time, but Iowa gets them down within the five. I thought that was really impressive by Torrey Taylor. Again, it looked like he delayed his punt a little bit, got it off the cover. I mean, the return man didn't even realize that I think Terry Roberts was already there when he hit him. So I just want to get – this special team, the Torrey Taylor,

Terry Roberts connection is just so much fun to watch. It almost makes it feel a little better that we didn't get that first down, right? Right. But you know you you're gonna have a good opportunity to win the field position game when when you've got those two guys and not only that but the fact that Terry Roberts was able to hold up and there's a rule that once you get within seven yards so if you're the gunner and you're within seven yards of when he catches it you take your shot you you lay out and you go and you and I mean we see this a lot where you know guys have it and then he makes a move and you're like why do you miss it's like well that's his that's what he's coached to do if you if he's within seven yards coming down humming he takes his shot and but for

him to know okay he doesn't have it yet but just kind of slowly get there he took the shot i think at four yards or five yards from it uh and obviously made a fantastic play and anytime somebody catches the ball inside their own 10 or inside their own eight, really, that's a win for the Hawks. Absolutely. And you're right. I mean, they're going full speed. You want to get there to maybe jar the ball loose or force some sort of fumble.

But if you get there too early, now you're really screwed in your field position. You just screwed your entire team out of a really nice punt there. Some other special teams issues, though, right? So we've talked about the punting game has been relatively, I mean, almost flawless this entire season. Tori Taylor, a lot of Iowa fans are gunning for him to, you know, get the Ray Guy award, which is awesome. That actually happened to a freshman punter. I'm going to do some research on the stats later and see if that's even, you know, a possibility at this point, but from a kicking game perspective,

there was an issue on the snap or the extra point. And then Keith Duncan misses a 50 yard field goal. It was a pretty ugly miss, not saying anything against Keith, but it was, it was a really gross kick to me. And I'm not a special teams guy, right? That's why I have you on the show. Cause you, you got that the background knowledge, but it seemed like he was almost trying to get too much into it. It may be pressed a little bit.

What were the things that you maybe saw on the extra point and then on the miss field goal? Well, the extra point, I couldn't tell if it like skipped back, you know, to, I think or Sunday's the holder or it's okay. Grisanti is old. Okay. So it looked like it kind of skipped to his leg and he maybe wasn't prepared for it to be in that particular instance. I mean, either way, we got to find a way to make that happen. So it looked like it kind of skipped to his leg and he maybe wasn't prepared for it to be in that particular instance.

I mean, either way, we got to find a way to make that happen. Keith smartly just got on the ball and called it done. You know, OK, that's a loss. That's it. We're getting off the field. We're not losing two points as far as the kick. I mean, that's right at the cusp of his range. So, you know, and it was kind of windy there a little bit. I'm not going to say it's super windy, but that's right on the cusp of his range anyway. So he knew that he was going to have to get a good leg in order to give that an opportunity to make it.

So, I mean, I can understand trying to overhit it there. You know, unfortunately, that's just something that happens sometimes when you when you really want to have a good kick and you really want to smack it. Sometimes you miss hit it. Absolutely. And I know the cold weather impacts the ball, so I wanted to get your firsthand experience. You know, it was 30 degrees last night, 10-mile-an-hour wind. What does that coldness do to the ball, and how does it impact you as a football player? And obviously from a kicking game as well, but more like offensively,

just catching it, throwing it, that kind of thing. It's hard as a rock. I mean, you know, usually there's a little bit of give when you catch the ball and i mean those things are like little pellets that come at you um so i mean it definitely makes it a little bit tougher guys got different ways that they can help out um you know the little uh like the little rubber gloves that you would that a doctor would wear or something you can put those underneath your regular gloves to try and keep your hands warm because the sweat stays in so guys can uh do that um i tried it one game and I didn't like it because my glove was a little

bit too loose on the outside and I didn't like it but that felt so I would just stand in front of the heater and try to warm up my hands before we went out there but I mean there are different tricks to try and keep your hands warm in those kind of situations but the ball gets super hard and I can understand that would be a little tougher to kick as well. Definitely. Along the keeping warm standpoint, two kind of funny things. You see Tyler Goodson was basically in a parka on a bike trying to keep warm. Matt Hankins had his hands down his pants trying to keep his hands warm. There's a photo circulating on the internet.

