Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Spencer McLaughlin previews Iowa/Oregon, Steven M. Sipple on the Huskers & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

Transcript

Spencer McLaughlin previews Iowa/Oregon, Steven M. Sipple on the Huskers & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

• 0:04
  Well, it's our number 2. Welcome back Miller and Condon
• 0:07
  on the Iowa Sports Radio network Trenton Ken with you here until
• 0:11
  2O clock Stephen AM simple coming up from the Husker
• 0:16
  illustrated part of on three media Huskers and the Bruins on
• 0:20
  Saturday night. We'll talk to sip about that
• 0:22
  where they go without Rayola as he is seen his season come to an
• 0:26
  end. Simple.
• 0:26
  At the bottom of the hour, Trent's Plays of the Day Circus
• 0:30
  Sports sponsor those circus sports.
• 0:32
  Download the new app in the state of Iowa, boys, It changed.
• 0:35
  It looks so much better. It truly does, doesn't it?
• 0:37
  Step forward a lot more options on top of it, the live betting
• 0:41
  has improved in yeah, a lot more options now in the circus sports
• 0:45
  Iowa app soon to come across the country.
• 0:47
  Yeah. So Illinois gets it early in the
• 0:50
  first quarter, I think of 2026. So for those of you listening on
• 0:54
  the other side of the river, welcome.
• 0:56
  Glad you're here, but you'll have to wait a little longer for
• 0:59
  Circus Sports Illinois. And when they launch in
• 1:01
  Missouri, it will launch with the new app.
• 1:04
  Right. And that's December.
• 1:06
  Yes, December. And it's like weeks away.
• 1:08
  Yes. Jeez, let's get to Spencer
• 1:11
  McLaughlin. He's a busy dude.
• 1:12
  He covers college football. Locked on network covers the
• 1:16
  Ducks for the locked on network. So 2 separate podcasts.
• 1:20
  Do I have that right? You do indeed have that correct.
• 1:24
  It is a busy time of year. I guess it is, man.
• 1:27
  It's a wonderful time of year, no doubt about it.
• 1:29
  Hey, let me ask you right off the bat because somebody asked
• 1:31
  me, is Dante more OK for tomorrow, for Saturday?
• 1:36
  Yeah, he, he, he should be fine. Dan Lanning said after the the
• 1:39
  game against Wisconsin. That he, he could have gone back
• 1:43
  into the game if, if they'd wanted him to.
• 1:46
  And you know, he got, he got whacked in the nose and it was
• 1:50
  bloody against Wisconsin. And I, I, I suspect that their
• 1:54
  thinking was a quarterback in those weather conditions wasn't
• 1:59
  going to do a lot anyway. So why put our guy back in if
• 2:03
  he's just going to go out there and hand the ball off every now
• 2:06
  and then? And I, I, I, I have no, no
• 2:10
  expectation that anyone except Dante Moore is, is a starting
• 2:14
  quarterback for Oregon tomorrow or on Saturday.
• 2:16
  Hey, what's up, Duck boy? Hi, Trent.
• 2:19
  I. Didn't even pull out the duck
• 2:21
  boy in our crossover episode with the locked on Hawkeyes and
• 2:24
  locked on Duck. Didn't and you didn't.
• 2:26
  And for that I I didn't pull out the duck pillow.
• 2:29
  That's right. I've seen that one.
• 2:31
  Yeah, we we go back and forth, me and Spencer, often with our
• 2:34
  crossover shows that are locked on Big 10 shows.
• 2:37
  Spencer, this Oregon team, we talked about it last night for
• 2:40
  people that heard the podcast. But you know, there's it's
• 2:43
  difficult to find a whole lot of holes.
• 2:45
  And one of the big things that we talk about when Iowa is
• 2:48
  getting ready and hoping to pull off some of these outsets is
• 2:50
  upsets is a lot of times they can close the gap with special
• 2:53
  teams play. You brought up just an
• 2:55
  incredible thing this year with Oregon this season, they have
• 2:59
  given up -1 yard total in punt return yardage this year.
• 3:04
  So take us into that element. Caden Wegen, big plays his punt
• 3:08
  returns game changer so many times for this Iowa team.
• 3:12
  What Oregon is doing in their punting game and why it's so
• 3:15
  difficult for anybody to return a punt against them.
• 3:18
  Yeah, I think the key for Iowa is going to be figuring out how
• 3:21
  to make James Ferguson Reynolds, Oregon's punter, get the ball
• 3:24
  off his foot sooner. Because what he's done a great
• 3:27
  job of this year is that rugby style punt where he catches and
• 3:31
  runs to the right. And you know, he's even here a
• 3:35
  coach of that this year that it's basically a read.
• 3:39
  You know, he catches and runs to the right and if if, if it's
• 3:44
  open, he can take off and run. He did that against Oregon
• 3:46
  State. I don't think that was a called
• 3:48
  fake. It's just a called, hey, check
• 3:49
  and see. You know, I think the most
• 3:51
  famous example in college football history of that is the
• 3:55
  Brad Wing at LSU many years ago. You know, he takes off.
• 3:59
  I think it's against Florida in like the early 2010.
• 4:02
  You know that that sort of play is is there to to be had.
• 4:07
  If if I would give that up, I wouldn't expect they would.
• 4:10
  But what other punt teams haven't been able to do against
• 4:13
  Oregon this year. And by the way, this is the
• 4:15
  longest special teams ran I have ever had in my time.
• 4:18
  Welcome to Iowa, Spencer. Yes.
• 4:19
  Thank you. It's great to be here.
• 4:22
  The, the thing that he's been able to do is catch the ball,
• 4:27
  roll to his right and then just wait.
• 4:30
  He just, he just, he just waits to get the ball away.
• 4:33
  He waits and waits until the last possible moment and then he
• 4:37
  kicks this low wobbler that hits the ground and rolls 1st.
