Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Football Friday previewing Iowa/USC, Tom Kakert talks Hawkeyes & Eugene Rapay on Iowa State

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Football Friday previewing Iowa/USC, Tom Kakert talks Hawkeyes & Eugene Rapay on Iowa State · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:15
Hi, good afternoon. Welcome Miller and Condon on a
0:19
football Friday. The Iowa Sports Radio Network
0:23
for the next couple of hours. Trent Condon, a location at the
0:26
Dome, myself. Ken Miller, we'll talk sports
0:29
with you for the next couple of hours on a busy program.
0:32
Here's what's coming up. In 20 minutes, we'll head to
0:35
O'Hare Airport. We'll would catch Tom Keikert
0:37
between flights as he heads out to Los Angeles for USC and Iowa.
0:42
Tom Keikert, hawkeyereport.com Latest on that perhaps quick
0:46
recap of last night, the Iowa women as they pasted the Drake
0:50
women last night. But regardless, we will talk
0:53
football with Tom coming up here at 12:20, flight permitting.
0:57
Eugene repay covers Iowa State. They've got the weekend off, but
1:01
they played some hoops and TJS met with the media and Audie
1:05
Crooks went crazy. So we'll get Eugene repay in
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here at 12:40 to talk some Iowa State topics one O 2.
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When we return in for our number two, our second hour BAMMA, Bob
1:17
Trent and I will toss around a handful of games.
1:19
Then finally we'll head out to Las Vegas.
1:21
Mike Palm from Circus Sports will join us.
1:23
We'll get the latest inside the numbers with Mike Palm, what he
1:27
sees, what he expects to see, et cetera.
1:29
Coming up, we'll make our picks in our head to head contest,
1:32
also sponsored by Circus Sports. I can hear the PA announcer in
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the background. Let's go to the Unit Dome.
1:39
How are you, Trent? Doing well and we got a barn
1:43
burner here in the first semifinal of the day.
1:46
Grundy Center, who has a 150 consecutive games.
1:50
They're trying to chase down the all time record.
1:52
They got two more games obviously here to get to the
1:54
point and then go into next season.
1:56
They're trailing going into the fourth quarter here against Iowa
2:00
City Regina. Regina leads at 1712, so A50
2:03
game win streak on the line here with the Spartans of Grundy
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Center. And I'll tell you, Ken, I barely
2:09
got connected because there are a a lot of Grundy Center fans
2:12
here. Coming up a little bit later on
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the next game at 1:00 is South Hardin, who is just up the road
2:18
from the unidome. So parking was at a premium.
2:21
I had to hoof it and then hoof it up the stairs here to the top
2:24
level of the unidome. So a little huffing and puffing,
2:26
but we're ready to go. That's awesome.
2:28
Well, we'll keep everybody updated.
2:29
For those of you might be listening on KXIC, you'll get
2:32
your updates on these a semi final that's going on right now.
2:36
Good stuff, Trent. Well, I I, you know, I don't
2:39
know why this bothers me and I want to spend a minute at least
2:42
in the beginning of the show talking about it.
2:44
I'm not one to bitch about awards.
2:45
I'm not. But this one drives me nuts.
2:48
And the more that I guess when reality set in that Cal Raleigh
2:52
and I'm not a Mariners fan was was snubbed in my opinion, by
2:57
Aaron Judge. And here's why.
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I mean, we're going to talk about Cal Raleigh's in historic
3:02
terms. Catchers switch, hitters are
3:05
going to be measured by Cal Raleigh.
3:08
No one's going to look back on Aaron Judge's 2025 campaign, you
3:13
know, 10 years from now and talk about the greatness of that.
3:16
Yes, it was great, I get it. But if you catch and he did 128
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or whatever was games, 1075 innings behind the plate,
3:24
doesn't give up a pass ball hit sixty home runs.
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I'm convinced if Cal Raleigh's a Yankee and Aaron Judge is a
3:33
Mariner, Cal Raleigh's taking home the hardware.
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And it pains me to say that because I'm not a conspiracy
3:37
theorist. Usually, well, I'm not.
3:39
It's not necessarily true, but this might be my latest.
3:42
But this one, this one, it's got under my skin and now and
3:45
normally doesn't happen. Yeah, that's kind of interesting
3:49
to me because I, like you, wanted Raleigh to win the award.
3:53
You laid it out, I think, perfectly and the reasoning
3:55
behind it, but I just felt it was ineffable.
3:58
And maybe because of that, I think it has worked up. 6:00
4:01
last night when the announcement came, I just, I thought it was
4:03
coming. I knew it was coming and I guess
4:05
I had already set myself up to know that it was going to be
4:08
Aaron Judge. That gets it.
4:09
The other part that is so difficult, it's kind of
4:11
something you mentioned yesterday, we talked about the
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Karl Malone MVP award. Aaron Judge should not be
4:17
knocked because he does it seemingly every single year,
4:19
right? He shouldn't.
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He shouldn't have that dissipate and take away what he is and
4:23
what he's done for this season just because he's done it in the
4:27
past. And when you look at those
4:28
numbers, you look at a lot of the analytical numbers that go
4:31
into a 2, they do show that Aaron Judge was a more valuable
4:35
player to his team, to it. So that's where I just can't get
4:39
as frustrated. But I think you also said it
4:41
perfectly. If we flip flop these two guys
4:44
and Cal Raleigh was on the Yankees, there's not a doubt in
4:46
my mind and I hadn't even thought of that.
4:47
Absolutely, you are correct. Cal Raleigh would be our MVP.
4:51
Baseball, mind you, and I both respect just texted me the word
4:54
Preach. Tommy Birch and the Des Moines
4:56
Register is on our side of this as well.
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Anyways, I don't want to linger on it, but it did bother me.
5:02
But I'm not sure, you know, I'll get over it.
5:04
I guess is where we're going to go.
