Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - SHOWDOWN: Iowa and Wisconsin Clash in MUST-WIN Big Ten Battle | Can GRONOWSKI Save Hawkeyes' Season?

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's the battle for the Bull, Iowa, Wisconsin, a big town 10 showdown with teams that aren't exactly sure about themselves. We'll break it down today on this crossover edition. It's Locked on Hawkeyes and Locked on Badgers. Welcome in. I'm Trent Condon. That's Ryan Hearings. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes or Lockdown Badgers your first listen every day. Glad to have you aboard with us here today as we break down the Hawks and the Badgers. Today's episode is brought to you by Mazda. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count,

Starting point is 00:00:34 pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for highlights. And this week's moving the game forward, Mazda move and be moved. Ryan, good to see you again. Here we go. Another edition. And boy, this one feels a whole lot different than what we're used to in the Wisconsin-Iowa matchups. I'm harketing back to me as a youngster and make him away, see family Madison,

Starting point is 00:00:56 go to the ball game. which I dominate under Norton. I don't think we've hit that point yet, but I can certainly feel the frustrations over there in Badgerland. How are you doing? Well, first of all, great to talk to you, as always. We're okay. We're all right.

Starting point is 00:01:14 You know, it is, this is, I'll say this, this game in particular, specifically for the Badgers, I don't know if Hawkeye fans know this or not. Badger fans, I think, for the most part, do. This was the game they highlighted for the entire. offseason. This Wisconsin team has been doing 42 pushups after every workout during the off season. If people want to know where 42 comes from, if you forget, it was that 42 to 10 lost to Iowa last year. This is a big, big game for the Badgers to turn this season, hopefully around, salvage it a

Starting point is 00:01:42 little bit. And Iowa coming to town, it's homecoming. It's a night game. There's a lot of former players coming in. This is a huge game for Luke Thickle in this program. I don't know if they're going to be able to pull it out, but it is a massive, massive game for the Wisconsin Badgers. As we're on both sides here, kind of, we'll each give a little bit of an overview of our squads. I'll start on the Iowa side of things. And it's been a disappointing start. Three and two record at this point, the expectations were that this team, maybe at minimum would be four and one, even five and oh at this point.

Starting point is 00:02:12 They let the Indiana game slip away. Look, it's a completed screen pass away from beating Indiana on a chip shot field goal. And we're having a completely different conversation. The Iowa State game in week two, same kind of thing. Plenty of opportunities, couldn't make plays late, gave up another 54-yard field goal for the second straight year, and they lose this one on the road to Iowa State. You know, there's parts of it that feel like Iowa's close, but as Bill Belshell said, you are what your record says you are, and this is a three and two football team.

Starting point is 00:02:38 So this is, I think, going to be a really big measuring block. You look at the Iowa schedule and what's still to come, still have Penn State, still have Oregon, rivalry games against Minnesota and Nebraska still to come. There's still a lot of meat on there. Oh, a road trip to USC on top of it. They got a tough slate in front of them. I'm going to guess much like Wisconsin. Iowa probably looks at this one.

Starting point is 00:02:58 This is a winnable game. This is maybe as close to a must win as you're going to have on October 11th for both of these teams. Yeah, I think that's really well said. I had somebody, I was talking to some Michigan guys before the Wisconsin-Michigan game. And you could tell Wisconsin has kind of gotten to the point where the Big Ten, and it hurts me to say this as a Badger fan. Other Big Ten schools and programs and teams and fan bases look at Wisconsin as a game that they can get now. And that's a relatively new development.

Starting point is 00:03:26 You look at this Badgers team, and you mentioned the Iowa slate coming up Wisconsin. After this game, you're going to have Ohio State. Then they're going to go to Oregon. And then they still got to play Indiana and Illinois and Minnesota and Washington. They need this. Like this, they absolutely, they needed the Maryland game, quite frankly, which they lost at home. They needed that game. And you and I talked about that before the season, some of the games you've got to get.

Starting point is 00:03:49 This is a massive game for Wisconsin. And if they don't get this one, there's a path here where we're Wisconsin finishes two and ten this season, maybe three and nine. This is a massive, massive game. And, you know, you look at Iowa coming in, in some ways it sets up okay for the Badgers. The Badgers have a pretty good rush defense. I think they'll be able to hang in there. But Iowa Special Teams is always pretty solid.

