Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - PREGAME: Final Preview of Iowa/USC, Xavier Hoops Win Reaction

Episode Date: November 15, 2025

Iowa Hawkeyes gear up for a pivotal showdown against USC, where inclement weather and special teams may tip the scales. Can Mark Gronowski ignite the offense and overcome the Trojans’ edge speed and physicality? Trent Condon explores key matchups, highlights Kamari Moulton’s impact on the ground game, and questions if Jazzyon Patterson could be a difference-maker under these tough conditions. The Hawkeyes’ long snapping woes and USC’s vulnerability on kick returns add intrigue—will Caden Wheaton break open a big play?Trent Condon also reacts to Iowa basketball’s convincing win over Xavier under Ben McCollum’s new regime. Bennett Stirtz’s steady leadership, dominant rebounding, and tough defensive rotations signal a culture shift from the Fran McCaffery era. Insightful breakdowns of rotation minutes, standout contributors like Tavion Banks and Tate Sage, and a look ahead to the next test versus Ole Miss make this a must-listen for dedicated Iowa sports fans.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashWith DoorDash Streaks, you save every Saturday you order — stack it up all season and you could save up to $250. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your gameday — only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period through 11/18.SupplyHouseJoin the free TradeMaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit SupplyHouse.com to sign up for free and use promo code SHCOLLEGE5 for 5% off your first order.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We are live from Wild Rose in Jefferson, Trent Condon, here with you, a preview of the USC matchup for the Hawkeyes on the football field. Final thoughts of what it's going to take for Iowa to pull off the upset and a look back. Iowa with a win against Xavier. We break it down today, Locked on Hawkeye. You are Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We are your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast, and today we're on the road as we're in Jefferson at Wild Rose Casino. A big event happening here today, Dallas Clark, meet and Greek that is happening. In fact, you still got time to get out here to Jefferson and meet Dallas Clark. big line of people getting autographs, getting pictures with the former Hawkeye All-American Mackey Award winner. He is here at Wild Rose. I myself am

here throughout the day. Going to have a game watch as well. I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio here in the state of Iowa. You can hear me currently on the Iowa Sports Radio Network and get to have a little fun here. This is a little bit different than what we normally do, a Saturday show before the game begins.

We're going to break down the matchup against USC. Some final thoughts on Iowa as the weather condition, some reports coming in. I have some friends that are at the games that it is not looking good in L.A. for this one, at least weather-wise and maybe potentially an advantage for Iowa. We're also going to take a look back to last night as Iowa gets a win against Xavier. And have a little extra here at the end as, well, also here today in Jefferson at Wild Rose Casino. There is a sports card and memorabilia show happening. Got a couple of cards going to show it to you and got a print of Dallas Clark.

Pretty cool. I'm going to show that off here a little bit. We're going to rip open up old pack of cards like the old days. So a little something different here for you on this Saturday. So as we count down to kickoff for the Hawkeyes, 2.30 kickoff against USC. You know, we talked about the matchup a ton this week. And for you every day, as you certainly know, the concern, I think for me,

speed on the edges, absolutely. Mackay Lemon is a game changer and what they do with him in space. But I kill back to what we saw last Saturday against Oregon and the issues that we saw from this squad in the run defense. You know, 261 yards allowed. and this USC team, they can run the football. This is not a Lincoln Riley team that is just past, pass, pass all the time. They've been able to do a whole lot more than that.

And because of that, I definitely have the concerns. Can this rush D hold up over the course of a 60-minute slog like this is going to be? USC is much more physical than they've been in the past on both sides of the football, but specifically offensively with the offensively with the offensive line that they had. And though they've gone through a myriad of different running backs because of the injuries that they've had, That has been a big concern. Iowa, another thing, and an advantage normally is special teams, but we go back again to a week ago and throughout the course of the season,

how much Iowa has struggled in the special team, specifically, long snapping. And it's not just the snap that went over the head of Reese Taken for the safety last week against Oregon. This has been an operational failure throughout the course of the year. Go back to the miss against Indiana by Drew Stevens, and we saw the laces on the football were out. We saw bad snaps earlier this year in a couple of the nine. conference games against both Albany and UMass where things weren't disastrous, but they certainly weren't perfect.

