Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - The Latest on Iowa QBs, Defensive Back greatness & team captains for 2024

Episode Date: August 20, 2024

Locked on Hawkeyes PodcastHosted by Trent CondonWelcome to the Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast, your go-to source for all things Iowa Hawkeyes football! Join host Trent Condon as he takes you inside the la...test buzz surrounding the intense quarterback competition between Cade McNamara and Brendan Sullivan. With new offensive coordinator Tim Lester at the helm, we'll explore how his schemes and approach might influence the team's dynamics and play-calling this season.But that's not all—Trent dives deep into Iowa's defensive backfield, breaking down the standout cornerbacks vying for starting roles, including the return of stars like Xavier Nwankpa and Quinn Schulte. Get insights into the team's depth and how these players will shape Iowa's defensive strategy as they gear up for the season.Also on this episode, we delve into the recently announced 2024 Player Council, spotlighting key returning players and their experiences that will be crucial as the Hawkeyes look to make an impact on the field this year.Tune in for expert analysis, player interviews, and all the latest updates as the Hawkeyes prepare for an exciting season ahead!For your next listen, check out the Locked On College Football podcast! From NIL deals to never ending conference realignment rumors, Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the gridiron! Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON to get started.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)

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Starting point is 00:00:00 We made it. College football is back this week. The Iowa Hawkeyes still a week and a half away from getting their season starters open up against Illinois State. What's the latest in the quarterback situation and a deep dive into Iowa's defensive backs all today? Locked on Hawkeyes. You are locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, I'm Trent Cotton, and this is the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked on Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube.
Starting point is 00:00:44 While you're there, make sure you hit the subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Now through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FanDuel.com slash locked on to get started. Well, the weekend has come and gone. And with it, the final big scrimmage over in Iowa City.
Starting point is 00:01:13 It is close to the media. It is close to the outsiders. I was in Iowa City over the weekend. I tried to get a glimpse inside of Kinnick Stadium, inside the football offices, see if I could glean anything. Sorry, I wasn't able to do anything like that, but did talk to a few people there, and there are some reports that came out from the final big scrimmage
Starting point is 00:01:31 before things get started. As we count down to Friday, and that is normally when the depth chart is released for the week one matchup, we'll see if there's going to be any changes. There likely will be some. We'll also see if we actually get that depth chart on Friday or if it's going to be pushed back until game week, something that has also happened in some past seasons. But obviously the big conversation here, the quarterback conversation continues of what's going to happen with this Iowa football team. Is it going to be Brennan
Starting point is 00:01:59 Sullivan? Will it be Cade McNamara? As I mentioned in the past and every day, as you know, where I sit on this one, I believe it is going to take a Herculean effort for Brendan Sullivan to take the starting quarterback gig. I think there's a myriad of reasons for that. I think the most important is the equity that Cade McNamara has went in. Now, we're not talking about a guy that's been on campus four or five years. He does not have the same kind of buy-in as some of the other players, obviously, inside this football program. However, he has put in work. He has put in
Starting point is 00:02:29 the sweat equity, I think, that's needed, and also the leadership qualities. And when you hear Kirk Ferentz speak, and when you hear a lot of the coaching cliches that you get from him, one thing is paramount, and that is leadership. Those leadership skills, specifically at the quarterback position, are incredibly important. Cade McNamara was a starter a year ago. We knew they needed more depth. They needed to be better at the backup quarterback spot because of the McNamara injuries,
Starting point is 00:02:56 and they went out and they did that with Brendan Sullivan. But if they would make the decision to go with Sullivan as a starter in game number one, what does that mean for Cade McNam one. What does that mean for Caden McNamara? What does that mean for him and his mental mindset? A guy working his way off of injury after losing the last two seasons because of injury. His final season at Michigan and then last year at Iowa. Where is he going to be? Brendan Sullivan came here understanding he likely was going to be the backup. I don't know what kind of assurances that he was going to get and that he got about what this was going to look like as it
Starting point is 00:03:29 pertained to battling for the quarterback job. However, you have that part of it. I think that is important. And I think if it's close and for everything that we're hearing from the back and forth between these quarterbacks, it is pretty close. Is Brendan Sullivan at times a touch better, maybe a little bit more consistent? Absolutely. I don't think there's any doubt about that. Brendan Sullivan is not a guy that's going to wow you with touch passes 15, 20 yards down the field. That is not his game. Physicality, getting the ball out quickly, doing those kinds of things is definitely a big part of what you get out of Brendan Sullivan. But more plays down the field and maybe a full understanding of what they're trying to do offensively. That goes to Cade
Starting point is 00:04:08 McNamara. The problem, as mentioned, the injuries and the injuries, him working his way back. That's another aspect of this. Are we talking about a guy that is just rusty? That's what we're dealing with right now. A guy that lost basically a full season at Michigan, lost most of season last year. And remember, even when he was playing, he was completely compromised by that quad injury. A quad injury that was much more substantial than many people let on going into last season. It was touch and go for him.