Starting point is 00:04:09 Once again, this year, Wisconsin is not. I'm curious, and I know we're going to talk about with the quarterback situation, what is the latest with Iowa? It's a whole lot of unknown at this point. And with Mark Grinowski, he exited the game. in the fourth quarter against Indiana was not able to come back in. At the time, Kirk Ferrence mentioned that he wasn't able to decelerate. That was the terminology that he used.

Starting point is 00:04:32 Speculation is something to do with the ACL that he tore his freshman year at South Dakota State. Same knee. Certainly, we do know that part of it and what the actual injury is, what's a strain. I took away from Tuesday and Kirk's press conference this. I think Kirk Ferrence was very surprised how he practiced, what he did. so they do morning practices at Iowa. And I think he was surprised what he saw that morning with him being able to move around, do some different things.

Starting point is 00:05:00 I think it went from last week, no shot he's going to play against Wisconsin to suddenly at the beginning of the week, hey, there is a chance. And now it's trending towards, I expect that we will see Mark Grinowski out there. Now, we'll see him out there. Here's the second part of it, though. What's he going to look like? Because Mark Grunowski's greatest strength as a quarterback is as a runner. He has seven rushing touchdowns this year.

Starting point is 00:05:21 his ability on those third and ones to get the first down seemingly every single time. The physicality that he brings to the running game, those are the elements of when things aren't they're able to tuck it and get those first downs. If you're talking about a guy that is limited because of a knee injury and not able to do those things, Mark Grunowski is a pocket passer only, I don't know if I'd rather have Hank Brown or even Jeremy Hecklinski out there, the Auburn and Wake Forest transfers respectively as opposed to him. And Mark Grinowski can't run.

Starting point is 00:05:49 I don't know how effective he can be. It's a really good point. And something I mentioned on another show I was doing because Wisconsin earlier this year, Billy Edwards was hurt. And they tried to rush him back for Maryland. He wasn't fully healthy. And part of Billy Edwards, not as much as Mark Grunowski, but part of Billy Edwards, sorry, is his mobility too. Right. So if you take that element away and you try to rush them back, I don't know if it makes a ton of sense because, hey, you could ding him up again and then you could lose him for the rest of the year potentially.

Starting point is 00:06:17 But it's such a big part of what he does. And this is a pretty good Wisconsin front seven that it'll put a little pressure on him. It'll put a little pressure on the Iowa running game, the Iowa offensive line. I don't know if it makes sense to rushing back either. And the badgers did that this year with Billy Edwards, and they're paying the price now because he got dinged up again because he couldn't use his mobility. And now they've lost him for several more weeks. Big picture-wise, it might make sense to hold off a little bit.

Starting point is 00:06:40 So it is going to be interesting to see. Take us over to the Wisconsin side. You mentioned Billy Edwards and the presumed starter coming in. they went in the portal and got out Billy Edward. I just, I still can't get over that from the offseason. But that aside, that's who they went with. Now tell us about the new guys, including the Southern Illinois transfer we saw a week ago.

Starting point is 00:06:58 Yeah, for the third year in a row, Wisconsin has lost their starting quarterback. Billy Edwards, as you mentioned, was the guy coming in from Maryland. The backup was Daniel O'Neill. He came in and he played pretty well against Middle Tennessee State. Not a good team, though. Middle Tennessee State, not up, certainly up to the level of Iowa by any stretch. He played pretty well. and then Alabama happened.

Starting point is 00:07:17 He got beat up. Offense line has been very good this year. So Hunter Simmons came in and he's really kind of taking the job a little bit. For Iowa fans, you're going to see a quarterback in Hunter Simmons. The archetype is a pocket passer. He is not mobile. He's going to need the offense line to keep him upright. But he's a little bigger.

Starting point is 00:07:32 He's a little bigger than Daniel O'Neill. He's 6-2, 6-3. He has a pretty good arm. He can spin it. He can hit more of those outrouts, more of those deep throws that Daniel O'Neill could. So, you know, think of maybe a Joel Stave-type-Wisconsin. for Iowa fans that might remember him. He's that type of player.

Starting point is 00:07:49 I think he's okay, right? He's a competent, okay quarterback. He has experience. He's a senior. He isn't played a ton of this level, obviously. But he actually looked pretty competent in Michigan, first road start in Ann Arbor with an offense that's kind of functionally broke around him.

