Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Tom Kakert previews Iowa/Indiana, Dalton Wasserman on the football slate & Football Friday Picks presented by Circa Sports

Transcript

Tom Kakert previews Iowa/Indiana, Dalton Wasserman on the football slate & Football Friday Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:06
Hour number two, Miller and Condon welcome back Iowa Sports
0:09
Radio Network. If you're looking for Bama, Bob,
0:13
he has a family a much a memorial service.
0:15
So Bama's with family this weekend.
0:17
He'll join us on Monday to recap the weekend.
0:20
So Tom Kakert kicks off. Hour number two, the bottom of
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the hour, Dalton Wasserman Pro Football focus
0:26
profootballfocus.com Our plays of the week still to come by the
0:29
way, off the bench with Lucas and Sean.
0:32
The boys are an Ames. They are at Rally House in Ames
0:37
doing their show from 2 until 5. Let's get to Tom Caicard.
0:40
He joins us. It's the Hoosiers, it's the
0:43
Hawkeyes. It's Peacock, but it's Peacock.
0:47
And if if you can't, if you don't have it, they'll old
0:51
school turn on the radio and listen to Dolph News Radio 1040.
0:55
WHO or any Hawkeye affiliate, wherever you're listening in the
0:58
state or outside of the state. Hello, Tom, Good to talk to you.
1:01
How are you? It's good to talk to you guys
1:04
and you know, we just got we got prepared for Peacock by Frank
1:08
Garza. Let's Peacock fly.
1:10
That's. Forgot about that.
1:11
That was just saying, was it? What is it?
1:13
Where's Luke? In Boston?
1:15
Is that where? He went, that's what I thought,
1:17
yeah, he might be there. He might be there.
1:19
Starting center that she. May be.
1:21
He may well be. Nyang was there and then he got
1:23
shipped out. Where'd he go?
1:24
Atlanta, I don't remember. It's the NBA, it's the
1:27
offseason. But.
1:28
We'll get to that in April. OK, deal, let's get to the Hawks
1:31
and the Hoosiers off the bat here.
1:33
Well, you know what, let's go back to last week.
1:34
Tom, just your thoughts on. So what did we see?
1:37
Turning of a corner and embarking on the Big 10.
1:41
Another step forward obviously for Gronowski.
1:44
Some positives to take out of that game.
1:45
What did you get back on the airplane, Tom, thinking you saw
1:48
on Friday night? Thought I saw the Gronowski that
1:53
I think we all thought we would see from the get go and it just
1:57
took a couple weeks to get there.
2:00
But I thought he played really well.
2:04
Defence finally got a turnover, but I'm still not boy, that's
2:08
it's got to be concerning when you see Athen Kelech Manus throw
2:11
for 3:30 and you got Kurt Signetti and and that offense
2:16
that's averaging 588 yards a game.
2:20
And again, they you should note they did play, you know, little
2:26
Sisters of the poor for their first three games, I think not
2:32
exactly a, you know, a murderous row of of teams, but they just
2:38
thumped Illinois. They just, I've taken to calling
2:44
Kurt Cignetti coach bad intentions.
2:46
That's good. He will just bury you if he can.
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And I don't know if he'll do that to Kirk.
2:53
He seems to respect Kirk. There's something with him and
2:56
Bilma, though, that just ain't he.
2:59
He put one on him and he probably would have put more on
3:02
him if he could. Couple of alphas getting
3:04
together and you're going to see that from time to time.
3:06
So let's come up with a path to victory here, Tom.
3:09
Let's figure out the way that I would get this thing done.
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Obviously can't give up 588 yards, can't give up 350 through
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the air, special environment, all those kind of things.
3:18
When you're kind of looking at that path, how Iowa pulls off
3:21
the victory, what are a couple of things that jumped to top of
3:23
mind for you? Line play is going to be huge in
3:26
this game, both sides for Iowa offense and defence.
3:30
You know, Indiana's averaging, you know, I think I was doing
3:34
pretty well. They're averaging 200 yards a
3:36
game on the ground. Indiana's averaging 300.
3:39
And it's not like they've got like 1 back.
3:41
They've got like they have like 4 now.
3:44
They're down to three and they're all really good.
3:47
In fact, if their freshman running back might be their best
3:49
guy and there Iowa has to do a better job.
3:55
I think the numbers don't suggest that Iowa has been leaky
3:58
against the run. I think they've been a little
4:00
bit leaky against the run. They just haven't been as as, as
4:05
bolstered up there as I think they need to be.
4:08
So that's going to be a key. And I think everything hinges on
4:12
Iowa being able to run the football.
4:14
Because if they can't run the football and they're getting 3
4:18
and outs and Indiana gets the ball back and they're going to
4:22
zip right down the field in 3 minutes and score on you.
4:24
So it's just you got to the best defense against Indiana is
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keeping that offense standing next to Kurt Signetti on the
4:32
sidelines. So those 8 minute drives where
4:35
you just drag them through the mud and and just keep getting
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first down after first down are going to be critical.
4:41
Yeah, you can hit some big plays, but I think just keeping
4:44
them, even them over on the sidelines is going to be huge.
4:47
And if Iowa can do that, make a special teams play, they got to
4:51
find a way to create a couple turnovers and there's your path.
4:54
You know, I think that there is a path there, but it is it is
4:58
really tough because this Indiana team I think they might
5:03
be better than I think they are last year.
5:04
I know their quarterback, their quarterback is better than and
5:07
Curtis work was a nice quarterback, nice quarterback
5:09
and those is a pro. He's a second third round pick.