And with the long snapper, you kind of anticipate, you got to be about as close to perfect as can be. And that has not been the case this season for Iowa. So that remains a concern. Now, here's the good news. At this point in time, USC is in the 100s in terms of kick return defense, the amount of yardage per return that they have given up. They have not given up a ton in the punt game, but in the kick return game,

They have. They're very well could be an advantage for Iowa. Cade Wichin, you go back to the beginning of the Rutgers game and bringing that one back. It does feel like Iowa needs something big. A kick return by Caden Weechin, or maybe it's Camari Bolton. You know, that's another angle for this one with Kamari Moulton and his ability to run the football. And we've seen so many times this year that those eight-yard gains are just eight-yard gains because a linebacker gets a hand on them.

Safety comes up and finishes in it. And he just hasn't been able to have that big game breaker. you go back to a week ago. Just a 16-yard run was as long, and that came in the fourth quarter and the 93-yard drive. So I think a big play, maybe a couple of big plays out of Moulton or this run game. Now, this is something else I speculated on my radio show earlier this week. I talked to Tom Caker from Hockey Report about this. I am a little bit surprised how much they're relying almost majority of the time on Kamari Moulton. We knew Moulton was going to be the guy coming into the season. We knew that he was going to be the bona fide starter. But because of the depth that we

believe that they have. I anticipated that we were going to see more of those running backs. We were going to see more Xavier Williams this year. We were going to see more Jazzy on Patterson. I know both of those guys had injuries, and maybe that's a piece of it, too, as did Bolton, as they've been banged up this season. Of course, the freshman Nathan McNeil, is this a game where we see at least at minimum one of those guys get a little bit more run?

Tom actually mentioned on that front that he thought, maybe this is a Jazzy and Patterson game. And when we go back to those weather conditions, again, that is something. that is going to make a whole lot of sense I think with the weather conditions and the ability for them to go with the straight ahead. There's not a whole lot of wiggle to Jazzy on Patterson, right?

You know what he's going to do? He's going to get the ball, he's going to go straight up the shoot, and he's going to run hard. If this is the kind of game that makes a whole lot more sense and you get him, we're not talking 25 carries or anything like that, but do you give him 8, 10? Give him more than just a drive, maybe two drives in the game, give a four

and see what Jazzy on Patterson can do in this type of matchup. So that's something that I'm going to be keeping my eye on just overall with this team and with what we've seen in them running the football. I also believe if Iowa was going to pull the upset here, Mark Gronowski is going to have to do something through the air. And I don't think he's going to have to break the streak of Iowa without a 200-yard passer going back to a couple of years ago with Cade McNamara. I don't think we have to go back that far and have that kind of performance,

but he's got to keep the defense honest. He's got to be able to make the plays, make the makeables that are there. You know, another component with Garnowski that's just odd. And we go back to that first game of the season and how much he struggled in the game against Albany, who is not a good football team. And it was eye opening. What's going on? A guy that maybe gets a little too charged up. That was the conversation coming out of that.

And then he'd go back to Oregon last week. Saw the same kind of thing. Struggled on some throws that are very makeable throws, throws that Mark Grodowski as a fifth year quarterback should be making. These should not be big issues for him. And yet they are. Those are some of the parts of the game to look at rush defense. Certainly on the defensive side of the football, I think is going to be key. You can't let Lemon beat you and put up a big performance and then running the football effectively for Iowa and be able to get some chunk plays out of it.