Starting point is 00:08:03 Like, Wisconsin can't run the ball at all. Wisconsin's offense line is a sieve, you know, Siv this year. Like so he's been okay. And if you're an Iowa fan, I think you're going to see, Wisconsin tried to get him, get rid of the ball early, get rid of the ball quickly, maybe throw a little bit on a first down because the badgers have struggled running the ball this year. The rest of the Badgers team is a good front seven.

Starting point is 00:08:25 They've done really, really well against the rush this year, but the past defense has not been good. The corners have struggled. The safeties has struggled. A big injury at safety Preston-Zackman, one of our leaders, he's not going to play. Offense line has been a massive issue for Wisconsin this year. You had a couple injuries. They've shuffled people around, multiple starting rotations. We're not sure of our starting center is going to be out this week.

Starting point is 00:08:44 think he will be out again. It's been a big, big problem. They haven't been able to run the ball because of that, and they haven't been able to keep quarterbacks up right because of that. So that's kind of Wisconsin in a nutshell. The offense line's not been good enough. And the special teams have been poor this year as well. Another spot where Iowa coming into this game is going to talk more about this game. I want to talk about offensive line. It's Iowa, Wisconsin. We got to talk about the big boys up front. Iowa has graded out very well yet doesn't exactly marry with what I've seen this season. Wisconsin, they have struggles up front, which is just unfathomable when you think about this matchup. We'll talk about that. And plus the future of the programs,

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Starting point is 00:11:20 That's Fandual.com. Trent and Ryan, back with you once again here on a crossover edition. Locked on Hawkeyes and Lockdown Badgers. Thanks for making Locked on your first listen every day. If you're watching us on YouTube, make sure you hit that subscribe button, listen on the podcast side, five-star reviews, all that helps us get in front of more Hawkeye or Badger fans. All right, Ryan, offensive line.

Starting point is 00:11:44 What is going on? What is going on up front with this team and what they did? I mentioned during the DoorDash Streaks there, they look pretty good up front in that first drive of the game against Michigan, but after it was all downhill from there. It's just, it's unthinkable that Wisconsin's not good up front. It's it's unthinkable and it's inexcusable, right? I think both those things are true that if this doesn't ultimately work out for Luke Thickle

Starting point is 00:12:10 and certainly it's trending a certain way. You almost look back at offense line and quarterback is the two things that failed them, that they could never figure out. So heading into this year, they had a left tackle. They were really high on. He got hurt. And they just, there was no pivot. They had no backup tackle they could turn to.

Starting point is 00:12:28 They went to the portal to find a guy, Davis Hines in. They tried him at left tackle after one game. They pulled the plug on that. They said, nope, this doesn't work. Let's flip the right tackle, the left tackle. Let's move the guard to right tackle. Let's put a new center in. That center didn't work.

Starting point is 00:12:41 Let's try a new center. And let's move that old center to right guard. And that didn't work. It's just a disaster. And I don't know in the middle of the season how that really gets better, right? You can get better through continuity, some of these younger players that they've shifted around. But this is not going to be a good line at any point this year. Can it get a little better for sure?

Starting point is 00:13:00 If they're starting center, Jake Renfro gets back, could he make a difference? Absolutely. because he's a veteran player. But this is going to be an issue all year. And you couple that with the fact that you have young running backs who aren't at the caliber of some of the previous Wisconsin backs, at least yet, and injury issues at quarterback, this offense is just stuck in mud.

Starting point is 00:13:18 And you know this. Iowa fans know ball. They know this. If the offense line doesn't work, you can't scheme past that. There's no X's as O's to scheme around that. So it's been really bad. It's as bad as people say for hockey fans who have maybe heard Wisconsin

Starting point is 00:13:33 Badger fans talk about it. it is that bad. It has been that terrible. There were glimpses against Michigan. You're right. But I almost wonder if that first drive was Michigan not taking Wisconsin and this program very seriously, to be quite frank. Yeah. On the Iowa side, no one has an offensive line factor. Yet, you know, as we go through in really the last 15 years, until last season, when they put it together with Caleb Johnson, there was a lot of disappointment. I mean, I go back to, was it six years ago now, they had the best center in the country in Linderbaum, who you see dominating, with the Baltimore Ravens. You have Alaric Jackson, who's been a multi-year starter now with the Rams, including taking them to the Super Bowl, the best right tackle and now the best left tackle in the game in Treston works. They have those three guys on an offensive line, yet they stunk because their guard play was terrible. And they've had these individual pieces,