5:06
All right, let's talk a little Iowa, USC before we get into
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some NFL conversation because this weekend absolutely
5:13
fascinates me. There are three marquee games
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and there are more than three, but there are three massive
5:18
games in the NFL. But USC and Iowa, they're going
5:22
to go at it. I don't think that there's been
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a, a change in the forecast. It's still supposed to be, you
5:27
know, raining out there. I'm surprised the total isn't
5:30
dropping. I think you brought that up
5:31
yesterday that that's kind of the, the side that you're
5:34
leaning towards. Any anything, anything since we
5:40
got off the air yesterday at 2:00 that you know has moved you
5:43
in a different direction. So we had Mark on Mark Culkin
5:47
with Locked on Trojans earlier in the week and then I did my
5:50
crossover last night with him, you know, talking with him again
5:53
and we dove a little bit deeper into things after our
5:56
conversation. I think there is more of a path
5:58
for Iowa to win this game and it's everything that we talked
6:01
about. Obviously, the rain forecast and
6:03
the way that the likelihood that this game is going to be played
6:05
kind of in that just that sloppy kind of thing that I think that
6:08
helps out Iowa immensely. I kept bringing up the Michigan
6:11
game, but you know, Mark mentioned that was one.
6:14
That was one time that they were able to show up and play that
6:17
kind of bully ball and punch Michigan in the face.
6:19
That hasn't been the case. They're giving up 4.3 yards per
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carry. That is 13th in the Big 10.
6:25
You can run the football against this team.
6:27
And I still think Gronowski, I said this to you yesterday, Ken,
6:31
I think he's going to have to have a pretty good game or at
6:33
least have the ability to show them that, yes, they can throw
6:36
the football even in rainy conditions like they didn't.
6:39
I think they kept Oregon at least a little bit off balance a
6:41
week ago. I think you're going to have to
6:43
have the same semblance there. But I'm coming, I'm coming full
6:46
circle now. I went from no chance during the
6:48
summer time. Then if they beat Oregon, no
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chance. Well, they lose to Oregon kind
6:53
of a chance. Felt better Monday.
6:55
I've been back and forth all week long.
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I'm back in. I think there are not just a
6:59
path to win. There's a couple of pass, I
7:00
think for Iowa to pull the upset.
7:02
I still not going to pick it, but I do do believe that there
7:05
is a higher likelihood say maybe, I don't know, during the
7:09
summertime I probably had it like 15%.
7:11
Maybe I got as high at one point as 30%.
7:14
I'm back in that range, you know, 31 in three shots,
7:17
something like that to win this game.
7:18
I think that's kind of how I'm looking at it now.
7:21
And the point spread really hasn't moved.
7:22
It's been 6 1/2 all week long. There might have been A7 pop
7:25
briefly, but it's not like a USC is getting hammered causing the
7:30
books to adjust their lines. So we'll see where it goes.
7:33
Yeah, I'm looking at it right now.
7:34
There are there's a six in the market. the Super book has it as
7:38
a six. So we'll see how it goes.
7:41
Anyways, any else, anything else on college football?
7:44
Obviously some marquee matchups in the SEC, two really big
7:48
games. And the Notre Dame Pit is a
7:51
massive game as well. It's kind of elimination game
7:54
for Notre Dame. I don't think they don't think
7:56
there's any way in hell they can avoid being left out of the
7:59
playoffs should they lose to Pitt tomorrow.
8:01
I don't believe that they will. But Oklahoma, this looks like an
8:05
elimination game for them. Texas wants to keep winning.
8:09
They still got to play Texas A&M.
8:11
That comes up on Black Friday evening.
8:13
So some really good games in college football tomorrow,
8:16
Trent. You know, we've talked quite a
8:18
bit about Georgia, Texas this week.
8:20
I've given you my thoughts on that one.
8:21
I really like the Longhorns, certainly in the points, and I
8:24
think they can win that football game.
8:25
The other SEC game we haven't talked about nearly as much.
8:28
I'm intrigued because I love Alabama in this spot.
8:31
I just think they're a lot better team.
8:32
I don't believe in Oklahoma. I know the defense is good mater
8:35
though, coming off that injury. I just don't know against this
8:39
Alabama team how good he is. And yet there's people that I
8:42
respect in the gambling space that love the Sooners this week.
8:46
And I just, I can't wrap my mind around it.
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Is there anything that makes you lean Oklahoma?
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Anything that you see? I don't find the path.
8:52
This is just this is so different than a year ago when
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they had to go to Norman. Alabama played by far their
8:58
worst game of the season and got blown out and LED them out of
9:01
the playoff. I think this Alabama team is
9:03
going to be ready to go. And I think they I think they
9:05
win this one by double digits. Yeah, I I have to appoint the
9:09
Oklahoma's schedule. They've played really.
9:11
And so is Alabama. Alabama's obviously played
9:14
Georgia. That's a really good win for
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them. But Oklahomans played Old Miss
9:18
and they played Tennessee and they played Texas and they
9:21
played Auburn when Auburn was ranked.
9:23
I think this is a, this is a coin flip game for me.
9:26
I'm not going to pick this game as well.
9:28
Ty Simpsons having an unbelievable year.
9:31
So certainly for that aspect of things, you, you maybe give a
9:36
slight edge. But you mentioned Mater.
9:39
I don't know. I can't remember what week of
9:40
the season by the bitters. It was early Week 2 or week 3.
9:44
I remember having a conversation with you and Bama that this guy
9:46
might be the Heisman front runner at this point.
9:49
Now, admittedly we were still in the month of September, but he
9:52
got off to such a great start and then he got hurt and he
9:56
missed some games he missed about, oh, I don't know,
9:59
remember, he came back for the Texas game, did he not?
10:01
Yes, he came back for Texas and we were blown away because
10:05
because it was less than three weeks after he had surgery that
10:08
he was back out there and he's never really been the same.
10:10
He's still good, don't get me wrong, but he wasn't playing.
