Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Which Michigan State will we see, how has Rocky Lombardi improved, and can we slow down the Michigan State defensive line

Episode Date: November 5, 2020

It's a Thursday crossover episode with Matt Sheehan of Locked On Spartans where we break down the entire matchup between Iowa vs Michigan State. What changed between the Rutgers loss and the Michigan win for Michigan State and how has Rocky Lombardi improved over the last few years? Plus, Michigan State has a new passing attack which will put stress on the Iowa secondary, and can Iowa's offensive line contain a surging Spartan defensive line? We cover all of that and more on today's show.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to a Thursday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, excited to be back for another episode of the show today. And on today's show, we're going to be doing our crossover episode with Matt Sheehan, host or co-host, I should say, of the Lockdown Spartans podcast.

You're going to really appreciate the conversation. Very candid, very transparent about what to expect from this Michigan State team. He even predicts an Iowa win, which I think is shocking, coming off of a big victory for Michigan State over Michigan. But that is on the docket for today. Before we get into that, though, if you do like the episode, or if this is the first time you're tuning in and you enjoy it, we're here every single weekday, Monday through Friday.

We are dropping a shorter-than-30-minute episode covering your Iowa Hawkeyes. So make sure to subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at so you can get it downloaded directly to your smart device whenever you want to. And make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And just a reminder that on Monday, we're going to have Monday mornings with Matt, our Monday morning recap with former Iowa Hawkeye wide receiver Matt Vandenberg. With all that being said, let's hop into the conversation with Matt Sheehan, host of the Locked On Spartans, as we do our Thursday crossover episode. All right, we are back. This is Andrew Wade with Locked On Hawkeyes and Matt Sheehan of the Locked On Spartans. Matt, how are you doing today, man?

Oh, come on, man. We're coming fresh, fresh off of a 27-24 victory over the Wolverines. Andrew, I cannot be doing any better. My feet have yet to touch the ground this entire week. So long story short, I'm doing okay. I'm doing just fine, Andrew. I'm glad you're doing well because this week has sucked, man. I mean, we're off of two straight losses,

two excruciatingly painful losses that we should have won, and that is so tough to handle. I mean, obviously, so Michigan State loses to rutgers they beat michigan is everything all well and good now in michigan state country i i don't want to speak for everyone here but i will try to speak for most people uh yeah uh yeah everything's all good in the hood man uh honeymoon was over for the mel tucker era right after losing by 11 to the scarlet knights of rutgers um i thought there was no way he could build himself back up in year one uh we weren't going to give up on him entirely but you know honeymoon's over that's because it didn't even cross my mind throughout the entire

week that they could possibly beat michigan and andrew here we are three point victory over michigan it's all good baby our season's goals have they been achieved yeah kind of actually because no one expected expected us to win that game so uh yeah it's all good in East Lansing right now yeah I mean and for me I when I'm looking at Michigan State coming into this season I did a little bit of a preview of Iowa schedule Michigan State was not a team that scared me mostly because I wasn't super impressed with the Mel Tucker hire I felt like Michigan State was kind of rebuilding. Now give me two or three years, and I'm worried about Michigan State again.

But coming into this year, I projected Iowa to easily win this game. Now I have no idea what to expect, man. I mean, Michigan State looked like a different team against Michigan. So what changed from week one to week two? Well, turning the ball over nine less times against michigan i think they had like seven turnovers against ruckers and you tack on two turnover on downs we'll just call that a nine uh nine turnover game against the scarlet knights uh that's not going to do it so the obvious one is the turnovers right but also like it was just a nice game plan that they had

in week two where they were going to burn Michigan's corners on the deep balls. We have a pretty good, young, speedy receiver core with Jaden Reed, Jalen Naylor, and true freshman Ricky White who went for 196 yards on Saturday. I don't even think Ricky White expected Ricky White to have a game like that. So that was the biggest difference for us. During the offseason, we kind of heard whispers like, all all right we're gonna have like more downfield speed and whatnot which is something we haven't seen in east lansing in quite some time because uh 2018 2019 left a lot to be

desired in the offensive department but we finally saw not just shades of it we just straight up saw it on saturday so i think that was the biggest difference from week one to week two minus the turnovers is just seeing all that speed on the offense. That makes sense. And one thing I want to quickly backtrack on is when I have looked at this Michigan State versus Iowa game over the last, you know, 10 years, Michigan State and Iowa are very similar programs, right? They're predicated on fantastic defense.

