Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / CFP Matchups, Iowa & ISU roll in final Nonconference game, David Eickholt talks Hawkeyes & The Voice of the Chiefs Mitch Holthus

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CFP Matchups, Iowa & ISU roll in final Nonconference game, David Eickholt talks Hawkeyes & The Voice of the Chiefs Mitch Holthus · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:11
I'm Miller Condon, Welcome to the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
0:16
Trent Condon, Ken Miller, for the next couple of hours talking
0:20
sports with you. Thanks for starting your
0:22
afternoon here with us. Here's what's coming up on our
0:25
program. We will start.
0:27
We'll head down to Tampa. David Eichold's going to join
0:29
us, hawkeyeinsider.com, part of 24/7 SPORTS.
0:33
Get to David about 12:25 somewhere in that vicinity.
0:36
Get his thoughts on what he expects to see tomorrow. 23
0:41
hours from now. The ball will be in the air and
0:43
the Hawks and Vanderbilt will be entertaining us on ESPN.
0:46
David Icolt, our first guest on the program, Then Mitch Holtis
0:50
will join us for the final time this season as the curtain comes
0:53
down on the 2025 football season for the Chiefs.
0:57
Mitch Holtis, The Voice will join us.
0:59
Papa John's throughout central Iowa and throughout the state of
1:01
Iowa, quite honestly sponsors that segment and Mitch will join
1:05
us at 12:45. Bama, Bob Trent and I will take
1:08
a look at the college football four playoff games as well as
1:11
some other bowl games that will take place today and tomorrow.
1:15
And then Matt Poston's on the Big 12.
1:18
We'll do some basketball. We'll do some football with Matt
1:20
Poston's coming up here at 1:30, make some picks, 'cause we are
1:24
doing picks today, are we not? Yes, if if you want to, I mean,
1:28
if you don't want to have the playoff games.
1:30
Things dwindle down pretty quickly, though, on Friday.
1:33
There's like 3 or 4 games maybe. It's your call.
1:36
You're the commissioner. I just saw Lucas Strange just
1:38
sent us to test at text asking us that very question.
1:42
So your call, I'm ready to do so.
1:43
Absolutely. I got the playoff games amongst
1:46
them. So yes, I'm happy to do it today
1:48
Do. You have one game you like more
1:50
than the others of the playoffs. In terms of betting.
1:53
Both again, A-Team you think will win and then a team you
1:56
think will win. Either with the number against
1:58
the number. The one that I feel incredibly
2:01
confident is Georgia against Ole Miss.
2:04
I do too. I go back to that game.
2:08
I know for the 1st 3/4, Ole Miss was doing whatever they wanted
2:11
up and down the field. This Georgia defense is a lot
2:14
different than the defense that we saw at that point in time.
2:16
And I think that's the big different difference maker in
2:19
that one. And it's something that I've
2:21
said to you earlier, right after we got past the opening round of
2:24
the playoffs, If you just took off the emblems off the side of
2:27
the helmets of Indiana and Alabama and you just watch these
2:31
teams, generic SEC team, generic Big 10 team, I think Indiana
2:36
would be favored by 14, not 7. You look at the way that this
2:39
team has played, the way that Alabama struggled.
2:43
Down the stretch. Alabama is not playing good
2:45
football. No, I agree with you.
2:46
And they needed so many things to go their way that but it's
2:51
history. I know for some people it's
2:53
roster, roster, talent, those kind of things.
2:57
I think this thing could get out of hand.
2:58
You do. I really do.
3:00
I think it's going to be an eye opener and I think there's one
3:03
other angle. Kirk Zanetti is as good as I can
3:07
remember here recently of guys just knows how to push those
3:10
buttons with this team, how to get them motivated to play
3:13
those. Nobody believes in US and all
3:15
the crap, and it was crap, including a guy we'll talk about
3:19
talk to at one O clock today that Indiana took a year ago.
3:22
Indiana was an excellent team a season ago.
3:25
Were they good enough to win a national championship?
3:27
They weren't. But the argument for that 11 and
3:29
one team that was throttling teams week in and week out, the
3:33
SEC arguments were gross. The fine bombs of the world.
3:37
It's not like Notre Dame embarrassed him on that Friday
3:39
night. Absolutely not.
3:40
Don't. They were not good enough to put
3:43
to beat the two teams that played for the national
3:45
championship, but to say that they weren't even a not.
3:50
James Madison. No, right?
3:52
But that was the talk that was coming out of SEC territory.
3:55
And they backed it up this year. And Sig didn't forget, no.
3:58
And I has he. Has he ever?
4:00
No, he does. He is an elephant.
4:02
He does not forget and he will not forget.
4:05
And I have a feeling that motivation is going to be a part
4:08
of this one. We get our chance now against
4:11
the SEC and maybe the SEC team that was talking the most crap
4:14
was Alabama as they were left out a year ago.
4:16
Now here's our opportunity, and I think the Hoosiers are going.
4:19
To be right, Absolute massive stage for Indiana.
4:21
Yes, the granddaddy of malls. That's for Indiana 3.