10:13
He's not, I don't think playing at that elite level.
10:16
So we'll see there. Let's go to the NFL trend and,
10:19
and in particular, I want to start with Kansas City and
10:23
Denver. And I, I, I think it's my
10:26
fandom. It, it's my, it's my and I'm a
10:30
Broncos fan, plain and simple. I'm a Broncos fan.
10:33
That's it. And for that reason, I think
10:39
it's clouding my judgement because I give Denver a chance
10:42
and I didn't earlier in the week.
10:44
I, I think I'm, I've come around maybe and I maybe it's Bo Nicks
10:50
1 is Bo Nicks. But maybe we get we, maybe we
10:53
get good Bo Nicks. What if that happens?
10:56
I mean, Kansas City's defense is OK, Denver's offense is not
11:00
elite by any means. But if Bo Nicks plays like we've
11:03
seen in the past and the defence of Denver continues to show up,
11:08
and I believe that they will, I think Denver's got a path to win
11:12
this football game. My nuts.
11:16
You're not nuts. I mean, it's in Denver.
11:18
It's a divisional game. You know, my thoughts just in
11:20
general about that. So no, you're not nuts.
11:23
This Kansas City teams lost four games this year.
11:25
I mean, they're they're not unbeatable.
11:26
This is not a team that's on their on the way to 15 and two
11:30
type of season. They're beatable and they've
11:32
shown it already this year. So don't when you look at in
11:35
that angle, I definitely understand.
11:37
Yeah, As we talk about pass to Victory, I think there are a lot
11:40
of paths here for Denver. I guess my question would be the
11:43
injuries. We talked a lot about Sir Tan
11:45
this week and and what he's going to be, but there's some
11:48
other ones also. Singleton.
11:49
Yeah, Singleton. They're starting inside
11:51
linebacker, he told his story that.
11:53
Go ahead. What?
11:54
What is it? I just saw he was listed as
11:56
illness. Well, he that's the guy.
11:58
Remember I told you that he had a random drug test 2 weeks ago?
12:00
After. Oh, that's right.
12:01
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and in the drug test, they
12:03
found something that wasn't right.
12:05
It wasn't a aped, it was he had testicular cancer and and he's
12:11
had surgery and he's going to miss a couple of weeks,
12:13
understandably so. But yeah, just the fact, I mean,
12:17
if he wouldn't have had the random drug test, if the NFL
12:20
would have picked somebody else air quote randomly, you know, he
12:24
might not have, they might not have found this at this early.
12:27
And you know what happens, the early you find it, obviously the
12:29
better your chances are. So he's going to be out of the
12:33
game. JK Dobbins, who's off to a
12:35
phenomenal start at running back, he's not going to be able
12:38
to play at the game. But I see Xavier worthy is now
12:41
questionable. So I think it's going to be a
12:43
great game. I do.
12:44
It's unfortunate that it's going up against, you know, the some
12:48
of the other massive games rather with the Seahawks doing
12:54
battle against the Rams. That's a huge spot in the course
12:57
on Sunday Night Football Lions and the Eagles.
13:00
And if this Eagles team shows up, the struggle against the the
13:03
struggle against Green Bay earlier in the week, I give the
13:06
Lions a big shot on the road to Philly.
13:08
I I come back to that offensive line for the lions and that's
13:11
why I can't get there. You know, I've been slow to come
13:13
around on Philadelphia and maybe I'll win against Green Bay with
13:17
the all the issues we've seen out of them offensively this
13:19
year shouldn't have been enough to sway me.
13:21
I'm back on the eagles side of things.
13:23
I I think this team is really good mention the offensive line
13:25
for the lions and we've seen that throughout the years.
13:27
You know when they've been banged up.
13:29
That team is just not the same offensively going against this
13:32
defense in Philadelphia. I'm on the other side here.
13:35
I I think this is Philly all the way.
13:37
In fact, that might make the cut.
13:38
That might be on my list when we get to our picks later, yeah.
13:40
All right, I don't think it made mine.
13:42
In fact, I know it didn't. What about Vikings and Bears?
13:45
Obviously a lot of interest in that one amongst our audience.
13:48
How do you see? Do you have an opinion on the
13:50
Vikings and the Bears? I think it's almost a must win
13:52
game for the Vikings. I don't think that they can
13:55
afford another loss. I mean, I don't think they're a
13:57
playoff team as we sit here today in the 1st place.
14:01
They're four and five in that division, but this is a massive
14:04
spot for them if they they're to keep their playoff hopes alive.
14:08
Any opinion on this one? It's Minnesota at home.
14:12
Caleb Williams, you just go through and he's played
14:15
outstanding. And we talked BFF hasn't the
14:17
best quarterback over the last couple of weeks, but then you
14:19
dig a little bit deeper. Need a comeback victory to come
14:22
back to beat the Giants. You needed a miraculous play to
14:25
come back and beat the Bengals, though, you should have wrapped
14:27
that game up. You beat the Saints in cold
14:29
weather with Spencer Rattler. You beat the Commanders who we
14:32
see are sinking ship. You meet the Raiders, you're
14:34
lucky to win that. There's not a whole lot of depth
14:37
to this six and three record because of that.
14:40
I think Minnesota is a touch better.
14:42
It comes down to McCarthy. I it's not just that he is
14:45
missing. I mean, you go to completion
14:47
percentage. That doesn't happen in today's
14:49
NFL. You don't see guys that are
14:51
struggling to complete, you know, more than 52% of their
14:53
passes. That doesn't happen anymore.
14:56
And because of that, that's why I'm not, you know, diving head
14:58
first into, Oh, yeah, Vikings all day long.
15:02
Can the Bears keep doing this with a bad defense and
15:04
continuing to? And it's not locking your way to
15:05
turnovers, right? They're forcing turnovers.
15:07
They're playing aggressively in the defensive backfield.
15:10
But over the course of the year, does that start to dry up?