Starting point is 00:04:36 That injury was significant before he even tore the ACL. And I think you saw that show up in a big time way. But here's one other angle that I do continue to wonder about a little bit. You have Tim Lester coming in in his first year as offensive coordinator. We know the past offensive coordinators and the heavy hand maybe at times that Kirk Ferentz had on that. You go back to Ken O'Keefe.
Starting point is 00:04:58 Ken O'Keefe and him, longtime friends, acquaintances, and coaching together for a very long time. They knew each other and knew each other incredibly well. It was a relationship that they saw things very similar, grew up similar backgrounds, a lot of the same people in their coaching tree and their coaching fraternity. And because of that, I think there was a good understanding with both of those guys. You go to Greg Davis. Greg Davis, look, it didn't work real well, especially early on. It was awful. However, Greg Davis was an outsider, yet you still saw't work real well, especially early on. It was awful. However,
Starting point is 00:05:25 Greg Davis was an outsider yet. You still saw some of those hiccups that came and then it was Brian. And there were people out there that were leading the hope train that Brian was going to be the guy that was going to help Kirk evolve, that he was going to be the guy that was going to take Kirk and bring him Kirk 3.0 or 4.0 or whatever we were looking at with Kirk and the different versions that we've got throughout the years in his evolution. It didn't happen. In fact, Brian got a lot of Kirk's bad qualities, not as many of the good ones, unfortunately, as a football coach, I believe, and the way that that went out. Stubborn, absolutely, and both of those guys. And we were not able to see maybe what you wanted to see with him
Starting point is 00:06:03 and the full complement of opening things up a little bit more and trying to innovate what they're doing offensively. So here comes Tim Lester with new ideas. Now, I think we do have to be excited that he's looking to implement what he wanted to do. Remember when Greg Davis was hired, it was about trying to implement the zone blocking scheme coupled with this horizontal passing game, and it was ugly. He went away from tight ends, something that never should happen at Iowa. I think we all know that.
Starting point is 00:06:30 And he saw that just too much. And overall, it just didn't marry very well what they're trying to do. And they evolved back to what they were in the past under Bryant. They had some different things in there, some different wrinkles that we saw from time to time, some zone sweep, jet sweep motion
Starting point is 00:06:44 that came out and the like. But overall, it was kind of reverting back to what we saw in the Ken O'Keefe era. And now here is this newcomer. And I do wonder, when it comes to the quarterback position, Tim Lester played the position. He's coached the position. Something that the former offensive coordinator did not. And I think you'll see that show up this season. And if Tim Lester goes in and says to Kirk Ferentz, in order for this to work, in order for our offense to get back to even an okay level,
Starting point is 00:07:14 in order for that to happen, we need Brendan Sullivan to be the quarterback. It's just not happening with Kane. If Tim Lester comes and says that, what is going to be the response from Kirk Ferentz? This is a different kind of relationship. Tim Lester said all the right things. He's done all the right things to this point. Everything that we continue to hear coming out of camp is that the offense running game looks outstanding. It looks as good as it has in years. And that gets you very excited because in order for Iowa to get to the levels that we hope for Iowa to get back at the levels that we have seen in the past this run game has to get going uh Chad Leisica from the
Starting point is 00:07:51 Des Moines Register he had this from over the weekend from a couple of sources Brendan Sullivan outplayed Cade McNamara in the scrimmage in Iowa City Saturday however the feeling is that Cade has a stronger week overall and has as the lead at quarterback. Also encouraging, I keep hearing the running game is performing very well. Passing game has a ways to go, but as Lester said, everything comes off the run in his offense. So you'd rather have the run working now than the pass if you could just pick one. That's from Chad Leistico again of the Des Moines Register. And from what we heard last week, that was definitely the case. Cade McNamara, a bounce back, had one of his best practices early in the week
Starting point is 00:08:27 after that performance, the 8 of 24 that he had at the open scrimmage on Kids Day. That's what we continue to hear. I think it's going to be McNamara. I would be, I don't want to say shocked. That's not the right terminology, but I certainly would be surprised if it's not Cade McNamara getting the opening snaps and we continue to trend that direction. Are we going to get an announcement before the end of the week?