The quarterback play is not always amazing. It's just, you know, I would say adequate to above average. They have a fantastic run game, but not a ton of true big playmakers. Granted, Michigan state has had a few over the, you know, over the years, but it isn't, it is interesting when you talk about the fact that they have a wide receiver group that can go over the top. Iowa also now has a wide receiver group that can actually go over the top and do a few things. Now, granted, they're going to miss Amir Smith-Marset because he's out after being an idiot and getting an OWI while going 70 miles an hour and a 35 mile an hour zone.

There's so many things wrong with what he did, but he is suspended. But you talk about Michigan, and they are missing both their corners from last year. And that, to me, was a big weakness from a Michigan perspective. And that was what I was curious about is how are Michigan State's corners then? Because I looked at that. I'm like, is Michigan that bad? How does Michigan state's corners though? Look for, from Iowa's perspective. Yeah. Michigan state's corners is solid. Like they're, they're breaking in some new guys. We

lost Josiah Scott last year. He was the biggest name obviously, but we have, I think he's a sophomore now by eligibility. Kalon Gerving, four-star kid out of Detroit. He's been thrown in the starting position now, and he really grew from week one to week two. It didn't look great for him against the Scarlet Knights, but it looked a lot better against the Wolverines. Now, I say that with full well knowing that that is a small sample size, just two games.

So he showed promise last week. Now can he string together another one? Hopefully. Shakur Brown, he's another great guy too um and then there's also Chris Jackson as well so there's kind of like a three-man rotation between the two cornerback spots and also with the safeties there's uh Xavier Henderson he might have NFL potential like late round NFL potential so he's definitely a good physical safety that we have back there, as well as David Dell. The secondary kind of walked into the season. Our confidence level in them was maybe a 5 on a scale of 1-10. After the Rutgers game, maybe dipped down to 3 if you're charting it, and then back up to 7. I think they had a pretty

damn good game against Michigan. So where does that leave us? That leaves us back to probably a 5 out of 10 on the confidence scale with our corners. And we will see coming into this game because Iowa possesses, in my opinion, one of the top wide receiver groups in the big 10, even without a mere Smith-Marset. Now I struggle sometimes with biases, but I do believe their wide receiver group is one of the stronger points. However, from a quarterback perspective, Iowa has been weak.

So when you're looking at this game, does Iowa's quarterback concern you at all? And do you look at that as a potential opportunity for Michigan State? That's honestly, that's kind of the one thing I'm scratching my head about over here as a state fan is just what will Iowa's quarterback do? Because I see, you know, the basic stats of one touchdown, three interceptions, 53% passing. It's like, it's not like the sexiest numbers. But correct me if I'm wrong, but like Iowa football is usually just like strong offensive line play, solid running game, discipline,

everything like that. So is your quarterback just a quintessential Iowa quarterback, basically? Because if he is, that's enough to be worried, because that's just like Hawkeye football and that that works for you guys sometimes yeah I mean you you definitely described it pretty well there um Iowa does you know like to lean on the running game and has I would say does not had a really great quarterback ever I mean they've had some solid quarterbacks Ricky Stanzi was a solid quarterback but no one's really putting up fantastic numbers right even Nate Stanley um had good numbers for an Iowa quarterback, but nothing that was, you know, incredible.

It wasn't Oklahoma quarterback type, you know, type of numbers. You're absolutely right, though. I think what's interesting for Iowa is that they do have Spencer Petras. He's in his third game that he's going to be starting against Michigan State. And I would say on a talent level, he's around the same level of talent as most Iowa quarterbacks. But what we're seeing is for some reason, the running game hasn't been working lately and they've been quickly going to the aired out concept against Northwestern. They just dropped back eight guys and only rushed three and they were getting pressure on him consistently.