5:11
I mean, he's. Really good.
5:13
Kobe Martin's the freshman I'm guessing you're talking about.
5:16
Yeah, he's averaged about 9 yards a carry, and it's not like
5:18
he's broke a couple of long wins.
5:20
He's just consistently he churns out yards.
5:23
That's fascinating to see. You mentioned Mendoza, 14
5:26
touchdown passes, you yet to give up an interception, been
5:29
sacked 3 times. So he's tough to get to.
5:32
I couldn't agree with you more, Tom.
5:33
This offense, defensive front for Iowa has to get home in
5:37
order to put some pressure on him because well, I mean, I
5:41
mean, Illinois hasn't and Old Dominion didn't and Kennesaw
5:44
State didn't. As you mentioned, it's not
5:46
exactly murder's row. I thought Old Dominion was a
5:48
women's basketball school. That's how used it used to be,
5:52
right? So it's not.
5:54
But what they did to Illinois just and I guess that's why the
5:57
point spread reacted, right? Because everybody sees the
6:00
latest and that's why it's continuing or or at least had
6:04
continued to shoot up. Circle opened it at 4.
6:06
It got to 8 1/2 at one point. That must be it, right?
6:11
Yeah, I would think it got it got the 8 1/2.
6:14
It's funny because last Friday when we were driving over to the
6:17
stadium, I pulled up one of the one of the books that was legal
6:21
in New Jersey and I looked at and they had to go ahead or look
6:24
ahead line and it was 3. Really. 3 yeah, for Iowa,
6:29
Indiana, 3 Indiana -3 And then it kind of, you know, certain,
6:33
like you said, circle opened at four.
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I think most places had it at 6 1/2 Sunday morning and it zipped
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it. It was interesting because it
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hit 8 1/2 more than once, and the first time it did, there was
6:45
some buy back and got it back to 7 1/2.
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But I don't think it's buying back anymore.
6:49
And I wonder if tomorrow it steams up to maybe 10.
6:52
Well, here's the latest. DraftKings is 8 1/2.
6:54
There's now a couple of seven and a half, both FanDuel and and
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the South pointer, it's 7 1/2 right now, so it's coming.
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It's kind of fluctuating. Yeah, a lot.
7:03
And I think you're right, a lot of that public steam is going to
7:05
be on the Hoosiers. Tomorrow I agree.
7:06
Will be enough though, because there's going to be a whole lot
7:09
of pros that are just going to simple number play and going to
7:12
be on the Hawkeyes for this one. Tom, we saw late in the game
7:15
against Rutgers, Jayla Watson come in, who in Vegas, Kirk
7:19
brought him up and when Kirk brings up a young guy,
7:22
definitely gets your attention. We heard about him again during
7:24
August camp. I don't know if it's a where
7:27
he's going to unseat Deshaun Lee right now, but how much Jaylen
7:31
Watson do we expect to see in Kiddix Stadium tomorrow
7:34
afternoon? Knowing what they do, throwing
7:36
the ball around those RPO's put a young guy out there in that
7:39
spot. Yeah, I think that we're going
7:42
to see a good amount of him. Honestly.
7:46
Teams seem to be going after Deshaun Lee quite a bit.
7:48
TJ Hall has been really good. This year so.
7:51
Far and credits that kid because he's he's worked at it and he's
7:55
playing really well. But teams are going after Lee
7:59
that they did it the Rutgers did it last weekend and got to him a
8:02
little bit and and they brought Watson in those last two series
8:05
and it got pretty quiet. So I think Kirk said on Tuesday
8:10
you're going to see all three of them.
8:12
So I suspect we're going to see Watson probably fairly early and
8:17
then it'll how he does will dictate how long he's out there.
8:22
But if he does well, he's going to stay out there, probably the
8:24
rest of the game. You know, we we came to expect
8:27
after watching Drew Stevens junior year, just almost
8:30
perfection this year, right? And it's not that he's been
8:33
brutal by any means. And here comes that keyword.
8:36
But there's it maybe hasn't been as seamless as we thought it was
8:41
going to be. What do you see from Stevens?
8:44
Yeah. And I wonder sometimes some of
8:48
those snaps have been kind of low, some of the snaps just have
8:51
been great. And I wonder if that's missing
8:54
Luke Elkin a little bit and at that position because Luke was
8:58
really good and it's always on time and right where it needed
9:01
to be. But I Drew also mentioned to me
9:05
recently when we asked him about some of the, the misses and such
9:09
that that sometimes he, he will drive it a little bit too much
9:13
instead of just kicking it. And because he might have like
9:17
the kickoff mentality kind of thing.
9:19
So I think he's, he's kind of trying to adjust to that a
9:23
little bit, just kind of kick the football instead of trying
9:26
to drive it deep. And, and when he drives it deep,
9:30
he tends to leave it out to the right a little bit, which you've
9:33
seen a couple times this year. Speaking of special teams, every
9:38
stake in slow start, the average looks OK, but there's been a
9:42
bunch of them that have been short taking a good role and I
9:45
guess credit for him for that, but a little bit of a
9:47
disappointment here in a second campaign.