Starting point is 00:08:48 Is it going to be something that we're going to have to wait to game week in order to do that? What we'll be keeping our eye on here on Locked On Hawkeyes. Well, we have been going through all the position groups of Iowa football. In fact, one of their deepest position groups is the defensive backfield. What we've seen here, especially at the cornerback position, I think should get you incredibly encouraged. We know what Phil Parker can do.
Starting point is 00:09:10 We'll talk about those defensive backs and why they have a chance to have not just a special season, maybe one of their best seasons in a long, long time. We'll talk about that as we continue. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of Locked On Hawkeyes is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. You've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel. It's America's number one sportsbook.
Starting point is 00:09:38 Well, we have something a little different for you. Now through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get this. You're going to get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Then with a YouTube TV-based plan, you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out-of-market game. All you need is a Google account and a current form of payment, and you can cancel at any time. Again, through September 22nd, all FanDuel customers
Starting point is 00:10:05 bet $5 and a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Just visit FanDuel.com slash Locked On to download America's number one sportsbook. That's FanDuel.com slash Locked On. Welcome back. This is Trent Condon with you on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We got a lot going on here. We are leading up to the football season. Scott Dockerman is going to be joining us later in the week.
Starting point is 00:10:42 We're going to go on and make our season-long prediction. A lot of things revving up here as we get closer and closer to football season. Mentioned was in Iowa City over the weekend. Just great being back on campus again. Showed my kids around a little bit. Drove by the house that I lived by sophomore year. It's no longer there. Torn down 520 South Capitol Street.
Starting point is 00:11:01 Oh, man, that was sad to see. Driving by that one. And the kids, of course, rolled their eyes, and that's what they're going to do. But maybe here down the line, we'll have a couple more Hawkeyes in the family. All right, that aside, let's get back into it here. Let's talk about this defensive backfield.
Starting point is 00:11:14 And a defensive backfield that obviously is the beginning of the Iowa defense. What we have heard going back to when Phil Parker was a defensive back coach, he is still very involved in what they do in those defensive backs. And you look through the recruiting profiles of these guys, the way that they came up, the way that Iowa was able to nab them. For the most part, we're not talking about the most decorated recruits.