• 4:41
  And so when you wait, your coverage team has time to get
• 4:45
  down the field. And when you keep it low, you
• 4:47
  don't give a chance to return, especially in a wet game.
• 4:50
  What's number one thing you don't want to do as a return
• 4:52
  man? Get near a ball that is
• 4:54
  wobbling, bouncing and wet. So, you know, that's what has
• 4:58
  been so good for Oregon this year in in the punt game and for
• 5:02
  an Iowa offense that is definitely improved.
• 5:05
  But it's still not a focal point.
• 5:07
  And against a really good Oregon defense, I I think it is going
• 5:11
  to be really important that I will find a way to to pick up
• 5:15
  some of those hidden yards. Is this a low scoring game in
• 5:19
  your mind Spencer? Considering that we may have
• 5:21
  some weather here, what are we looking at?
• 5:22
  Trent Rain. Rain.
• 5:24
  Maybe some snow. Perhaps low scoring game Spencer
• 5:27
  regardless of weather. Yeah, I don't think there are a
• 5:30
  lot of points just because both defenses are are good.
• 5:34
  I I do think that Oregon's ability to break long runs this
• 5:38
  year has been exceptional and that I I think gives them a bit
• 5:43
  of an edge if it does turn out to be a lower scoring game.
• 5:46
  But but certainly I was running defense against the Oregon
• 5:50
  rushing offense is the IT is. It is the biggest matchup team
• 5:54
  wise that I'm watching in this game more than special teams.
• 5:57
  Because if if Oregon can't run the ball well, then you have to
• 6:00
  rely on Dante Moore, who has played very well for the most
• 6:04
  part this year. But he's going up against the
• 6:07
  defense that's closer to Indiana, who he struggled again
• 6:10
  than it is Rutger, who he was brilliant again, you know, in
• 6:13
  the last couple games. And then the Wisconsin thing was
• 6:16
  just kind of a one off. But if the weather is similar to
• 6:20
  that again, well, I don't know if Oregon's going to throw the
• 6:22
  ball or going to be able to throw the ball at time because I
• 6:25
  don't know if anyone can. But you know, the good news for
• 6:27
  Oregon is they've got several running backs who are really
• 6:30
  good and the offensive line was blocked well in the run game.
• 6:34
  The tight ends have to be better blocking this week.
• 6:36
  Kenyon City and Jamari Johnson, they've been good all year, but
• 6:39
  we're not very good against Wisconsin.
• 6:42
  And I think if Oregon is able to to throw the ball enough, I
• 6:47
  trust the run game to to balance it out.
• 6:49
  So I want to help you help out our radio audience here with
• 6:52
  something that was just befuddling.
• 6:54
  It was, in fact, a week ago. It was two days after the press
• 6:56
  conference and all of a sudden Wednesday and into Thursday I
• 7:00
  see these Oregon fans all over my timeline on Twitter just
• 7:04
  absolutely going crazy on Phil Parker for saying that they're
• 7:08
  will fund it. After saying 2 minutes of
• 7:10
  glowing praise, followed it up with another minute of glowing
• 7:13
  praise. That one little sentence set
• 7:15
  them off. So triggered, yes, for the
• 7:17
  Hawkeye fans out there, why is that a trigger spot?
• 7:20
  Why? Because I I couldn't wrap my
• 7:22
  mind around it initially and I think you can explain it a lot
• 7:25
  better and an understanding of why that is a sore spot for some
• 7:28
  Oregon fans. Yeah, it's not that Oregon fans
• 7:32
  are going to tell you that you're wrong for suggesting
• 7:35
  Oregon's well funded that that that isn't what what what gets
• 7:39
  them what I think does. And I don't know if Phil Parker
• 7:42
  was intending to to tap into this, but these sorts of
• 7:45
  conversations really do I think get into this element for for
• 7:49
  Oregon fans. There's a perception among
• 7:52
  plenty of fan bases out there that Duck fans have to come
• 7:55
  across that Oregon is only Nike money.
• 7:59
  That's it. And without Nike, they'd be
• 8:01
  nothing. And they're only Nike and
• 8:04
  they're only Flash. And there's no substance.
• 8:06
  And there, there's just nothing to it except the fact that Phil
• 8:10
  Knight signed a bunch of big checks for the athletic
• 8:13
  department. And #1 every Oregon fan realizes
• 8:16
  that that's a good thing in college football.
• 8:19
  But #2 I do think that they take it as a jab of disrespect,
• 8:24
  whether it's intended that way or not.
• 8:26
  It just kind of taps into those emotions.
• 8:29
  It is it's, I think, received as a nod of disrespect of like,
• 8:35
  you're not actually anything. You're not real.
• 8:38
  You're just this and you're nothing more than that.
• 8:41
  And if you've watched Oregon football for the last 20 years
• 8:44
  as they've been in the national spotlight in a meaningful way,
• 8:47
  you know that that isn't true. That's not to say the other
• 8:50
  components aren't there, but I think that fans get annoyed by
• 8:55
  that when they when they hear other fan bases that well,
• 8:59
  you're just this, it's like, well, well, no, that's that's
• 9:02
  not that's not actually the case.
• 9:04
  And there are plenty of results to prove that.
• 9:07
  But I think that's what Phil Parker was accidentally or not
• 9:12
  tapping into there with with the Oregon fans that that you
• 9:16
  encountered. And I'm sure some of them
• 9:18
  honestly feel like it's a good thing because we've seen landing
• 9:21
  use anything under the sun to motivate his team, any any sort
• 9:26
  of slight, any comment jab to to motivate his his ball club.
• 9:31
  So we'll see if that ends up happening again This.
• 9:33
  Week I want to broaden it out to all the college football in a
• 9:36
  couple of minutes because I have to.
• 9:37
  I want to pick your brain on the playoff etcetera.