15:13
Because if it does and they're not forcing turnovers, this is a
15:16
brutal defense. And this might be the get right
15:18
game that Vikings fans are looking for for McCarthy.
15:20
Well, especially considering the next two weeks they go on the
15:23
road to Green Bay and then the following week, Thanksgiving
15:26
weekend, they will be in Seattle to take on a Seahawks group that
15:30
I think is as good as is anybody in the NFC.
15:33
We'll take a time out. We'll get to O'Hare airport.
15:35
Well, we'll find Tom Cacert. He must have landed.
15:37
He just retweeted that he's going to be on.
15:39
So that's good news for us. Cacert Coming up next, Eugene
15:43
repay on Iowa State. Trent will keep us updated on
15:46
the from the Dome rather as the semifinals unfold.
15:49
He's got both games tonight on the Bull.
15:52
The early game is Valley versus Dowling and then the Nightcap,
15:57
7:00 I think Trent said yesterday it is 7:00, Waukee,
16:00
northwest Iowa City, Liberty. If you want to listen to those
16:04
games, you're driving around on the FM dial at least here in
16:07
central Iowa on 96.9. The ball.
16:10
Miller and Condon underway on a football Friday.
16:12
Cake it next. It's the Iowa sports radio
16:15
network. Condon, welcome back Iowa Sports
16:21
Radio Network, wherever listening, grateful that you
16:23
are. Trench at the Dome will get to
16:26
him momentarily. Right now Tom Canker needs it.
16:28
O'Hare standing by for his next flood, not standing by waiting
16:32
to board his next flight off to LALAX.
16:35
Is that where you fly into for this one?
16:37
Yeah, yeah, flying into LAX for this one and yeah, it's pretty
16:42
seamless so far. I got 1 little bit of
16:45
interesting information today talking to somebody from USB.
16:48
Yes, that, you know, with all the rain coming, they cover the
16:53
field. So there'll be a tarp on the
16:55
field until about, you know, 9:00 AM or whatever, OK,
16:59
tomorrow morning and then they're going to take that off.
17:01
So that probably helps with the keeping the field in the grass a
17:05
little bit more palatable I guess for tomorrow.
17:09
That's unfortunate Tom, because I thought maybe I know gave a
17:13
bit of an edge in that one. I know, too bad we'll get to
17:16
Trent momentarily. He's at the Unit Dome watching
17:18
some semi finals. Just I'll just start if you
17:21
will. Trent and I talked about it
17:23
earlier. We've kind of been back and
17:25
forth. Iowa has no chance.
17:26
Well, if this goes their way, yeah, I could see this, blah,
17:28
blah, blah. Where are you, Tom?
17:30
Where are you on this football game?
17:32
I saw your your preview at hawkeyereport.com.
17:36
Just share some of that if you would.
17:38
How do you see USC and Iowa tomorrow?
17:41
Yeah, I think with this, the the weather situation, the way it's
17:44
going to be, if Iowa can get some turnovers, I'm just not
17:48
sure. You know, Oregon's kind of used
17:50
to that kind of weather guys who play at Oregon, They're kind of
17:53
used to the rainy weather and everything.
17:55
Sure. These SoCal guys are too used to
17:57
something like this. You know, we may have weather
18:01
delays, by the way. They're really talking about
18:03
like thunderstorms or talking about like small tornadoes.
18:07
I mean, it is like wild what they were talking about.
18:10
So anyway, it's going to just be something they're not used to
18:15
and I was probably going to thrive in it.
18:17
They're used to it. They played in it last week.
18:19
So I, I think, I think it's kind of benefits Iowa in some ways.
18:26
This has not been a great run defense for USC.
18:28
They played well against Michigan, but they're 13th in
18:31
the Big 10 in rush defense at this point in time.
18:34
Is this the breakout game for Kumari Moulton and kind of A2
18:37
parter at that running back spot?
18:39
I'm a little bit surprised they've relied on him so heavily
18:42
now over this last month. I thought we'd be seeing a more
18:45
bigger rotation out of that running back, so Moulton and
18:48
then just overall why they haven't been using the depth
18:50
that we thought they had coming into the year?
18:53
Yeah, it's interesting that they've really been living with
18:55
Kumari and dying with Kumari. I think we'll see a lot more
18:59
Jazz Patterson in this one. I I just think kind of that
19:03
straight ahead back, that's just, you know, one cut and on
19:07
the the wet field is probably going to be the the, the way to
19:11
go for for Iowa in this game. So that's kind of what I look
19:15
for is Kamari and Jazz to probably get most of the
19:18
carries. If it does come down to a
19:20
special team, let's say it's a kick, Tom, USC special teams.
19:25
We know where I was at was pretty darn good.
19:28
What about special teams? Does Iowa have an edge there
19:31
overall? We know what Ouija can do, and
19:33
he's a threat to break one at any time.
19:36
Does does USC have a kicker and do they have a return man?
19:41
We know lemons usually the guy, but so maybe it's maybe a wash
19:45
here. Yeah, it might be.
19:47
Lemon has not broken any big plays this year.
19:50
So maybe slight edge to Wegian because he's proven.
19:54
But their place kicker is really good.
19:56
He's made 15 to 16, got a big leg.
19:58
So I I think equal, maybe slight edge I see there.
20:03
And their punter is very average.
20:05
So, you know, maybe it's a teensy edge for Iowa, but boy,
20:10
you know, it's going to be wet, wet conditions and the the
20:14
snapping again for Iowa might be an issue.
20:17
You know, I that's something I've thought about quite a bit.
20:19
So just wonder how that's going to factor into this game.
20:23
It's been an issue all season long.
20:25
They brought in the kid from BCI.
20:26
Think he was just a one year guy.
20:28
I think he's a grad transverse or just a season going.
20:31
Have they been looking? You do so much on recruiting and
20:33
I know it's not going to get a bunch of headlines like a
20:35
quarterback or wide receiver. Have they been looking though
20:38
for an heir apparent? Is there a young guy because
20:41
we're just so unused to Iowa struggling so much and and one
20:44
of the parts of the I think. They need to know it.