Starting point is 00:11:38 It's just there's something that Phil Parker will see in these guys, and he jumps aboard, and you go through, and you look at the history, and you look at guys like Desmond King, going way back to Bob Sanders and on and on and on the number of guys that have gone onto the league and become just productive NFL players. Yes. Tight end you is obviously Iowa. There's no doubt about it. The success of putting offense alignment, defense alignment in the league. We've seen a long run of that, but defensive back probably doesn't get the national notoriety that it should and certainly the job that Phil Parker does. I start at the top and one of the things that I am most
Starting point is 00:12:11 excited about is we've seen a lot of injuries in this defensive backfield over the last couple of seasons and something that has been impactful a couple of different times has been the lack of depth at the cornerback spot. Iowa just hasn't had the same kind of depth maybe they've had in some past seasons, especially at that position. And most importantly, it's been young depth. Guys that just have not had many reps. Guys that haven't been even out there in the football field,
Starting point is 00:12:36 going out there and playing at the collegiate level, playing in special teams, doing those kind of things. They were incredibly raw, and because of that, I think that showed up a couple of times. We'll go back to T.J. Hall, his first time going out onto the field, and what he saw against Nebraska his first time out a couple of seasons back, and that's going to happen. Now, T.J.'s back, and he is playing at a high level. Tweaked his ankle at Kids Day, but everything we've heard, he's had a really good camp. John Nestor continues to be the guy that is the buzz player. He's a guy
Starting point is 00:13:06 that showed up right away last year. They were talking about him as a true freshman. He is a guy that they absolutely love. They think has a chance to be another one of the special players at the cornerback position for Iowa. On the other side, you have very sturdy Jamari Harris. And I think we also have to remember that Jamari had a pretty significant injury season before, then had to serve the two-game suspension last year because the gambling investigation came back and played pretty well. I think there's another level, though, that you can get out of Jamari Harris, and I think you're going to see that this season. And out of these four quarterbacks that all have quite a bit of experience now with Hall, Nestor a little bit, and obviously Jamari Harris that has the most experience.
Starting point is 00:13:46 You have to show on Lee. And at times, he's a little bit forgotten, right? I mean, this is a guy that played last season as a freshman. He was out there a ton and I thought acquitted himself incredibly well. You go back to those first couple of games, teams are going after him right away. And he held up, I thought, really, really well and really improved as the year went on. Having four cornerbacks that you're very confident with that can step in, that's going
Starting point is 00:14:10 to help out a lot. Also, what they're going to do when they're playing the cash position. And if there's an injury and they have to move some things around, if it's Sebastian Castro maybe moving to another spot, that's something to keep an eye on as well with this defensive backfield. Another place I want to go is Xavier Wampa. And we've talked throughout the course of this season every day, as you know about this, Xavier Wampa was not healthy last season. This is a guy that is incredibly physical, covers as much ground as anybody that you're going to find. And his ability to make a close on both a ball carrier or just ball on the air is unlike anything I've seen before at the high school level
Starting point is 00:14:46 when he was playing at Southeast Polk. It was just absolutely incredible. And you can see why everybody in the country was after Xavier Wampa and why he was a five-star when he has those kinds of tools. He's been banged up again during camp. And I just want to see him have a healthy season.
Starting point is 00:15:00 Obviously was thrust in a couple of seasons ago in the bowl game, had the pick six in that game and the win against Kentucky. He showed up in a big time way in his first start, but I'd love to see a healthy season. I think some people that maybe have some question marks of Xavier Wampa be able to see the full compliment and, excuse me,
Starting point is 00:15:17 exactly what he's going to be. Quinn Schulte does so much for this team. He is a little bit more than your standard Tommy Soybean, try hard, walk on guy, right? There's a little more pop to his game. There's some versatility that maybe some of the past defensive backs, these safeties I have not had. Love what you're going to get there. Yes, he does all the things that you hear talked about from an Iowa free safety, right? He gets everybody in the right spot. He makes all the calls. He gets everybody going the right direction. He does all those
Starting point is 00:15:42 things in the defensive backfield. And he's, He's like your middle linebacker for the defensive backfield and what he does there. But he's just so sturdy on the back end. And getting him back for another season is going to be a big help, especially early on, I think, for this Iowa defense. And then we've got to throw Sebastian Castro, obviously, in the mix. And the season that he had, one of the more unheralded players. Now, I don't know if they win the Iowa State game without him a year ago. He was that good and that impactful, not just the pick six,
Starting point is 00:16:08 but the way he was all over the field. And we saw that at other times throughout the course of last season. So physical, so tough. He is built in a different way than what we saw from Dane Belton before him at the cash position. You know, they've had different kind of guys. Amari Hooker before when they started to transform. It's really been three different body types and three different players at that position with the versatility with Sebastian Castro, a guy that can hit like a
Starting point is 00:16:33 linebacker, can run like a safety, cover like a safety. And you look at some of those numbers, pro football focus talks about him lining up as a slot corner. I'd be considered that position where the top coverage grades in all the college football for Sebastian Castro. A couple other names in the mix. First, we start with Cohen Entringer, who thrust onto the scene a year ago. We saw Cohen make the play in the bull in the Big Ten Championship game, excuse me,
Starting point is 00:16:58 against Michigan, running down the punt returner. Now, he missed the play initially, but had him backed up maybe inside the 15-yard line. That didn't happen, but chased him down and kept him out of the end zone, at least for the time being on a great, great hustle play. He's still working his way back from entry. And I'm not sure how much we're going to see, especially early from Cohen entering her. He's a guy that's going to be a big part of their plans. And you look at the future of Iowa football, he's got a big, big part of that. Zach Lootmers, another guy that shows up at the safety positions, talked about one of the fastest players on the team. Some people consider
Starting point is 00:17:30 him the fastest. I think somebody equated it, well, he's the fastest until Brevin Dahls showed up and he might not be anymore, but he's got incredible wheels and he's doing all the right things and learning what you need to do in this defensive backfield. So those are some of the names that you need to know. There's some young guys coming in. Rashard Godfrey coming in, playing the safety position this year. Got walk-ons like Cale Kolarik out of Indianola. That's another name probably going to have to know for the future. They're deep. They're solid. They're going to be good.