Starting point is 00:14:21 but they haven't been able to put it together until last year. Now you look at the numbers, and pro football focus has every one of these starters graded out an incredibly high level, and they're paying well. But at the level that they kind of paint it, I don't see it. Now, I wonder, is it more Iowa had a special running back last year in Caleb Johnson. I think we know that, but they don't have that special guy this year. The Iowa running game just has not been able to get unearth. And when you look at those grades, you think that they'd be better running the football. It hasn't been the case.

Starting point is 00:14:50 Now, the second part of that is Iowa's been really banged up and all of their running backs that have anticipated going to see extended playing time. All of them have been banged up this year. So we'll see. Camari Moulton, the presumed starter coming into the year. He averaged six yards of carry a year ago. in a backup role to Caleb. He got hurt in the first game.

Starting point is 00:15:07 He's been back, played a lot more than I think anybody anticipated against Indiana. If he's 100%, maybe things will look different at running back. But Xavier Williams, he's been out the last couple of weeks, a redshirt freshman who was outstanding early after that molten injury. He's back out there. They're not going to have Jazzy on Patterson this week. It's kind of your just dependable, solid running back that's been around and stuck around the program the last three years.

Starting point is 00:15:30 So there's faces there. It just been such a odd year because you would think, you look at those numbers up front, they don't exactly marry what Iowa's done this season in terms of running the football and even at times with past protection. So if you, Badger fans,

Starting point is 00:15:44 if you're just looking to say, oh, this Iowa offensive line must be great, I certainly haven't seen great. Good? Yes, I don't think they're at that great category. Let me ask you this. I don't think Iowa's going to be able to run successfully on Wisconsin consistently throughout the game.

Starting point is 00:15:58 I think the same is true for Wisconsin, by the way, not the only run on Iowa. Is Iowa in a spot, whether it, with the quarterback, injuries, and you mentioned some of the past protection issues, can they throw the ball enough to win this game? Can they say, we're going to throw the ball first, down, second down? Because the Badgers past defense has not been very good. The Badgers pass rush has been okay, but the secondary has been targeted. Is Iowa going to do that? Are they going to just say,

Starting point is 00:16:21 no, we're going to rely on special teams defense? It's going to be a 14, 13, traditional Big Ten West team, our Big Ten West game. Like, what is the offensive game plan for Iowa going to look like? You know, I think putting in the caveat, Grunowski, healthy, right? If Mark Granois is he's not going to be 100%. I think we know that, but at least throwing the football, what you can do, you know, able to move around the pocket, do those things. Yeah, I think you've seen enough. And you go back to last week or two weeks ago now against Indiana, there was a stretch where he hit 13 out of 14. I mean, he was tremendous for a long stretch in that game before the injury. So I think they can. The wide receiver, Sam Phillips, a speedster that they brought

Starting point is 00:16:57 in from Chattanooga. He's a little guy, but he's got wheels. He's been getting involved in maybe even a bigger component to that is Reese Vandersi is going to come back. this week. And he is their most dynamic wide receiver. He got injured walking up the stairs right before the season began, which was absolutely crazy as he had something bust up in the leg. But he's going to be back. I don't think he's going to play a ton, but can he look for 20, 25 snap, something like that? He's a big time red zone target with their injury at tight end. They really don't have that kind of guy. The rest of the receivers are not real big outside of Dayton Howard. So I think getting that big potentially red zone target is going to help and a guy that can go up and make

Starting point is 00:17:33 that play at 6 foot 5. So the return of Reese Vander Z, coupled with what we've seen the last three games with Grinowski throwing the football, I think they can. It's not their best path, but I think it's also going to be a path too. They're not going to chuck it 45 times. We know that. You guys know that. That's not going to be part of the game plan. But if Grinowski needs to go out there and go 21 to 29, throw for 210 yards, something like that, I think that is plausible with the way that they're built. Well, I think this Badger's Secretary, like I said, can be had. So that might be what you see for Iowa to maybe open up the running game a little bit. Conversely, Wisconsin is, I think they're going to have to try to throw the ball.