20:49
Yep. Yeah, I think we might have.
20:52
Yeah, I think, I think they're, yeah, they're going to be
20:55
looking for a long snapper. They've got Ike Speltz as a
20:57
young guy. But I, I think they're going to
20:59
be keep looking for for another young long snapper or somebody
21:03
in the portal. You know, there's always going
21:05
to be portal guys that are that'll be willing to to come in
21:07
too. What is the going rate for a
21:09
long snapper and in the NIL world?
21:13
I don't know. I don't know.
21:14
But though somebody will take some money to come in.
21:17
That's. Funny, Tom.
21:19
I know you got a plane to catch. One more minute.
21:21
Just your thoughts. Xavier, Iowa tonight.
21:23
Carver, Hawkeye, Rena, What do you what do you expect to see?
21:27
Yeah, I, I think I was going to win this one pretty comfortably.
21:30
That Xavier teams not very good, you know, just doesn't doesn't
21:34
have it this year. They got They were down by 30 to
21:36
Santa Clara at home. And.
21:39
They barely beat Lemoyne and Marist, you know, so that they,
21:44
I think I was going to win pretty comfortably.
21:45
I was hoping they'd get a little bit more of a test in this one,
21:48
but it's probably going to be a pretty easy one for the Hawks.
21:50
Does Indiana, do they since they got pushed last week, do do we
21:54
think that they'll that they'll open up a can on Wisconsin?
21:58
Wisconsin defense is still pretty good.
22:00
How do you see this one? It's a big number.
22:03
Yeah, it is. But I think, I think they're
22:05
trying to get Mendoza the Heisman Trophy.
22:08
Excellent point. Yeah, excellent point.
22:10
I think the last two, you know, I think they've got two games
22:13
left and I think they're going to, Signetti's going to just let
22:17
him let him have it. So that's my guess.
22:19
Go catch your plane, Tom. Safe flight.
22:21
We'll talk to you next week. Thanks buddy.
22:23
Thank you. Yep, good to talk to you.
22:24
Yep, take care Tom Caker, hawkeyereport.com as he heads
22:27
West out to the game if you would like to head out to the
22:30
game. Not this game, but next week's
22:32
game when I will say goodbye to its seniors.
22:35
Michigan State is in town. You can head to the Miller and
22:38
Condon Twitter page. Miller and Condon Twitter page
22:41
there. Doctor Stephen Fuller, our buddy
22:43
Doctor Fuller's what's again giving us a pair of tickets to
22:46
the Michigan State versus Iowa game.
22:49
Head there. It's total yards.
22:51
Closest without going over both teams, closest without going
22:54
over. Whoever gets that number first,
22:56
that is their number. You have to use the hashtag
22:59
Fuller Dental. You have to use the hashtag
23:01
Fuller Dental again, the first one to claim the number.
23:04
They own the number. So we can head to the Miller and
23:08
Continent Twitter account. This contest will close tomorrow
23:11
just before kickoff with USC and Iowa.
23:15
Locations for Doctor Fuller. Yeah. 2822 E 29th St. in Des
23:20
Moines and five O 9 8th St. SE in Altoona.
23:23
And as we told you yesterday, if you would like to, Doc, Fuller
23:26
has given us tickets to Iowa State women versus Drake next
23:31
week. We'll give those away at some
23:33
point. All right, Miller and Condon
23:34
Twitter count. Want to win tickets to the
23:36
Michigan State game? It's totally ours.
23:37
USC and I were closest without going over both teams.
23:41
Are you back, Trent Condon? How about an update on that semi
23:43
final? Yes, it is down to the final 90
23:47
seconds of the ball game and I was.
23:52
He's got a bad one. I hope it works out better for
23:58
for your broadcast on the bull because you've cutting in and
24:01
out throughout throughout most of the morning here.
24:03
Alright Eugene repay coming up on Iowa State you're back.
24:05
What were you were about to save the score 90 seconds left and.
24:09
2412 is the score here. Regina with the lead over Grundy
24:13
Center clock is running Savion Miller, the running back for
24:17
Iowa City. Regina, this kid is outstanding.
24:19
He's got offers from all across the upper Midwest.
24:22
No, he is on a visit to Phil Fleck and company up in
24:24
Minnesota a couple of weeks ago. I think he was in Iowa City at
24:27
Kiddock last week. Well, he's always in Iowa City.
24:28
He's a Regina kid. But Savion Miller, remember that
24:32
name. He is maybe the next great
24:34
running back to come out here in the state of Iowa.
24:36
Interesting. So the winning streak is about
24:38
to be snapped. 50 in a row down the tubes for Grundy Center.
24:44
So Regina would play who next week Trent of that to be
24:47
determined in the next game or dual.
24:48
Do we know that opponent yet? Yeah, that will be the next
24:51
game. That's the 1:00 game that will
24:53
have Regina against the winner of that one.
24:56
All right, good stuff, well done.
24:58
Iowa City, Regina. It looks like they're on their
25:00
way to the final. So anything that Tom said to
25:05
pick up anything, obviously the weather, they're going to have
25:08
the the grass covered special teams of push.
25:11
I was hoping there'd be a bit of an edge there, but it sure
25:13
doesn't sound like there's going to be.
25:15
By the way, Trent, you are going to be out and about tomorrow to
25:19
watch that game. You're going to be at Wild Rose
25:23
Jefferson. What do you got going on there?
25:25
Yeah, Wild Rose Jefferson is the spot.
25:27
It is a big day at Wild Rose. They have a sports car to
25:30
memorabilia show that'll be happening all throughout the
25:33
day. Starts at 10 AM.
25:34
That one goes until 4:00. A meet and greet with Dallas
25:38
Clark, the former All American and Mackie Award winner.
25:40
He will be there from 11:00 to 1:00.
