Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - REDEMPTION: Can Iowa’s Kamari Moulton and Mark Gronowski BREAK USC’s Playoff Dreams at the Coliseum?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The last time the Iowa Hawkeyes played USC at the Coliseum was 1976. The final score, USC 55, Iowa, zero. But that wasn't the last time they played. I'll tell you about that game coming up. I got Trent Condon from Lockdown Hawkeyes. We're doing a crossover show. So make sure you stick around. We're going to be talking about everything this USC Iowa game.

Starting point is 00:00:24 And we might even have a couple of fun stories to talk about from a prior match. That's all coming up next on this crossover edition of Locked-on USC and Locked-on Hawkeyes. You are Locked-on USC, your daily podcast on the USC trophies, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Fight on, everyone, and welcome to a crossover edition of Locked-on USC. I'm your host, Mark Holkin, And that's Trent Condon from the Lockdown Hawkeyes, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, which is also now the number one sports podcast network. So whether you're watching this show on YouTube, wherever you want to download this podcast, you pick the platform.

Starting point is 00:01:14 The show's always going to be free. And this show is always going to appreciate your support. Trent, I am so glad we're doing this. Yeah. Love you, Lord. Thanks again. I'm excited. I'm excited to do this, Mark.

Starting point is 00:01:28 And, you know, for us, you know, we hang out with the youngsters, right? On the squad shows, I'm sure plenty of our viewers and listeners, I hear us from time to time on with those guys. It's nice to talk to a veteran, somebody a little bit more seasoned, like myself, because there are times that I feel like with that, the rest of a group who we love. Sure. But it's sometimes like, I don't know, pounding your head into a wall. It's, there can be some rough moments as I found out a couple of weeks ago with Jacob from Locked on Hoosiers. As they say, kids will say the darndest thing. Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

Starting point is 00:02:04 So I mentioned the last time Iowa played at the Colisee quite a while ago. The Trojans and the Hawkeyesville, they've played each other since then. I think 2019, Holiday Bowl, all I remember was some guy named Smith Marseille, literally only through the Trojans like a hot knife through butter. That final score was 49 to 24. In fact, it was actually a pretty good game. until the Slovis had to leave with an elbow injury. So, Trent, last week, you guys suffered one of those gut-punch type of losses to Oregon.

Starting point is 00:02:39 And again, maybe it's just me, but aren't all of Iowa's losses close? On the points of games. I guess, go ahead. Yeah, it's kind of funny this week because the big narrative after another tough loss, you know, the two most difficult ones this year of the three losses being just a whisker away from beating Oregon. same thing against Indiana. We know how good both those and talented, both those teams are, is I was now lost 12 consecutive games against ranked opponents.

Starting point is 00:03:07 And the difference, though, is for the beginning part of that losing streak, they haven't been like this. Two times in the Big Ten championship game, getting blown out by Michigan, getting pulverized last year by Ohio State. And I have taken it this week that, yeah, it still sucks to have this losing streak, right? You want to end that losing streak and get that negative connotation out of there. But it feels so much different than having no chance going into the games. I was right there.

Starting point is 00:03:33 I was close. And with a bounce here, a bounce there. This team is eight and one going into this football game. You know, and we're having a completely different conversation. You know, Mark Grinowski leaves the game against Indiana. The backup quarterback can't complete a screen pass on third and five. If he does, they got a chip shot field goal to win the game. They don't miss field goal on a long field goal.

Starting point is 00:03:54 And we know what happened as Indiana came down to score. And then, of course, he saw what happened a week. you go. So this team is incredibly close, but yes, there was a lot of those blowouts during that, and now it feels like Iowa. They are taking steps forward here and getting back to that competitive nature that I think historically people think of Iowa football. Well, you know what? I can relate to that. That was the story of USC last year. They were close in every game. They held leads late in the fourth quarter of every game except for that game against Notre Dame at the Coliseum, which they were driving to tie the score. And then all of a sudden things changed.