Starting point is 00:18:09 I don't think they're going to be able to run on Iowa. Iowa's rush defense. I think is right now is number one in the big 10 yards per game, yards per carry against. It's really stout as it always is against Iowa. So I would look for Vinnie Anthony. If you're an Iowa fan, Vinny Anthony, Lance Mason, Vinny Anthony is the best player in the team, probably. If not for Mason, Riger on the defensive line, it's Vinny Anthony, who he housed a kickoff returning against Alabama. He toasted an Alabama cornerback on another play

Starting point is 00:18:33 where we're just going to get in the ball. He's really good. I had nine catches last week against Michigan. Look for him to try to get involved. And then Lance Mason is a pretty good multidimensional type end that they brought in from the portal this year. I think in a more functional offense, he would be a bigger name.

Starting point is 00:18:45 He'd have better stats, but he's a really good player. They're going to have to throw. They're going to have to throw against Iowa because they cannot run the ball this season. How well that works, they'll depend on past production a little bit, which we talked about has been if you at Wisconsin. But I think both teams may need to throw a lot.

Starting point is 00:19:00 little bit to open up the run. And the team that's successfully able to do that might have the edge here. So before we flip the script here, I want to talk a little basketball, as I know you're in Chicago and going through media days, big picture with the program, because we've all heard that. Any Big Ten fan, any fan of this rivalry, certainly has heard what's happening, Wisconsin, fickle, the buyout, those kind of things. If he can, just fill us into the latest kind of what you're hearing. And if this thing does Crater look like it has a chance really to do, you know, I was giving a hard time and are locked on the squad show before the season about them going one and eight and the big 10 and maybe I overshot that one. However, if it does really fall apart here,

Starting point is 00:19:42 is Wisconsin in a spot that a buyout's going to happen? And what does the future look like if that plays out in that fashion? Yeah, that's a great question. And you're not wrong. You may have overshot the one in eight. If this thing goes off the rails, which there's a real chance and when I say goes off the rails, Wisconsin could win two or three games this year with the schedule and what's coming up and how they've looked so far. I continue to hear a lot of reticence from people when it comes to Wisconsin is going to pay the buyout. I'm just not sure. It's a roughly $25 million buyout. I don't think that's going to happen. Even with it like a three and nine season, unless this really goes off the rail where Iowa is 42 to 10 again. And then you get smashed by

Starting point is 00:20:21 Minnesota. Like those could always change the narrative. But I think if they're close, Wisconsin is just going to be hard pressed to pay the buyout because what people need to realize you pay the buyout but then you have to hire a new coach and then you have to have money for new assistance and then you have to give that coach NIL money like big picture and fans don't want to hear this for a program that isn't Texas A&M that isn't going to spend at that level it might make sense to take the poison pill another year fickle drop that buyout see if you can improve against an easier schedule and if not then you move on and you have more money in the cover for the next guy fans do not like to hear that I'm just relaying kind of what I'm thinking is going to happen.

Starting point is 00:20:59 The money's a real factor in Madison. On the Iowa side, say Iowa loses this game and mentioned, though not as difficult, those Wisconsin, a very difficult schedule for Iowa, say misses a bowl game. The heat's going to turn up in a big time way. As successful as Iowa's been, certainly over the last five or six years, it's still the struggles against the top level opponents. They go from seemingly pulling a big upset every single year, that's fallen by the wayside.

Starting point is 00:21:24 and a lot of times they've been blown out in those games. And, you know, if that starts to creep in a little bit more, you miss a bull game, we're talking about a 70-year-old coach. Not that Kirk Farrants is going to be fired. No, that's not going to happen. Iowa could go winless the rest of the year. They're not going to fire Kirk Farrants. However, the heat's going to be ratcheted up.

Starting point is 00:21:39 And that's going to certainly change here. So kind of intriguing game because of that on both sides too, kind of when we look big picture at the future of the programs, as we get ready for the night kickoff at Camp Randall. We're going to make our predictions for this game. Plus, we're going to talk some basketball, Iowa, with a new coach on the basketball scene and Wisconsin, more of the same

Starting point is 00:21:58 with Greg Gard, a top half finish. How high can the badgers finish? We'll talk about that as we continue on this crossover edition of Locked on Hawkeyes and Locked on Badgers. This episode is brought to you by Mazda's moving the game forward. For those who believe it's not just about playing the game, it's about redefining it.