Some of the keys there along with special teams. By the look at USC, I'll also come back here at halftime. A little halftime reaction. You can jump in, have a live link if you're watching us on YouTube. So make sure you click on that. And we'll have you covered with a live looking at halftime and some halftime or reaction here on Locked on Hawkeyes. This is the way, though, that you know exactly when we go live, just click subscribe. If you're watching us on YouTube, five-star reviews, and a subscription

over on the podcast side, those also help us out a ton and get us in front of more Hawkeye fans here on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. There was basketball last night, Iowa for the first time under Ben McCollum, faces off against a power conference opponent, Xavier, and I will look good. We'll talk about that when we come back. This is Lockdown Hawkeyes. Well, the weekend is here. Time to look back and crown this week's MVP on Who Delivered, powered by DoorDash. Just like you can win every Saturday with DoorDash streaks, saving more every time you order. These players delivered when it mattered most.

Let's break it down. For the Hawkeyes, it was Mark Grinowski. How about that? A 93-yard drive to give Iowa the lead. I know what happened, unfortunately, in the final 151 of that one. The fourth down run into the end. zone. How about the deep throw that he had to Bonamy and moving them to midfield on that one? When the pressure is on, Grinowski came through, no hesitation, no delay. And if you've been watching

week after week, well, this performance wasn't a fluke. Mark Grinowski is on a streak. Just like Mark Grunowski delivered for the Hawkeyes, DoorDash delivers your Saturdays. With DoorDash streaks, you save every Saturday you order. Stack it up all season. And you could save up to $250, including $100 in DoorDash credits. Order Saturday. Keep the streak alive. fuel your game day only with DoorDash. Terms apply, promo period, good, through November 18. Trenkaun and back with you once again here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast as we get ready for Iowa USC. 2.30 kickoff again, we'll be back with you from Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson with some halftime reaction. And then after it goes final, we'll be set up here. Game watch throughout the day. Stop on out here.

Got the card show going on, the sports card and memorabilia show. the Dallas Clark meet and greet that goes to 1 o'clock. So it's still time for you to get here to Jefferson and have some fun as we get ready for that. All right, let's get back into a little Hawkeyes for you. And let's go to last night and the matchup and the win against Xavier. Xavier, we saw their previous game against Santa Clara. Thought maybe this was not going to be the same Xavier team.

I think we anticipated coming into the season. They're going through a transition. Obviously, with little Ricky Bettino making his way to, Cincinnati. And with the Xavier squad, it wasn't good. You know, they got blown out by Santa Clara, and they get blown out here by the Hawkeyes. But that aside, again, this is so different. This is so different than what we've grown accustomed to, so different than what we've been used to with Iowa basketball over the previous 16 years under Fran McCaffrey. This team is rugged. They are tough. And in a game where we saw maybe some concerns those first couple of games,

you know, how well is this team going to rebound? there's going to be bigger teams, there's going to be better teams that they're going to face off the course of the year. But when you take on a team like this from the Big East and just manhandle them, be able to dominate on the boards in that fashion, I thought that was really eye-opening. It was something that I think you could tell was something that was kind of circled on the chalkboard going into,

well, they don't have chalkboards, on the whiteboard going into the game. 4124, Iowa out rebound Xavier in this one. A day where they don't show the ball incredibly well from the outside, just three of 11 from behind the arc. It was about getting the ball inside. Bennett Sturts doing his thing, had another nice dunk in the game.

He's just so cool. He goes at his own pace. He does what he wants when he wants. And that's what makes him just an incredible point guard and going to be so fun to watch this year. A very quiet 21 and 8 for Bennett Sturts had three assists. The one concern to me in this basketball game was the turnovers. Turn it over 14 times.

And just early on couldn't get going. Now the good news was Xavier also was turning it over during the first, to what, five-minute stretch of the game, whatever that was. But this was interesting to see that. Another thing that jumped out, again, Ben McCullum, imploring the fans to get on their feet, trying to get Carver to actually be a home court advantage and building that.

But also, when there was a mistake, when a guy made a mistake specifically on the defensive end, they're done. They're out. A bet it Sturts plays all 40 minutes in the game, yet here's some other starter minutes. 14 for Cooper Couch, 18 for Kempark. 18 for Cammanua, who had one of his better games in a Hawkeye uniform. Isaiah Howard, just 14, and he struggled mightily.