4:24
Points all time in Pasadena. That's unbelievable, Trent.
4:27
Well, and that they'll get past that mark.
4:29
I have a feeling very quickly. What about Ohio State?
4:31
What about tomorrow night? Fast forward to tomorrow night,
4:34
do you have an opinion on on the on the Cotton Bowl?
4:38
It's the one game that I think if I had to take somebody that's
4:42
a dog, I'd probably lean Miami. I love Miami, but I keep coming
4:45
back to this. How are they going to score?
4:50
Fair. This Ohio State defense is
4:53
great. So is Miami's.
4:55
They are, but it feels like a crock potting it.
4:59
Just is too many is is. 16 to 3. Yeah, OK. 17 to 9, just Ohio
5:06
State wins, and I think relatively comfortably, but I
5:09
just can't envision a way short of a defensive score, a short
5:13
field. I don't see Miami consistently
5:16
being able to move the ball up and down the field against this
5:18
Ohio State defense. They finally ran the ball well
5:21
Miami did against Texas A&M. But I think this is different.
5:25
Anibal, as much as we talked about, I love the Fletcher story
5:29
and his big dad and what he meant and just what a hard
5:33
runner that guy is, he's not a different speaker.
5:35
This is not Willis Mcgahee. No, he's not.
5:37
This is. This is not a you running back
5:40
that we've seen in the past. He's a nice college running
5:42
back. Yeah, Willis Mcgahee.
5:43
What an injury. God and what a player before.
5:46
That Oh my God, and he was never the same.
5:47
After he wasn't, he's still put together a.
5:49
Nice career, but his career he would have been had a chance to
5:52
have a special career. I'm looking.
5:53
There's no 10s out there for Miami.
5:56
I keep hoping that they'd get to that magical number, but I just
6:00
don't think that's going to happen.
6:01
All right, before we get back to football, I don't want to just
6:04
blow an entire segment here. We saw basketball for the final
6:06
time on conference play for both Iowa and Iowa State.
6:10
I I can tell you're ready to flip into conference play.
6:12
Can't wait. I truly can't.
6:13
But I did watch yesterday. I did a because it was 4:00 for
6:17
I was perfect. There was nothing else on and it
6:20
was Settles and Coogler pretty good team to to bring the
6:23
curtain down on the non con. I don't know if I have a take
6:26
away. Maybe my take away is I think
6:28
and again it's non conference play.
6:30
I think Folgeris is maybe getting the light a little bit
6:35
to go on. Would you say that that we're
6:38
starting to see him take the steps necessary in advance of
6:42
Big 10 Play Fair? Yes, he's going to be an
6:46
important piece. I've said throughout really the
6:49
course of this season, if this team's going to be special, if
6:52
it's going to be that team that breaks the streak and gets to a
6:54
second weekend, I think Fool Garris needs to be that guy.
6:56
And it doesn't matter if he's coming off the bench or if he's
6:58
doing it as a starter. And I think they're happy with
7:01
the way things are. But he's an important piece.
7:03
He's a guy that can score in a myriad of different ways, like
7:06
can do both inside and outside. Fool Garris said yes.
7:09
He seems much more comfortable out there understanding his
7:11
role. You know what you're going to
7:13
get from start. I think you kind of know all
7:15
these guys, what you're going to get.
7:17
I had one other take away, though, from the game.
7:19
What? Was it?
7:20
So Hassan finally gets out there, finally get to see him.
7:24
He does stink defensively. He's really I, I get it.
7:28
So. You now understand why
7:30
Mccollum's got him stapled to the bench for as much as he
7:32
does. There were.
7:33
Three different plays. Two of them were egregious
7:37
defensive errors and it was just that, look, we spent a lot of
7:41
airtime me bitching about you got to get him out there, you
7:44
need another shooter, you need another guy.
7:45
And that's still true and it's still true, but boy, I get it.
7:48
And even the hope of can he get into that 16 to 18 minute range,
7:53
you know, something like that, I think that's off the board.
7:55
I think 8 to 10, you know, a couple 4 minutes stretches, I
7:58
have something like that. That's probably more likely for
8:01
Hassan. I don't think it's going to be
8:02
more than that because there are a couple plays against UMass
8:04
Lowell that he looked lost defensively and that under
8:08
McCollum you're just not going to play a bunch.
8:10
Your thoughts on your rock? He's got a chance.
8:13
I think he does too. His footwork is good.
8:16
It's the same things, the athleticism, you know what he
8:19
needs to have. What's that he?
8:21
Needs old Frank Garza to get with him and whatever they did
8:25
with Luca to improve that athleticism, to get him lighter
8:29
on his feet, to get him at that level because I don't know how
8:34
you can do that. I mean Luca Garza when he was
8:37
even before he had the 10 LB cyst in his midsection.
8:39
Take it away. Isn't that an unbelievable
8:41
story? He's just LED footed and I think
8:43
anybody that played. Basketball.
8:44
And he still is, yes. He's yeah, he's not an elite
8:47
athlete, but he's so much lighter on his.