Starting point is 00:04:28 changed. So let me ask you this question, since we can both relate to being close but getting no cigar at the end. What do you anticipate from the Hawkeyes in L.A., in the rain, which you guys are pretty familiar with, against a USC team that's, you know, they're fighting for that playoff earth right now. They're seven and two, and everything's there right in front of them. There's a lot of, when you're kind of building up the chances for Iowa, I think there's a lot

Starting point is 00:04:55 of negatives in this game. And one of the biggest ones is the way that went last week against Oregon. You know, listen to the players on Tuesday during the media availability. And we just get guys once a week. We don't get opportunities to watch practice like I think you guys do at USC. So our time is really limited of what we get. That's Fort Ferrence. You know, he's got things covered up there.

Starting point is 00:05:16 And we're not allowed very often. But when we do on Tuesdays, I think you still heard a very down nature. You heard a team that was still frustrated. Mark Radowski said, he's never lost three games in his career. I mean, you look at South Dakota State, you look at the high school level. That guy's never lost three games in a season ever, and here he is with three losses already this year. So I think they're down, but I will go back and maybe bring the positive spin from the Iowa angle.

Starting point is 00:05:41 What of Kirk Ferrence's greatest strengths, I believe, as a football coach is not the X's and O stuff. It's not the longevity, not the offensive line, which he's a guru rat. It's not that it's his ability when a team back against the wall. nobody believes in them after a devastating loss like that he is as a person and as a football coach is his strength there's been so many times in the past where it felt like they're going to get beat twice you know don't want more can beat you twice and this one kind of moves like that and if it was almost any other coach i think that might be a problem that is one of kirk farence's greatest strengths though they are so even keel as a football team i don't think that'll be the

Starting point is 00:06:21 reason that they lose will the other reasons they can lose Saturday absolutely i don't think that'll be the reason though you know look there's a reason he's stuck around for as long as he has and i get it you know midwest is a lot different than l a spotlight and all that kind of stuff i don't know if u sc would it's let me just put this way i think it's it's abnormal to have head coaches stick around for as long as kirk's been at iowa and we're looking at Right. Yeah, I mean, Heed was there before him from 78 until 98, so 20 years before that. So I'm in my mid-40s, and I only know two football coaches. I mean, think of that.

Starting point is 00:07:02 I'm 45 years old, and I've only seen two football coaches in my life as a Hawkeye fan. It's unthinkable, but that's our reality. Now, expectations, I think, at Iowa are a little bit different at USC. It's the consistent winner that he's built. You know, Farance, that's another thing that you have to credit. you see the pro i mean you guys have dealt with it yourselves and there just aren't those lulls when you go through and you look at during this tenure and after year number three when he got him to a bull bid they have been bull eligible 24 out of 25 seasons yeah six wins isn't a great

Starting point is 00:07:34 benchmark but in a place like iowa it's a pretty good place to be now we're waiting for that breakthrough moment and we're hoping it'll come saturday in the rain well we're hoping it doesn't but hey that's why we're doing this well let me ask you this because we don't want to extend the positives that Iowa has, tell USC fans about, because these are the three players that really worry me. You've got Caden Weegean, you've got your running back, Camari Molton, and that everybody knows about Mark Rannowski. There was actually, USC was kind of looking at him, bringing them in before he chose

Starting point is 00:08:11 Iowa. Who else could USC be concerned about on offense, besides the offensive line? But are those basically the three players that USC should be concerned with? Yeah, I think that's a fair way to look at it. The tight end position has been hit hard by injury this year. Probably their best guy right now is a former walk-on redshirt freshman. And you guys are running back, know a little something about walk-ons. Doesn't mean they're bad, as we obviously know.