Starting point is 00:22:18 There are moments that do more than put points on the board. They move crowds, move culture, and keep moving the game forward. This week's moment that moved the game forward is. Well, I mentioned earlier. How about Jones getting the end zone early? And all of a sudden, it looked like this Wisconsin team is live. We don't need to talk about what happened the rest of the way,

Starting point is 00:22:36 but gave themselves a good moment in Wisconsin, a good one. Iowa off this week. How about the game that moved the game forward? Getting healthy and maybe a surprise Mark Grunowski coming back for the Hawkeyes this week. When you follow what moves you, the unexpected is only the beginning. And just like there's more to every highlight, there's more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda, move, and be moved.

Starting point is 00:23:01 Back with you one final time here on this crossover edition of Locked-on Hawkeyes and Locked-on Badgers. Thanks for being with us today. And a big thank you to you every dayers with us every single day. We are your daily source of a podcast on both the Hawkeye and the Badger's side of things.

Starting point is 00:23:16 Ryan wrapping things up, Media Day. Did you get to hang out with the Hawkeyes? I mean, you had to be seeing stars getting to see Ben McCollum company, right? I did not spend a lot of time with the Hawkeyes. I did not. I'll tell you, I have a good friend who's on a Division I coaching staff. And when Ben McCollum got hired, the first thing he said,

Starting point is 00:23:35 oh, and he's just my good friend that coaches, but he's a Wisconsin Pan. He grew up here and said, that's a problem for the rest of the Big Ten. I know him. Like, that's a problem. He's going to do really, really well. So I did not run into any Iowa guys. I was pretty focused on what we were doing there for the Badgers. but I think that's just a tremendous, tremendous hire for the hot guys.

Starting point is 00:23:56 I've stated it this way. Iowa now has a coach that can turn into what Wisconsin's been the last 30 years. And, you know, in a way, Wisconsin's kind of taken what was Iowa's when I was growing up in the 80s and the 90s, right? What Iowa basketball was kind of Wisconsin's morphed into that team that can make a tournament. And they took it a step further playing for a national championship and doing those things. And Iowa's fell by the wayside in 87 when they had that opportunity. but that all aside, now it's time to take back with ours. All right, you guys go back down to the middle of the pack

Starting point is 00:24:26 and just fighting to be a tournament team. We're going to take that step forward to be that. I love the hire. I love Ben McCollum and living in Des Moines, seeing what he did just in one year at Drake was absolutely incredible. Nobody had any expectations what he did there. I think he's the perfect fit. He is the guy that kind of gets this program

Starting point is 00:24:43 and can get them back to that level that they were. The frustrations of Fran, fun to watch, get up and down the floor, well, offensively fun, watch, not watching them try to play defense. This is going to be the right how. How about Wisconsin? The expectations with Bennett Sturts coming in, preseason, all Big Ten, preseason, all-American, I think a minimum year number one Iowa tournament team.

Starting point is 00:25:03 How about you guys at Wisconsin? They're pretty high. Expectations are pretty high. And you return John Blackwell, who is an all big ten-ish type player, kind of tested the NBA draft waters last year. You returned Nolan Winter, who's, I think, is as talented as a big man in Wisconsin had, maybe since John Lue. He's really, really good.

Starting point is 00:25:22 And then they went out and they grabbed a really interesting player, Nick Boyd, San Diego State point guard, a guy who's been to the final four, a veteran player. And you look back at last year's Wisconsin team, and they just didn't really have a point card. John Tonja was great, and they're going to have to replace that shooting. But I think Boyd's going to be a great fit. There's pretty high expectations for this Badger's team. I think they're going to be deep. They're going to shoot really well.

Starting point is 00:25:43 Offensively, they're going to be one of the best teams in the conference. The question is going to be, how did they defend? And that was an issue they had last year. Losing Stephen Crawl in the middle. It's going to hurt the rebounding. It's going to hurt the post defense. But it's a pretty exciting team. And when you talk to people in the program,

Starting point is 00:25:58 around the program, players, coaches, they think they're in for a run. And I'll tell you this, Badger fans need it. We need some happiness to enjoy it right now. Well, well, come on, knock it off over there. We haven't been to a Sweet 16 since I was in college, 1999. Knock it off. That's fair.