I thought that was pretty funny. Do you know any guys who – I mean, did you ever try going no gloves? I'm just curious. This is Iowa, Minnesota. Have you ever tried going no no gloves and what was it like uh not in a game I mean I've done it in practice before but in a game it always felt like um it almost felt like it was a little more padding like I just talked about you know the ball can come really quick and uh so it's nice to have that little bit of padding there whether or not extraction or whatever but that kind of stuff I thought was uh you know, always helped me.

So I just kind of went with that. Yeah, I mean, it's an added advantage. I'm not in any way, shape or form a competitive football player, but obviously you play flag football and catching it without the gloves is not nearly as fun as just catching with the gloves. Might as well have that advantage there. So let's move on to the offensive side of the ball. A lot of good things in the running game, but that could be expected considering Minnesota's rushing defense is

absolutely atrocious. One of the worst in college football. And it showed, I also thought, and I'll get to this first. I thought Brian Ference's play calling was superb throughout the game. There's always some concerns. Brian can sometimes,

it seems like be a little bit vindictive in his play calling, which I find very fun a lot of the times, but also sometimes he can seemingly get kind of stuck where all of a sudden we're throwing the ball again, 50 times a game, which as a wide receiver, I know you appreciate, but overall, I thought his play calling was just superb throughout the game. I thought he was mixing it up really well. Going to the zone, using the end arounds.

I even thought the design passes were really solid. I think it comes down to execution to an extent. But what were your thoughts on the play calling? And then obviously maybe address the fact that people like me get pissed off sometimes about Brian Ferencz's play calling, and we're not an actual play caller. Well, obviously there's a lot that goes into it. And the fact that you almost always have to know what your next play is going to be, which is why he's got a sheet, or most coaches have a sheet. And it's first and 10 at the 35, these are the plays we're going to be which is why that he's got a sheet or most coaches have a sheet

and it's first and 10 at the 35 these are the plays we're going to run first and 10 at the 45 these are the plays we're going to run second and seven at the 36 yard line this is what we're going to run second and seven at this yard line third and three if we're inside the 40 this is what we're going to run like there's a lot of different aspects so he's always got like pockets of plays based on the analytics that i talked about before where third and three inside the 40 they're going to run this coverage or third and you know second and seven on the 36 and most most likely to run this coverage if we come out in the three by one or all that kind of stuff so i mean there's a lot more analytics that go

into it so he doesn't have to look at a giant menu every single time um but as far as the play calling uh i thought i thought it went well uh the end around and nico was good and i don't know if you notice now that i talked about it last week you don't block the end he goes down with everybody else nico goes right on the outside the two guys pull they leave him now if you run it once if you know if you pull me twice shame on me pull me twice so the second time uh amir gets it he reads it and then they make the play so I mean that's you know I mean that's just something that happens again that's football but as far as being able to call the game I think it's really easy when your offensive line

just dominates their defensive line and I mean I think there was a graphic that came up I don't know if it's FBS or Big Ten rank but it was like last last last last for minnesota's defense it was four last in a row and i was like all right well we better be able to run the football against these guys and our offensive line just absolutely dominated it was all i mean all game just so many wide open holes uh tyler goodson put together a career night i do want to shout out makai sergeant, though, because he – I mean, he could end up putting in 600, 700 yards. A very – who was the running back behind Akram Wadley? I'm struggling right now. The transfer from Nevada.

Oh, James Butler. I was like – I'm missing – I'm like, yeah, James Butler. I mean, very James Butler-esque in the running game of kind of a different approach. Nine attempts, 86 yards rushing. Tyler gets in 20 attempts, 142 yards rushing. It seems like they're starting to really force the issue with Tyler Goodson, especially the beginning part of the game. Ten plays in, and Tyler Goodson got the ball, I believe, on eight of them.