So that was one of my concerns coming into this game is what to expect from Michigan State's defensive line. Because as you know, if a quarterback has time in the pocket, you can make almost any quarterback look halfway decent. And we see with Spencer Petras, when he has time in the pocket, he is able to step into his throws. He's not rushing things. But as soon as he starts getting pressure, he's been airmailing everything. I mean, I would argue out of 20 to 25 incompletions, 15 of them were borderline uncatchable. I mean, that's not good numbers. So what are your thoughts about the Michigan State defensive line then?

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Yeah, so me and my co-host, Will Hunter, this is probably like our biggest point of contention going into the season as far as position groups go. I wasn't too jazzed about the defensive line, probably just because they were breaking in a lot of new guys and the depth wasn't there. And Will was like, no, they might be pretty good. As usual, I was wrong.

Will was right so far this season. There's going to be two guys to look out for. And the inside, it's Naquan Jones. Through two games, even in the bad Rutgers game, I know the outcome was absolutely abysmal and horrible. But he had a great game. Like, he wrecks the middle of the line. He can get through, penetrate, rush a quarterback,

break up any, like, zone runs or anything going on there. So that's the guy on the inside to watch out for. And on the outside is returning defensive end starter Jacob Panaschuk. Like, he came off a great game against Michigan, had a pretty solid game against Rutgers. So, all in all, yeah, this defensive line is getting to the quarterback and breaking up the run game more than I thought they would before the season. Now, can they keep that going for three straight games in this crazy big

tenure? Nothing is a guarantee whatsoever, but I kind of like their chances. Maybe, I don't know. That's the thing. It's like you go to Iowa city, like you expect good line play. So that that's just where I'm at mentality mentally too. Yeah. I mean, I think it's a standard that Iowa has has created especially considering they send so many guys to the NFL to play you know offense like Tristan Wirfs is looking like one of the best tackles in the NFL and he's only like 21 maybe 22 and he's only seven games into his rookie year I mean that's that's the kind of stuff that Iowa typically puts out I would I would just you know for your

Michigan State fans say Iowa's offensive line hasn't looked that hot this year, man. I mean, they have talent across the board, uh, a Larrick Jackson, a four-year starter, a guy who was getting looked at as the second or third round last year, but injured his leg, uh, quite crunk. You might remember him from Indiana three-year starter there broke. His ankle has been struggling the last two games, even got benched last game. He was supposed to be a day, two day, three pick Tyler Linderbaum, a guy who has day one potential. I mean, that's three guys that have solid NFL draft potential, not even looking at the

guards where Iowa typically has sent a lot of guards as UDFAs to the NFL, just because they're smaller. You know, they understand fundamentally how to play the position, but maybe aren't the best size or the most athletic. But Iowa's offensive line has been a weak point so far, in my opinion. And a lot of teams, you know, not a lot of teams, excuse me, Northwestern did a great job of getting penetration against that offensive line with Iowa's run game. So I think that maybe is an advantage for Michigan State, especially if you feel like

that defensive line is better than what you anticipated yeah it's not going to be a world class defensive line but it's definitely probably a tick above average I would say so far this season and I would also be remiss to to not mention Antoine Simmons our starting middle linebacker a little undersized he's 5'10 but he's probably going to be the smartest guy on defense throughout the entire game like he's the first guy to the ball if he's probably going to be the smartest guy on defense throughout the entire game. He's the first guy to the ball. If he's not there, then, well, he got to the ball by way of shedding maybe two or three blocks on the way there.

