Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - SURVIVOR: Iowa Escapes Michigan State as Kaden Wetgen & Drew Stevens DELIVER in Senior Day Victory

Episode Date: November 23, 2025

Iowa Hawkeyes survive Michigan State in a gritty 20-17 showdown, fueled by explosive plays from Kaden Wetjen and a game-winning kick from Drew Stevens. Can Kirk Ferentz’s squad turn stolen victories into postseason momentum with Nebraska looming and bowl implications at stake?Trent Condon recaps Iowa’s rollercoaster Senior Day, spotlighting Mark Gronowski’s second-half turnaround, Jacob Gill’s clutch touchdown, and a defense that stood tall when it mattered. Key topics include Iowa’s ongoing offensive struggles, Wetjen's record-breaking punt returns, and looming questions around bowl destinations—Tampa or Vegas. With the rivalry against Nebraska set for Black Friday, the stakes couldn’t be higher for the Hawkeyes. Is consistency enough to carry Iowa back to a prime bowl game, or will season frustrations spill into the finale?Follow Trent Condon on X: https://twitter.com/trentcondonLISTEN TO THE PODCAST: APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-hawkeyes-daily-podcast-on-iowa-hawkeyes-football/id1441592240SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0GTyz5ygevcGXdTF6QSoEoYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnHawkeyesSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It was ugly, but Iowa found a way. They get the win against Michigan State, and there's one reason Iowa has Cain Weegean and Michigan State does not. 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 Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. podcast. Thanks for making lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We are your daily Iowa

Hawkeye podcast coming to you after Iowa gets a win against Michigan State 2017. I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years and a lifelong fan as the Hawkeyes find a way. You can hear me on the Iowa Sports Radio Network each weekday from noon to two and stations across the state, including Des Moines on KX&O, along with Sioux City, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities. Today's episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes is brought to you by Game Time. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code Lockdown College for $20 off your first purchase. Today, we're going to just take a look back at this one, how Iowa finds away. What is still left here?

As Iowa has one game remaining Iowa with the senior day win against Michigan State. And Nebraska awaits next week, of course, a bowl game after that as we give you a rapid reaction podcast. Well, this was one where Iowa stole it. And in a season where Iowa has had so many of the what-if situations, right? What if you complete a screen pass against Indiana? What if T.J. Hall's arm is just a little bit higher against Oregon. What if? A lot of what-ifs.

Kate Wichin wears a size 9 shoe instead of 11 and its foot's in against USC. That has been this. What if Iowa State doesn't have a double? deflection for a catch on third down in a tie football game and Iowa would get the ball back in that one. Alas, you are what your record says you are, you're seven and four. And for all of those, this is one where Iowa got away with one. A first half of an aptitude all over the place. An offensive game plan that was hideous. The execution of that awful game plan was even worse. Mark Grinowski was nothing short of terrible throwing the football in the first half and the

offense as a whole couldn't get going. You know, in a game where Iowa had to run the football, came in against one of the worst rush defenses, worst overall defenses, they had to fight and claw and use all 60 minutes just to get 20 points in this game, including 13 in the fourth quarter. And before that fourth quarter, their only points came on a Cade and Weegean punt return for a touchdown. The Hawkeyes finished the game. Total offense 301.

Iowa pretty good 154 on the ground 147 through the air and there were some books that had Mark Grinowski's passing yard said yes 146 and a half and he just slides over that total I think Van Duel had at 1.38 at least

what I looked at on Friday. Friday that aside Iowa and an ugly football game in a game where if you lose it we're having a completely different conversation. It's not burn it all down but it's pretty darned and close to have that on the heels of those frustrations of the season and how close i was

been you lose to a winless in the big ten michigan state team at home things would have got ugly and they got ugly inside a kinnock stadium the boo birds were out as they should have been because that performance in many realms was awful i understand the defense a couple of times got some bad spots but the third quarter that did not look like the iwood defense We'd certainly grown accustomed to throughout the years. They were bad on that. Drew Stevens had a miss to end the first half as Iowa got an interception. Zach Lutmer made a play.