Starting point is 00:26:14 That's fair. That's fair. Why don't we both go? We'll both go to a suite of it. Week 16. Now we're talking. I'll sign up for that right now. Absolutely. That's what we need to happen. It has been a long, long time. And I am certainly not going to cry for you, Badger fans, as it comes to what's happened on the hardwood. All right, let's wrap things up with football and wrap it up with our prediction coming up for the games under the lights at Camp Randall. Now, student section always late arriving, night kickoff. Do you expect that? I wonder this. If it's a slow start, a lot of them say, the hell with it. I'm just going to the bar. I'm just staying. on the tailgate lot. What do you expect to see? Just crowd overall.

Starting point is 00:26:51 There's going to be a lot of people there. It's going to be a good environment. It's a night game at Camp Randall, but both if things go poorly early on, and just the students, kind of where they are, as we sit at this point in the year. It's a great question.

Starting point is 00:27:03 The night game helps. It is homecoming, so you have some more people in time because there'll be just some more natural excitement because of that. It'll be a good crowd. I would watch if this thing gets ugly, for whatever reason.

Starting point is 00:27:14 Again, the Maryland game got ugly. The booze were out quick, like a chance in the booze were out quick. if you're an Iowa fan coming up to Madison A, have a great time. I have an incredible time. I hope you leave sad, but have a great time while you're here. Buy some varsity ale that helps our NIL. But yeah, if it gets ugly, you're going to see some booths.

Starting point is 00:27:32 You're going to see the frustration because this has been an ugly two and a half years for Luke Vickle. I think the crowd will be pretty solid, though. And it's because of the night game. It's because of homecoming. So it'll be a solid crowd. A lot of schlitz throughout the course of the day. be a lot of a lot of things throughout the course of the day.

Starting point is 00:27:50 All right. I got this for this one. I think it is going to be your traditional Big Ten West game. I think it's going to be ugly at times. There's going to be all the jokes on social media from all the national people. When they flip over and see this game and how ugly it is, maybe there'll be a safety involved. I got Iowa on a walkoff. Drew Stevens has struggled this year.

Starting point is 00:28:07 They're all Big Ten kicker from a year ago. He's got a big leg, though. He hasn't missed from 50 yards. He hits a 52-yarder to win it, 1917, on his fourth field goal. of the game. Iowa gets it done on a walk off to beat the badgers. And I'm sure the boo-birds will be out after that one because he'll let the crowd know. Listen, I'll be there in the stand. So I would break my heart if that happened. I think my other show, I had Iowa winning like a 14-13 game. I'm not sure how either team, especially Wisconsin, gets to 17 points in your

Starting point is 00:28:39 prediction. I don't know what the path for that is, to be honest. I think it has to be ugly. If you look at the fan-dil over-under, I think it's set at 35, 35 and a half is what I saw i think it's under like i think it's under that actually which is insane to me but i think it's under you said classic big 10 west i think it's iowa like 1410 1413 and i just go back to the fact when i look at these two teams i don't think either team's going to score a lot but iowa has the edge on special teams Wisconsin has shot themselves in the foot a lot this year close games special teams flips it you mentioned a walk off kick i could see a big return for Iowa. A block kick for Wisconsin. I hate it. I will love to be wrong at the end of this.

Starting point is 00:29:17 I do think I was just a little more well-oiled, unfortunately, and they come up with a tight land. There it is. Prediction time and our thoughts on the game brought to you by Fandul. He's Ryan Herrings. Make sure you check him out. Lockdown Badgers. I'm Trent Condon. Lockdown Hawkeyes. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes or Lockdown Badgers, your first listen every day. We also have our squad shows and Lockdown Big Ten with Craig over there doing great job. If you're a Big Ten fan, want a deeper look at every conference game. Craig's got you covered over there. We will be back with you with our reaction shows.

Starting point is 00:29:49 And a full slate of shows coming up next week. Basketball season starting to heat up as we are going here on both fronts. Thanks for being with us. Ryan, good talking with you. Always great, Trent. Appreciate the time. And again, for any Iowa fans coming up, I hope you have a hell of a time. And it's a good weekend for everybody.

Starting point is 00:30:04 We'll talk to everybody next time. Until then, I say go hawks. On Wisconsin. Let's go. Thank you.

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