He's very athletic and even more just smart, I guess, for lack of a better term. So that's going to be the star guy that I guess Hawkeye fans should worry about on defense is number 34, Antoine Simmons, up in middle linebacker right there. He's been – we kind of expected him to be good so far this season, but he's somehow even exceeded expectations to start the year after two games. That was – I mean, we didn't plan this, but that was a fantastic transition

because – Look at that. Look at us go. That was impressive because I actually was curious about what your linebacker group looked like because Sam Laporta, as you probably know, Iowa is fantastic at producing high quality tight ends and they have another one in the pipeline. Go figure. He's a true sophomore. Sam Laporta started last year for three or four games at the end of the season, which is unheard of for a true freshman in Iowa, because you have to be able to block if you want to play tight end for Kirk Ferentz last week against Northwestern he was targeted 13 times um that's yeah that's a lot for anyone especially a tight

end even at Iowa um I mean George Kittle only got like 25 catches his senior year Sam Laporta could have maybe topped that and you know two games right so Sam Laporta against that linebacker group I'm curious how does Michiganigan state run their defense right what is the schematics of that um do they rely on man coverage their linebackers are they playing zone what is the expectation for them being able to handle linebackers um you know coming or not linebackers excuse me tight ends coming off the line yeah so there was a play last week where uh antoine simmons i don't know if you guys watch the game um but it was towards the end of the the first half against Michigan.

And Antoine Simmons goes up, tips the ball because he had to drop back into coverage to cover the tight end. So you are going to get a lot of one-on-one man with the linebackers going against the tight ends. But with that said, go back to my first comment about Antoine Simmons. That's where the 5'10 undersized might hamper him a little bit. But then again, he is athletic. He is smart. So hopefully that negates it from our perspective. Not for you guys.

I'm sure you guys are jazzed to hear that a 5'10 linebacker is going up against LaForda. But yeah, I think that'll be a really good battle, obviously. Coming off of a 12-target game game I expect Antoine Simmons to be a pretty busy guy uh following him around the field this Saturday yeah because I looked at the tight ends the tight end production against Michigan State it's only been I think four catches over over two games so I was just a little bit curious about that um what questions do you have maybe about Iowa's defense and schematically how we can handle like a Rocky Lombardi, who is a former Iowa prospect, West Des Moines Valley. I'm from a rival.

Well, they wouldn't call us rivals because our school sucked and their school didn't. But one of our rivals, right? So we were not big fans of Rocky Lombardi, at least from my perspective. Iowa recruited him a little bit. He goes to Michigan State. I would say he's had an up and down year. He's one of the quarterbacks I follow pretty closely.

When I say year, I mean career, kind of getting some starts between Brian Lewerke and whatnot. What are your thoughts on Rocky Lombardi, and what are your questions about Iowa's defense and how they can schematically stop him? Yeah, that's perfect because just in today's show, or yesterday's show rather, when you're listening to this, Will and I talked, like 2018, it was up and down for him,

more down than up, and then 2019, he only got mop up duty. So he comes in this year and this was in the throes of the season starting. And I'm just delusional. You know, I'm just going crazy. Like, oh, I think the offense can be good this year. Like I'm saying this for the fifth straight year in a row. And I've been proven wrong three last four years. But I'm like, hey, maybe he's got a clean slate going on this year.

You know, new coaching staff, new receiving core. He really doesn't have a quarterback to battle with uphill at least. So maybe this is a fresh start for a good old Rocky Lombardi. Ends up, this is one of the rare times that this take is actually paying off. Like, he does look refreshed. He does look pretty solid. Like, he's got actual touch on his deep balls, which we did not see that the last two years in his slight work

that he had in East Lansing so yeah he's come in and really impressed us this year like even in the Rutgers game 72 completion like it's not bad Michigan he threw I think 17 for 32 it was the sexiest 17 for 32 you ever seen your entire I mean, he was getting those deep balls in right in the breadbasket. So it is a lot of downfield hits that we just saw last Saturday. So I guess that's my first question is, how are the cornerbacks and how comfortable do you feel with, like, deep ball threats? Because apparently that's what Michigan State does now these days. That is very confusing to me because I was not expecting you to say Michigan State, the downfield pass.