All right, going to get a score out of this one. Take that momentum in the locker room. Wide left. And that's just been the story of this one. And the season. It just hasn't all quite clicked at the way that you want. Credit to the senior class, though, making place. and from the defense

and guys like Llewellyn and Aaron Graves who made a big play that made a third and one on one of those final drives of the game to obviously Mark Garnowski coming up clutch. The touchdown grabbed by Jacob Gill and certainly the highlight of his Iowa career

comes in that moment in his final game at Kinnick Stadium making the touchdown and getting Iowa tied 17 apiece. And then Iowa gets the ball back and they get into field goal range and Drew Stevens after missing his first attempt, timeout was called. It was the opposite of what happened in the end of the first half.

He walks it off. And for a guy that has had certainly ups and downs in his career. And I think Drew Stevens, you go back to a couple of years ago, doesn't get the opportunity against Nebraska to kick the game winner. And to conclude his career at Kinnick Stadium like that, a pretty special moment. A guy that has all the physical traits, it's been more inconsistent, I think, than any of us wanted to see but that dude making that kick good moment we like those good moments and we like those things to happen certainly to the hawkeyes as we ponder how it goes all the credit in the

world to kane weegean to put together that kind of performance for kate weegean to do that over 140 yards rushing breaking tim dwight's punt return record for touchdowns in a career For a walk-on from Williamsburg, for a guy that comes in from Iowa Western, how's he going to fit? What's he going to do? And to turn into this, not a guy that was around for four years, not a guy they had opportunities, not a COVID guy that got five, six years. Just a great story. And that's what Iowa football delivers for us every single year. You can be upset about them not being able to take it to the next level, to go.

up a tier. You can whine and complain that they're never going to win championships under Kirk Farrants. Guess what? They're not winning championships over anybody. That's the new reality. The new reality of Iowa football in this structure, unless you've got an influx of cash coming from somewhere, they're not competing at that highest level. But what you can do is be a consistent winner. I've Kirk Farrants does that. I know the conversation with a loss here completely different. but they found a way. And it's good every once in a while to steal one. Steel one that you probably shouldn't have got.

But they did. And that's where we are. We continue to dive a little bit deeper into this one, a rapid reaction podcast after Iowa gets a win over Michigan State. Stay right there. We got more. Take a look at the defense. Some of the stalwarts over there,

how Iowa got it done. And Nebraska right around the corner. Talking Iowa football as we roll through. This is Locked on Hawkeyes. college football is wrapping up this season still couldn't be more excited for it the tailgates the rivalries energy in the stands there's nothing like college football but let's be real actually getting tickets can feel like more of a battle than the game itself you got endless cues hidden fees prices jumping at checkout that's why i use game time it's the app that gives

the advantage back to the fans the easiest way to score last minute tickets at the best prices with no surprise fees. You can find your way next week. We want to make your road trip over to Lincoln and Memorial Stadium. They got you covered there with some great tickets on Black Friday as the Hawkeyes take on the Huskers. Maybe it'll be the ball game. Wherever Iowa ends up, could be in Vegas, could be in Tampa, and a whole other host of

destinations. That is where you can be to watch the Hawkeyes and you can get your tickets on game time. I love the ability for you to see exactly where you're going to be inside the the stadium. And if you're going to a new stadium, maybe you've never been to Nebraska before, you can see what your seat looks like right there on the game time app. Take the guesswork out of buying college football tickets with game time. Download the game time app, create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, promo code locked on college. L-O-C-E-D-O-N-C-O-L-L-E-G-E for $20

off. Swipe ticket go. Download game time today. Trent Kahn, and back with you once again here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network. Iowa with the win 2017 over Michigan State inside the numbers here. And for Iowa, Mark Grinowski, after that slow start again, is it like we talked about the first game of the season? Senior day, two amped up, looked like it, just looked off.

in the first half he settles in goes 12 to 22 147 yards and a touchdown also had that interception one of the worst interceptions maybe of his career i mean that was just guessing you're just absolutely guessing on that interception that was grabbed down at the five yard line look like an arm punt somebody on twitter said looked like Tommy armstrong former husker just chucking one up there easy pick well you don't have a punter anymore that can put it inside the five yard line guess you just do it on first down with a punt and an interception and that's what happened there. Kamari Moulton, another hard-earned 18 carries, 78 yards.

It's what you get you? It's the old Leroy Horde. What was the quote he had? You need two, I'll get you three. You need four, I'll get you three. That's not Kamari Moulton. You different kind of running back, but we just have been waiting for that big moment, that big play,

and I thought it was going to come here against this Michigan State rush defense had been pretty bad throughout the course of the season. Didn't come again. Grinowski 11 of 57. A couple of really important runs, though, during the course of this football game. Saw more Jazzy on Patterson. Six carries 24 yards for him.

