Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Reactions to win over Rutgers | Grades for each unit | Ames is getting GameDay

Episode Date: September 9, 2019

We cover Iowa's win over Rutgers, hand out unit grades, and cover the exciting news about ESPN's College GameDay coming to Ames next weekend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I thank God I was born on the good arms of the Midwest, and not on the battlefields of the U.S. It's a time of panic, and it's intercepted! It's picked off right away! Intercepted by Marty Hooker! Pick six! Eight seconds into the game! Buffen sets up deep in the pocket, goes down the field for Smith!

Oh! He's got it! Smith! Touchdown. 85 yards. High on. Touchdown, 10. Taking a shot in the end zone.

It is caught. No offense. Touchdown. That's either one or you have it. Go ahead and three. Yes. Two-point lead for the Hawkeyes! Welcome to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast,

your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. I am one of your hosts, Andrew Wade, and I am joined here by Zach Cohen, my co-host. Zach, it was a great weekend. Iowa football won. Gotta love that. How are you doing today, man? Doing good, doing good. Thanks for asking. I mean, it was a great game. If you're an Iowa fan, you have nothing to complain about. Everything's looking up, and it was a great weekend full of some solid Iowa football on a shutout, so I can't complain. Absolutely, man. And we're going to get to all of that on today's show. On segment number one, we're going to be covering our initial thoughts of the game.

On segment number two, we're going to be giving our grades for each unit. And spoiler alert, they're probably going to be covering our initial thoughts of the game on segment number two we're going to be giving our grades for each unit and spoiler alert they're probably going to be pretty good and on segment number three we're going to be calling or not calling we're going to be covering college game day because Ames is going to be bringing ESPN's college game day to the campus Iowa State versus Iowa the Cyhawk trophy game they are getting college game day it is the first time in Iowa State's history they are getting a college game day hosting or not hosting. So we're gonna be covering that on segment number three. If you are tuning into the show for the first time today, make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at, whether that is Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or the brand new Himalaya Podcast app. And also if you are on social media, make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and or Instagram. That's how you're going to get the

most up-to-date information about some awesome giveaways we have coming your way. All right, man, let's jump into it though. Segment number one, giving our initial thoughts on the game. I think obviously we're pretty freaking happy. I mean, I'll just kind of kick it off. I thought, you know, I thought offensively there was a lot of really great takeaways we saw some of the things that you know make iowa football fans cringe a little bit right i think you know we saw nate stanley miss a few balls but i think overall he played a fantastic game the offense was really doing well um they were kind of backed up in their own you know end zone quite a bit and i thought brian ference maybe got a little cute on some of his play calling but overall um nothing to complain about i think this offense might be, and, you know, this is a hot take,

might be the most explosive offense we've ever seen in Iowa football history. Yeah, I'm going to add on to that. I agree with the take. I think this is probably the most explosive offense. I will go ahead and say that. I just think that it's usually like the years we either have a really solid run. It's usually tight ends or running backs and the receivers are kind of like almost like the sixth man in a sense, kind of like they're the supporting cast,

but they're never the focal point. And I just think this year, I mean, we have so many running backs, whether it's Ivory Kelly Martin, we have Torn Young, and we have Makai Sargent and even Tyler Goodson, who looks amazing, showing flashes of Akram Wadley. That kid looks like he could be one of the best IR running backs of all time. I'm going to go ahead and say it. Like, he looks like he has so much potential.

He's still only 18. He still has all these off-scenes of weightlifting and being in the program. But right now, he looks amazing. Our receivers look really good. Nico, Tyrone, Tracy had the touchdown this week. And I think that I'm finally seeing it so far. But I feel like everything is coming together. I think, yeah, Nate Stanley. I mean, we even have like a big group chat with like a lot of the people for

our other writers at dear old gold. And we talk about the game and I, Nate Stanley overthrew receiver was really bad, but then, you know, and I have to see him kind of pessimistic. And I was like, Oh, this is another overthrow. This is Stanley. We're back to the old news. We're going to go whatever. But – and then the next throw, though, it was like a crossing pattern