9:50
Yeah, it's just not been, you know, and we saw him in camp and
9:55
the spring practice and everything, and he was bombing
9:59
them. So it's just, that's the thing
10:01
that's really weird is that he's kind of taking a step back when
10:05
you didn't expect it. He was, you know, he's put on
10:08
some weight, gone stronger. He felt like his Lord body was
10:10
stronger and and he just hasn't been hitting them as pure as as
10:16
he needs to. I'll tell you what, they're
10:18
going to need him on Saturday because you're going to want to
10:22
pin that. Indiana came back as far as you
10:25
can, especially when they would be backed up to that North End
10:28
zone where it gets pretty loud down there and those fans get a
10:31
little rowdy. They're pretty proud of that
10:33
fact. So I think that's going to be a
10:37
real key for Iowa, if he can get some deep ponts, pin them inside
10:41
the pen, let that North End zone work their magic and see if they
10:44
can, you know, maybe get a turnover or two.
10:47
Speaking of working the magic, as I go back to last Friday
10:50
again, but it was really the tale of two halves in
10:52
particular. The secondary.
10:54
I thought, I mean, you mentioned Kellick Mattis, he was really
10:56
good and in the second-half these the the windows got a
10:59
whole lot tighter and he's willing to throw it in there a
11:01
lot of times he did. But the secondary, Tom, I
11:04
thought that they made significant they had to have
11:07
because it was a different secondary for the final 30
11:10
minutes as opposed to the first half.
11:13
The two things happened. They tightened up their coverage
11:15
I think a little bit. They were giving them some
11:17
cushions in the first half and Phil decided to bring an extra
11:21
guy a lot of bottle those times and and create some pressure to
11:25
make them get rid of the ball quicker.
11:27
Some corner blitzes and and Kelek Manus was really good
11:30
against those and they brought a couple of corner blitzes and he
11:33
just wherever that corner blitz was coming from, he just threw
11:36
it to that that area right out of the snap and made a play.
11:40
So those didn't work, but some of the other ones did some other
11:43
blitz packages with Shire and guys like that.
11:46
I thought that really worked well.
11:48
One of the interesting things they did too, and in the
11:51
second-half was they would bring Jaden Harrell out of the game
11:55
and put in Jackson. Rex Roth.
11:57
He saw Rex Roth get an interception.
11:59
But maybe the Rex Roth is a little bit better in coverage,
12:02
former safety when he came into the University of Iowa as a walk
12:05
on. So maybe they feel a little bit
12:08
better about his coverage in those situations.
12:11
So that's something to watch this weekend too, because I
12:14
think you'd probably see more Rex Roth out there on those
12:17
certain passing situations. Tom Caker joining us.
12:21
Tom, you mentioned before we came on the air that you had a
12:25
question for us. So now you got me really
12:27
intrigued here that you're in the table.
12:28
Yeah, You're going to throw it back here on these old guys over
12:31
here. What do you got for us?
12:32
No, because this is right up you guys's alley.
12:35
There are three, There are three home dogs in the Big 10 this
12:39
weekend, getting 6 to 8 points and somebody's going down this
12:42
weekend. One of those favorite Ohio
12:45
State, USC or Indiana? Who's going down well?
12:49
I hope it's Indiana, obviously, yeah, there's a lot of love for
12:54
the Huskies this week. I love the points in all three
12:56
of the games. Do you?
12:57
I play underdogs almost, I mean, 7580% of the time.
13:00
So that's probably the reason too.
13:02
But I I have a feeling I'll have all the dogs in My Portfolio,
13:05
maybe outside of Iowa, just because an emotional hedge is
13:08
going to go against it. But and if you I'd said this
13:10
earlier to Ken, if you took the Hawkeyes away from this and just
13:13
this game was just too rainy them teams, I absolutely would
13:16
be on the home team in this spot.
13:17
But I like all of them here and that body clock, Lincoln Riley's
13:22
already been complaining about it.
13:24
I hate that 9:00 AM Pacific. Not only that, but what they had
13:27
to do playing that late game out in LA, Illinois.
13:30
They're not they're not the 9th ranked team in the country.
13:32
We know that they never were. I didn't even think there were a
13:35
top 25 team, but they weren't as bad as they look like Saturday
13:38
either. I think they're going to bounce
13:39
back. I think all three of them are
13:41
live this weekend, Tom. How about you?
13:44
Yeah, I kind of think all three of them are live too.
13:47
I really do. It wouldn't surprise me if all
13:49
three won. I think somebody one of the
13:52
three is going to is going to get them.
13:55
But yeah, I think and Riley complaining about that and and
13:58
you know, Big Bert is going to have Illinois spit nails.
14:01
I mean that Illinois first half is like one of the favorite bets
14:05
of the week for me just because I know Big Bird's going to have
14:08
them ready to go. Yeah, no, there's no doubt about
14:11
that. Look, there's a lot of love for
14:13
Williams, the quarterback for for Washington.
14:16
I see a ton of people think that Ohio State's going to get beat.
14:20
Are they as good as we thought they were coming into the year,
14:22
Tom? So where did you, who did you
14:24
have as your top three back in August?
14:27
And who are your top three power rank now in the Big 10?
14:30
Do you remember? And play I I would have had Penn
14:34
State and Ohio State and probably Oregon likewise, but
14:39
but Indiana is in your top 2 right now I would think.
14:43
And I think USC is really good. Yeah, I think Indiana, it's
14:47
probably Ohio State and then Indiana.
14:50
But boy, I, I wonder if Oregon's walking into one this weekend.
14:55
I just do that. That young team, the white out,
14:58
they really haven't faced anybody.
15:02
I've been to two whiteouts. It is incredible.
15:06
Is it it's it's just, it is so loud when that place gets
15:11
cranked up. I think one of those whiteouts,
15:13
they hit a like an 80 yard bomb against Iowa.