Two for two yards for Xavier Williams. Had a jet sweep with Weegean. That went for a yard. And then Treau, Washington play looked like they were setting up a throwback to the quarterback as they were trying to get it back to Grinowski on that play. It was blown up, and he lost eight yards on that play as they were trying to set something up on that one.

Leading the way in receiving, It was Jacob Gill. We talked about his touchdown, which was absolutely huge for this team tie in the football. He had those four grabs for 23 yards and a touchdown. 13 of them came on the touchdown grab. Three catches for 31 yards for DJ Vonamy, who's going to be a factor going forward and excited about his future. Two catches for Moulton.

Two catches, 46 yards, two big ones out of Reese Vander Z. And also a big catch out of Sam Phillips. That is the past catchers in the game. Two or three in field goals for Drew Stevens. We talked about him. How about, though, the punt returns. Three returns, 147 yards, averaging 49 yards per return for Caden Weechin. Why do teams continue to punt the ball to him?

And I thought maybe Michigan State has employed the best strategy that we've seen throughout the course of this year. Eckley, their normal punter, was outstanding four times outside of the 11-yarder that he chunked out to the right side. But beside that, he had a couple of boomers. the problem, its coverage unit wasn't very good. And Caden Weegean is just an absolute stud. Alessio Milovichek.

Not even close. Sorry, Matt Sheehan helped us out on a crossover edition this week. The punts, though, that they used with him, it was brilliant. And you're not going to put Caden Weegean back there safety on fourth and two. So you go that direction. And he was able to pin Iowa deep a couple of different times. Iowa defensively, Carson Shire, what a performance out of him. He was all over the place, him, Enteringer, Lutmer, Wampa.

The defensive backfield, along with Shire, tremendous, tremendous out of those guys. Talked about some of the pressures out of the defensive line. Iowa in this football game, third quarter wasn't good defensively, but outside of that, I mean, that defense was just, they were everywhere. I'm making the plays, doing what you always anticipate. Iowa defense is going to do. Bringing up the official numbers here. I want to get those in front of me.

Here it is. Ten tackles total for Carson Shire in the game. Also had a sack, what a two sacks, him and Hercet, had the two sacks in the game. Seven tackles for loss, though. Three of them came from Shire. Tackle for loss for Lutmer, one for Wampa, two for Herkit, along with that sack. And do they have hurries in there? Yeah, two for Shire, had one.

out of Entringer. They were credited with nine. How about three for Max Llewellyn? I won a piece for Brian Allen and Jonah Pace. Thought Pace played really well, though we only finished the game with the tackle. Pace was really disruptive in there, out of this defense. Add it all up, I will get the win, 2017, somehow, some way, and now it's the Huskers. This is a game that you kind of want to flush, right? You're ready to move on quickly. We'll still talk about it. I'll take another second look at. at it on Saturday, a Sunday night, and we'll get our second look at things, get ready for the week ahead.

And it's a different kind of week with it being Black Friday, quick turnaround. Obviously, Iowa with a less day to prepare in Iowa, you know, they're home, they're ready to go. Nebraska, what time are they going to get back from Penn State as they play the Dittany Lions on Saturday night? What's that going to look like for them and just condenses down their schedule a little bit? I did see that there is a line out from Fanduel was a little bit surprised. The opening line that I saw here on Saturday evening at Iowa,

a five and a half point favorite on the road at Nebraska. It always comes down to a field goal, right? It always comes down to a kick at the end. At least it feels that way. Five and a half, it feels a little hefty there on the Hawkeyes. We'll talk a little bit about more of that game. What it means and what does a win mean in terms of Iowa's bowl game. We'll talk about that as we react here. It's a locked on, Hawkeyes podcast.

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wrapping up Iowa's 2017 win over Michigan State. They moved to 7 and 4 on the season, and it is Nebraska up next. Now, if this game plays out, and we see both these teams come in there with similar records, Nebraska, weren't a touchdown underdog against Penn State. They fall in that one. then I think it's very simply for Tampa.

Now, things could get all screwed up. If Michigan, where the game, goes out and beats Ohio State, they're in the college football playoff at 10 and 2. I remember one of their two losses this season came out of conference against Oklahoma. You don't want to discredit somebody going out there and actually scheduling a difficult game. And it's Michigan. It's not Iowa.