Do you feel like, again, that's part of the analytics, looking at the team and seeing who can be our most dynamic playmaker? Is that what they're looking at when they put Tyler Goodson in there and make sure he's getting the ball back consistently that early on in the game? I think sometimes when you've got a guy, you feel like you got to get him the ball and that happens across the board, whether it's a good receiver that you feel like you have to get the ball to because of what he can do versus letting the game kind of come to you.

And I think Tyler Goodson is kind of a mesh of those two things. I think that he's obviously dynamic when with the ball in his hand, but I think two, just kind of natural. You know, it doesn't feel like they forced the ball to him when he runs a stretch play, you know, it doesn't feel like they forced the ball when they're running Monte Pottabong and he's knocking out some linebacker and bringing Tyler Goodson one-on-one with the safety. Oh, he's a dog. He's a dog. But as far as like being able to get Tyler Goodson in those one-on-one situations, it's just happening. It's not like it again, it's not like you have to force it to get there. It just happens. Absolutely. And I do, I kind of skipped over, but I want to backtrack real quick on the play calling because I've never been an offensive coordinator,

but I am aware that a lot of teams, they typically divide, you know, they put up 15, you know, scripted plays before when they start the game. They want to see kind of how the defense reacts to a few things. I did not realize that he literally has every single situation on there of what kind of plays you run in the pocket of plays. That's I didn't realize that was a thing. So who actually puts that together each week? Does he have some input on that? Is it, you know, the analytics guys kind of putting together what generally should work here with some of his insight? I mean, I want to get your thoughts on that. The whole offensive staff talks about different plays and different situations.

I mean, we practice them and practice, obviously, so that way we can go out and perform. But I remember there were multiple times where we'd go out and we'd harp on a play, harp on a play, harp on a play, and then we'd never call it in the game because we don't get the right situation for it. So, I mean, there are things that happen like that but as far as like pockets I mean that's the whole offensive staff plus the analytics I mean that's everybody coming together

to create the best game plan for the offense I love it yeah so I wanted to hit on that because I just thought that was really interesting but back to my Kai Sargent and Tyler Goodson part of them being so successful you know I don't want to take anything away from them I thought my Kai Sargent had some really nice smooth runs where he's not running full speed right he's just kind of weaving in and out of a few blockers but that was the key there the blocking was superb and again Minnesota's defense not good but you still have to block the guys I mean they're they're capable of tackling people if you don't block them um Alaric Jackson I thought did a really great job of moving out in space.

Cody Ink did a really great job. Tyler Linderbaum got some nice praise. Overall, the offensive line appears to be what we typically expect an Iowa offensive line to be, right? I mean, they seem to be gelling pretty well. Pass blocking-wise, they're doing pretty solid. Is there anything that seems to be different about this offensive line from the past couple years where it seemed like there were some issues along the interior, a lot injuries uh just maybe just my vision

test right it just seems like this offensive line is is working together better than the past couple years now yes because as far as being able to dominate the line of scrimmage like they did last night i think that is that's bar none what they need to do every single week or what they need to strive to do every single week um which I know they do. They go to work. They, you know, they do what they need to do. They don't go into the game saying, I don't want to dominate the line. Right. Although some people would beg to differ. Yes,

they do go out trying to do their best. But yeah, as far as like different from previous years, I don't know if that's true. I think there's always offensive lines at Iowa that are going to be capable of doing that just a matter of all getting on the same page and again we didn't get a spring we didn't i mean i don't know how i mean i probably should stop talking about it but the fact that they just don't have that it is because you don't get i mean you're talking 15 practices talking 170 minutes of practice i mean you're talking it's not that much. It's probably more like 140, but as far as like being able to have that amount of reps where you're just nine on seven, your blocks, your team, your all situations,

your all of that, you get 15 full practices. And then you get another 20 some practices during camp and you just don't get that. So being able to be on the same page and know who you're blocking and okay, I've got him. I've got that. Like I said, the center makes all those calls and now they're starting to understand who they're blocking and that's when a team becomes dangerous too yeah um you are just doing a great job of setting me up for these transitions because you talk about no spring and that's something we've harped on a lot with Spencer Petras and I would

be I would not be doing my job if I didn't ask you about Spencer Petras um we're four games into the Spencer Petras era uh I think again it's it's a little early to decide, you know, to be like, oh, he's the, you know, he's the goat or he's not going to be a starter. I understand that. However, I think it's okay to be a little bit concerned or at least critiquing of what is happening, right? So I started actually charting some of his passes last night. Cause just cause you catch it doesn't mean it was an accurate throw.