I didn't expect to say it either. I would say it's interesting because against Purdue and against Northwestern, you saw them. They weren't really going deep, especially with Northwestern. Peyton Ramsey was very content, was just dinking and dunking the ball down the field. With Iowa's zone defense, they don't allow a lot of people to get back behind them. Purdue has been one of those thorns in their sides over the last four or five years. This past week or two weeks ago against Purdue, they did a good job of keeping Purdue in front of them. Their cornerbacks, it's weird. They have a lot of experience, but not a lot of starting experience

per se. So Matt Hankins, a guy who started multiple years, can be a little bit inconsistent. He's the leader of that defense as a senior. And then you got Riley Moss and Julius Brents, who have been in and out of the lineup the last three years, starting when they were both true freshmen. So I would say the secondary is pretty strong. And where this might be an interesting battle is the fact that Michigan State

likes to go down the field. And Iowa does a great job of keeping people in front of them. They're willing to give up the underneath stuff and stop people from going over top of them. They are, they do are, they are breaking in a new strong safety. It could be changing depending on what formations Michigan state comes out in. Iowa is leaning towards a four to five. Now they're starting to actually transition into a new era

where they have a defense outside of their 4-3. And who plays their cash position, which is kind of their dime backer position, will really determine who plays the strong safety position. If their cash backer, which is actually their former strong safety, moves to strong safety, there's a little bit of transition there, right? So there's always a little bit of opportunity for confusion for Michigan State when they're attacking that defense but Iowa does a good job typically of keeping the people in front of them gotcha and also just to move to the front of the defense now I think

more surprising than a 27 and 24 victory last Saturday excuse me if I've mentioned that like 58 times already this you're happy man I don't blame you I would do it too if I'm gonna be pimping this out for the next 365 days, man, of course. Even more surprising than that last week was just the fact that MSU's offensive line, which has not been good the last few years, let up zero sacks against Michigan. And that was obviously key in winning that game. So I guess just on that topic, how is the front four, the front six, the front seven, whatever there is over there in Iowa, how are they getting to the quarterback? Yeah, I mean, the last two years have been a big transitionary years.

Two years ago, we lost our entire starting defensive line. But when you factor in that A.J. Paneza wasn't technically a starter, it wasn't as big of a loss. This year, we lose three of our four starters and losing an AJ Pinesa is a huge loss and we haven't seen the production that we typically see for that defensive line and we haven't seen the potent rushing defense that we typically see from an Iowa defensive line now that being said we do have one guy to watch out for interior wise Davian Nixon is just destroying people on the interior. He was a guy who would come in on pass rush situations last year, um, played pretty well. He's a former Juco

guy who put himself in the transfer portal was recruited by Alabama. So this is not some two star three-star guy who I was the only team recruiting him. Alabama wanted this guy and it shows. So I would be concerned from an interior perspective, but overall I was defensive line. Hasn't been as strong. Now that being said, part of me wonders if that's because the linebacker group is also in transition. We lose our starting middle linebacker from last year,

our starting, our projected starting linebacker going into this year, Jack Campbell. He is out with mono the last two weeks. So we've been kind of moving guys, left and right are starting with a will linebacker Digimon Colbert. He opted out.

He was the guy who had the most experience among all the linebackers. And I believe he had between 17 and 18 starts. So that's not a significant portion of starts. But when you look at him in perspective to the other guys, I think he had more starts than everyone else in that linebacker group. So the linebacker group is really concerning to me as well, because they're not able to come up as quickly. They're not able to attack that run. And we're seeing a lot of broken tackles happen along Iowa's rushing defense.

And if we could just stay on the topic of rushing, but flip it over to the other side of the field. You were talking earlier that the wide receiver core for Iowa has speed. How about the running backs though? Because whenever I would tune into Iowa here and there, just watch the highlights and whatnot, it looks like, and I don't think he's a starting running back, correct me if I'm wrong, but Makai Sargent, he seems to be a springy guy.

And I know that he'll probably split reps with Tyler Goodson. Talk to me about those two guys. Like, do you like what you see from them so far? And what's kind of their dynamic as, as a double, as a two headed monster for, for Iowa, if you will? Yeah, I mean, I love them as backs. I think the problem is when you're getting, when teams are getting penetration before you barely,

before you get the ball, there's only so much you can do with it. Makai Sargent is going to be your more consistent, one-cut kind of guy, which is more typical of an Iowa running back. Tyler Goodson, though, is the guy to really worry about because he's the game-breaking threat who can take the ball to the house at any time, and a guy that Iowa wants to move around the field

as much as possible. You're going to see Tyler Goodson get motioned out into the flats and play a slot wide receiver position, maybe getting a one-on-one matchup with a linebacker. He's that athletic. He has fantastic hands. And then my Kai Sargent, just a great change of pace back to, you know, those two really compliment each other really well.