Starting point is 00:08:34 And I think he's going to be the next line of Iowa tight ends, as you see them filtered around. DJ Votamy is his name. He had on that 93-yard drive that gave Iowa the lead in the fourth quarter. Remember that 40-yard pass down the field. He was a kid that got behind the defense there and made the big play there. I was still young. He's still got a long ways to go, but you're looking to upside and looking down the line, maybe playing, you know, a Big Ten Fantasy League.

Starting point is 00:08:56 He might be your tight end next year in his sophomore campaign. He's going to be a good one. The wide receiver group is not good. I mean, let's be frank. It's just there aren't anybody that can blow the top off. Their best wide receiver probably throughout the course of the season's been Sam Phillips. He's listed at five seven. I mean, listed at five seven.

Starting point is 00:09:15 So that shows he his height. He made a big catch on the sideline against Oregon. They got Reese Vandersie back. He's another big wide receiver that's been injured for most of the season. Six-four kid had a touchdown against Minnesota. But yeah, you mentioned the guys that I think are most important. And Grinowski, I think people see what he's done with his legs now, what, 13 rushing touchdowns this season, how good he's been there. The question is, and our friends over Fanduel, take a guess, Mark.

Starting point is 00:09:41 I don't know if you saw the prop market for this one. over under Mark Bernowski's passing yards coming up this weekend against the Trojans. Well, see, this is interesting because one of U.S. Achilles Hills on defense, until recently, has been their secondary. So I will say that Mark Rennowski will still not get 200 yards this year in this game, but I think he will be north of 150. Well, you're right in the right range. It was what I looked on, I think it was Wednesday morning that I looked,

Starting point is 00:10:07 it was 160 and a half was the over under for his passing yards. Now, the other element is going to be the rain and that's something that I'm going to be interested about, too, as we continue, Mark, want to talk about that. I want to flip it around to you, too. We know Mackay Lemon. We know about Maiava. I want to get for the Hawkeye fans out there, a couple other names that we should be keeping an eye on. Absolutely. We'll do that in the next segment.

Starting point is 00:10:29 That's coming up. But we've got to take care of a little business first. And then you and I, like I said, we're going to talk a little bit about past USC Iowa games and maybe talk a little smack about some other conference brethren as well. That's all coming up next. So it's almost the weekend, which means it's 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 streak,

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Starting point is 00:11:39 order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your game day. Only with DoorDash, turns apply. Promot period runs through November 18th. All right. So, Trent, you asked the question. Yeah. First, you know, I don't want to forget this. You and I, we want to say, thank you for making Lockdown USC and the Lockdown Hawkeye podcast show. your first listen every single day and also want to say thank you for making locked on the number one podcast network period so let me ask for this you mentioned walk-on USC has a really special walk-on running back his name is king Miller he has six seven and thirty-six yards part-time start of this year he's ran for a hundred in three of his last four games will USC be able to run the ball

Starting point is 00:12:36 against Iowa. So before last week, I would have said it'll be difficult because teams in general have struggled. And coupled with the way that Iowa improved defensively through the month of October, boy, with what Oregon did, though, 261 yards rushing last week against Iowa in the rainstorm on top of it knowing there wasn't a ton of threat of passing and Iowa still wasn't able to do it. Here's another thing. I was got two really, three really veteran guys on their defensive line. There are two defensive ends, Max Llewellyn and Ethan Hurkid, along with defensive tackle Aaron Graves, who was all Big Ten last year.

Starting point is 00:13:11 Three guys that have played a ton of football. They played a lot more snaps than normal last week, and they still couldn't get off the field. That's really concerning to me that veteran presence. Linebacker has been a question mark here. I think this is a game that USC is going to, it's not going to be, yeah, we ran 22 times for 63 yards. You know, it's not going to be a game like that. I think they're going to get theirs. The question always for me is the game plan for Riley and company,

Starting point is 00:13:37 are they willing to take the 4.2 yards carry, right? We're getting some yards. We're getting enough. We're getting first downs because that's when Phil Parker's at his best. When teams get impatient, that's when his defense thrive. So that's kind of that cat and mouse game that I'm looking for here. Is the offensive staff for USC willing to be patient against Iowa? because if you're not, that's when teams normally get in trouble.