Although most of the ones that they caught were mostly accurate. There's a couple that are a little bit behind. I mean, about 25% to 30% of his balls are seemingly not catchable or pretty inaccurate. I don't have a stat for that. I was trying to find it last night. Is that normal or is that something we should be concerned about? Before we move forward, I want to know your definition of accurate.

Yeah, that's a good thing to call out. So it's really easy when obviously it's not anywhere near the player, right? If it's when he has to stretch out for the ball, I consider that. So if he has to extend his arms, it's inaccurate. Is that how you're going to define this? Depending on the situation, right? So there's a couple of times where you might need to throw it up to be, to avoid the defender. I think Brandon Smith. Yeah. So Brandon Smith, you want to maybe throw

it up as opposed to doubt. It makes sense there. I wouldn't consider that inaccurate. The Sam Laporta diving catch that he missed. I consider that an inaccurate pass. There was another play. I believe it was Tyrone Tracy where he was doing a drag route and he had to go behind him. I consider that an inaccurate pass, but I did document it as a completed pass. I think there's obviously a difference between that. And then I'm just going through the whole thing so you have an idea. I did think, though, his bubble screen to Tyrone Tracy was a beautiful pass.

That is such a difficult pass to make. You're throwing directly to the side of you and as a guy moving forward and you want to basically place it right in his bread basket as he's trying to make a move um i thought that was a beautiful pass so i guess that's a little bit about how i'm trying to define it i don't think it's very easy to say this is the situation where it's inaccurate um but i was trying to get to that point his interception i actually didn't think was inaccurate it was just a really poor read so i didn't document that as an accurate either. Right. Okay. So thank you. I appreciate that because as a receiver, um, I think it was Chad, was it Chad Johnson? Um, I think it was Chad

Johnson said that I'm a two stall garage and anything within the two stall garage is accurate. And that's kind of how I view things. Like if I can get there, I'm going to consider it an accurate pass. Now, if you throw it to the other guy, then we're going to have an issue. But if I'm, if it's in my vicinity, it's going to be accurate. It's kind of how I do it now. So we have the drop by a mirror that was early on in the game. It was here, albeit, but that's a catch. That was one I actually counted as inaccurate.

So again, because it's behind him, I get that. But as a receiver, I'm going to say it's in his vicinity. He's got to catch that pass. Sam Laporta, obviously, with the one drop. That was right there again. And then the diving catch. I mean, I think he's got to make that catch. But at the same time, I don't think that's an inaccurate throw going out.

Because he's trying to get it out. Yeah. He slowed away from the defender. I can understand that and appreciate that. Right. So, I mean, that kind of stuff. Now, as, as far as like the fact that he was able to take tempo off of his drag routes, take tempo off the bubbles to the point where they're uncatchable, that's a huge step in the right direction. Being able to understand that touch is just as natural.

One thing that he almost overthought was the, I think he could have had a touchdown to buyer going up the scene, but he kind of underthrew it because he was scared that he was going to overthrow it um which buyer is a big body so he can come back and make the catch but he did a great job of coming back for that ball that's not an easy thing to do right so i mean like that's just like and again the more reps he gets the better he's going to get there but going back to the bubble screens i've been waiting for us to throw bubble screens we threw them a ton while I was there under coach Davis. Um, and it's an easy way to get the will walked out. So a lot of times you're reading the will, cause the safety is going to be eight to nine yards off. And for anybody that's listening, the will is the weak side linebacker or, uh,