25:43
Brought to you by DraftKings. So excited to hang out with
25:45
Dallas for a while and you can go there, meet him, autographs,
25:49
the whole thing with Dallas Clark from 11:00 to 1:00 at Wild
25:52
Rose Jefferson and then 2:30 kick off with USC and Iowa and
25:57
we'll be hanging out watching the game there from Coach's
25:59
Corner at the Sports Book. Looking forward to it.
26:02
Should be a great time again. From 3:50 is a sports card at
26:06
Memorabilia 11 to 1 Dallas Clark and then game watch at 2:30 with
26:10
Iowa and USC. All right, good stuff, Eugene
26:12
Repay. Coming up next on Iowa State is
26:15
Iowa State. Is this their third by I know
26:17
they went to to Ireland and they deserve but this is #3 right?
26:21
Yeah. Yeah, it's.
26:23
An odd schedule when you start out early.
26:24
It is, yeah. I guess you get rewarded with
26:26
that extra buy. But anyways, they'll be back
26:30
next week. They'll host Kansas and then hog
26:32
the head on the road for the finale of the regular season
26:35
take on a winless Oklahoma State team.
26:37
By the way, who does Oklahoma State play before I was state
26:40
comes to town. I know you don't know why would
26:42
you let me see if. They got Kate.
26:45
I know they got K State this week.
26:47
I do know that one. OK, yeah.
26:49
So it's Kansas State for the cow folks this week.
26:52
Then next week they go to Orlando to take on Central
26:56
Florida and then the finale against the clones and.
26:59
So what I'm looking for is I'd sure like to get to put one in
27:02
the win column before Iowa State pays a visit.
27:05
Not I mean, I don't think that they're going to rally around
27:07
the the interim coach by by any means.
27:10
You know, look at those standings.
27:11
Colorado at 1:00 and 6:00 there. Colorado's AD is stepping down.
27:16
Is Dionne back considering his health problems, etcetera.
27:20
They're three and seven. They're not going to the
27:22
postseason, You know what best they can do is, you know, finish
27:26
three and nine in in Big 12 play new AD Sure, he got the fan base
27:31
all worked up and and Folsom Field was a place to go again,
27:35
at least for a couple of years. I got to wonder if it's coming
27:38
to an entrant. You know, one of the crazy
27:40
things too, I was just reading an article at The Athletic
27:43
yesterday and they were talking about bowl games and how bowl
27:47
numbers were up. And remember the game a year ago
27:49
with Dion and company as they took on BYU?
27:51
Well, it's a conference game, but it's not really a conference
27:53
game. At the Alamo Bowl, they got the
27:55
highest TV ratings ever. And I mean, we think of some of
27:57
those great Alamo games we've seen in the past with some big
28:01
brands that have played in that game.
28:03
That was the highest rated game they've ever had for an Alamo
28:05
Bowl a season ago. He still brings viewers.
28:09
It was different, I know, a season ago, but the health, you
28:13
just don't know, right? And if you're looking to make a
28:16
move, there's going to be so many openings.
28:18
Is he willing to move? Is he happy?
28:20
There's a lot of question marks there.
28:22
I thought they were obviously going to take a step back this
28:24
year, but this I didn't foresee this at.
28:26
All and how did they beat Iowa State?
28:28
I mean, their loss is beat with a good game against BYU 2421 TCU
28:34
got him by 14, then they beat Iowa State, but since then, Utah
28:38
53 to 7, Arizona 52 to 17, go to West Virginia and lose by a
28:43
touchdown. Unbelievable.
28:45
All right, Eugene repay on Iowa State, he's next.
28:47
Miller and Condon talking sports with you.
28:50
Glad you're with us on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
29:12
I'm Hillary Condon. Welcome back.
29:13
It's the Iowa Sports Radio Network flag shipped out of Des
29:16
Moines sports station 106.3 KXNO, Iowa State football off
29:22
for the weekend, Men's basketball off.
29:24
Off for the weekend. They'll play Monday against
29:27
Stone Hill and then the water gets a little bit deep, well, a
29:32
whole lot deeper as they'll hit the Las Vegas take on Saint
29:34
John's. Adam Creighton.
29:36
But Eugene Repay joins us. He covers Iowa State.
29:38
Eugene Trenton, thank you for coming on the Mississippi State,
29:42
Iowa State game over in South Dakota.
29:45
Terrific basketball game if you're an Iowa State fan is
29:48
Taman Lipsy. Was Taman Lipsy and Buchanan
29:51
looked as as good as he has since he's been a member of Iowa
29:55
State. Let's start with Blake Buchanan.
29:57
Eugene. When TJ talks about him, how
30:01
does he speak of him? And I'm guessing that he's very
30:04
high on Blake Buchanan, what he means to this basketball team.
30:08
Super high on Blake Buchanan. He called that actually the best
30:11
performance by a five man that he's ever seen since taking over
30:15
as an Iowa State head coach. TJ Alsenberger obviously bring
30:19
in Blake Buchanan from Virginia. Buchanan felt that he was mis
30:23
utilized, underused when he was with the Cavaliers.
30:27
CJ Alsoberger had a plan and a vision for him.
30:29
He comes over to Ames and I think with each passing game he
30:33
started and get more comfortable and show what kind of player he
30:35
can be. And that Mississippi State game
30:38
was just a beautiful all around performance by him.
30:40
Just from offense to put back dunk to the finishing inside the
30:44
defensive blocks and just his activity swarming around,
30:47
switching on to guards and then of course his play making as
30:50
well. Just a great all around to play
30:51
for him. You know, we look at this squad,
30:54
a lot of new faces, yet you got the tenant there and Tame and
30:57
Lipsy. We've talked about Lipsy coming
30:59
into the year a bunch with you, Eugene, keeping him healthy,
31:02
keeping him outright. What you saw from his
31:04
performance on Monday, does it feel like he is going up to that
31:08
final level senior year last time around, that we're even
31:12
seeing a better Tame and Lipsy this season?