Starting point is 00:14:03 So you bring that point up, which I think is a perfect segue. And this really got my attention last week, USC hosting Northwestern. First possession on offense, 16 play drive for USC. Yeah. Over seven minutes. If I told you that they passed it 11 times out of those 16 plays, you would do that. You would give me that, really? Are you kidding me?

Starting point is 00:14:23 Look, USC was patient. They've shown that, yes, you know, we'll be methodical if that's all you're going to give us. But you raised a really good point. Bill, you've got, you've got your, Phil Parker, your defensive coordinator, genius. Lincoln Riley, genius on offense. This is where, this, this chess match is going to be really interesting to me. Because number one, we talked about King Miller. I don't know if you want to throw his body into the line, you know, more than 20 times a game. There's no, there's no depth behind him right now. There's a reason like he's playing. You at Mackay Lemon. Do they incorporate him into the running game a little bit more? Or does

Starting point is 00:15:05 Jade Maiava become a little bit more Mark Grinowski and become, you know, USC's second leading rusher, which I'm all four. And he's big enough. He's six, four, two, 30. He can handle that type of play. Then again, you know, Iowa's known for their physicality. Let's flip the script. Will USC be able to stop Iowa's run game, especially Grinowski? So you talked a little bit earlier about Moulton. I was top running back. I was really deep at this position, but all four of their top backs have been hurt at one time or another this season. We saw Moulton miss a couple of games. Jazzy on Patterson's kind of been the number three guy for a while. He was out. He came back last week. But they've really been relying mostly on Moulton. He has been the guy. And if you go

Starting point is 00:15:47 through and you watch the tape, he has had so many of those six, eight-yard runs where it's a linebacker just getting a hand on a shoe as he's going through the hole and he gets cut down there. It feels like he is so close so many times this season to popping one and he just hasn't yet last year as a backup to Caleb Johnson. I think he had like a 70 yard run against Maryland and it feels like ones in there. It just hasn't happened this year. I think that's what I was going to need. If I was going to be able to have a big day on the ground and get him over 100 yards, there's going to have to be one of those big chunk plays in there, I think, to do it. The offensive lines playing at a really high level, but it feels like they're so comfortable, maybe a little bit too comfortable just with

Starting point is 00:16:27 Moulton out there at the running back. I would like to see it a little bit more playing time. Xavier Williams, he's more of the bigger running back. He's a red shirt freshman. He's 228 pounds, big solid kid. I mentioned Jazzy on Patterson, who runs hard. He doesn't have a ton of speed. He just runs so dang hard.

Starting point is 00:16:45 You like to see him out there a little bit more. I personally would like to see a little bit more rotation, but I anticipate it's getting about what we've seen basically the last month. It's going to be a whole lot of Moulton. Will they be able to run it, I think, a little bit? I don't think this is going to be a game, though, where they're going to put up 220 yards rushing anything like that, looking at your number. Yeah, yeah.

Starting point is 00:17:05 I mean, you get to that number. Then we throw the other angle in here. And it's that weather part of it. Mark, we just dealt with this last week. Right. But it's not just the weather condition, the rain, I should say, in the game. It's the grass conditions. And I'm sure you're USC listeners and viewers right now are like, once you're talking about grass.

Starting point is 00:17:23 I was been terrible on the grass. I'll give you a couple instances earlier this year, again, Iowa State, Caden Weegean, who we talked about earlier, I was All-American Return Man. He slipped multiple times during the game. He was wearing field cleats. He was not wearing grass cleats on the field and had one of his worst games in a Hawkeye uniform. A year ago, they go out to Michigan State, as we know not a very good Michigan State team.