Tavion Banks was outstanding. 13.5 rebounds for him in the game, had three steals, had a couple assists, and that's what Banks can do. Very versatile type of player with the athleticism that he has. Fulgaris off the bench had 24 minutes, 32 for Kale Combs, and you saw what I think you're going to see even more throughout the course of this season. Bennett Sturts plays a ton.

He's going to play basically any minute, every minute of big games. However, how do you get him breaks? How do you give him opportunities to get a little rest while he's still out there on the field? We have Kail Kohlmes in there. He runs the point. Sturts is able to play off the ball. You get him involved different ways.

That's what you do with Bennett Sturts while he's going to play 40 minutes in a game, yet still keep him fresh and keep him with the ability in the final minutes of the game to be good to go and not be worn down because that's just not how he was. Tate Sage was really good off the bench at a dunk, knocked down a big jumper in the game, still like what we see out of this freshman, what a fine of Ben McCullum had. I had some people when he was committed

to Drake, I'm not sure he's even good enough to play early in the MVC. He's good enough. That dude is a fine. Just nine minutes for Brendan Howson. I liked what we saw again out of Trevin, Your Rock. Every day, as you know, I mention this a lot. They're going to need Trevin at different points in this season.

They're going to need the big body. They're going to need his ability and with foul trouble and the likelihood that that's going to happen in the Big Ten, you're going to need more from him. So that's what we saw in the ball game. Still waiting for Trey Thompson to make his debut. Something to keep an eye on on that front. But a good win for Iowa and schedule. They got another tune-up game coming up here as they will face off against Southeast Missouri State on Tuesday. Chicago State then on Thursday. Quick turnaround for that one before next week. The following week, they will go down to L.A. Actually, not even in L.A.

Isn't that San Diego? Wherever it is. They got Old Miss in that one. That'll be on CBS. Paul Desert is where that one is. And on the other side of the bracket, you have Utah, an old friend Sadu Treyori and Grand Canyon will be the other two teams involved in that event as Iowa will open up against Ole Miss. And that feels like we thought maybe Xavier was going to be the first test. It wasn't.

Now, here's another first test, a real first test against a Ole Miss team under Chris Beard. This is off to a good start. They had a win against Memphis. earlier in the week. Nice victory there against kind of a rivalry game there. Oxford and Memphis, very close together. And Iowa, excuse me, Ole Miss got a win in that one. So they'll have one more tune up themselves.

They'll have a week off. Old Miss will before the matchup with the Hawkeyes coming up a week from Tuesday. Well, mention you going to have a little fun here. As we come to you live from Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson, there is a sports card memorabilia. I got a couple of cards going to show off here. Also this cool print, Dallas Clark, because he is here with a meet and greet.

Until 1 o'clock, stop on out, get your picture taken with Dallas Clark, autograph, swap some stories, maybe giving some your great memories, and he can give you some as well in the Hawkeye uniform. The Mackey Award winner in an All-American Dallas Clark here until one o'clock with the meet and greet, and still time for you to get out here, Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson. We come back, a little silliness when we continue on lockdown Hawkeyes. and back with you one final time here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast, pregame edition before Iowa, USC. Game launch here at Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson, kickoff 230 against the Trojan. So I mentioned that there's a sports card memorabilia show happening here at Wildrow. So I picked up some cards for the kids, got these Caitlin Clark cards. Pretty cool.

Got the all-time winningest. As she set, the scoring record card, I like that one. How about here, the celebration? I wonder what game that was. I'll have to look a little bit deeper at that one. Kind of hard to see on the screen there. How about this Chris Street card? I love that, absolutely.

Every day, as you know, my affinity for Chris Street and anybody of my generation. How about a Luca Gar's a rookie card? Absolutely. But here's what we did. Got a couple old packs. I still like to do this. I'm still one of these goofballs that likes to do this. So we're going to rip a couple of packs of cards here.