31:15
A better Tame and Lipsy, not only just mentally, but also
31:18
just seeing what it's like when he's physically healthy and just
31:22
physically able to go just his effort flashing to the basket,
31:25
driving inside, it just looked easy for him and he he scored a
31:30
career high 25 points, but he was still dishing out assists as
31:33
well, just finishing with a team high 6th assists and he also had
31:36
three steals, but just also an impressive all around game for
31:40
him and and I think that this year is definitely seems to be
31:43
the the best of Tame and Lipsy so far.
31:45
Milan Manchilovich, he's had one really good shooting game.
31:48
Other than that, he has struggled.
31:51
Are we starting, are they starting to get concerned about
31:54
Manchilovich? Obviously we we know he can do
31:56
it, but they were looking for consistency this year, Eugene
32:00
and so far that hasn't been the case.
32:04
Yeah, TJ was actually asked about that in his recent media
32:08
availability on Thursday morning.
32:10
Obviously, Neil, I'm on televich only played, I want to say 12 or
32:13
17 minutes, not a lot and certainly a very quiet showing
32:17
for him. When it in a game where it felt
32:18
like everybody was putting together good performances,
32:21
there's not too much concern. They felt that the overall pace
32:25
of the game and just kind of the flow of the game, like when they
32:27
went on that 26 to 6 run to end the first half, just the lineup
32:31
that was in place there didn't have Neil Montelvich, but
32:34
clearly things were clicking, things are working.
32:36
So they just kind of rolled the momentum there.
32:38
They're not overall concerned about Neil Montelich.
32:41
I think he'll be fine and we'll see how he's able to respond
32:45
here against Stone Hill, but just overall, just not not too
32:49
much concern for him. I want to jump over to big man
32:53
Dom Pleeta and we see him coming over from Germany.
32:56
He's been playing about 8 minutes a game.
32:58
Is that likely his role for the rest of the season or as he gets
33:02
more comfortable, obviously more acclimated to American life and
33:05
being at a university and all the different things?
33:08
Do you think that there is a potential that maybe the light
33:10
bulb comes on, say in December, in January, and suddenly Pleeta
33:14
is a guy that's giving him a good 15 minutes a game?
33:17
Yeah, I think the hope for him is to just as he grows more
33:20
acclimated to the physicality and the tempo, those are still
33:23
the two big adjustments that he's trying to to make sense
33:26
coming stateside. But I feel like if he's able to
33:28
grow more comfortable and and as we saw that Mississippi State
33:31
game is probably his best showing overall just on both
33:34
ends of the court. He was finishing some put back
33:36
dunks. He was crashing the glass and
33:39
that was kind of the kind of player that they were hoping
33:42
from him. His first couple of games.
33:44
He looked a little lost on the defensive end and just kind of
33:48
and things like that. But if he can continue this
33:51
upward trajectory, I wouldn't be surprised if he starts getting
33:53
more minutes. You look at that Mississippi
33:56
State game, Eric Mulder was a guy who played a lot in the
33:58
first two games. Dom Pleater comes in and he's
34:01
playing well to the point where it's like, oh man, we got we got
34:04
to keep him on and then all of a sudden he's playing more minutes
34:07
than Eric Mulder. So I think that just, you know,
34:10
if he's able to continue to get more comfortable, don't be
34:13
shocked if you see his role start to grow as the year goes
34:15
on and. I'm going to ask you about
34:17
another freshman in Bateman whose role seemingly is starting
34:20
to grow. Eugene, would you, would you
34:22
agree to that? I mean, the three-point shooting
34:25
has been there. I'm not saying he's going to
34:26
play 15 minutes once we get to the Big 12, but you know, there
34:30
might be double digit, maybe 1213 minutes available for
34:33
Bateman if he continues to shoot like he has shown that he has
34:36
the ability to do so. Yeah, It seems like this is
34:39
another player who's starting to get more comfortable, getting a
34:41
little more acclimated to the vision one life and just playing
34:45
at this high major level with Bateman.
34:48
This was a guy that they were super high on over the summer
34:51
and in preseason fall, just going into the season thinking
34:55
that this is a guy who contend for, you know, maybe starter or
34:58
six man minutes. Obviously it wasn't exactly the
35:01
start that he wanted in the exhibition games, but as he's
35:04
starting to see that 3 point shot go in or he's starting to
35:08
make those energy plays where he's taking charges and making
35:11
some defensive stops, you can see his confidence starting to
35:13
grow in these last couple of games and I'm curious to see
35:16
what he's able to do with his role and how he's able to own
35:19
it. There's obviously a lot of guys
35:20
on the bench who are chipping in, but I think he's a guy who
35:23
can carve out a steady role for himself as a freshman.
35:27
A year ago we saw this team race out to the 15 and one start they
35:30
were 17 and two and then they just didn't play as good a
35:33
basketball. Is there a part of your gene as
35:36
a reporter that regardless of what happens here in the early
35:39
going, how great they look against Mississippi State, what
35:42
happens when they go out to the players tournament in Vegas that
35:45
you still want to maybe not get ahead of your skis?
35:48
Cuz last year I thought that was a Final Four team.
35:51
I mean, they were playing at that kind of level.
35:53
Is there a part of you that says this is great, even if it starts
35:57
off great? This is a really long basketball
35:59
season. It's a really long basketball
36:01
season and if you look at that second-half of the Big 12 slate
36:05
when they get into February and it's just heavy hitter after
36:08
heavy hitter, I think that eight or nine game threats to end the
36:11
regular season. That in itself is probably
36:15
tougher than 80% of the teams in Division One basketball, 363
36:20
teams. That eight game stretch is
36:22
already tougher than probably the regular season for a lot of
36:25
those guys. So right now, obviously you got
36:28
to ride the wave. I'm curious to see how they
36:30
respond to the Players Era tournament.