15:16
Like out of the gate, I think it might have been the O 9 game.
15:20
They hit a big, big play right out of the gate and that place
15:24
was just up for grabs. I mean, it was wild.
15:27
That's a that's a great atmosphere there.
15:29
By the way, that Illinois, Iowa, Washington money line parlay,
15:34
what's it pay on the circus sports?
15:36
That'll be huge. A little bit better than 39 to
15:38
1. How about your $100 wager
15:40
returns 3916 dollars? Step right up.
15:44
Yeah, fire away. It's turned condom money, condom
15:48
money right there. Not so much.
15:50
Not so much. Good stuff, Tom.
15:52
Appreciate it. I thought that would be a good
15:53
good. Question for you, no.
15:54
Love it I. Thought that'd be a good one.
15:56
Yeah, absolutely. Love it.
15:57
Tom, what time will you get to the press box tomorrow?
16:01
Three hours before kickoff and I'm apparently going to be on
16:04
the pregame show. Are you nice?
16:06
You know the guy now that's running that pregame show, don't
16:08
you, Randazzo? I told him, yeah, I told him.
16:11
I said I don't want to come on. I was on already once this year.
16:14
Put somebody else on and they're like, no, we need you.
16:16
I think Bowen did recently, did he not?
16:18
Yes, he did. He did, John.
16:21
Johnny did it. And that was awesome.
16:23
Yeah. So, yeah, so you'll hear my my
16:26
voice on the on the pregame. Looking forward to that.
16:29
Tom, before we let you go, do want to ask you on basketball as
16:33
practice has begun. Question there and then we'll
16:35
get to women's basketball with the potential couple of monster
16:38
recruits in town. But let's start on the men's
16:40
side of things. Practice opening up.
16:42
You know, I was talking to our lockdown Indiana guy I
16:45
mentioned. I think the expectations are
16:47
relatively high here. You're #1 when you have a
16:49
potential All American point guard, I think you have to have
16:52
your sights set pretty high with what they have in Sturds.
16:54
Where are you right now with this basketball team as they get
16:56
started? Yeah, I'm really curious to see
17:00
what they look like. And unfortunately we're not
17:03
going to get to see them until that November 4th game because
17:06
they're going to do 2 private exhibition.
17:08
They're really secret scrimmages or whatever.
17:10
So they're only going to do those two and that's it.
17:13
There's going to be no like, hey, we're going to go play Co
17:16
or, you know, somebody Graceland or whoever not doing any of
17:20
those. So it yeah, we won't see him
17:23
till November 4th when they played Bobby MO good old Robert
17:27
Morris. So I'm really interested to see
17:31
this team and see what they look like because it's it's got that
17:35
combination of guys that know this system and then you've got
17:39
a lot of new faces. It's an entirely new team.
17:42
And Cooper Koch we barely saw. It's an entirely new team.
17:46
It's kind of, you know, Iowa has kind of been the face of
17:50
consistency where guys really don't leave that often.
17:53
It's not like mass exodus of players.
17:57
And we've kind of avoided it in terms of roster changeover.
18:01
And this is a massive makeover for this program.
18:05
Because Iowa State, they're going to Creighton, they're
18:07
going to sell tickets to that. And then Northwestern's coming
18:09
to to to Hilton, and they're selling tickets for that.
18:13
Here I'll tell you guys this. They wanted to do 1 and they
18:16
were going to try and do text tech.
18:17
Yeah, but it was. Going to be it was going to be
18:21
the Football week and I think it was probably going to be the
18:23
Penn State weekend and and then have hotel rooms.
18:27
There's no hotel rooms so they couldn't do it.
18:30
Yeah, could. McCullum took us to his Drake
18:32
team up to to Lubbock last year and played a really good game,
18:35
apparently against Texas. Yeah.
18:37
So they were going to. Yeah.
18:38
So they were going to, they were going to see if Texas Tech could
18:41
come in because he and Grant Mccaslin are really good friends
18:44
and and they were willing to come up.
18:47
But it was and they were going to do it like earlier in the day
18:50
or something and before that game and.
18:53
And it just wouldn't work out. Bill sit on the details.
18:56
A lot of murmurs about a potential women's basketball
18:58
recruit, maybe the and a big one also on campus this week with
19:02
Bjorn coming to town from down in Kansas City.
19:05
She's a top five player nationally, top five, top five
19:08
player nationally. And the girl that visited a
19:11
couple of weeks ago. How do you pronounce her last
19:13
name? She she might be the one that's
19:16
trending towards a commitment. So it looks like Jan Jensen's
19:18
got things cooking. McKenna, the let's go with from
19:23
San Jose, CA forward, kind of small forward.
19:28
She's a, you know, five star player.
19:30
I think she's going to announce her decision early next week.
19:33
So and I we have a prediction and I put one in like September
19:36
2nd that she was coming to Iowa. So hopefully that turns out that
19:40
way. But it wasn't like full, full
19:42
confidence. But like, hey, I'm hearing some
19:44
good things that I think I was stranded in the right direction
19:48
here and we'll eventually get her and now we'll find out.
19:53
But yeah. And then Aston Bjorn from the
19:56
Kansas City area, she's going to be in this weekend.