Starting point is 00:17:58 It's Iowa defensive backs, right? Bill Parker, the way he coaches them, we know they're going to be in good shape. Well, some news that happened on Monday, and that was the announcement of the team captains for Iowa football coming up this year. Who are going to be the guys' leadership? Yes, we're going right back to it again. We'll talk about that as we continue here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Also want to let you know with college football season being back, Locked On College Football
Starting point is 00:18:24 podcast kicks off the action with college football season being back, Locked On College Football Podcast kicks off the action with a live season preview. It's coming up on Tuesday evening at 6 o'clock on Locked On College. 24-7 streaming on the YouTube channel. This four-part series is going to cover each of the four major conferences, discussions on which ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC teams have a shot at the expanded college football playoffs. Be sure to check out this special streaming on Lockdown's
Starting point is 00:18:51 college football 24-7 streaming channel. It's on the YouTube channel. You can also find it on Amazon Fire TV, all part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. We continue here at Lockdown Hawkeyes. Stay right there passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive ebay motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance superchargers roof, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more.
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Starting point is 00:19:51 Keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit only available to U.S. customers. Trent Conant back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks as always for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Hey, while you're here, if you're watching on YouTube, hit that subscribe button. Kind of try to push those numbers up as we approach 4,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Starting point is 00:20:20 Appreciate all of you. If you're listening on the podcast audio only side, five-star reviews greatly of thank each and every one of you for just taking a moment out to do that. It's what you can do to help us out and continue to get us in front of more Hawkeye fans. The 2024 Player Council has been announced. These are the leadership components. And this is something where we can find out a little bit more
Starting point is 00:20:40 also about the future of Iowa football. There are plenty of names on this list that you'd anticipate are going to be there. Guys like Sebastian Castro. We talked about him. Y.A. Black. He was mic'd up. If you missed it on YouTube, listen to Y.A. Go through the drills, do the things, the grunting, all the dirty work that it takes to be a defensive tackle in the Iowa scheme. He was going through it. Not a little personality is only why it can do up front there. He is part of the leadership council. Another name on the list at the defensive side is Deontay Craig. Deontay Craig, I think, is poised for a breakout season this year. I think
Starting point is 00:21:17 he's going to be back to that seven and a half range of sacks this season. They're going to need it. Need guys that can get to the quarterback and a healthy Deontay Craig definitely can do that. Nick DeYoung back for another season. And how about Nick DeYoung? Understanding that the likelihood was he was not going to be a starter this year. He was going to be a depth piece at the offensive line position. He's going to be in there. He's an important part because he is a swing guy. He can play both inside and outside. Iowa just doesn't have right now a whole lot of ready-made offensive tackles. And if an injury does come this season, having a guy like DeYoung around certainly is going to help.
Starting point is 00:21:51 Luke Elkin. Yeah, the long snapper. And he's a good one. He's also on the leadership committee. Kyler Fisher, another guy that came back for another season. Jay Higgins on the list. Jamari Harris. Ethan Hurkett.