the walked out linebacker over number two, which number two would be our slot receiver. Number one is the outside receiver. Number two is the slot receiver. The reason I'm going into more detail, my mom listened and said that she had no idea what I was talking about when I was trying to break something down. So I need to explain it a little bit better. I think that's fantastic. Yeah, I do a bad job sometimes

of maybe continuing those questions. So I think you're doing a great job. I appreciate it. Okay, so I'm almost done with this explanation. No, you're good, man. As far as like the walk-down backer that goes over number two, if he's going to sit out there and we can't throw the bubble,

that takes away somebody that they have in the box. And now we have an extra lineman or an extra fullback or something where he has to run in in order to make the play versus already in the box. Whereas, excuse me, if they're going to keep the linebacker in and they're going to keep the safety out, well, now we've got one-on-one on the outside with number one to block and then tyrone goes and hopefully he can beat that safety for three or four yards the way that we view bubbles is just an extension of the run game it's just a matter of you know get three or four yards which is what we would want to get in the run game i

mean granted you want 80 yard home runs whatever yeah but you want three or four runs most or three or four yards most runs so if you're able to get that with a bubble and force that linebacker to respect it a little bit where they only have six in the box or they have to drop a weak side safety now we're one-on-one on the back side there's a lot of other things that come with being successful and just little things like that yeah it's funny you say i now i'm thinking about it i guess i haven't really noticed the bubble screen a lot lately. I think that's the first one I've seen thrown this year. Yeah, because I remember you ran it a lot, and then Nick Easley ran it a lot as well, and that was a huge component of the offense, and you're absolutely right.

Five yards each time, you're going to get a first down. You're going to be fine as long as you get three, four, five yards each time, and it seemed to work a lot, with you and nick easily there and i guess i just never realized it hasn't really been a part of the offense and it definitely adds an interesting recall especially when you kind of an rpo where you're you could run the ball but you turn around and throw the bubble screen which i believe is what they did on the second bubble screen which was the touchdown or maybe it was the first one one of them i believe seemed a little bit rpo like where they were looking to run the ball and then you could turn around and throw it if you need to could be wrong yeah i mean i don't know if it was strictly an RPO again I'd have to go back and look but a lot of times it's like a split the second split decision and as soon as the wheels walked in the quarterback knows all right I got him and if the wheel walks out all right I don't got him

like yeah you know usually it's it's pretty simple like that definitely Definitely. So again, appreciate your, uh, your explanation on the accuracy. I think when I look at it, so I want to give my, my thoughts on that. Um, I agree with what you're saying, right? If it's in your wheelhouse, you should catch it. Um, I think there's a difference in my opinion of inaccurate versus uncatchable too. So maybe that's the next thing I do is like define uncatchable versus inaccurate because inaccuracy does hinder a receiver, right? If you're running full speed and you have a step on a guy, if you have to turn around and catch the ball behind you, that is going to slow your progress down and possibly turn it into a 10 yard game versus a 70 yard game if you have the ability to go deep. So I appreciate that. I'll

continue to work on that. So I appreciate you giving me the counterbalance to my instant reactions on Spencer Petras. I mean, it happens again. He's young and everything. And I think Padilla came in and did a good job last week. I don't think he threw a pass this week, but last week I think he did well. I think that we're seeing why Spencer's the guy, but I also think that, I mean, everybody is, as we talked about with Kerner and Merriweather, it's all about making the most of your opportunity when you get it. Absolutely, man.

So anything else, anything you wanted to cover that we didn't bring up during the game? I mean, just like I said, a lot of good things. We hit on the defense, special teams, and offense, kind of the main pieces. Anything else you wanted to bring up? I was very sad because I wanted it to go three straight weeks of a goal line fade. Cause they were leaving Brandon one-on-one with, I thought they were going to do it. I was like, you've got to, you've got 10 guys on this side of the field.