It's not Wisconsin. It's not Northwestern or Rutgers with that kind of record. it's Michigan. They're getting in, folks. They're getting in at 10 and 2. All it takes is for them to beat a team that is a lot better than them. But as we've seen in this game, weird, weird things happen. I don't anticipate it.

On the surface, I think they get blown out. But we always have to put that out there. And if that happens, the likelihood is then that the Big 10 will get four teams in the college football player. Ohio State's a lot. Indiana's a lock. Oregon, close to a lock with the win that they got today against USC, even if they lose next week the Ducks would against Washington. I still think they're in good shape.

They would be tended to in that scenario to get in. And then really the only path that is out there would be just that. That Michigan, the 10 and 2 with an upset win against Ohio State, they're getting in to the college football playout. But the likelihood is Ohio State will win. It'll be three from the Big Ten, and then the trickle-down starts. Where does Michigan go? Iowa, Nebraska, maybe fighting for Tampa.

The old Outback Bowl now, what, the LiQuest? Is that what it? I'm sorry, I don't get paid by those advertisers. The game in Tampa, the old Outback Bowl. That's what we're talking about. It's what of Kirk's favorites. He's been there a ton. It's been since 2019, though, that the Hawkeyes have been in that bowl game.

And we know Tampa would love to have Kirk Ferrence and the Iowa. Iowa fans back once again have traveled incredibly well. However, Nebraska made a bowl game last year. Remember where the Huskers were shipped to New York? Now, they're just happy to be in any bowl game, and they traveled pretty well and better than most of their Big Ten brethren outside of the East Coast schools to that matchup in the Pinstrype Bowl a year ago. However, a warm destination a program that before that hadn't been to a bowl game in a decade. Yeah, they're star to make a trip. And Nebraska would travel better than Iowa what. It's also this new environment.

You know, in the frustrations of this year, the possibility, the path that was there for Iowa to pull a couple of big upsets and get into the college football playoff, and that obviously will not happen. Plus bowl games in general. Who's playing? Who's sitting out? Are we going to have opt-outs?

Are we going to have guys that are not going to be playing in this game? It turns into, it's already a glorified exhibition, but it goes to another level in this different environment. I think a win, I was going to Tampa. A loss, I think it gets a little more tricky. Iowa's been to the Music City Bowl a ton. Las Vegas appears maybe to be a more realistic destination for them. That game is on December 31st.

So if that plays out in that fashion, well, New Year's in Vegas doesn't sound like a bad trip. If you're looking to follow the Hawkeyes for that one, likelihood they're going to be taken on a team in the Big Ten possibly, like a Washington, because the tie-ins are still available for the legacy Pack 12 schools and the bowl connections that they have. We got a game more before that, though, and we'll have it all figured out. Thanks for being with us here today as we get ready for next week and the quick turnaround.

It should be a wild wacky week and, of course, it's going to be a big basketball week. Coming up on Saturday evening, the Iowa women getting ready to watch that as they face off against Miami and try to pick up their second win down in Florida after the nice win against Baylor in an ugly, ugly basketball game. They got the victory against the Bears Miami on deck next. Gawar Iowa is favored still without chit-chat right. Who's going to be the point guard? How is that going to look in the ball handling duties that are going to happen against a pretty athletic Miami team?

Something to keep an eye on in that one. Regardless, though, we'll be talking about it next week. We'll break things down. Basketball for the men's side, huge, huge matchup for them against Old Miss and really our first barometer to see how good this Iowa basketball team is against Chris Beer. and that old Miss squad on Tuesday. So we're going to have a lot of basketball. I want to talk a little wrestling, too,

coming down the heels of last week in the national duels. They got a big win on Friday night against Pittsburgh shutting out the Panthers in dominating fashion. We'll talk some wrestling. The season comes to a close for the women's soccer team. What a run they had, losing to LSU in the NCAA tournament. Tons of things going on. And, of course, it's football.

We always remember football here. We are your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast. I am Trent Condon. Thanks for being with this and making Locked-on Hawkeyes again, your first listen every day. Glad to be with you and glad to be on the Locked-on Network, now number one for sports podcast and the number one sports podcast network. We will talk to you again on Monday.

Another look back at the win against Michigan State. Dive into the numbers a little bit deeper with the numbers from pro football focus. That all comes your way on your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast, Locked-on Hawkeyes. We'll talk to you then. Until then, go Hawks. Thank you.