over the middle in the end zone or something. And it was just a perfect, like, thrown ball right in the – Right to Tyrone Tracy too. Yeah. And I was like, you know what? I'm going to eat my words. Like, yeah, he had a bad overthrow. But I'm happy he's getting to the point where he corrects the mistakes right

away. Because the big thing about quarterback and the big thing about Nate Stanley, I felt like is that when you get down, you throw a pick, you have a bad throw. It's really easy to get down on yourself. It's really easy to shrug your shoulders and kind of take the excitement and the adrenaline out of the game and kind of get down on yourself. But the ability for him just to focus on the next play, have a short term memory and throw a perfect dime the next play.

That's shown me a lot about Nate Stanley, more than the touchdowns, more than the yardage shows me how him personally. And as a leader has kind of advanced and gotten more mature. So, yeah, man, I think for Nate Stanley, it's one of those things where in the past two years, people have, you know, become accustomed to a couple of miss, you in the past two years, people have become accustomed to a couple missed passes, a couple interceptions, a couple boneheaded moves, right? So immediately when we see even one of those, we automatically revert. I think it's just kind of our innate

nature that we revert back to the sense of, oh my gosh, here's the old Nate Stanley. But I think we need to realize he is making a lot of improvement and a lot of progress. Even in the last two weeks, you've just seen, I mean, the way he's processed in the field, some of his, you know, the deep throw to Amir Smith-Marset was beautiful, perfectly thrown. I mean, he doesn't always make that throw last year and he made it more than he missed it this past couple, you know, the past two weeks. So I think it's just, it's easy to ride Nate Stanley, right? But I think at some point you need to realize we do have a pretty good quarterback on our hands he's doing well and he's getting a lot better from last season I mean that's two games in a row he's thrown for over 60 completion percentage and I'll actually get those numbers real quick because last week it was 70

this week let me see it was 16 out of 28 I'm gonna do some math here real quick that is that was not actually pretty good that was 57 percent wow I thought he did a lot better than that so now you know jokes on me but he still threw three touchdowns um averaged 8.4 yards you know per attempt which I thought was pretty solid but I think people need to realize that Nate Stanley is a very good quarterback yeah I mean like I said I'm not expecting him to be a Heisman candidate I'm not expecting to be Trevor Lawrence or Tua but being able to be the game manager and not making mistakes is what we need that's the Iowa offense it's kind of like I mean I don't I hate to compare it to it but how like the Bears are with kind of the strong defense and kind of the quarterback needs to be

the game manager besides last week which whatever but it's kind of the strong defense and kind of the quarterback needs to be the game manager besides last week, which whatever, but it's kind of the same type of mentality where it's like the quarterback needs to make the throws, throw a couple of touchdowns, although that's, you know, one or two or even three, like Stanley's been doing, but also minimize the errors kind of, if don't make the stupid throws on throw the interceptions, if you need to take a sack, take a sack. Because at the end of the day,

we have a very good run game who can help us. And we also have a very good defense. So the more opportunity that you are allowing for the defense to win the games and the running games to win the games, or the running offense is big because that's what it all goes through. But the fact that even more impresses me is that there are so many game manager quarterbacks out there that you know will throw for like 180 and a touchdown or two and it's kind of just like not taking many deep

shots just you know being complacent with like two yard dump off passes but the fact that Nate is putting up these numbers with the six touchdowns and he looks really good and even like you said with the Amir Smith-Marset deep ball touchdown. I've got so much PTSD flashbacks of him overthrowing the receivers, and it just felt so nice and refreshing to finally be able to trust Nate Stanley in those deep balls. And it also adds another explosive style offense, which most people just want to take a nap during off because no one really likes to see 34 power 10 times, you know? Absolutely, man. That was pretty impressive. Also, the defense,