19:59
And the interesting story. And credit to Chad Lystico from
20:02
the Des Moines Register for getting this from from McKenna
20:05
and her family that. When she was doing a story on
20:08
them that it was Addison to Bjorn, Addison Bjorn's dad that
20:12
kind of turned them on to Iowa and said they've just got this
20:15
great culture here and they, you know, I think you guys would fit
20:18
really well at Iowa. You should really kind of dig in
20:20
on them a little bit. So it's interesting that they
20:23
are they're they're close and they've talked about Iowa like
20:27
that. So and then you've got, you
20:29
know, Jennica Lewis, the girl from Johnston who's going to be
20:31
visiting in October. So another big time recruit.
20:36
Good stuff. Tom Caikert, hawkeyereport.com,
20:38
hawkeyereport.com for Tom a part of the On Three Media Network.
20:42
Tom, thank you. We'll talk with you next Friday.
20:44
Appreciate it, Tom. Thanks guys.
20:46
Take care. Good.
20:47
To talk to you, Tom Caikert as we check in on Iowa.
20:50
All right, we will check in on the week in the NFL with our guy
20:53
Dalton Wasserman. He's coming up next, Pro
20:55
Football Focus. We'll take a peek at some of the
20:58
marquee games taking place this weekend.
21:00
Miller and Condon talking sports with you on the Iowa Sports
21:03
Radio Network. All right, 130, welcome back,
21:09
Miller and Condon. Iowa Sports Radio Network.
21:11
Wherever you're listening in the state of Iowa or in the iheart
21:14
app or anywhere, we're glad that you're with us.
21:16
We'll take you until the top of the hour.
21:18
Our picks of the week still to come.
21:20
Don wassermanprofootballfocus.com
21:23
going to take a peek around the NFL with us.
21:25
Dalton, Trenton, Kent, thank you for coming on.
21:28
Don, before we do that, what's your favorite college game?
21:30
What I know you looked at a lot of them.
21:32
Which of the ones you looked at? If you could only watch one,
21:36
which game would you tune into tomorrow?
21:38
Dalton. Oh, wow.
21:39
What? I mean, it's such a loaded slate
21:41
and there's so many good games, but it's hard for me to ignore
21:44
Oregon and Penn State. They're in Happy Valley, right?
21:46
You've got Oregon and Dante Moore with their offense running
21:49
red hot. And Penn State, look, they
21:51
haven't played anybody really. Their offense hasn't looked
21:53
great, but we know they have a boatload of talent among the
21:55
elite in the sport. I want to see if Penn State's
21:57
for real or I want to see if Oregon's really going to go out
22:00
there and prove they're a national title contender.
22:02
Looking forward to that one. Should be incredible.
22:04
And of course, the pomp and circumstance that surrounds
22:06
that. And before we get into the games
22:08
this weekend, Pro Football focus, I know got into the Lexa
22:11
kind of a lot of people here in the state this week with Iowa's
22:14
offensive line, the number of tank top ranked guys on that
22:17
offensive line this week, the top ranked offensive line
22:19
overall in college football to this point.
22:23
It's one of my favorite things about PFF because honestly, I
22:25
have no idea how to grade offensive lineman and and at
22:27
least gives you a jumping off point to seeing if your eyes are
22:30
kind of matching up with what you see when you're watching on
22:33
TV. Take us in because at least for
22:35
me, offensive line rankings and what you go do.
22:38
I think it's the most important thing for Pro Football Focus and
22:40
what we do. Take us into those rankings and
22:42
what they mean for the online. Oh, man, I, I mean, Iowa's
22:46
offensive line is among the most dominant units in the country.
22:49
I mean, I, I think about them and I think about Miami's
22:52
defensive line is probably the two most dominant units in the
22:54
nation right now. And you think about.
22:56
So, you know, I can pull behind the scenes just the grades for
22:58
the offensive lineman. Iowa's offensive line right now
23:02
is, is grading 11 points higher than any other offensive line in
23:06
the country. I love the work that Tim Lester
23:08
has done since the start of last year, putting in some of those
23:11
zones schemes, getting some athletes upfront and putting
23:13
them on the move and getting to at the second level.
23:16
Max Chadwick pointed out a stat on our preview show.
23:18
We we previewed the the Iowa Indiana game this week.
23:21
Four of the five players on the offensive line lead their
23:25
positions in PFF grade and the one guy that doesn't Jennings
23:28
dunker, I believe is second. You got five players among the
23:31
top two of their position. All five of those guys, it has
23:34
just been a dominant performance and honestly the most, the most
23:37
important and the biggest reason that Iowa wins game.
23:40
That's fascinating. That's really I wouldn't have
23:42
thought that I really wouldn't have.
23:44
Dalton. Thank you for a great question,
23:46
Trent. Well, let's get into some of the
23:48
NFL matchups this weekend because and I guess I've got to
23:51
I got to go to the I mean, if you put stars beside him, I know
23:54
they're both one of them is going to have three losses be
23:56
one and three. Hard to believe.
23:58
I it's hard to believe to me that Baltimore might be that
24:00
team or Kansas City. I like Baltimore.
24:03
I think we're starting to see maybe the beginning of a
24:06
downturn for the Chiefs. But help me out with the Ravens
24:09
and the Chiefs, Dalton. I mean, I think you're going to
24:12
see two desperate football teams out there.
24:14
They don't want to start one and three in a loaded AFCI think,
24:17
especially with the Chiefs at home in a tougher division, I
24:21
think right now than the AFC North with some of the issues
24:23
that those other teams have that the Ravens are going to be
24:26
facing later this year. But I mean, that's what you're
24:28
going to get, a desperate football game between two of the
24:30
best quarterbacks in football. But both teams having issues,
24:34
right? Neither team's front 7 is
24:35
playing very well. We saw that especially with
24:37
Baltimore against Detroit in their run game.