Starting point is 00:17:43 They get absolutely ran off the field. It was one of the worst tackling games I've ever seen for Iowa football under Phil Parker. Where was that great game played on grass in East Lansing? And yes, the jokes from a decade ago. Iowa against Christian McCaffrey in the Rose Bowl. We all saw how that went. What was one of the big conversations from the Iowa side afterwards, though? All the guys slipping on the field, not having the right cleats.

Starting point is 00:18:05 I will give you a name, Greg Morris. And you'll probably look at your roster, say that I don't see it Greg Morris. He's Iowa's equipment manager. He might be the key to the game because they've got to have the right cleats on the grass and on top of it now, possibility in this monsoon. I was going to say, you know, it's a long walk down the tunnel from your locker room to the field at the Coliseum. It's like it's an iconic walk but before you step on the grass if you're what you say his name was Greg what? Greg Morris. Greg Morris should be saying show me your shoes.

Starting point is 00:18:35 Yeah. Show me your kids. Lift up your feet and you don't have on the right shoes. You're going back with the locker room, right? Right. Yeah. That's this is the only place you're going to get this kind of breakdown right here on this crossover lockdown right. Well look let's give let's give Phil Parker his flowers. What's he going to do to make jane my office? of his life more difficult because one of the things that Jaden has struggled with is throwing interceptions. He's so far this year he's been pretty good. 17 touchdowns, only six interceptions. However, he's thrown one in the last five games, each of the last five games. What can Phil do to say, hey, Jaden, you're not supposed to be throwing it here. Supposed to be throwing it over there.

Starting point is 00:19:19 So what we saw historically under Phil Parker, very patient, something we kind of talked about earlier, that patience of the Iowa defense, got to be methodical, have to make the makeables. That's how you're able to move the football down. Then they get in the red zone and they really clamped out. The turnovers that I would normally is forced is kind of dried up the last couple of seasons. I think the reason for that is the ineptitude of the offense. Teams have realized we don't have to take chances against Iowa because even if we have to punt the ball back to them, that offense isn't going to do anything.

Starting point is 00:19:48 Now, as I was taking a few steps forward now offensively last couple of years, maybe that's coming back. But what we've seen more than anything this year is Iowa has blitz more this season than they ever have under Phil Parker. You go back to that Indiana game when they had the Hoosers on the ropes. And they had Mendoza outside of the first drive of the game. He looked off. He did not look like an All-American, certainly not like a Heisman contender. And that was pressure from all over the place.

Starting point is 00:20:13 The thing that I also think that Parker is bringing more pressure this year, A, he doesn't trust his linebackers like he normally does. had a couple of all big 10 guys, including all American Jay Higgins last year, Jack Campbell before that, who's been a star with the Detroit Lions. But also, I think he knows that the defensive line can't get to the quarterback. But on top of it, the safeties are actually really good at getting the quarterback off those blitzes. So many times they bring pressure and like, why are they even trying? They're not going to get home, right? This year's team for whatever reason, Xavier Wampa, really good at that role.

Starting point is 00:20:47 Zach Lutmer, who will play both cornerback and he'll play safe. also plays their cash position, their fifth defensive back. He is really good coming off the edge. So I think that's also probably another reason. That's the part, though. We see him playing kind of traditional Iowa defense or that game plan that they use. They used it also a lot against Penn State, a lot more pressure than in the past. So if you've seen Phil Parker's teams, you remember maybe the way that they played defensively going back to 2019.

Starting point is 00:21:12 This one could look a lot different than what they do traditionally. Interesting. Interesting. Okay. So I'm going to keep an eye on there. Well, look, I don't know exactly what the weather's going to be like. I know it's going to be raining. How much does that change Lincoln and Riley's play calling?

Starting point is 00:21:28 Does he just become a little bit more methodical, stick to that scripted out thing like they did against Northwestern? Or, you know, does he still try and, you know, take chances and go over the top? We'll find out this is going to be an interesting game. I think the weather favors Iowa. But I think USC has the athletes to out. athlete the Hawkeyes. So we'll see how that goes. We got one more segment to go. USC, Iowa, they've got some history. We talked about a couple of the other games.