I thought, played outstanding. We saw A.J. Epinesa come alive, was just absolutely annihilating Raekwon O'Neal and, you know, the plethora of Rutgers quarterbacks. Obviously, we saw Artur Sikowski come in. We also had McLean Carter, who got just annihilated in the first half. We're going to cover all of that on segment number two, and we give out our grades for each unit. Before we jump into that, though, I do have something I really want our fans to know about and our listeners to know about. I want to make sure you all are aware of a fantastic platform to find tickets to help find your next concert or sporting event. Vivid Seats is an online event ticket marketplace

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All right, man, let's touch on our grades for each unit. Let's just go offense, defense, and special teams. Offense-wise, what grade would you give the Iowa Hawkeyes offense from the first game? A. Just kind of, I mean, we've already kind of touched on it, but the quarterback mean the the quarterback neet stanley was great he made great decisions had great throws had great touch um utilize the receivers receivers did well there wasn't many drop balls of any uh the running backs looked

great we kind of had a running back by committee type thing going on with young sergeant goodson and uh just uh even ivory kelly martin and just like, it was like, it's, it's weird because like we've had running games and we've had like a thunder lightning, like the Akron Wadley and the Sean Daniels and like two different types of runners. But this year we have so many running backs. And even during the game, like the announcers and Shane Vereen were talking about how like you really

have to pay attention to this Iowa offense, just because even when we're up in the game, like we were against Rutgers, you put in a guy like Ivory Kelly Martin or Tyler Goodson, and these guys are breaking off like 25, 30 yard rushes. It's like, it's, it's, it's kind of insane that our third and fourth string running backs could be starters. And probably most of these big time teams could be big role players and they're kind of just buried in our depth chart.

And it's just something that I'm really excited about. Our receivers look great. You can see they're trying to give Oliver Martin the ball a little more, nothing too explosive, but they're trying to get in his hands. But they also want to get Tyrone Trace the ball and Nico. I mean, even who impressed me most me most as a mere Smith Mars set, he's looking incredible. I mean, I were receivers don't get over a hundred yards,

let alone only getting that in four catches and two touchdowns this year. So weird. It's such an anomaly to me because I'm so used to boring Iowa football games. I'm scoring 25, 24 points a game, not much passing, maybe some running, but it's just such a weird year to me I'm not accustomed to this yet I'm trying to grasp it of a team that has all of these deep threats in this receiver like Amir Smith-Marset who's such a playmaker so explosive in the open field and it's just it's just something that I'm awesome it's awesome I'm really excited and looking forward

to having the rest of the season with and I don't know what your thoughts are I mean probably have pretty similar ideas yeah man so I do agree the The Amir Smith, our set thing was pretty impressive. It's only the third time in the last four years in an Iowa receiver has done, you know, caught 113 or cut the ball for 113 receiving yards or more. T.J. Hawkinson was the last one last year. And we also had Matt Vandenberg two years before that. So, you know, impressive all around performance from Amir Smith, our set. My grade for the offense is going to be a B, actually.

I thought they played really well. It is Rutgers, to be fair. I thought the fact that Rutgers' defensive back, I can't remember his name, his number four, just could not keep his hands off the receivers, really got Iowa out of bind a few times. I thought the play calling again was a little bit too cute. There's a few times, I think it was third and two,

and Iowa went from the shotgun five wide. I would have liked to see them just run the ball down, you know, down Rutgers' throat, which would have been nice in my opinion. But I thought overall the offense did well. There's a lot of room for improvement still. But I do agree, man, the potential there. The ceiling is absolutely through the roof. Like I said, I don't doubt this might be the most explosive offense

in Iowa Hawkeyes history. As far as the defense goes, I'm going to give them, without a doubt, an A+. You pitch a shutout, you get an A+. And given the fact that they were literally getting, I was getting pinned back at their end zone repeatedly. Michael Sleep Dalton did a pretty good job, and we'll get to that on the special teams part of this segment. but Michael Sleep Dalton did a good job of punting the ball out of the end zone but Rutgers was starting at like the 45 almost every single time and they allowed zero points which I thought was pretty impressive and AJ Epinesa had himself a day four quarterback hurries a sack I thought he was just making them look bad throughout the day I like the fact that Iowa finally got their hands on a few more interceptions.