But if I'm Michigan State, anytime Tyler Goodson touches the ball, that's what I'm personally worried about. I saw him make a play against Northwestern. He's running downhill and managed to do a spin while running full speed and still stay in this exact same line that he was running on. And the linebacker didn't even touch him. I don't honestly, like I've, I've never like seen that before, but just his quickness and athleticism is just unheard of from an Iowa running back. And McKay Sargent is just, you know, again, your standard Iowa running back who is one cut does a good job of getting upfield quickly, can be that consistent four to five yard threat. And just two more questions, if that's cool with you before we let you go into the weekend.

Just like we were talking earlier, Amir Smith-Marset, obviously he will not be playing this weekend. Is that absolutely detrimental and devastating to you guys, or is that just sort of like it's a bummer but we should be okay like where are you i think it depends on who you ask so i do think anytime you lose a guy who can take a kickoff to the house anytime he touches it um that is gonna be a loss now that being said from the wide receiver perspective i'm not as concerned amir smith is not our best route runner. He doesn't have the best hand. That goes to Brandon Smith.

I would say Brandon Smith is without a doubt our number one wide receiver. Some would argue that. I think Brandon Smith is. I also think our two other guys behind Amir Smith-Marset, Tyrone Tracy and Nico Reganey, bring a different skill set to the position. Tyrone Tracy being a great yak guy, maybe not as fast as Amir Smith-Marset, but still a great yak guy. Nico Regani, very fundamentally sound, very technical in his route running. So it's not as concerning to me just because we have so much depth. Again, anyone,

anytime you lose an Amir Smith-Marset, a guy who will play in the NFL, will be playing on Sundays at some point, that is a loss, but it isn't as big of a loss as I think outsiders would typically see. Like I, for example, I follow a lot of gambling and people are literally betting on Michigan state and saying a mere Smith Marseille is out. That is maybe not the way. I mean, I don't necessarily disagree with them betting on Michigan state, but not just because of mere Smith Marseille is out. Gotcha. No, that checks out. And we were talking about that yesterday kind of too,

with the whole gambling thing and the wine and whatnot, a fascinating line too. It is. It's tough to bet on man it is and i'll probably stay far far far away from it but um do you know what last question i can't say far away from this and i i can't believe that we're why we're okay we're gonna do a michigan state iowa crossover podcast and not talk about punning right now i mean come on we dude you have to talk about putting you gotta talk about putting in a big time crossover show man man. So talk to me about the iron boot over down there in Iowa. Dude, it is ridiculous how excited I get watching punts go 60 yards like that. It's a rush.

It's a rush. But I mean, like watch. Oh, my gosh. So last week when Tori Taylor, he is a true freshman from Australia. But when I say true freshman, he's 23 years old. The dude's a grown man. And he's playing the ball. The way he punts it, I mean, I talked to –

so we have Matt Vandenberg, former Iowa receiver, on every single Monday. And he talked about, you know, catching punts and how he's kicking the ball and the wind and stuff. I mean, his first punt against Northwestern that caused a fumble was just a thing of beauty. It was art. And I think it definitely helps Iowa when they play that field position game because he can boot it 60 yards. And then on top of that,

our gunners have been fantastic. I'm doing a great job of getting there, breaking down, making tackles. So, I mean, special teams wise, I would, I would honestly, again, I'm trying not to be biased here. I've talked about our quarterback, not being good. So to, to counteract that our special teams has to be top 10 in the nation easy between keith duncan the goat uh which i'm always going to call him to go he should have beat rodrigo blankenship last year in the lew grows or that was garbage i'll stand by that tory taylor has

been fantastic averaging 45 yards per punt um average even more against northwestern and then um i mean anytime you have a mere smith-marsett back there, again, not playing this week, but he's a fantastic return man as well. Had to end it with punt talk. I love it, man. I love it. So before we do it, what are your predictions for the game? And we talked about that line. I am also staying away from that line. It scares the hell out of me.