Starting point is 00:22:01 I know they played in a really fun Orange Bowl back in, you know, to start the 2003 year. It was fun for a minute. I got a story about that. I'm sure Trent's got some stories as well. We're going to have some fun in the third segment before we get out of here. The NBA is back and there's no better place to get in on the action than with Fandall, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or you just want to, you know, you want to ride that hot hand. Guess what? Fandle has live bets on everything from who's going to score next to those fourth quarter comebacks.

Starting point is 00:22:40 Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay and you're going to get a shot at a huge payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team's making that late. Bush. And right now, Fandle is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. So head to Fanduel.com. Sign up and play your game with Fanduel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right. So before we get to our predictions here, Trent, first of all, I got to ask you this question. Is it true? Is it true? Does Nebraska corn taste better than Iowa corn? Oh, absolutely not.

Starting point is 00:23:22 Well, I got to be honest. I think all corn is gross. I've tried. I know. I've tried. I got to be honest with you, though, Mark. If it was any of our other colleagues here on the lockdown network, I wouldn't even admit that, but I don't even, I don't like sweet corn and my family thinks I'm crazy

Starting point is 00:23:38 and everybody else. But everybody in Iowa knows, yes, Iowa corn much better than Nebraska. First of all, I love corn, I love corn, I love corn, I love corn, bread. You give me corn, and it's, I love it. It's like favorite vegetable in the world. Also, I've got to ask, and this is actually kind of a serious question, a half-serious question. Do you guys still do the hokey-pokey after a win in the locker room? No, we do not.

Starting point is 00:24:00 Done the hokey-pokey plenty of times with my tailgate group. I've done it when we closed the Metrodone with a 55-0-0 win over the Gophers in the final game there before they moved to TCF Bank Stadium. My group, a buddy still do it. But, yeah, that was a Hayden thing, and that died afterwards. So, yeah, they just do the fight song as quick as possible, you know, in the locker room. That's kind of what they do. But I can see Hayden, Hayden Fry liked to be a little bit more out there. You know, he showed up for a pregame press conference one time in Bibb overalls after

Starting point is 00:24:31 Minnesota called him us a bunch of farmers. So he actually played the role. Kirk France is not going to do those kind of things. Kirk is buttoned up, very polished, kind of boring, not going to get those kind of things. And, yeah, unfortunately, we don't get the hokey pokey anymore. Okay. Well, I'll tell you what, I cannot wait till USC returns a trip to Kinnick because I am looking forward to the first quarter Children's Hospital wave. It's incredible. I love that type of stuff. So I'm all over that. I do have to tell this funny story, though. So USC, Iowa, 2003 Orange Bowl. As you said, Iowa was leading for a minute. Have it done.

Starting point is 00:25:07 You guys were having a lot of fun prior to that game. Feeling yourselves. You thought that. No way this U.S. team is going to beat us. No way in hell. So as we know, as the game went along, it was USC scoring, USC scoring again. Final score, USC 38, Iowa, what was the final? 38, 17th, yeah. So walking from the stadium to the parking lot, there's this guy wearing all of his Iowa, regale, you know, all of his paraphernalia hat, jersey, everything.

Starting point is 00:25:42 He's laying on the ground. he's got both hands over his ears and he's just writhing back and forth make it stop please make it stop we're like are you okay he's I can't get your damn fight song out of our head that guy might have been me because I had the exact same thought after that one I was in the upper deck it felt like I was in the first row after that opening kickoff and that fight song over and over and over again oh that one it was a ton of fun I mean the tailgate. That was Iowa's first major bowl game, too, and over a decade. After the end of the Hayden era, Ferrence's early era, you know, it got so down. Iowa went a one and ten in Kirk's first season. He had an 18 game, two and 18 in his first 20 games as a head coach. Hayden's final year, they went three and eight. I mean, we hit some lows and then we take that step forward and playing that kind of game and the kind of season that they had. There was.