• 9:39
  I guess I'll start there. But when still stick and focus
• 9:41
  in on Oregon at Iowa, home to Minnesota, home to USC and then
• 9:46
  at Washington. Can they avoid to trip up twice
• 9:49
  in your mind, Spencer or is there they've got room for one
• 9:53
  loss and that would be it when it comes to big picture making
• 9:56
  the playoff. One loss for the whole season
• 9:59
  or. 11 more loss of the last four.
• 10:02
  Yeah, they can. I I think they can have one more
• 10:04
  loss. I do too, but not 2.
• 10:08
  No, 9 and 3 is not. Nobody should get into the
• 10:11
  playoff at 9:00 and 3:00. I don't care what conference
• 10:13
  you're in. I don't want anyone in at 9 and
• 10:15
  three. Like results need to matter.
• 10:17
  But at 10:00 and 2:00, with the way Oregon schedule looks and
• 10:22
  how the narrative is going. And it does matter.
• 10:25
  Make no mistake about it, how these things get discussed and
• 10:28
  viewed. I think that Oregon attending to
• 10:31
  will be in because you look at their November slate and they've
• 10:34
  got 2 road games against ranked teams and then a home game
• 10:37
  against a ranked team and another home game against the
• 10:40
  team that's at least going to go to a bowl game in Minnesota.
• 10:44
  So I, I think the November slate being what it is, given the
• 10:48
  first rankings is really good for Oregon because the CFP
• 10:52
  committee chair said, well, you know, look at Oregon, we think
• 10:55
  they're really good team and they've got a lot of great
• 10:57
  components and they're really good upfront on both sides.
• 10:59
  And all that is all that is true, but you know, the resume
• 11:03
  is not this. And that tells me that they're
• 11:05
  not treating the Penn State win as what it was.
• 11:08
  They're treating it as oh look, Penn State hasn't won a Big 10
• 11:11
  game yet rather than or force them to be there, which is where
• 11:14
  I've always been in viewing that game.
• 11:17
  So I I think that if Oregon goes three and one, they should be in
• 11:22
  four and one or four and O obviously they'll be in the
• 11:26
  playoffs. But there is no way that Oregon
• 11:28
  can lose 2 games, nor should they be able to lose 2 games and
• 11:32
  still make the college football play.
• 11:33
  That Penn State would double overtime game right last week is
• 11:37
  that was a good game it. Really was, and the team that we
• 11:40
  see now with Penn State, totally.
• 11:41
  Different they were #3 at. The time, yes, and now
• 11:45
  completely out of things as we don't.
• 11:47
  All right, Spencer, with that, you mentioned nine to three
• 11:50
  shouldn't get in. There's a real possibility we
• 11:52
  got this weird kind of round Robin happening with Oregon,
• 11:55
  with Iowa, with USC, Michigan still looming, but they have
• 11:59
  Ohio State at the end. Is there a path where the Big 10
• 12:02
  only gets two teams in? It's only Ohio State and Indiana
• 12:05
  because Oregon loses 2 out of those three big games and USC
• 12:09
  loses a game. And Iowa maybe pulls off the
• 12:11
  upset this week and then goes to California and loses like they
• 12:13
  always lose out there. And suddenly we're looking
• 12:16
  around. Yes, Indiana and Ohio State are
• 12:18
  in, but everybody else at 9:00 and 3:00 outside looking in.
• 12:21
  Is that a plausible scenario? Yeah, I think it absolutely is.
• 12:25
  It's not even that hard to see how that could all play out.
• 12:29
  You know, Oregon beats Iowa this week and then USC beats or Iowa
• 12:36
  beats USC or whichever one, and then that puts them at 3 losses
• 12:40
  and they'd be out and then Oregon could lose the USC and
• 12:43
  Washington. That's entirely, entirely
• 12:46
  possible. I think those are all good
• 12:48
  teams. And yeah, the you know what?
• 12:51
  Well, so I, I, I'd have to, I, I'd have to get the, the round
• 12:58
  Robin and the musical chairs of losses because Oregon would have
• 13:02
  to knock out Washington and give them a third loss at at the end
• 13:07
  of the year because Washington's not losing between now and that
• 13:09
  game against the Ducks. So Oregon would have to lose.
• 13:15
  To Iowa. Lose to Mini.
• 13:17
  And lose to Washington. Washington loses somewhere else.
• 13:20
  It can happen though, and I don't think most Big 10 fans are
• 13:23
  are are thinking this far down the line that it's not an
• 13:27
  automatic, certainly for Oregon. And even talking about that
• 13:29
  fourth team, there's too many games, too many important games
• 13:32
  in November. The Big 10 back loaded this
• 13:34
  schedule. If Oregon, yeah, here it is.
• 13:37
  Oregon loses to Iowa. Iowa beats USC, USC beats
• 13:45
  Oregon, and then Oregon beats Washington.
• 13:48
  They'd all wind up most likely at 9:00 and 3:00, providing
• 13:52
  there are no stunning upsets in there.
• 13:54
  And I think that group of nine and three teams would be left
• 13:57
  out of the playoff and should be left out of the playoff.
• 14:00
  I wouldn't object to that and I'm not going to.
• 14:05
  I'm not going to say that an SEC team at 9:00 and 3:00 should get
• 14:08
  in. It's just not how I view college
• 14:10
  football because I want results to matter.
• 14:13
  And I don't think that the SEC should get as much favoritism as
• 14:18
  they used to deserve to have when when they were the kings of
• 14:22
  college football. But you're talking about a
• 14:25
  conference that has a lot of good teams.
• 14:26
  But I don't think they have a great team in the SEC and they
• 14:30
  have not made the national championship in either the last
• 14:32
  two years. So and that's I don't, I don't
• 14:35
  believe that that is a coincidence that once nil in the
• 14:38
  portal began. Without a doubt.
• 14:40
  Yeah, that that all of a sudden the SEC is not dominant like
• 14:44
  they used to be. It's not that they're bad.
• 14:46
  I'm not sitting here telling you the SEC is a horrible
• 14:48
  conference, their team stink or anything like that.