24:39
And the Chiefs, look, the lack of answers on offense other
24:42
than, hey, Mahomes, go save us. Well, he's going to have to save
24:44
him again in this game. If he can do it, you get back on
24:47
the right track. But one of these teams being 1
24:49
and 3 is going to be a real shocker when it when it just
24:51
comes to the optics of it and and the the hole that they're
24:54
going to have to dig their way back out of.
24:56
Let's jump into another interesting matchup.
24:59
You got the Colts and the Rams. Rams coming off that devastating
25:02
loss as they dominated for long portions of the game in
25:05
Philadelphia. Now they come back home and here
25:08
comes upstart Indianapolis and Indiana Jones at the quarterback
25:12
helm. Feels like a much more difficult
25:15
spot here for Indianapolis. Are you a believer in the Colts,
25:18
and what do you think we're going to see in that one?
25:21
I am a believer in the Colts that they're pretty darn good,
25:23
especially if Daniel Jones keeps playing the way he is.
25:26
But this is certainly their toughest test.
25:28
And Despite that loss the Rams just had, they're still a really
25:30
darn good football team with, you know, a lot of really
25:33
well-rounded nature of their team.
25:35
Obvious Stafford and Nakua and the passing offense, their
25:38
defensive line with Jared Burst and those guys.
25:40
I think that presents easily the biggest challenge so far for
25:43
Indianapolis. But the Colts do respond.
25:45
They've got a really good offensive line.
25:46
They got a lot of balance in their offense.
25:48
I think it's going to be a great football game.
25:49
I'm leaning with the home team in the Rams here.
25:51
I do think the Colts defense still has a step or two to go
25:55
before they're really a big time unit, but I think it's going to
25:58
be a really fun game. Could be a high scoring 1.
26:00
Dalton Wasserman Pro Football Focus is our guest.
26:03
Dalton. Let's go early morning over to
26:04
Dublin. The Vikings with Carson Wentz,
26:07
Pittsburgh with maybe not the team that some thought that they
26:11
were going to be. Tomlin streak of being above
26:14
500. I'm not sure.
26:15
I'm not saying it's going to end, but I think it's in
26:17
jeopardy. Vikings.
26:19
Steelers. Your thoughts?
26:21
I like this match up, especially for Minnesota's defense.
26:24
The Steelers, despite the two in one record, their two wins are
26:28
really against teams who gave games away.
26:30
The Jets would blown coverages and a big turnover on a kick
26:33
off. The Patriots last week with five
26:35
turnovers really handed them a win.
26:36
The Steelers offense has not looked good.
26:38
They've been unable to run the ball.
26:39
Their offensive tackles have struggled.
26:42
Broderick Jones, Detroit by Otano, and honestly Aaron
26:44
Rodgers under pressure and throwing downfield hasn't looked
26:47
all that great. Has he made a ton of huge
26:49
mistakes? No, but there's a lack of
26:51
explosiveness in the Steelers offense.
26:53
And this Minnesota team, you know, especially they're better
26:56
than the two teams that the Steelers beat, The Jets and the
26:58
Patriots. I think they could have a real
27:00
problem scoring points on Brian Flores in that defense.
27:04
I want to stay on the local front, the big national game on
27:07
Sunday night with the Packers as they travel to Dallas.
27:11
There's going to be a lot talked about obviously with Micah
27:14
Parsons making his way there, keeping an eye on some of those
27:17
props. Maybe a same game parley putting
27:19
a sack total for him in that one.
27:21
But when you look at this match up, can can the Cowboy score
27:25
enough just to keep up in this one?
27:27
Because it does feel like Green Bay certainly going to get the
27:29
offense revved up after the issues last week in Cleveland.
27:33
It sure feels like if the Cowboys are going to stay in
27:35
this game, they're going to have to slow it down.
27:37
And it sounds shocking, but really ride the run game with
27:40
Javonte Williams and try to slow this game down and limit the
27:42
possessions. Because if you get in obvious
27:44
passing situations against this Packer team, you're in a for a
27:48
world of hurt. And it's not just Parsons, it's
27:50
Rashawn Gary, it's Lucas Van Ness, it's Devante Wyatt, it's
27:53
Edger and Cooper blitzing. You just do not want to drop
27:56
back and be in 3rd and eight constantly against that defense
27:59
or you have a serious problem. So, you know, look, I'm
28:01
expecting the Packers to bounce back.
28:03
I'm expecting Jordan Love to bounce back last week.
28:06
And I wouldn't be shocked at all if this was finally the Matthew
28:08
Golden breakout game because we've seen what that Dallas
28:10
secondary looks like the first three weeks.
28:12
Yeah, look what Russell Wilson did against it.
28:14
And then a week later, he's benched.
28:16
His career might have come to an end.
28:18
Boy, Tony Gonzalez did not hold back last night.
28:20
I loved it. All right, I want to get this
28:22
one in because I want a 2 parter.
28:23
This is a selfish one. I'm a Broncos fan.
28:26
I'm a Bow Knicks fan. Bow Knicks has not had a good
28:29
start to his sophomore campaign, if you want to call it that.
28:33
Cincinnati's got their own issues.
28:35
I think the Broncos will win. Tell me what's wrong with Bo
28:38
Nicks. What do you guys are Pro
28:39
Football Focus seeing when you take a look at Bo Nicks and your
28:42
thoughts on the nightcap on Monday night?
28:46
To me, there is a lack of consistency in his footwork and
28:50
in his mechanics that I've really never seen before.