Starting point is 00:26:39 Iowa team. They really were. And also remember, they not only back, then the Big Ten didn't play Thanksgiving weekend. Remember back then they ended before. I was by week that year actually was the final week of the regular season. Their season was done in the middle of November. I mean, they didn't play for what seven weeks before that game. Yeah. And Brad Banks is going all around the country, getting his awards and all over the place. The guys went home. I know they had a big Florida contingent. Guys were home for like almost three weeks. That team just was not ready to play. And the team that we saw then, if we had a playoff like we do today, I would be very confident that 2002 Iowa team would have given USC a great game.

Starting point is 00:27:18 And if we would have had a playoff, a 12-team playoff then, if we're on other sides of the bracket, those two teams easily could have faced off. I think Iowa would have beat Ohio State at the end of that season. And certainly, Miami, they had some dudes, didn't they? That was a pretty good Miami roster. But I still remember Kirk Herb Street when he was calling that game, he's saying, hey, you know, there's one team in the country. I don't think anybody wants to play.

Starting point is 00:27:41 Uh-huh. It was USC. Again, Carson Palmer won the Heisman Trophy. Brad Banks was a runner up. That was a really good Iowa team. And I, that was, look, I understand the outcome wasn't the way you wanted it, but it was still, both of our programs at that point had just come back. Yes.

Starting point is 00:27:57 At least USC had come back from, you know, living in the doldrums. And then from there, forward, it was just Pete Carroll and that dynasty went forward. What do you want to talk about, what do you, usually on a Friday show, I have to do a Friday rant. Is there anything you want to get off your chest or talk about or? maybe, you know, remember from a past USC Iowa game, whatever you want to talk about. I want to go this direction, since we got a lot of you West Coasters now with us. So we had our first really indoctrination into the guys north of you, the Oregon Ducks. And it started, Iowa was on a by the week before, as was Oregon.

Starting point is 00:28:32 The momentum was building. If Iowa runs the table, gets to 10 and 2, they're going to be in the playoff. We know the way the game played out. But dealing with these Oregon fans, what a. weird group of people from Phil Parker talks for five minutes about how great Oregon is in the middle of this he says

Starting point is 00:28:49 they're well funded which they are sure people don't take every positive thing that he said about every part of that offense they took that one little nugget and think it's a slight no that's not true you're idiots then we get after the game and still on my comment page it's

Starting point is 00:29:06 Wednesday Thursday nonstop comments about how bad the officiating was by the way Kane Weechan's fumble, we never saw a clear recovery of USC. How about coming up the sideline, Sam Phillips is going to go in for a touchdown. He gets yanked from behind, no flag on that one. Offensive holding all game long, oh, but Iowa only had one penalty. Duck fans, guess what?

Starting point is 00:29:28 Iowa is the least penalized team in the country this year, the last five years, and the last 10 years, this is the way that Iowa plays. That group is definitely at the bottom my list of newbies. their online fan base sucks well i i like to refer to that group as the least sophisticated fan base in the country i'm sorry you've had that experience um we've been dealing with them a little bit longer than you have unfortunately but yeah they're uh there are there are a bunch of guys people lumberjacks um who you know they think they were born on third base problem is they can't get off a third base they're stuck there they've never crossed on play So they lash out

Starting point is 00:30:12 And they like to let everybody know Look how good we are Look how good we are Now talk to me when you've got A trophy in that trophy case So I feel your trend I'm sorry you had to deal with that You get to deal with them next week

Starting point is 00:30:26 I know well And I've been kind of I've been kind of soft teasing this a little bit If USC gets by Iowa this weekend Or I should be saying when USC gets by Keep everything positive Next week on the internet it could be some of the most toxic things you've ever seen um u s seen organ fans