• 14:50
  No, they're definitely not. It's just that they are not as
• 14:54
  far away from everyone else, and they might not even be on top.
• 14:58
  I mean, if Ohio State or Indiana wins it again this year, what
• 15:02
  conclusion are we going to be left to draw?
• 15:04
  What if they're not even playing an SEC team in the national
• 15:07
  championship game? That was my fourth year.
• 15:11
  When I did radio hits like this or talked on my show about, you
• 15:14
  know, what's the biggest storyline coming into this year.
• 15:17
  It was unequivocally for me, is the SEC going to miss the title
• 15:21
  game for a third straight year? And I think that's entirely
• 15:24
  feasible. I can see teams getting back
• 15:27
  there. Alabama's playing really well.
• 15:29
  I trust Kirby Smart, Kirby Smart to try and find a way.
• 15:33
  That's just A&M has got a lot of things going for it, but none of
• 15:36
  those teams are untouchable. And this is the difference back
• 15:40
  in the day, you know, early 2010, 2000, mid twenty 10s, all
• 15:45
  that. The best team in the SEC was the
• 15:49
  best team in college football, and maybe they, you know, lost
• 15:52
  to a Clemson every now and then. But really, the best team in the
• 15:56
  SEC was head and shoulders above everyone else.
• 16:00
  And it was whomst among us is going to go and knock them off,
• 16:04
  right? That's the way it was.
• 16:06
  It's just not like that anymore. The best team in the SEC is
• 16:09
  still really good, but they're not automatically head and
• 16:11
  shoulders above everybody else, and I know that because the last
• 16:15
  two SEC champion have failed to make the national championship
• 16:19
  game. All right, so this kind of leads
• 16:21
  me to this question. My last thing for you, a special
• 16:23
  McLaughlin locked on Ducks and locked on college football is
• 16:26
  our guest. How many teams can win the
• 16:29
  national championship? I mean the top 4, Alabama, Ohio
• 16:32
  State, Texas in Indiana. Do you want to throw Notre Dame
• 16:35
  in the mix? Is Oregon still live?
• 16:37
  You like Georgia Kiffin's old miss squad?
• 16:41
  How many teams realistically could win the national
• 16:43
  championship this year? Spencer, in your mind?
• 16:49
  I think it's maybe, I think we, we have some teams that right
• 16:55
  now I put in the tier of I need to see Oregon is one of those
• 16:59
  teams. Frankly, I was not as bullish on
• 17:02
  the Ducks coming into this year as some Oregon fans wanted me to
• 17:05
  be. I always thought they were a
• 17:07
  playoff team because of their talent and their schedule and
• 17:09
  what Lanning has done and the coaching staff continuity that
• 17:12
  they had. But there was because there was
• 17:16
  so much lost production and there's so much youth on the
• 17:18
  team there. There has for a while in my
• 17:22
  mind, been an element of, boy, I need to see it.
• 17:25
  And then I saw it against Penn State.
• 17:27
  But then I saw them play Indiana.
• 17:28
  I went OK that that. Looks more like the.
• 17:32
  Team that I thought we'd see, I, I thought Oregon's record right
• 17:35
  now would be exactly what it is before the season coming into
• 17:38
  this game, I just thought they'd lose the Penn State and beat
• 17:41
  Indiana. So I think Oregon has an element
• 17:45
  of I need to see, I think Alabama can, I think Indiana
• 17:49
  can. I know Ohio State can.
• 17:52
  I want to say Texas A&M can I? I'm still like Marcel Reed is
• 17:57
  good, but he's not the best version of himself yet.
• 18:01
  Whereas Julian saying Fernanda Mendoza are consistently playing
• 18:05
  at a really high level. So right now I I feel truly
• 18:09
  confident about 3 teams and that's Ohio State, Indiana and
• 18:14
  Alabama. But that next year the Ole Miss,
• 18:18
  the illness doesn't have a big test on the rest of their
• 18:21
  schedule and they'll be in the playoffs this year.
• 18:23
  The Ole Miss, the Oregon, the Georgia, Notre Dame.
• 18:28
  Yeah. I mean, I think Notre Dame is
• 18:30
  good, but I also watched them lose to my hand and I know they
• 18:35
  get different at the end of the year.
• 18:37
  So yeah, I'll put Notre Dame in that second tariff teams of
• 18:40
  like, I think you can, I can, but I'm not as confident about
• 18:45
  it right now. And I put text A&M in that
• 18:48
  class. So the three teams to me that I
• 18:51
  trust for a number of reasons are Ohio State, Indiana,
• 18:55
  Alabama. Not a deep list and winning
• 18:58
  those games always incredibly difficult.
• 19:00
  It's never a deep list. This is why we didn't need to
• 19:02
  expand the playoffs to 12 teams. We know at the end of every
• 19:04
  regular season, especially after we get another month's worth of
• 19:08
  college football games. We always know who's good enough
• 19:11
  to win an national championship and who isn't.
• 19:13
  That's going to take content away from you.
• 19:15
  Got 2 podcasts to fill now. I'll figure I'd figure it out.
• 19:21
  We got segments to kill with that college football.
• 19:26
  Football rankings come out on Tuesday.
• 19:28
  The gap between Notre Dame and Miami, it really bothered me.
• 19:31
  And it wasn't just that it was Notre Dame at 10 ahead of teams
• 19:35
  that have better wins. I mean, there's nothing on that
• 19:38
  Notre Dame resume outside of what the emblem says and what
• 19:41
  the gold domes do. There is nothing that says that
• 19:43
  is the 10th best team in the country.
• 19:45
  That's the one good win, yeah. UUU USD is a good win, but I I
• 19:50
  agree. And when I put out my top 25
• 19:53
  this week, I also had Notre Dame at 10.
• 19:57
  And then once I thought about it more, I realized I hadn't
• 20:00
  thought about it enough because that was, that was too high.
