Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - REVOLUTION? Iowa Hawkeyes GAIN EDGE Amid Jamie Pollard’s REQUEST for Big Ten and SEC Breakaway

Episode Date: May 20, 2026

Iowa Hawkeyes storm back with a dramatic win over Illinois in the Big Ten Baseball Tournament, fueled by clutch hitting from Max Burke and lockdown relief pitching by Jaren Bleeker. One more victory against Michigan State sends Rick Heller’s resilient squad to the quarterfinals—can Iowa keep their postseason hopes alive in Omaha? Host Trent Condon tackles the future of the storied Cy-Hawk football rivalry as conference realignment rumors swirl. With Jamie Pollard pushing for a Big Ten–SEC breakaway, what’s next for Iowa State—and is this the beginning of the end for annual showdowns in Kinnick and Jack Trice Stadium? Plus, key insights on Iowa’s schedule flexibility, recruiting updates, and what realignment could mean for college sports nationwide. Don’t miss this deep dive into Hawkeye baseball’s playoff push and the changing landscape of Iowa athletics. Follow Trent Condon on X: https://twitter.com/trentcondon LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-hawkeyes-daily-podcast-on-iowa-hawkeyes-football/id1441592240 SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0GTyz5ygevcGXdTF6QSoEo YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnHawkeyes Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. 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.

Iowa State Athletic Director Jamie Pollard says it's time for the Big Ten and SEC to break away. What that means for the future of the Sihawk game and much more. 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, your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast. Iowa baseball with a big comeback win today against Illinois in the Big Ten baseball tournament. We'll break things down and look forward to the path that the Hawkeyes have in front of them.

One more victory puts them into the quarterfinals if they can get a win against Michigan State. We're going to talk about the future of the Sighawk game and what that looks like on the football field as the contract is coming to a close here in just a couple of seasons. But our conversation begins today on a little bit of a different note from where we normally begin. obviously very Iowa-centric here and very heavy-handed on that front. But on Monday, Jamie Pollard was talking to media members that were assembled in Des Moines for their Cyclone Tailgate Tour, much like Iowa's I Club Tour. And we have talked a lot about that as I was in Des Moines for that stopover.

Now a couple of weeks back. And Jamie Pollard had some interesting things to say. They were to talk about what their Sightown vision is looking like and how things are going there. None of that really matters. What we do is we bring it back to Iowa and the way that things are going to look, obviously for this Hawkeye program overall in the Athletic Department in Iowa City.

But J.B. Pollard said, he believes that if the Big Ten and the SEC are ready to break away to just do it, to just move on and to see how this looks going forward then in college athletics. Now, selfishly from an Iowa perspective, this would be a good thing for the University of Iowa and the Athletic Department in comparison

to their cross-strait brethren. When you look at the continued gap that grows between Iowa and Iowa State in terms of budgeting, in terms of what they're bringing in TV revenue-wise because of the Big Ten's deal and what they're being able to bring in year in and year out, it is significant. And it is a big change from what we've seen here recently. There's always been a gap. Iowa has always been at the bigger table, if you will, and getting bigger helpings from the TV contracts of the Big Ten. But that gap just continues to grow.

And as we see, the numbers increasing $75, $80 million a year for each Big Ten program. And those numbers in the $35 million range for Big 12 programs, that gap is pretty significant. This has been bandied about for a number of years and the likelihood that eventually we're going to see the SEC, the Big Ten move off for football and form their own coalition, form their own conferences, basically the two power brands playing against each other and that's it. You can maybe look at the Premier League in English soccer and the way that that played out. That might be somewhat of an apt comparison. Now there's relegation there, something that's not going to happen in college football. But it's always been a football conversation.

One point, though, that Jamie Pollard brought up, that I brought up before, is what happens to the rest of the sports? Because if you're breaking away from the NCAA and you're forming just something with the power two of the Big Ten of the SEC, what does that mean going forward? Does that mean that Iowa year and year out is going to be playing a 12 game conference 12 games schedule every year that is comprised only a Big Ten in SEC games? What does that mean about getting into a playoff? What does a playoff format look like as we look like we're going to expand to a 24 team, a playoff coming up here starting in 2007 and the likelihood that that's going to happen?

So you have all these factors and you look at a big picture from an Iowa perspective. Obviously getting Iowa state out of there and diminishing that brand, not being a power for conference anymore on the football side of things. That is a help of Iowa. And you look through the years and you just think of what Nebraska has been. Well, there's no Nebraska state. What Wisconsin has been? There's no Wisconsin state.