Starting point is 00:30:45 they don't like each other there's no real rivalry there because u.ssies you look at you know historically u.ssss own that rivalry and for whatever reason whenever u.s. he has to play Oregon it's always up there it seems like um and guess what that's what we're playing again week after we play iowa so yeah um the internet might break it could get pretty ugly i'm going to be tuned it in next week for the crossover with uh with you Spencer. I will definitely be tuned in for that one. Who does Iowa have this week coming up? Well, before we get there, before we get there, let's get more game predictions,

Starting point is 00:31:18 getting ahead of ourselves. Look, before the rains came, I thought it was going to be nicer weather. I had USC 37, Iowa 13 to 17, somewhere right around that range, maybe 20 points. Now because it's going to be that inclement weather, I'm taking a touchdown off the board. I'm going USC 30, Iowa 13. team where do you see the game kind of same range i i just think that's a bad matchup for i'm hopeful that the rain is going to slow you guys down a little bit take away some of the deep passing thread

Starting point is 00:31:51 and and keep everything congested down a little bit can i will pass the ball enough to make them hurt i just can't get there i have 2716 USC winning this one and we didn't even talk about much during this one iowa has struggled so much on the west coast not just rose bulls um early in kirk's tenure. They went to Arizona and Arizona State. They got blown out by Arizona State back in 2004-08. They got beat by a pretty decent Arizona team when Iowa was really good going into that season. They've had so many troubles. In fact, Kirk said after that Arizona game, he was never going to go back to the West Coast. Well, now obviously he's got to do it every single year. But that aside, that's been another issue. Go back to last year. You guys saw the game

Starting point is 00:32:31 against UCLA where I was a lot better than last year's UCLA team. They just got beat by the Bruins. And so that's kind of another angle here until Iowa proves it that they can win a regular season game on the left coast. I got to see it before I'm going to actually call for it. Understood. And look, U.S.E was in a similar situation that they're feeling good right now. Last time they were going out to Illinois, and that didn't turn out the right way. They had all the advantages. Illinois had just gotten their butts kicked the week before, and things just didn't turn out that way.

Starting point is 00:33:01 So on any given Saturday, Trent, you never know. Like I said, you've got that running quarterback, which is something U.S. you have struggled with historically. You've got that gadget player in Caden Weichid, who also special teams, Maven. And if Iowa's bringing their lunchbox and they're coming to play physical, hard-nose, smash-mouth, Big Ten football, we'll see if U.S. he's up to that because they haven't been really good against the run to start the game. It takes them a while to kind of get revved up. And Iowa's had really slow starts this season, and they'll take the ball.

Starting point is 00:33:31 If Iowa wins the toss, they do not defer. They take the ball every single time, and then they usually turn it over and they're just a 7-0-0-0-0 last week. Trent, tell everybody where they can find you when you're not doing the Locked on Hawkeyes Show. What else do you do? Yeah, I host a daily radio show on the Iowa Sports Radio Network. I've been on the air now for 20 years here across the great state of Iowa,

Starting point is 00:33:54 106.3 KX&O in Des Moines and stations scattered across the state along with Locked on Hawkeyes. And I'm going to be busy coming up here this evening as we got the big school semi-final. So I got a couple of football games. I'll be calling on Friday night. Then on Saturday, making my way over to the Wild Rose Casino over in Jefferson. And we're going to have a meet and greet with former of that 2002 Iowa team against USC,

Starting point is 00:34:16 the tight end that won the Mackey Award. Dallas Clark's going to be there. So I'm going to be hanging out there, doing a little game watch, watching Iowa USC, and we'll have a rapid reaction locked on Hawkeyes after that one, too. Yep. I will be there for the instant reaction to the lockdown US sheet, usc show as well trent thank you so much for doing this uh hopefully we'll do it again soon you got basketball season so you never know right till that next episode everyone you know what to do

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - REDEMPTION: Can Iowa’s Kamari Moulton and Mark Gronowski BREAK USC’s Playoff Dreams at the Coliseum?

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