• 20:03
  Because I, I don't want 10 and 2 Notre Dame in the playoff with
• 20:07
  their schedule unless. There is a lot of help and chaos
• 20:12
  like we talked about. All those Big 10 teams fall to
• 20:16
  9:00 and 3:00 because Notre Dame is essentially playing an ACC
• 20:19
  schedule for the most part. You know they have a couple of
• 20:22
  one off games against the other, but what does the the one loss
• 20:26
  ACC teams? The highest ranked ACC squad is
• 20:28
  Virginia at 14. And they're fraud.
• 20:30
  Tell me. Tell me why, with the win over
• 20:32
  Top 20 Louisville, Virginia's resume is 4 spots worse than
• 20:37
  Notre Dame's. I don't.
• 20:40
  I don't. I don't believe that it should
• 20:41
  be. Good stuff, Spencer, love
• 20:43
  talking to you. Appreciate you coming on Locked
• 20:46
  on ducks.com, locked on college football.
• 20:48
  He does those two and we appreciate your conversation
• 20:52
  here today, Spencer, enjoy the rest of your day.
• 20:53
  Thank you man. Yeah.
• 20:55
  Thank you, guys. Good to talk to you.
• 20:56
  Good. To talk to you as we take a look
• 20:58
  at Oregon, Iowa and college football overall. 3 themes can
• 21:01
  win the natty. You've been saying that for a
• 21:02
  while. I have, I don't know, the 4th 1
• 21:05
  would be I'd like Notre Dame the way they're playing.
• 21:07
  I like Carl a lot. I don't think A&M can do it.
• 21:11
  What is it about them? It's.
• 21:12
  Texas A&M. It's just that big moment, big
• 21:18
  spine. Yeah.
• 21:20
  And even Reid, I mean, go back to Notre Dame.
• 21:21
  How many passes did he missed in that game?
• 21:24
  Was that week two? Yeah, it was Week 2.
• 21:25
  Oh, no week. Three, because they had a buy.
• 21:27
  Of course. Yeah, because it's Notre Dame
• 21:28
  and they can fit their schedule. You have two difficult games,
• 21:31
  you put a buy in front of one of them.
• 21:33
  That's what they do. It is all right time to give
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  somebody a chance to win $1000. Head to kxando.com.
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  The keyword this hour is deposit.
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  Deposit KX and o.com. Your chance to win $1000 deposit
• 21:45
  at KX and o.com. We'll check in with Nebraska
• 21:48
  football next, where they go for, well, we know they're going
• 21:50
  to UCLA, but where does the team turn and how different will it
• 21:53
  be when Iowa gets over there on Black Friday?
• 21:56
  Miller and Condon, you're listening to the Iowa Sports
• 21:59
  Radio Network. It's time for SIP.
• 22:06
  Stephen M Simple talks with myself and Ken on Nebraska
• 22:09
  football. I mean, I have a radio show, we
• 22:11
  have callers. I pay attention to my Twitter
• 22:13
  notifications and all that. There's definitely some
• 22:17
  frustration. We talk Cornhuskers, and you
• 22:20
  never know what else is going to come up with 30 years on the
• 22:26
  Nebraska beat. Here's Stephen M Simple.
• 22:28
  As long as they're paying me to talk, I'm just going to keep
• 22:30
  doing it. Hi welcome back Millerie Condon
• 22:33
  on the Iowa sports Radio network.
• 22:36
  We're with you until well the top of the hour off the bench at
• 22:39
  that time, Sean Roberts, Lucas strain take you until 5:00.
• 22:42
  Stephen M simple joins us in this time slot each and every
• 22:45
  Thursday during football season. We talked Nebraska football
• 22:48
  Nebraska on the road at the Rose Bowl against you CLA and they'll
• 22:53
  do so without Dylan Riola Ciptre and Ken.
• 22:55
  Thank you for coming on. First of all, just the venue
• 22:57
  itself, obvious little different being there on January the 1st
• 23:01
  and it will be being there on November the 7th.
• 23:04
  I get that part. But is it still special to cover
• 23:07
  a game at the Rose Bowl Sip when it's, you know, like you say,
• 23:12
  November 7th, week 10 of a college football season.
• 23:16
  Yeah, it is. I think it's Yeah.
• 23:19
  It's still venerable. I mean, you still get to walk up
• 23:22
  and see it. It's going to be.
• 23:26
  Odd, because they'll, yeah, they'll be a Nebraska takeover.
• 23:28
  I imagine 20,000 fans from Nebraska.
• 23:32
  And I don't know if UCLA will have 20,000 fans there, but no,
• 23:36
  no, no, it's I, I relish this. I, I absolutely relish going to
• 23:45
  the Rose Bowl to cover. You know, Kenny, when we were
• 23:48
  young in trans, I guess to a certain extent UCLA would
• 23:52
  viable. I mean, they were just Terry
• 23:54
  Donahue. They're going to be in, they're
• 23:58
  going to be in it. So I still kind of think of them
• 24:00
  that way, the kind of think of the new Heisel years.
• 24:04
  And yeah, no, I'm looking forward to this trip a lot.
• 24:07
  Well, Rayola won't be there obviously as he broke his leg.
• 24:10
  I was dumbfounded watching after the injury, still out there
• 24:13
  walking around and high fiving with some of the fans after the
• 24:16
  game and greeting his teammates. But now we know that he's had
• 24:20
  surgery. He's clearly out for the year.
• 24:22
  What does this? Obviously it's Latif, I think is
• 24:25
  how you say his name. What do we know about him?
• 24:28
  Sip? Obviously he's going to be asked
• 24:30
  to carry the load for the remainder of the season and the
• 24:32
  bowl game. Are are are the Huskers in good
• 24:35
  hands? We don't know that I, I mean,
• 24:39
  he's a, he's a true freshman. People have been asking me that
• 24:43
  all week. And my standard answer has been
• 24:45
  how would I know? I he's, you can look at what he
• 24:48
  did in high school, which usually you don't get much
• 24:50
  really, you know, it's hard to draw anything from that.