And because of that, what a brand like that, what a diminished Iowa state, what that can mean. But the question about what happens to the other sports. Because I will tell you, frankly, as somebody that loves college basketball, this college basketball tournament comprised of only SEC and Big Ten teams is not very compelling and not very interesting. The other part about this and the part that I think a lot of the backlash is happening towards Jamie Pollard with these comments is it is really spiting yourself. Because if this plays out, it's not just going to be the 16 teams currently in the SEC and the 18 teams currently in the Big Ten. those two conferences are going to expand even more. And they're going to add in the North Carolinas, the Clemsons,

the Florida states, the Miami's of the world, trickle down maybe even to the Big 12 with a BYU, a Utah, the Arizona schools, Texas Tech with the Cody Campbell money, all those different places are still going to be there. They're going to certainly look a whole lot different than the way that it's currently comprised. And when you look at maybe 24 teams is the magic number that both these conferences are looking for and becoming for certainly the Big Ten,

even a bigger national brand. And you bring in, obviously, Notre Dame needs to be part of that conversation. You add them to the mix. A Miami, a Stanford, North Carolina, Kansas, Georgia Tech, institutions like that, not just athletic departments, but also the academic side of things when you're adding those kind of institutions coupled with what the SEC would do. and adding Florida State, Texas Tech, Clemson, the Arizona schools, Utah, Colorado, PYU, something in that realm. And both these conferences get to 24.

Well, that leaves Iowa State then completely on the outside looking in. And whatever is left over out of the Big 12 in the ACC, coupled with the remaining group of six programs that are out there from the Sun Belt Conference, Conference USA, the Mac, the new Pac-12, those kind of places, what that exactly looks like. And what kind of championship in football are you playing for? The other side, though, that I do wonder, if this plays out. If we get to this for football, if this coalition between the SEC and the Big Ten, they take it a step further. And they still will invite to their championship event, formerly the NCAA basketball tournament and baseball tournament. And all the other sports that are out there, they will invite the other schools. Because what are you going to do?

You're going to look at the money, obviously, that is going to be there from the Big Ten SEC. coalition compared to what the remaining ACC and Big 12 schools can provide under the NCAA umbrella. And if you're conference champion from the Sunbelt from Conference USA and basketball, the Missouri Valley Basketball Conference, what are you going to be looking at? What in the end is going to likely pay you more money? It's going with the big brands. And again, we come full circle and what that means for them.

This would be good news for Iowa. This absolutely would be something that would help them out financial. and help them out here in the state of Iowa. Jack Troy Stadium is the third biggest stadium in the Big 12. That place holds 60,000 people. We know about Hilton Coliseum, but a diminished brand for Iowa state, that's a good thing for Iowa.

Jamie Pollard, interesting comments, no doubt about it. What does the future of the Sihawk football game look like? We're coming to an end. I think some people are missing that. We'll tackle that next as we continue. This is Lockdown Hawkeyes. The NBA playoffs are here and every possession matters. If you're looking to get even closer to the action,

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Trent, kind of back with you once again on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So if you heard my radio show on Tuesday, you might have noticed or heard me speaking about this weird shoulder injury that I have. Yes, I am battling some kind of weird thing for sleeping on my shoulder wrong. So I have the thunderstorms on, what did that been, Monday night? And because of that, my 6-year-old son was in the bed when I came back upstairs, and he was sleeping in there.

So, you know, he's all cock-eyed, and I wake up. So I'm hurting. So if you notice, if you're watching us on YouTube and hit subscribe while you're there, you might notice from time to time and kind of stretching out my shoulder, stretching out my arm a little bit, we're walking wounded here. But we're going to still persevere and bring you a podcast here today. day. I want to talk about the big contract, excuse me, between Iowa and Iowa State. It was extended a couple years ago, goes through the 2007 season. And with it, we've had this game

yearly outside of 2020. We've had this game each and every year dating back to the late 1970s. And this is a game that inside the state borders has been incredibly good. The renaissance of Iowa State football after a very good run in the 1970s, obviously dissipated during the 80s and much of the 90s before Dan McCartney finally got things turned around. And big part of that was that win back in 1998 against the Hawkeyes ending the 15-game winning streak from Iowa. And this has been a battle ever since. And we have definitely seen that play out in the field.