Starting point is 00:22:02 All these guys coming back for an extra season. Nick Jackson. There's another one there. coming back for an extra season. Nick Jackson, there's another one there. Logan Jones for his senior season. Luke Lachey, there's Cade McNamara showing up. I think an important one that you put on the list as well with McNamara being on this list as voted on by the players, Mason Richmond and Quinn Schulte. So your leadership group here are, these are a lot of veteran players. You're seeing a whole bunch of guys that came back for their sixth season. I mean, just think of this. Now the COVID years, yes, threw a wrench into things and make things completely different, but Iowa has
Starting point is 00:22:33 this many six-year guys coming back. Sebastian Castro, Nick DeYoung, Kyler Fisher, Jamari Harris, Nick Jackson, Cade McNamara, Quinn Schulte, all these guys coming back for their sixth year of eligibility. That is a compliment to Iowa football and also the way that they're building things. In this new NIL environment, it's different than what we're used to, different than what it is in the past, but still, Iowa doing it the way that makes the most sense for them. The Solid Verbal Podcast, if you're a podcast listener, a college football podcast, I really enjoy listening to Dan and Ty. I think they do a really good job.
Starting point is 00:23:14 They did an episode devoted strictly to Iowa football, and it shows you that Iowa football, yes, in our world of Iowa football, there's nothing more important, right? There's nothing that is even close to Iowa football. However, this is still a national story, and it's a national story how Iowa has been able to maintain these winning levels, even with the offensive ineptitude that we've seen here recently. It's just such a different circumstance than anybody else. There isn't another program that is built like Iowa and does things like Iowa and is as successful as Iowa in doing in this fashion. And that's the difficult part, I think, for a lot of us, right? We see the wins. We see the way that they get it done.
Starting point is 00:23:49 And that's great because we don't want to go the other direction. You know, halfway through last season, as the wins continued to pile up and it was just ugly and ugly, instead of talking about the ugliness, we went a different direction here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. We just took it for what it is. Enjoy the ride while it's happening. Is it pretty? No. Is it for what it is. Enjoy the ride while it's happening. Is it pretty? No.
Starting point is 00:24:06 Is it enjoyable? Sometimes not. But in the end, a win is a win. And do you want to take the alternate? I certainly don't. We will take those victories every single time, as opposed to looking pretty and losing. Don't want to do that, no doubt about it. And that's the direction we're certainly going to look.
Starting point is 00:24:23 When we look to the early season portion of the schedule Iowa against Illinois State week three against Troy with the Iowa State game in between look Iowa State returns a ton as much production as anybody in college football but there is a real opportunity three straight games at Kinnick to get off to a great start before you go up on the road for the first time to Minnesota before the Ohio State game as they'll get that after a bye week. Schedule sets up. We've talked about it in the past. Yes, is this season going to be a pretty one?
Starting point is 00:24:50 Is it going to be 2002? Is it going to be the high-flying 2004 passing game when they weren't able to run the football? Probably not. But if we can just get some consistency back offensively, I think this is going to be a fun season. And certainly, even if the wins are similar to a year ago, it's just going to be more enjoyable to watch.
Starting point is 00:25:08 I think we would all be able to handle that. Thanks for making Locked On, Hawkeyes, your first listen every day. Scott Docterman will be on tap with us tomorrow from The Athletic. A lot of Iowa football conversation with him. Busy week. We'll go on record, make our predictions for the season. Also throw out some over-unders for Iowa football players. Now, these are not available at a sports book.
Starting point is 00:25:28 We'll go to the Connick Casino, and we'll come up with some over-unders for this football season. And mark them down. See how you did at the end of the season if you took any of my fake money here with some Hawkeye football over-unders. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. And now it's time for you to go check out Lockdown College Football and the Lockdown College Football podcast.
Starting point is 00:25:49 From NIL deals to the never-ending conference realignment rumors, Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the gridiron. You can find the link to Lockdown College Football in the description so you don't need to search. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. We got you covered on the Hawkeye Front. Thanks for being with us as always. We'll talk to you again tomorrow.
Starting point is 00:26:09 Go Hawks.

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