• 24:55
  He played at a big school in California, Orange Lutheran.
• 24:58
  But once again, I don't know what to take for that.
• 25:01
  He played against Akron and Houston Christian, which I only
• 25:04
  regard as misleading. I don't think that even matters.
• 25:08
  So the answer is I don't know that.
• 25:11
  But the one thing I can say that would be meaningful to the.
• 25:18
  Is. I mean, not completely
• 25:20
  different, but you're going to see RPO more, RPO much more.
• 25:25
  He might see some read option. He's a runner is what I'm
• 25:27
  getting at. And he'll he'll scramble.
• 25:30
  He runs like a running back, not built like a running back.
• 25:34
  He's not a running back. He's a quarterback and he he
• 25:37
  stays past first and he can't throw it, but he can really run
• 25:41
  it. Feels like a lot of Emmett
• 25:43
  Johnson coming in this football game we're gonna see.
• 25:46
  No, not at all. Let's say it goes poorly for
• 25:49
  Latif yet they're still in the game.
• 25:51
  You know, he's thrown a couple interceptions.
• 25:52
  Maybe put it on the turf of time of the backups.
• 25:55
  He got a veteran, a senior in Graham Stead and then Davila, a
• 25:59
  red shirt freshman. Of those two, I think Graham
• 26:01
  Stead was listed ahead of him. Would he be the next guy if
• 26:04
  there's something that they had to pull Latif out of there?
• 26:07
  What's the backup situation now looking like?
• 26:11
  Oh, it's, I mean, Gramstad, like Drew Brees compared to Davila, I
• 26:14
  mean, so it's Gramstad for sure. I don't, yeah, it would be
• 26:22
  remarkable to get down to #3 and now it wouldn't be completely
• 26:26
  remarkable, but yet you'd see, you'd understand what I'm
• 26:29
  saying. So, yeah, Jalen Gramstad, a name
• 26:33
  familiar to a lot of Iowans, obviously played at Northwestern
• 26:35
  College. And he is the definitive #2 at
• 26:39
  this point. In fact, for much of the summer,
• 26:42
  we figured he'd be #2 ahead of Latif.
• 26:46
  Latif. Latif came on during camp, and
• 26:51
  I'd say by midway through August, Latif kind of got the
• 26:57
  upper hand. No, but we went into the season
• 27:00
  thinking Graham Stout would be #2 excuse me, We went into camp.
• 27:05
  August camp, so, you know, started in late July.
• 27:08
  We thought Graham Stout, I mean it, Husker Online, me and Sean
• 27:11
  Callahan and Rob Robin wash it. We thought, oh, Graham Stout
• 27:15
  will be #2 Now let's see, feed him out.
• 27:18
  No way that Harbor gets the call, huh?
• 27:20
  If it all goes to pod, I mean last year's backup quarterback
• 27:24
  still on the roster, granted he's a tight end.
• 27:26
  Any chance sip that they if that they turn to Harbor at all or
• 27:31
  no? No, he hasn't been practiced it
• 27:34
  there. Yeah.
• 27:35
  He doesn't practice there at all.
• 27:37
  He's a tight end, so no. I mean, it'd be hard to do that.
• 27:41
  It's he didn't run this offense, so no.
• 27:44
  Great environment. Saturday night sip.
• 27:46
  It was so fun to watch the blackout, trying to be as close
• 27:49
  to the Hawkeyes as they could. That was great to see.
• 27:53
  But but in all seriousness, the environment, the fan base, I get
• 27:57
  to chuckle out of it because it's a rivalry, but boy, it just
• 28:00
  feels like that fan base. Can't they have something nice?
• 28:03
  Can't they just have that moment that felt like it was there for
• 28:06
  a long time on Saturday? Yeah, I mean, that's sort of the
• 28:10
  conversation here. I they had they have this
• 28:15
  horrible 29 game losing streak to rank teams.
• 28:20
  The dates to 2016. It's 29 games now for ranked
• 28:25
  teams, not top ten teams, ranked teams.
• 28:28
  And it's and these two games that they had this year in
• 28:33
  Lincoln, MI and USC. You didn't catch those programs
• 28:38
  when they're really rolling. I mean, USCI, listen, that's not
• 28:44
  a playoff team. If they make it, they're not
• 28:47
  going anywhere. I mean, they don't they don't
• 28:49
  stop the run. And it was very easy to see that
• 28:53
  I wondered. I mean, I don't know why I
• 28:57
  wondered. Notre Dame ran the three O 6
• 28:59
  against them, but that was Notre Dame and Jeremiah Love.
• 29:03
  And I just thought, well, maybe it's just Notre Dame's that
• 29:05
  good. No, they're just not very good.
• 29:06
  Stopping a run, no gettable. So what I'm telling you, it's
• 29:10
  very gettable. The quarterback, if you watch
• 29:12
  the game, Jade Maeva, I just looked lost, like disoriented.
• 29:19
  I I don't know what his deal was, but so you have a
• 29:24
  quarterback who was nine for 23 and a run defense that's just OK
• 29:30
  at best. No, they're not.
• 29:32
  If that's who the Big 10's counting on to be a playoff
• 29:35
  team, that ain't that ain't the team.
• 29:39
  Yeah, they'll host they'll they'll host Iowa and next week.
• 29:43
  So we'll see. We'll see how that goes.
• 29:45
  That's interesting Intel on on USC in advance of that game,
• 29:50
  except last thing for you does it.
• 29:52
  I don't want to say feel like this season's or I mean the
• 29:54
  quarterback's out, right. He's not going to play again.
• 29:57
  He was everybody's guy. Obviously the the family ties,
• 30:03
  etcetera did it. What does it feel like in
• 30:05
  Lincoln now that this has happened?
• 30:06
  There's still three games left to play.