Oja Mudia and DeMond Colbert got an interception as well. I thought that was pretty impressive. But overall, I would give the defensive performance an A+. Yeah, I'm going to have to agree. I mean, like you said, pitching a shutout, you can't really complain about that. There obviously was no mental mistakes, really. I don't care if it's Rutgers.

I don't care whoever we played. If you're pitching a shutout against like a big 10 team, that's still really credible. And I think that's really just shows to how much grit and determination our defensive has, how much of, how much like a group and how much they're kind of meshing together and they're kind of becoming this one unit. Like we kind of touched on last at Miami, Ohio, where they looked pretty good.

Some moments they obviously weren't cohesive as a group, and now you can kind of see that slowly coming together every week. So I think that's something that's awesome. I think that's something that's exciting to see. Like you said, I mean, we were really getting to the quarterback. AJ looked really good. Oja Mudia has two picks in two games. I don't want to jinx anything, but, I mean,

I can already see like a Josh Jackson, Desmond King type campaign already. People are kind of like I don't know how it happens every year, but it's usually a guy that's under the radar comes in and just is just a ball hawk for Iowa and just has like a six-day interception season, and he's invited for the Thorpe Award, and I hope Oja Mudia has a second coming of that or third coming. But like you said, I mean, I think it was really impressive, and I think our defense, even the announcer said, I mean, I think it was really impressive. And I think our defense,

even the announcer said is, is something that I don't care. I know he played Rutgers and Miami of Ohio, but I think when we played the legit big time competition, I think that that defense will still tighten up. And I really do think that's one of our huge strengths. Absolutely, man. I couldn't agree more. Just a couple of one stat. I wanted to point out Rutgers combined QBR for both of their quarterbacks is less than the total number of yards that Spencer Petras threw for yesterday. The combined QBR of McLean Carter and Arter Sikowski was six point six and Petras threw for eight yards.

So just again, when you throw for under when you can hold a team to under 50 yards passing all day i mean that's just an absolutely great performance special teams wise i would give the special teams uh it's gonna be i'm i'm being a little bit pessimistic here i'm gonna give them a b minus and only because they lucked out a few times i thought the matt hankins any honestly i just i don't understand how you don't see the you know the punt returners arms go up to wait for a fair catch yeah matt hankins shouldn't have been there ojamudia almost should have been called as well but he didn't um i'm docking them a lot of points just for that stupid mental mistakes that could have cost them 30 yards

only cost them 15 that could have caught should have cost them nothing right um that needs to be just smarter tone it up that being said i thought michael sleep dalton played absolutely fantastic it's so freaking refreshing to have a punter who can actually kick the damn ball out of the end zone and back the team up and then also keith duncan had a great performance as well um i believe he went three of three on field goals uh hitting along at 46 also hit three of three extra points so um just a fantastic of 46 also hit three of three extra points. So just a fantastic performance from those two special teams guys. I just,

I just really don't like mental mistakes and that's why I docked them so much from a special teams perspective. What are your thoughts? Yeah. I mean, I think that, so it was, it was funny because in the game,

there was points where it was literally just like a punt battle between Sleep Dalton and then Adam Korosak where it's kind of sad, but the only bright spot of Rutgers was their punter. The dude almost had 500 yards of – total yards of punting, which is just incredible. But, I mean, Sleep Dalton did really good. I mean, he averaged almost 50 yards a punt, which is really good. That's better than I was had in the past. So field position is amazing.

And I'll tell you what, it gives the defense such more confidence when you can have a punter nail them back in the team's side of the field because then you start having shanks. So the punters, you know, they're not extending the field. They're not making Rutgers or whatever team you're playing. You have to drive longer and it's kind of setting them up for, you know, 15 yards in the running field range. It takes less pressure off the defense.

And when you have less pressure, guys play more free and play more naturally. So I think that the punting ability is one of the special teams. And like I said at the beginning of the year, Iowa special teams were never that great. And in order to win games, you need to win two out of three phases. Offense, defense, special teams, if you're only winning one out of three, guess what, you're probably going to lose. And so two out of three, you have to win every game regardless.