36:31
I think that that tournament will also be very telling when
36:34
they go up against St. John's, Creighton and that third
36:36
team, who will also be a hammer just based on the tournament
36:40
field there. But yeah, you can't get ahead of
36:43
yourself. Obviously last year was also
36:45
impacted by injuries, but it also just kind of showed how
36:47
fragile everything is. But I agree with your
36:50
assessment. I felt like after that beat down
36:54
of Kansas at home when Curtis Jones went thermonuclear and
36:57
they were 17 and two, it was like, oh man, book your tickets
37:00
to the Final Four, at least an Elite 8, and it came crashing
37:03
down. But I also think that that was
37:06
also a cautionary tale for the players now.
37:08
So we'll see how things go. Obviously, it's one game, one
37:11
week and one month at a time. But right, so far so good.
37:14
One more on basketball, you guys brought up the Players Era
37:17
tournament. Is that a guaranteed $1,000,000
37:20
to each term regardless of where they finish?
37:23
Each team gets a million for NIL funds.
37:26
Do you know the particulars on that, Eugene?
37:29
Yeah, I think it's every participating team gets a
37:31
million and then I think it can Max out to 2,000,000 if I
37:35
remember correctly. I remember doing a research when
37:38
this was first announced. But yeah, no, there's an
37:41
opportunity to add to that bankroll.
37:43
So plenty of incentives for the players and the coaches and just
37:46
everyone all around. Why would you not want to play
37:49
every single year? That's why it's only the best of
37:52
the best there. Yeah, a lot of a lot of big
37:53
names there. Absolutely.
37:54
Go ahead, Trent. Yeah, that St.
37:56
John's game is going to open it up, and that's going to be
37:59
incredibly fun to watch in the way that that goes going
38:01
forward. Hey, I want to jump over to
38:03
football, and though it's away from Iowa State, I'm sure you
38:05
saw the news about Mark Harlan taking over a role with the
38:10
College Football Playoff committee.
38:12
Baylor, their or their AD stepped aside.
38:15
So you had what, Big 12 representation?
38:18
I understand that. Did they really need to go the
38:20
direction, though, with the team that is going to be maybe in the
38:23
conversation for a bid? Couldn't they found somebody
38:25
else to fill that role from the Big 12?
38:27
Yeah, no, I'm, I'm curious to how exactly that that process
38:31
worked. But, you know, I'm, I, I'm not
38:35
against anyone who also shares similar sentiments.
38:38
I mean, I've seen things floating around on social media.
38:40
But I I do agree, yeah, it was definitely a very interesting
38:43
choice on that front. Yeah.
38:44
It doesn't pass the smell test. What do you expect to see or
38:47
hear from from Coach Campbell when you guys get him on
38:50
Tuesday? What's lingering out there from
38:52
the last time the Cyclones took the field?
38:54
Eugene, what will we hear Tuesday?
38:57
I I feel like for them, it'll just be obviously just a how
39:00
they respond or build off of that gutsy wind, just Aiden
39:03
floor in his heroic moment. Ben Bramer also having a
39:06
Hollywood moment after that scary collapse the week before
39:09
comes in scores the first touchdown of the game and just
39:12
how the team's able to kind of, you know, was that kick with or
39:16
his palm return touchdown and that gutsy.
39:18
When was that going to be a turning point for them?
39:20
Was that going to be a spark that helps salvage of the season
39:23
or do they go back to the struggles?
39:25
So it'll be interesting to see how I would say build off of it.
39:28
Can they fix their offensive woes and can the the patchwork
39:32
defense and just other guys continue to step up?
39:35
Eugene Repay covers Iowa State for the Des Moines Register.
39:37
desmoinesregister.com. Eugene, good stuff.
39:40
Appreciate it as always. We will track you down next
39:43
week. Thank you, Eugene.
39:45
Thank you guys and have a good. Weekend.
39:46
Yeah, you do the same. Eugene Repay covers Iowa State
39:49
for the register. Good stuff, $1,000,000.
39:52
I mean, teams should be battling each other for the right to play
39:55
in that tournament, Trent. And I think they are.
39:57
They should be. I'm good.
39:59
Yes. I'm going to guess that there is
40:00
more requests for spots than there are spots available when
40:03
you're talking about that kind of money and what it does.
40:06
And I'm just going out there and having the ability to recruit,
40:09
saying that from freshman to guys that are veterans, hey.
40:14
You come here, it's not only what we can pay you, but we're
40:16
going to this tournament and there's going to be more cash
40:18
coming that way too. So yeah, good sell job.
40:20
And I'm going to guess everybody's trying to get into
40:22
it, but they they're just taking the who's who.
40:25
I love it. Iowa State, they're one of those
40:27
programs. Yeah, they are what?
40:29
Absolutely. And well done.
40:30
Glad that they're out there. Saint John's one day, Creighton
40:33
the next day. Eugene said if they win it, it
40:35
can be upwards of $2,000,000. I think there's a trickle down.
40:38
Yes, they're guaranteed 1,000,000, but if they finished
40:40
third, they got a couple of 100,000.
40:42
Heck, that's that that pays. I mean, that would have been a
40:44
whole lot easier to pay Jefferson, you know, when the
40:46
member when they were scrambling to come up with that money.
40:49
My God, is there is there a women's equivalent?
40:52
You know, maybe not yet. I don't know.
40:54
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if down the road.
40:57
Good stuff. All right, our number 2 Bama Bob
41:00
is going to start with Trent and I.
41:01
We will go round college football, some of the bigger
41:05
games in college football. Trent's doing the his portion of
41:08
the program from the Unidome today.
41:11
We'll have the semifinals 5 by semifinals, Valley Dowling and
41:16
Waukee Northwest and Iowa City Liberty, and that game's coming
41:21
up at 7:00, both of those games on 96.9.
41:25
The bull Hour 2 is next. Miller and Condon talking sports
41:29
with you on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.