• 30:09
  What does it feel like over there?
• 30:11
  It feels like it feels serious. People want to see progress.
• 30:16
  It feels like OK the the head coach here last week signed an
• 30:22
  extension and his buyout. Should he get?
• 30:25
  Fired next year is $71.55 million.
• 30:30
  That got people's attention, OK. I mean, it's, you got to listen.
• 30:34
  We're paying this guy a lot of money now.
• 30:36
  I mean, he's got to make in 2027 more than Stignetti's making in
• 30:42
  his revised deal. 12.5 million. I mean, yeah.
• 30:46
  I mean, people here, they want progress.
• 30:49
  It's year three. Don't beat UCLA, even with a
• 30:53
  backup. There's a lot of people I go to
• 30:56
  these talk to people at noon hours and a lot of arms folded.
• 31:01
  A lot of you know, 50 year old, 60 year old guys, look at me.
• 31:05
  Not that that's a bad thing, Brow.
• 31:07
  You know that type of thing. You know, Stephanie, just you
• 31:10
  kind of emphasize that they're not talking about them being a
• 31:14
  top ten team, NBA top 25 team. And there's a lot of teams in
• 31:18
  the 20s that for some reason, you know, they're part of that
• 31:21
  for like a week before they fall out of it.
• 31:24
  But Nebraska's been unable to knock one of those teams out
• 31:27
  that are way down the list in the top 25.
• 31:30
  Yeah, I'd say USC is down the list.
• 31:32
  You know, they were ranked 23rd. I mean, and they they looked
• 31:37
  like a team that should be ranked about 23rd.
• 31:41
  And you had them on this grand stage that you guys noted and it
• 31:45
  was loud. Now it was loud.
• 31:47
  It was, it was like, you know, it was, it was an atmosphere
• 31:52
  now. And that's what that's
• 31:54
  frustrating for people. They keep showing up.
• 31:57
  They pour so much energy into it.
• 31:59
  And then you get 17 points, you know, I mean, and you hold them
• 32:04
  to 21. And if you hold USC to 21, you
• 32:07
  think that's probably good, that that should do it, right?
• 32:10
  Nope, Didn't do it. Didn't do it.
• 32:12
  Sip will get you out of there on this, and we talked about this
• 32:15
  matchup against UCLA. They still got to get there.
• 32:18
  I saw the rule brought up, I think it was today that they're
• 32:21
  still trying to figure out with air travel and what's going on
• 32:24
  right now with our government, how they're going to be able to
• 32:26
  get out to the ball game. It's Thursday, Sip.
• 32:29
  Yeah, I saw that. I didn't.
• 32:31
  I was in a luncheon, but I did see those comments.
• 32:35
  Yeah, that's wild. That's wild.
• 32:38
  I mean, United is cancelling small plane flights.
• 32:41
  So we're kind of watching, you know, our crew.
• 32:44
  But what's going to happen? United because of the shutdown,
• 32:48
  They're they're they're cutting, like I said, small plane
• 32:50
  flights. If we're taking a small plane to
• 32:52
  Denver, then to Burbank. So I we'll see what every if I,
• 32:56
  we have to stay behind. I guess we stay behind, but the
• 32:58
  team's got to get out there somehow.
• 33:01
  Well, if you're flying into Los Angeles, you're flying into the
• 33:03
  right airport. It is night and day from LAX to
• 33:06
  Burbank. I love Burbank Airport.
• 33:08
  It is, yeah. We're on the Burbank.
• 33:09
  Yeah, that's, that's the way to go sip good stuff, buddy.
• 33:12
  We'll talk to you next week. Appreciate the the the segment
• 33:15
  as always, Stephen M safe trip. Hope you get out there and we'll
• 33:18
  talk to you in a week. Thank you, pal.
• 33:20
  All right. Thanks, guys.
• 33:21
  Yep. Good to talk to you, Stephen M
• 33:23
  Simple. Yeah, that's a pain in the you
• 33:24
  know what, huh? Yeah.
• 33:27
  It's two days before the game. And they're still, they're
• 33:29
  figuring it out. They don't take a charger.
• 33:31
  Well, it doesn't matter, right? Because you need air traffic
• 33:33
  controllers. So this is what Rules said at
• 33:35
  the press conference today, Quote, our travel plans are very
• 33:38
  up in the air right now because of the government shutdown and
• 33:41
  how that might affect air travel.
• 33:42
  We're in some meetings right now to try to figure out when we can
• 33:45
  fly out there. Wow, this wasn't last week.
• 33:50
  This is 2 days before the game so.
• 33:52
  Our NFL teams going to have this trouble for this weekend,
• 33:55
  NBANHLI. Have no idea that is down the
• 34:00
  hall. Yeah, right, right.
• 34:02
  Not our expertise. NO104 News Radio 1040 WHO trends
• 34:06
  plays of the day. They are next.
• 34:08
  Speaking of, not my expertise. Circus Sports sponsor those.
• 34:13
  Miller and Condon back with that segment.
• 34:15
  It's next. It's the Iowa Sports Radio
• 34:17
  Network. I'm Mory Condon, Welcome back,
• 34:27
  Iowa Sports Radio Network, wherever you're listening in the
• 34:29
  state of Iowa. Grateful that you are top of the
• 34:31
  hour off the bench. Lucas, Sean, Connor, that tree
• 34:36
  will take over 2 until 5. There is Thursday Night
• 34:38
  Football. If you can't be in front of your
• 34:40
  TV, you can hear the Westwood one broadcast between the
• 34:43
  Raiders and the Broncos coming up at 7.
• 34:46
  Real quick before we get the Circa and Trent's plays of the
• 34:49
  day. I've been telling you all week
• 34:50
  about them. We'll do so again next week.
• 34:52
  If you are in charge of Thanksgiving in your having a
• 34:55
  little trouble, but to put on the table, let me give you a 2
• 34:59
  enthusiastic thumbs up recommendation for an for a ham
• 35:03
  from 4hams.com. Lambert and yours.