I got a, what is this? 91-92 Fleer basketball. Well, let's see what we have. Now, what really grabbed my attention was that there's a new series update in this pack with DeKembe Matumbo and Dominique Wilkins' limited edition subsets. I loved DeKembe Matumbo. I don't know why. He wasn't exactly a skilled guy.

Maybe it was the finger waving. Maybe it was because he was a defensive player, and I never could do anything like that. Oh, and look at that. First card of the pack, DeKembe Matumbo, right out of the box. Absolutely love that. John Morton. Yeah, don't know John Morton very well.

Let's see what else we got in here. I've never done this on camera. So Moses Boulogne was still playing in 92. Look at old Moses running around. Orlando Woolridge got the goggles. Oh, those look good. Lionel Simmons, the L train out of LaSalle. Love that LaSalle team.

Thought they were going to go deep into the tournament that year. Doug Smith. Let's see. Donald Hodge? No. Doug West, there's a T-Wool for you. Oh, another T-Will. Thoreau Bailey.

NC State. Did I got that right? Yeah, NC State. John Battle. Oh, man. There's some ballers in here. Alec Lester. Kessler?

I don't know, Alex God. He played a Georgia. Board of Minneapolis. Weird. Oh, man. Oh, here's a decent one. Sam Vincent at the end. All right.

So there's the basketball. Let's go over to, I think, everybody's first love, the baseball. All right. 1990. Tops baseball pack. The gum is still in here. No, I'm not going to eat the gum. Should I eat the gum?

No, I'm not going to eat the gum. Should I? No. Not going to do that. All right. right here we go ripping it open oh there's a gum it's still intact still in one piece not too shabby 1990 holy cow 35 year old gum i don't need to get sick today that's the last thing we want all right so we got the pack here are they kind of yeah they're mixed up a little bit i'll flip

them back around i'll remember oh yeah i remember these cars oh these were beauties all right so what do we got here uh win a trip to the all-star game yeah not going to do that all right how about a a joe mcgrine an all-star card. There's a way to kick things off. Dan Murphy. Dan Murphy for the Padres, don't remember him. A Park Giammati card. Oh, Camish.

Joel Skinner. Bill Stevenson? This is not a who's who of baseball in 1990. Charlie LeBrandt, the knuckleballer? How about that? Brian Clutterbuck. I don't know this guy. Brian Clutterbuck.

This might be the worst pack of cards ever. ripped open. Bo, Alrid, Alrid, F, Tony Pena, this is a guy I've heard of. Tony Pena, there we go. Rick Rodin, another guy. All right, we're picking it up. Teddy Higara. I love Teddy Gara.

How about a manager card? Doug Rader. Oh, here is a gem. Cubs fans, you're going to love this one. Another manager card. Zimp. Don Zimmer. Pedro Guerrero,

versatile, powerful. Dave Bagan, I felt like he was always good for a pinch hit. And Bob Belvin, there it is. No, sorry, folks, I am not going to eat the gov. So the cards. But the final thing, it's probably the coolest thing here. And you can stop out. So I want to show off this print of Dallas Clark.

How about that? You can see, a lot in his Colts uniform, another one there, a little one in the Hawkeye one. These are really cool. So these are hand sketched by pencil. And then you can also, and that he makes prints out of it. So the guy's name is Kevin Richards. Kevin does this really good job.

I mean, just look at the workmanship again of this one. Really cool. Excited to put this one up in the man cave. Might be seen in the background when we're doing the show from home. Awesome there. Again, you have time to get out here. The meet and greet goes to 1 o'clock with Dallas Clark. But the card show goes to 4 o'clock at a game watch.

Well, game starts at 2.30. We'll be here until, what, 6.6.30. We'll have a rapid reaction podcast as well here from Wild Rose in Jefferson. Thanks for being with us here in the pregame. We'll be back with you at halftime with some thoughts in the first half of Iowa, USC. I am Trent Condon, Hawkeyes. And this is Lockdown Hawkeyes. Thanks again for making Lockdown Hawkeyes, your first listen every day.

We'll talk to you again at halftime. Until then, go Hawks.