And I think that it just showed how our special teams could keep us in games with the punting, and it just showed us how Keith Duncan was able to make the field goals when it mattered and looked like he wasn't phased at all. So I'm a little more optimistic on it. I'll give him a B plus. But I think we do have a lot to look forward to in our special teams, which before it was kind of just like they were there. It's kind of blah, like whatever.

So I think this year that's definitely going to help us. Definitely, man. The special teams unit was not as good last year. Miguel Racinos was solid. Obviously, Mayor Smith-Marset could return kicks, but the punting game was just so abysmal that you couldn't really give them a grade higher than a C just because of how bad that was. But that'll do it for segment number two.

Before we jump into a break where we can give you a few messages from our sponsors, I just want to remind you about Vivid Seats. Make a memory that lasts a lifetime and let the Vivid Seats app help you get to your favorite live event. Enter promo code KICKOFF at checkout to receive a discount of up to $100. All right, man, let's jump into segment number three, some great news. ESPN's College Game Day is coming to Ames, Iowa, the first time it'll ever be in Ames, Iowa, the first time Iowa State's ever going to be on College Game Day.

It is Iowa's, I believe, eighth appearance. They have not fared so successfully in the past. I believe they're one in six. But exciting nonetheless. It'll be the first time that Ames gets it. It'll be the first time that the CyHawk Trophy game gets it. Obviously, we needed some help there, right? Maryland needed to take care of Syracuse.

Otherwise, Syracuse maybe would have had a good argument to get the college game day versus Clemson. But just overall, it's going to be a lot of fun being in Ames next week. That is going to be one hell of a game and probably the best CyHawk trophy game that we've ever played. Yeah, I mean, it's weird because, like, in my mind, I obviously think that this game is huge. I think that, obviously, Iowa State kind of going down the line with UNI,

I thought it kind of hurt it a little bit just because I know Iowa State's still ranked. I know they're everyone's dark horse. They're actually not, man. They had fell out of the top 25 today. Really? Yeah, I think they're 26. I'm checking right now.

You can keep going. Oh, man. Okay, well, I mean, that just goes to my point because usually it's kind of like a top 15, top 25 matchup, you know, like sometimes a rivalry game. Like sometimes, like you said, like a lot of Syracuse, Clemson, Syracuse can be like 23, Clemson's one or two. So it's kind of like a good rivalry game like that.

But, I mean, I don't think Iowa State's bad. Don't get me wrong. I do think they have a lot of expectations this year, just like Nebraska. I have to throw in a jab. Nebraska sucks. Barely one and two. So, but one and one. But I just think that Iowa State's a good team. I hope the game's competitive. I mean, I hope we blow them out. But I mean, I think that a lot more of why they picked it is just because the rivalry and the CyHawk rivalry, because I mean, Syracuse and Clemson, like that was basically only competition, but they, I mean, it's not really too much of a trophy game or anything. So I think this game means a lot. It's always usually on a main slot or main time point, FS1 or Fox or something.

It's always like a big rivalry game, so I love to televise it because I know how much hype is built around it. I'm really happy. I actually thought it sucked because I actually wanted the game day to come to Iowa City for Penn State. But even just looking at the schedule around there. There's too many good games. Yeah, even Oklahoma, Texas, all those.

It just sucks because in my heart of hearts, I think the Penn State-Iowa game is going to be incredible. But I'm happy. I can't be complaining just because I remember the year we went 12-0 and we had that big run and we never even got game day and we were always complaining, why don't we get game day, blah, blah, blah. So now we have it in the second game of the season. We're destroying teams right now.

And Iowa State looks pretty mediocre at best, and we still got it. So I'm really happy. I'm excited about that. I mean, anytime you can have the national spotlight in Iowa, it's amazing. College game day, I know it's in Ames, but I think it'll still be good. I think Iowa City is going to show out there. I think there's going to be a lot of people traveling. The game sold out.