• 35:06
  They used to be they still are local central Iowa.
• 35:09
  They're based in Boone now. Used to have that shop in West
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  Des Moines and Valley Junction would be packed up around the
• 35:15
  block with people waiting in line to pick up their ham.
• 35:18
  Take it from me, it's been on my Thanksgiving table for for years
• 35:22
  and I wouldn't do it any differently. 4hams.com, the
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  number 4hams.com, do yourself a favor.
• 35:28
  You'll be glad that you did and it'd be great to you'll be
• 35:31
  thankful that you listen to this little testimonial for
• 35:35
  4hams.com. It's the Raiders, it's the
• 35:38
  Broncos. There's college football
• 35:40
  tonight. Nice game in the American
• 35:42
  widespread. Kind of got a little way away a
• 35:44
  little bit. I guess UTSA is not holding up
• 35:46
  to their end of the bargain. Well.
• 35:47
  You know, UTSA had a huge upset last week.
• 35:50
  They can score with anybody with McCown at quarterback.
• 35:53
  Their defense is an absolute sieve.
• 35:55
  The old adages and a shootout grab those points.
• 35:58
  I'm going to do it. Give me the 14.
• 35:59
  I was going to say it's too touched on.
• 36:01
  I I liked San Antonio before the year coming in.
• 36:04
  That was one of my teams that I thought maybe could represent
• 36:06
  the Group of Five. Obviously they're not going to.
• 36:09
  But we saw it certainly their last time out.
• 36:11
  I mean, not just beating Tulane, throttling them 4826.
• 36:15
  So I like the points here. South Florida Americans good.
• 36:18
  It's a fun conference. There's a lot of good solid
• 36:21
  teams in there and a lot of different styles of play too,
• 36:23
  which makes things exciting. Or it's got service academies in
• 36:26
  there on top of it. So like that one tonight.
• 36:28
  Should they be playing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays?
• 36:30
  Yeah, you're. Like too, they're too big.
• 36:32
  Yeah, they are. You're right, You're right.
• 36:34
  I don't think they want to. No, they're right.
• 36:38
  Take themselves down a level that that Sunbelt football that
• 36:41
  we had to watch in October. That was awful.
• 36:42
  It was awful. Made the Mac look like the NFL.
• 36:47
  Maybe not that far, but. Well, not Northern Illinois.
• 36:49
  Man, they're bad, aren't they? Good God, that quarterback's
• 36:52
  terrible. I told you earlier, I'm going to
• 36:53
  take the Raiders just. I think that's the move.
• 36:56
  Divisional game. I did see an interesting note in
• 37:00
  the in a bill over at Visen, you know his article.
• 37:05
  So the first eight weeks of the year.
• 37:06
  By the way, do you subscribe to that the daily?
• 37:08
  Newsletter. Yeah, just it's free.
• 37:11
  You just put in your e-mail address.
• 37:12
  It's great. Is it a lot of great content in
• 37:14
  there and 1st 8 weeks of the year, Thursday Night Football,
• 37:17
  the underdogs hit like 67%. But when you get later in the
• 37:21
  year favorites a lot better. So maybe that's a trend.
• 37:24
  I'm still playing the Raiders. It's a divisional game, which
• 37:26
  you know my affinity for that. So 9 1/2 S there in the market.
• 37:29
  I'm gonna grab 9 1/2 with the Raiders in this one.
• 37:32
  You said earlier, Brock Bowers, they're completely different
• 37:34
  team. Absolutely.
• 37:35
  Not many tight ends. I think he's the best in the
• 37:37
  game. Yeah, he is, I don't think.
• 37:39
  In year 2, yeah, good. God, all right, college
• 37:44
  basketball, I'm doing it again. I'm taking Denver.
• 37:48
  No, not the Nuggets, The Pioneers.
• 37:50
  They're going the Ben McCollum route.
• 37:52
  By the way, they hired AD 2 coach from one of the Minnesota
• 37:55
  State schools and he brought a bunch of the players with him
• 37:58
  there to Denver. I think Washington is underrated
• 38:00
  in the Big 10 this year, but I'm grabbing The Pioneers in the 27
• 38:03
  1/2, doing the same. Johnny Jones, been at Texas
• 38:06
  Southern forever. He's done a really good job
• 38:08
  there year after year. I'm getting 30 1/2 against A&M.
• 38:11
  New look A&M team, OK. And I am actually, I'm actually
• 38:13
  going to play one favorite. I'm going to play North Texas
• 38:15
  Lady 11 1/2 tonight. So we're playing one favorite
• 38:18
  here. But I said this is Custer's last
• 38:22
  stand. This is my last stand on these
• 38:24
  ugly, ugly dogs in college basketball.
• 38:26
  Or we got a lot of work to do on Friday night.
• 38:28
  And favorites are recovering 57% of the time so far this year.
• 38:31
  When it comes to college hoops, you.
• 38:33
  Can see why I've been terrible. Yes indeed.
• 38:37
  Raiders win. Raiders have a chance to.
• 38:39
  Win. I think it's just arm distant,
• 38:42
  you know? Fourth quarter game.
• 38:45
  Yeah, it's. When Bonex usually shows up.
• 38:48
  It's 2716, the Raiders get in the back door.
• 38:52
  That's more how I see it. Well, that'll work.
• 38:55
  No sweat. Get a cover for the Raiders, a
• 38:57
  win for your Broncos. Would you have them in Survivor
• 38:59
  10? Oh, you don't like divisional
• 39:00
  games? Though absolutely not.
• 39:02
  I already use the Broncos anyway.
• 39:03
  I think you should. Off the bench that comes up
• 39:05
  next. Miller and Connor will talk to
• 39:07
  you tomorrow, noon to twos, when we're here on the Iowa Sports
• 39:09
  Radio Network in Des Moines, sports station 106.3 KX&O.