28:52
Beau's always been light on his feet and his mechanics and
28:55
accuracy, especially while you're going back to his days at
28:58
Oregon, they've always been consistent if nothing else.
29:00
Maybe he wasn't the most aggressive pastor, but he was,
29:03
he was certainly among the most accurate.
29:05
He had above average accuracy metrics for us last year and
29:08
this year, I don't know, it just feels like A, they're they're
29:12
the Broncos offense seems more aggressive when it doesn't need
29:15
to be. And B Bo's missing easy throws
29:17
and and I think to me, it comes down to his footwork.
29:20
And maybe it's just something he didn't work on a whole lot or
29:23
just something's off right with his mechanics.
29:25
But overall, I do think Denver should still win the game.
29:27
I think the defensive line especially can carry them.
29:29
That's a huge mismatch against the Cincinnati team that really
29:32
can't block. But you do want to see Bo get
29:34
back on the right track as you see kind of some bad habits form
29:37
in here earlier in the season. Bears will go selfish on my
29:40
front. Yes, I'm a Bears fan sadly and
29:44
they go to LV now with a bye week coming up after this one.
29:47
An incredibly difficult slate after the bye week as they go on
29:51
the road for three of their next 4.
29:53
It feels like pretty close to a must win situation here.
29:56
The Bears, what we saw a week ago against Dallas, Was it a
29:59
mirage or have we seen enough about Caleb Williams yet?
30:02
Yes, he is taking the steps forward.
30:05
Oh boy, I'll tell you what, if you asked me that question next
30:08
week, I'd have a more clear answer on it because it's it's
30:11
also the part where the Cowboys defense is just so bad that I I
30:13
mean, they're doing that with everybody.
30:15
But no, I think Caleb, the big thing, he did look very good
30:18
last week. I like the new layers that Ben
30:20
Johnson added to the offense. There's a lot more motion and
30:22
things like that. I think what you want to see
30:24
with Caleb is consistency. Can he stack 2345 solid weeks in
30:28
a row? Because we just haven't seen
30:30
that yet through the first year plus where it's, you know, he'll
30:32
have a good week and then the next week will look like a wreck
30:34
and then he'll have a good week. It's just been inconsistent.
30:36
So that's really this is a big week.
30:38
I think for him to stack together two in a row.
30:40
It's another defense that the Raiders that just aren't all,
30:43
they're just not that good so far this year.
30:45
They don't have a whole lot of talent, so there's an
30:46
opportunity to have a second big game in a row with a big Rd. win
30:50
possible. I think it's a big week for
30:52
Caleb and his development. You want to see stacking
30:54
positive performances. Dalton, how many games did you
30:58
and Max pre preview this week? 12 games was it?
31:03
OK, we, we, we had never done 12 before.
31:05
We had a couple occasions where we've done 11.
31:07
It's the first week ever we've done 12.
31:08
Yeah, the content just kept showing up.
31:10
Pro Football Focus. You can follow him on Twitter,
31:12
as I do at PFF under score Dalton.
31:16
At PFF under score Dalton. Dalton Wasserman joins us.
31:19
Dalton, appreciate the relationship, man.
31:21
We'll talk down the road. Thanks for doing this as always.
31:24
Absolutely appreciate you guys as always.
31:25
Thank you. Yeah, good to talk to you,
31:26
Dalton Wasserman, as we take a look at both college and the NFL
31:30
with one of Pro Football focuses up and comers.
31:33
Does a good job over there. Obviously, he does his homework.
31:35
I tuned in some of his videos when the game is of interest to
31:39
me. We shall see.
31:41
Well, our picks are coming up next.
31:44
Yes, can have a good week. 2 two and one.
31:49
That's good for me. Now I need you to be 4 and 1
31:52
five. And Lucas threw a perfecto at us
31:55
last week, hey? Young man knows ball sometimes.
31:59
Now we might have a one in for him.
32:00
Did he have an O and five to start or was that somebody had
32:03
an O and five? I did.
32:04
You did, yeah, I dug out of that.
32:06
But that O and five hole is pretty tough.
32:10
Unless you put some hay in the barn.
32:12
I went two and three, three and two and two, two and one, so
32:15
we're moving back to the mean. Unfortunately, Week 1 still
32:17
counts and that O and five is dragging us down in the team
32:21
contest. I've had 3-4 and ones and one,
32:23
one and four. As I look at my picks today, I
32:26
would sign for two and three. Right now you would sign for two
32:30
and. Three Well then, get better
32:31
picks. I can't wrap my mind around the
32:34
college football slate this. Week.
32:36
That's where the issue lies. I I could take the Chargers.
32:39
I like your bears. These are picks that didn't make
32:42
my five pick allegiance going to be 5050.
32:46
Probably. Maybe I we should ask my palm
32:49
that. I'm guessing that Circa has more
32:51
Illinois residents staying at their properties this weekend
32:56
than maybe a normal weekend. I like that game.
33:00
I like the Rams. That didn't make my list.
33:02
I like the Ravens. Did the Ravens make my list?
33:05
They might have anyways. Well, you'll hear next.
33:07
We'll make our picks. Circus sports.
33:08
We'll update you on the contest as we hold a narrow lead over
33:12
the afternoon crew. Hope to build on that and look
33:15
to do so on the other side of these messages.