They motion across and everybody goes and to leave him one-on-one and not throw it up. I think it's a, you know, obviously I want to throw it up. Now the other play that we had where amir came across the formation that went excuse me and then uh it was a quick out um brandon ran a we call it a circus but randall ran a corner and um was able to kind of get the rub there without actually hitting anybody so i'll talk about that real quick um what's interesting is that most teams when you go you know and you're getting closer to the goal and they're going to go cover zero, cover one, like we've talked about before, where they go, man, but they bumped it. So what that means is,

I mean you're starting on the left side of the formation. So the corner over there has him man to man, as he comes across, all the DBs are going to bump it to the next DB. So the corner goes, okay, no safety. You have it. Well, he keeps going safety. No, you have it. Next safety. And then the safety goes, okay, well, I'm, I guess I'm the last one over here. Cause the corner's okay no safety you have it well he keeps going safety no you have it next safety and then the safety goes okay well i'm i guess i'm the last one over here because the corner's got it so now i've got him well now he's already starting from inside and he can't get there and so the fact that brandon runs an inside stem goes vertical and creates kind of a rub between those two without hitting anybody it's just a matter of that's how the route's designed

and then amir can come right out of his butt and there's nobody there whereas normally the corner would run all the way across with him and follow him would follow him but again and hopefully Brandon's stem is able to get there which Spencer had his pick he could have thrown it to either one Brandon killed his guy on the route anyway um so I mean I just wanted to talk about that one real quick I thought that was a very well-designed play, especially against the bump, which I was very surprised happened that close to the goal line. Yeah, when they were down in that area, I was thinking like, gosh, they're going to throw another fade

and I'm going to have to continue to just eat my words on this. But I was looking forward to seeing Brandon Smith make a ridiculous catch again. Real quick on that, you talked about the route and whether or not you're kind of bumping the defensive backs or your defensive back is following you all the way through the, the motion, which one do you prefer from an offensive perspective? Is there an advantage to either one or a pro or con to either one when you're looking at it from an attacking perspective?

So with a bump, usually you can kind of get ahead of him because like he'll see it coming and he'll try to get to where he thinks you're supposed to be but I mean he still doesn't know now his whole mind is changing from you know okay I'm supposed to have this zone versus you know I have this guy coming out now I have to change and make sure everybody knows what they're doing so as I look here and then you snap the ball and now I got to find you and roll but for defensively you keep the corner on the back side so if we were to run that way you've've got somebody to force the play back in. You've got your contain player.

If he runs across, you lose your contain player, and there's nobody on this side. So if we wanted to motion across and then run back here, there's nobody to force the contain. Everybody's flowing from the inside. So it's good either way. If you're looking to pass, you want him to bump. If you're looking to pass, you want him to bump. If you're looking to run, you want him to run

because then you can run right where he was supposed to be. I love it. Well, hey, man, I appreciate you breaking down all this. You're informing me. I think you're going to be crushing it for all the Hawkeye Nation fans out there. The results of the feedback has been very, very positive, so I really appreciate your time coming on. I held up your time for 40 minutes.

I know you've got a busy Saturday ahead of you. We have Penn State on the docket. Anything you want to say real quick before we hop off about Penn State or playing them under James Franklin? One quick thing. I just hope that my mom can understand it because she, again, she told me she couldn't last week.

So I'm hoping we're good there. As far as Penn State, I mean, sitting at 0-3 is very non-Penn State-like. I think I saw a stat. They hadn't been 0-3 since 2001, which kind of tells you the level of program that they've had since then. But at the same time, we've got to go in there and do what we do. I mean, there's really no more to it. Absolutely.

Hopefully Mama Vandenberg understands what you were saying and we're able to clear it up for some of the other folks. Matt, thank you for coming on the show today. Have a fantastic weekend, buddy. We'll talk to you next week. Thanks, Andrew. I appreciate it. And that will do it for our Saturday morning episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast,

your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes. As always, really appreciate Matt Vandenberg coming on the show, dropping some knowledge, talking to us about Iowa football, informing the community, and making us all better football fans and better Iowa Hawkeye fans. Appreciate him coming on. Make sure to check him out. If you are in the Iowa city area, need some help purchasing a home or selling a home,

check out Matt Vandenberg. Thank you all for tuning in though. If you'd like to show, give us that five-star review, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and have a fantastic weekend. Hawkeye nation.

We will be back on Monday and as always, let's go Hawks.