It's impossible. I was trying to even get tickets there, and it's literally impossible. So I think it's going to be a good setting. It's going to be a good environment. And, hey, I'm just excited that, you know, for a college game day, for once in a long time, I don't have to see a Big 12 team or an SEC team. I think seeing some big-time teams like that, well, I know they have big time. They have Ohio State and Michigan, but that gets tired.

Every year it's the same thing. So it's refreshing to have this,. They have Ohio state and Michigan, but that gets tired every year. It's the same thing. So it's, it's refreshing to have this. And I don't know what your thoughts about this Andrew. Yeah, man. I mean, I'm just, I'm glad that I was getting a game day. As you said, I think there's, there's always a bias towards sec teams. Other, other types of rivalry games that have more of a bit of a national clout to it. The fact that Iowa, Iowa State's finally getting that recognition is huge.

It kind of sucks, honestly, that the AP dropped Iowa State out. They are the last team or the first team out actually receiving 96 votes. Virginia had 122. So unfortunate about that. It would have been cool to see two ranked teams playing in it. I do think Iowa State's a good team. I do want Iowa to obviously win and hopefully big, but it is going to be awesome having College Game Day in Ames.

The one thing I will say, though, man, is Iowa State has a weird ability to get up for big games against ranked teams. And they have another weird ability to get up for the game against Iowa. So it's going to be one hell of a matchup. I'm excited to watch it next Saturday. We're going to be covering the Iowa versus Iowa State matchup all throughout this week. Lots of great content coming your way. Zach, do you have any other last thoughts to add on the college game day

announcement? I just think that, I mean, I don't know. I'm excited for, like I said before, I think that the people of Iowa, our fans, our fan bases are so loyal. They've been fans for such a long time. We like, we don't have pro, We don't have any pro sports in Iowa. I'm not even from Iowa, but even being there for the years that I were and went to school there and everything, it's just you could feel how much emotion, how much attachment people have, and I think it's amazing.

I'm from Chicago. We have the Cubs, the Bears, the Bulls, all these teams, but there's just something different about how just wholesome the Iowa people are, the fan base, and It's just so pure. And I just, it was something that I latched onto so quickly. And I thought it was amazing. The fan base is incredible and they're very supportive. And I'm just really excited.

Like, obviously it's nice to have the team on there, but I'm excited for all the fans and the people of Iowa to, it's something to be proud of, you know, having your team on game day, something to be proud of. And, you know, to an SEC team or a Clemson, it's not that big of a deal it's just kind of normal but it's nice and a lot of these players excuse my language they work their ass off this whole off season and they they they've you know put in so much hours and blood sweat and tears and it's nice for these players that nate and stanley's and amir smith marsets and i mean aj's already got a lot of attention, but these guys, the Imani Jones, it's good for people national scale to see these guys play and have Herbstreet

and these big-time commentators talk about them and get the national attention. And I'm just proud of it for these players putting in so much work, and I'm proud of it for our fan base. Definitely, man. Well, that will wrap up segment number three of our show today. We're really excited about seeing Iowa versus Iowa State. We're excited that Iowa is 2-0 and thought there's a lot of great things that happened in this past weekend's game against Rutgers.

Even though it is Rutgers, I thought Iowa showed a lot of improvement even from week one to week two, starting off strong with that big pass from Smith-Marset and then finishing strong as well. We're going to be covering all the Iowa versus Iowa State stuff over the next couple days. We will not have a show Tuesday morning as a heads up. We'll be bringing you episodes Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. If you like what you heard today, if you like what you've heard the past couple of weeks, make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at,

whether that is Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or the brand new Himalaya Podcast app. And as I said before, make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We have some great giveaways coming out. And the only way to participate is by showing some love on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. So make sure to do that. We'll be giving away some Iowa Hawkeye autographed

memorabilia over the next couple of weeks. Again, thank you so much for listening to this Monday morning episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Have a fantastic day, Hawkeye Nation. And go Hawks. Go Hawks.