33:17
Miller and Condon talking sports with you on Des Moines sports
33:19
station One O 6.3 KX&O on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
33:23
Then off the bench, who knows football better, the war wages
33:28
on. It's time for the afternoon
33:31
pickup sponsored by Circa Sports on One O 6.3, KXNO and the Iowa
33:37
Sports Radio Network. I'm Millery Condon, welcome
33:41
back. 10 minutes before 2, the boys are at the Rally House in
33:45
Ames. Rally House in Ames.
33:47
Apparently they will be there every single Iowa State home
33:50
football game on Friday. So if you're in the Ames area,
33:53
stop by and see Rally House and Lucas and Sean as they do their
33:58
show from 2:00 until 5:00. Well, here's the standings.
34:02
We're only up a game. Is that how I read it?
34:04
Right? Well, you.
34:05
Shouldn't have had a one in four.
34:08
That's my fault now. OK, all right, pressure's on.
34:10
Now. Let's go.
34:12
What are we doing head to head? You're dominating.
34:14
You are 13 and seven overall on the season.
34:17
I am 712 and 1 digging out of that O and five.
34:20
Hole all right, so it's my tee box is in.
34:23
Let's get to it. I don't love them, but we're
34:26
going to start in the NFL and we're going to start early on
34:29
Sunday morning in the NFL. Let's head the Dublin, shall we,
34:33
where the Vikings and the Steelers are set to collide.
34:36
Something wrong with this Steelers team.
34:38
I'm not sure that Tom is going to be able to keep it going as
34:41
far as that streak of finishing about 500.
34:44
We'll see. Usually does.
34:46
Aaron Rodgers has been OK, not great, but I'll take the
34:50
Vikings. I will lay the 2 1/2.
34:52
Carson Wentz and company get the job done in pick number one pick
34:55
#2 let's stay in the NFC North. But let's go to Sunday night.
34:59
The curtain will come down in Dallas.
35:02
It's the Packers, it's the Cowboys, and the Packers
35:05
couldn't cover Trent. This is a bad football team
35:09
secondary wise. CD Lamb is going to be out.
35:12
Jordan Love and company cannot play this bad back-to-back
35:15
weeks. It's less than a touchdown.
35:17
It's 6 1/2. Give me the Pack and Micah
35:20
Parsons wreaking havoc in his old stadium.
35:23
Pick #2 Packers over the Cowboys.
35:26
Let's go to the college ranks. Hawaii's played every week.
35:31
They they started in week zero and they've played every week
35:35
since. Not even buys.
35:37
They're back and forth. They're in just outside Colorado
35:41
Springs. If you're driving down I-25,
35:43
it's a pretty picturesque campus from the Interstate.
35:47
I'm going to lay the 6th with Air Force pick #1 Air Force
35:51
beats a it has to be a fatigued Hawaii group.
35:55
And then I'll take TCU tonight, getting 3 on the road at Arizona
35:59
State. Hoover's I think the best
36:01
quarterback in the Big 12. I think he shows it tonight.
36:04
I will take TCU. My best bet of the week back to
36:06
the NFL. Bucks are just so banged up.
36:10
They're maybe going to get Tristan worse back, but if they
36:12
do, I think he's been on the right side of the line.
36:14
Eagles, they'd be kind of slow walking, but they're defending
36:18
champs for a reason. Barclay maybe gets going this
36:20
week. My best bet of the week?
36:22
The Eagles leg 3 1/2 Trent. All right, Minnesota, Green Bay,
36:26
Air Force, TCU and Philly. Best bet, Philly.
36:30
Got it. All right, let's kick things off
36:32
with a little college football. I know amongst the many that is
36:36
jumping on Washington Huskies, Julian Sand going on the road
36:39
for the first time, I think that is going to be hugely impactful
36:42
in this game. And on top of it, Washington can
36:45
score, get out to an early lead. Hold on for dear life.
36:49
Give me the 8 1/2 with the Huskies.
36:51
Pick #1 We're going to go to tonight where UVA is going to be
36:58
honoring their team that upset the apple cart in the ACC when
37:02
Florida State didn't lose a game until they went on a Thursday
37:05
night to Virginia. It continues tonight.
37:08
Well, at least inside the number.
37:09
Give me the 7 1/2. I'll take Virginia with pick #2.
37:12
Over to the NFL we go. I'm jumping aboard.
37:15
Mentioned it earlier. There's just something about
37:17
this Jacksonville game against San Francisco.
37:19
It just kind of stinks. I don't like Jacksonville.
37:22
I'll grab the 3 1/2. Give me the Jaguars with pick
37:25
number one in the NFLI. Think Atlanta's in a great
37:28
bounce back spot this week after that dreadful performance a week
37:32
before. I'll lay the two points with
37:34
Atlanta in the spot situation there for them, and then we wrap
37:39
it up with my bet of the week. I just can't wrap my mind around
37:43
it can be Kansas. They're laying 4 1/2 against
37:46
Cincinnati. I, I just, I, I can't get there.
37:49
I will take The Jayhawks -4 1/2 my best bet.
37:52
All right, Sioux City East and Ankeny tonight, that's where you
37:56
will be. You'll hear that game on the
37:58
Bull. If you're interested in that
38:00
one, that's where you can find us.
38:01
Joe Stacy's off Nathan Fischer running the show tonight on
38:04
FOOTBALL Friday night that gets underway at six.
38:07
Enjoy your weekend a lot is maybe the best weekend in sports
38:11
we've had all year. Unbelievable.
38:13
Trent and I are back on Monday, Monday through Friday.
38:15
Trent and I talk sports with you noon to two Des Moines sports
38:18
station, one O 6.3 KXO and the Iowa Sports Radio Network.