Recently, Matt Campbell's had Kirk Farrants' number and the frustration that has been derived from that here's certainly these last couple of years. But there's only two years left on the contract. We'll have the game this season coming up at Kinnick Stadium, 2027, back at Jack Tri Stadium. And then after that, there's nothing on the books. And from the sound of things, you wonder about the flexibility that both these institutions want to employ. Now, Iowa State still playing two-for-one games against some mid-major programs that are out there. Last year, they were at Arkansas State.

They got an upcoming game coming up against Tulane in a couple of years. They got some odd ones, certainly, on there and what they're doing scheduling-wise. But from their perspective, doesn't make sense for this to continue. From a season ticket base, I think absolutely. for Iowa State, they want it to continue to have that season ticket base because you look at the rest of the home schedule many years and this new look Big 12, it is completely different. There's no opportunity to have Texas and Oklahoma obviously come in

and how different that can look. That is a huge change to the way things go. So you have that component to it. And you go through some of those schedules year after year. There just aren't a whole lot of shiny must have kind of games that are on the Iowa State schedule every single year. where opposed to Iowa, you know, at minimum, you're going to have a game at home every year against Nebraska, Wisconsin or Minnesota.

You got the rivalry component. Obviously, the big dogs this year, Ohio State comes to town. Last year, it was Oregon, some of those matchups that we've seen recently. You get new big names. You got some new names that are coming in that helped diversify this schedule. It was Washington two years ago. Oregon last season, so you get some new flavor that goes along with your traditional Big Ten. And after Iowa gets through the gauntlet this year to open up Big Ten play,

goes back to play in the Big Ten West. And that's going to be the final six games of the year on the slate as against teams that you know, teams that are from around here. And he definitely had that connection, something that is different in the Big 12. I know one of the frustrations for many Hawkins fans, myself included, is when Iowa had an opportunity a couple of years back to face Notre Dame and Soldier Field.

And in order for them to pull that off, they needed a one-year hiatus from the Seahawk game. And Jamie Pollard said, no. He said that wasn't going to happen. And because of that, I think that might have been the final straw for a lot of fans. During the old days of the Big Ten, I wanted to see a hiatus. Two years on, two years off with this game. Just to provide Iowa some more flexibility in their non-conference scheduling,

it's not like they were going to go back and do what Iowa did in the late 80s, early 90s, when they were taking on Colorado and Miami and just an absolute gauntlet after Hayden Fry had built the program up in the way it was, that's not the likelihood and that's not the way Kirk Farrants is going to go. But we've seen the home and homes in the past back when they had four non-conference games against Syracuse, against Pitt. They had one scheduled against Missouri before they tucked their tails and bought themselves out of the contract,

just getting something a little bit different in the non-conference. That's not as important to be as it once was, A, with the addition and the move up to nine conference games, as opposed to the eight that it was previously, but also because we have the new teams currently in the Big Ten. And as I talked about earlier with the future and maybe even more teams being added, by the time we get to 2030 right in that range, again, that diversification is going to happen.

I don't think it's going to be extended. I don't believe we're going to see anything more out of this contract. We don't know the thought process behind the new Iowa State head coach as well with Jimmy Rogers. So that's going to be something certainly to keep an eye on. But just want to put that out there and something to ponder and think about a little bit. It's very well could be the final game coming up this September against Iowa State for the foreseeable future inside of Kinnick Stadium. If it plays out there with one more after in 27 at Jack Trice. Coming back on the other side, it was a big day for Iowa baseball down for nothing early.

The Hawkeyes come roaring back against Illinois. Now one win away from punching their ticket into the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament. We break it down next. Locked on Hawkeyes. Back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Well, down for nothing. It was happening during my radio show,

which you can catch each weekday from noon to two on the Iowa Sports Radio Network with stations in Des Moines with 106.3 KX&O along with Sioux City, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities. Again, noon to two, it's called Miller and Condon and hope you can join us over there as we talk plenty of Hawkeyes and a lot more diving into the world of sports. It's going on. Look up. It's for nothing. I look again. It's four three. Came roaring back. So watch it on the DVR after I got home in the afternoon as I was icing my sore shoulder again because of great sleeping habits.

It's just absolutely incredible. But what I was, you just saw a team that's grinding. And you go back to last weekend against Purdue, a very good Purdue team, though they got upset themselves here in their first game of the Big Ten tournament. And that sets the table for tomorrow's matchup. we'll talk about here momentarily against Michigan State. But all three of those games, Iowa Trail. And you just saw a group of guys and guys like Maxper, just not afraid of the moment, down in the game, they weren't pressing, they were loose, they were ready, and they knew the opportunities were going to get there.