But from a win-loss perspective, do you think Michigan State pulls this out? Nah. See, as a fan coming off of that win and i would be an own too like i was thinking oh yeah like i must you can go down there and win but just like you said earlier like with gambling like i i have a gambling brain too sometimes and like that line stinks out loud and then whenever a line stinks out loud you probably just take it and uh understand that i will probably win this game.

So with the spread, with the total of 46 over under, that's the Vegas estimate of a 27-20 Iowa victory. And honestly, I'm just going to be the most boring person in the entire world right now and predict a 27-20 Iowa victory because when MSU goes down to Iowa, I don't know, that just sounds like a score that is destined to happen when the game kicks off. Matt, I think you might be the first person who has ever predicted your team to lose

on a crossover episode with me. Oh, boy. Oh, yeah. That is my MO. It might be a reverse jinx in the works here, but no, I don't know. Just something about that line in Vegas makes me scratch my head. And whenever I have to scratch my head at a line,

it usually works out in Vegas' favor. Yeah, I mean, from my perspective, I completely agree. My perspective, looking at the Northwestern and Purdue game, I went in there saying Iowa has more talent, but I'm worried about this game. Michigan State, I'm not even looking at the talent perspective. I'm looking at it from Iowa's coming off two straight losses. They have had a good week of practice.

Michigan State coming off a huge win over Michigan. As you talked about, this is not a year where they were expected to maybe contend for a Big Ten East title. That is a big win. There's a lot of non-football things kind of playing into this game where I do think Iowa gets back on track as well and I honestly I you say 27 20 I think it's going to be ugly like 17 14 or something like that oh nice talk to me there we go super ugly all the time I mean gosh that I have like nightmares about

that big 10 title game Iowa versus Michigan State that thing just was hell to watch even as a even before Michigan State scores in that goal head touchdown oh my god i hate lj scott forever i want the record to show i did not bring up that game this was yeah it's just so painful lj scott is i hate him more than jonathan taylor jonathan taylor was a thorn in our side over and over again but matt i do appreciate obviously um us getting together and talking about this game i'm sure we'll be having words back and forth on saturday when iowa michigan state take the field at 11 a.m central time 12 p.m man that's us getting together and talking about this game. I'm sure we'll be having words back and forth on Saturday when Iowa, Michigan state take the field at 11 AM central time, 12 PM, man, that's weird. So it was 12 PM Eastern time, right? Right.

Everything's at 10 AM and 11 AM for me. I don't even care about Eastern time. So a lot of fun to watch that game. I'm excited to see it. The battle of teams with low expectations now. So it'll be a lot of fun to watch that. Thank you for coming on. Where can the folks find you at for my show? So I'm on Twitter at she hand underscore sports. My co-host is will underscore underscore Hunter. That's with one L.

Yeah. That's where I find us. Usually just making a clown of myself every Saturday on the old twitter.com. I love man. We'll have a great day, buddy. We'll be, we'll be in touch. Yeah, absolutely, man. Hey, this is a lot of fun, Andrew. Yep. Talk to you later, man. Yep, have a great day, buddy. We'll be in touch. Yeah, absolutely, man. Hey, this was a lot of fun, Andrew.

Yep, talk to you later, man. Yep, see ya. All right, and that concludes our conversation today. That concludes our Thursday morning episode. I hope you enjoyed the crossover with Matt Sheehan, co-host of the Locked On Spartans podcast. Make sure to check him out. He's one of my favorite guys on the network.

Does a fantastic job, him and Will do, of covering the Michigan State Spartans. And thank you all for tuning in today. As a reminder, we will be back tomorrow morning breaking down the betting odds, talking about our predictions, and what are the keys to Iowa beating Michigan State this Saturday. Thank you all for tuning in. Make sure to subscribe wherever you download this podcast at. Have a fantastic Thursday, Hawkeye Nation, and let's go Hawks!