And that was absolutely the case for them. I thought they played incredibly well. They didn't press. And you definitely saw the way that they played out. Come back, get the 10-6 victory, a big home run that really opened things up in their big ending there towards the end. Jaron Bleaker was outstanding for them out of the bullpen as well. Maybe used him a little bit more.

But there was something, Kyle Huesman from Hawkeye Report had a really good nugget that talking to Coach Heller after the game, he mentioned that Coach Sutherland, the assistant coach for the Hawkeyes, mentioned to the guys going up to the plate when the reliever came in for Illinois, who's got a good basketball, but he throws a lot of off speed. And he went up to those guys and say, instead of looking fastball all the time, look off speed. You saw that definitely play out as Iowa gets the comeback victory. Now just to win away from getting into the quarterfinals.

We talked about it before the Big Ten tournament began. The likelihood is I was going to have to win the Big Ten tournament in order to punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament. They win this one, though. It sets up the bracket. We bring the bracket back up again for you if you didn't get a peek at it. In fact, Washington and Ohio State still going on in the final game from Omaha here. evening. But Michigan State, the 12 seed upset Purdue, also got Michigan 10 running Rutgers in their

game. So if Iowa beats Michigan State, they move on as the winner of game five. They will move on to face off against a winner game seven, excuse me, against USC the four seed. Iwa played USC earlier this year out there, lost all three of the games, but relatively competitive all three. It's going to be a tall task. You win that one. Then on top of it, you have to face off against likely UCLA in the semifinals. And then you have a championship, maybe against Nebraska, in their home state in order to finish it all off. But obviously a win here against Michigan State goes such a long way. Keeping at least that bullpen not as taxed as opposed to have to them win an elimination game the day after they would take on either Purdue or Illinois.

Again, if they do lose this game against Michigan State. Iowa played Michigan State earlier this year. Spartans took two out of three, but Michigan State really hasn't been playing great baseball. They jumped on Purdue earlier here today. A very winnable game, an opportunity for Iowa to move on to get there and give a little glimmer of hope to make it happen into the single elimination bracket. Like the structure, the way that the Big Ten put this together, top four seeds earn a buy into the quarterfinal round. The remaining teams then, the eight other teams, seeds five through 12 then, play the double elimination style bracket in order to get there. I think it makes the importance of the regular season definitely grow when you do something like that.

And finishing in the top four of a big league like the Big Ten, a 17 team baseball league with Wisconsin not having baseball. It definitely shows you the importance of it. Game in, game out, every single one of them. And Iowa baseball, always front. You know, talked about this last week. Rick Heller, what he does year after year, just one, at least a game in 10 of the 11, Big Ten tournaments that they've been involved in. year after year, the consistency of this program. They've had some hard times this year.

Yet here they are well above 500 or over 500 now in the Big Ten when you couple in the win against Illinois here today and a chance to move on to the quarterfinals. And they can just beat the 12 seed against Michigan State. That is the task in front of them. That will be a 5 o'clock first pitch from Omaha on Wednesday. That'll do it for today. I got to go ice this shoulder.

We'll be back with you though with a full show tomorrow. We got a lot. to talk about. We'll continue our previews. We've got to get into the tight end position, something we haven't hit in our post spring football look around the different position groups. We'll have that for you. Some basketball news and notes also starting to come out on the recruiting front. We talked a little bit more about that yesterday. We're with you each and every day. Make sure you hit subscribe if you're watching us on YouTube. If you're on the podcast side of things, five star reviews, all that helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans.

And if you are an everyday listener here of lockdown Hawkeyes, make sure you check out the Everydayer Club. It's an opportunity for you to get the same show you watch, you listen to every single day, but get it ad free. What you want to do right now, go to locked on hawkeyes dot supercast.com. That's Lockdownhawkeyes. Dot supercast.com and you can join the Everydayer Club there. We also have for you a few other things, including Discord access, where you can get involved. You have questions for me, direct access, anything that you want to see on the show. It's the offseason coming in front of us. Anything that you want to tackle during the the offseason, any thoughts, ideas that you have passed along to me on our Discord server.

That'll do it for today. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes, your first listen every day. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Until then, go Hawks.