8:49
Yes, he is. That has to be the step for your
8:52
rock, how you do that. Everybody tries to do that.
8:55
When you have guys like this, it's not an easy thing because
8:58
yes, we have an example of Luca Garza that did it, but we have
9:00
dozens of examples of guys that never could.
9:03
But that is the next thing. But his footwork is good.
9:05
He's an elite passer for a big man.
9:07
He can shoot it from the outside.
9:08
He's got his skill set. He's just not quick enough.
9:10
And when they head, you can see he gets lost out there.
9:12
He got lost one time at the top of the key guy went to the
9:15
basket. That is the next step for him.
9:17
But he they're going to need him.
9:18
There's going to be moments they're going to need him, Maybe
9:21
even Saturday against UCLA. Meanwhile, Iowa State last night
9:25
they there was a tussle for a while.
9:28
It was a close game early. I don't know was it 14 to 12
9:32
something like that before Iowa State was able to pull away
9:36
here. Here's my take away from what
9:37
we've seen from Iowa State in the non conference portion of
9:40
the schedule. And it's two of the newcomers
9:41
that that that really pop at least at least for me.
9:45
Obviously Killian Torre, we've been talking about him for the
9:48
longest time. He is an unbelievable freshman,
9:50
but to me, maybe as big of an addition to this squad and it
9:54
was on display again last night with a double double.
9:56
I just wish Blake Buchanan could stay out of foul trouble.
9:58
Yes, right, because my God, what a what a great addition and the
10:01
fact he's got another year after this year.
10:03
I mean, we know what Jefferson's going to bring to the floor
10:06
night in the night out right. He's an elite player.
10:08
Manchilovich, likewise. Lipsy's Lipsy Toure.
10:11
They found something there. I hope they can continue to find
10:14
him for another couple of years. We will see.
10:17
But Blake Buchanan. Blake Buchanan has been a
10:19
revelation in my mind. I didn't know what they were
10:21
going to get, but he's been terrific and he was last night.
10:25
Let's take a let's take a call. Devin's got a question or two.
10:29
Hello, Devin. How are you?
10:31
I'm good, gentlemen. Happy Tuesday.
10:33
Hope you guys had a safe Christmas.
10:35
I was I was blessed to be able to photograph the Iowa game last
10:38
night game. And I just wanted to ask you
10:40
guys, what do you think their ceiling is like realistically?
10:44
I know Trent, you mentioned the second weekend of the
10:46
tournament. Do you guys think that that this
10:48
team, you know, if everything clicks right, you know, health
10:51
wise and all that, that they can make a deep run.
10:53
And then Kenny, I wanted to ask, you have any futures for the
10:57
Stanley Cup? I've got a whole bunch of
10:58
Colorado Avalanche to win. It's a short price, but they
11:01
look like head and shoulders. The best team got a little
11:03
Dallas. I'll tell you the what I did buy
11:05
last week as I bought some Minnesota Wild to 30 to 1.
11:08
They're a good team. That was a great addition.
11:10
Hughes coming over from Vancouver and they got the
11:13
goaltending. Minnesota's going to be a
11:14
factor. Here's the worst part about
11:15
that. The top three teams in the NHL
11:18
points wise are Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota.
11:21
They all reside in the Central Division.
11:23
So they'll bank heads the 1st 2 rounds of the play, but.
11:25
Right now it would be Dallas versus Minnesota, Colorado who
11:29
against whoever. A wild card.
11:30
Yeah, against a wild card and Colorado gets through in the
11:33
winter of Minnesota. Dallas, here's Colorado for your
11:36
troubles. It's unbelievable.
11:38
It's unbelievable. Why did they do it that way?
11:39
I don't know. I don't think that they thought
11:42
one of these divisions would get so top heavy as far as the I was
11:47
sealing, I guess I mean, I was. I think I Hawkeye fans right now
11:50
would love to see a second. Weekend.
11:52
Oh yes. Right.
11:53
I'm not sure if that's realistic, but obviously it
11:57
depends on the draw. I do like this team a lot.
11:59
I I I'm convinced their tournament team.
12:01
In terms of. Seating at minimum.
12:04
For the NCAA Tournament, best case scenario what, a 5 or 6?
12:08
Seed. I was going to say 6-7, yeah.
12:10
I think that's probably the range that you're looking at.
12:12
And I love the sixth spot, by the way.
12:14
Yes, you get the three in the round of 32, very winnable game
12:17
in that match up. To get there, probably have to
12:19
go what, at minimum 12:00 and 8:12 and 8:00 In the Big 10,
12:23
they're 1:00 and 1:00. So that means down the stretch
12:25
here looking at 11:00 and 7:00. We talked about the early part
12:29
of the schedule. UCLA Saturday home game.
12:32
Yep, Ken Palm has some favor by 6.
12:35
Really. And by the way, Dr. Fuller is
12:37
going to give away some tickets to that game coming up here.
12:39
Minnesota Rd. game Bamford by 7 you get Illinois, but at home
12:44
one point game Ken Palm has that one.
12:46
You go to Purdue, you go to Indiana.
12:47
That's tough. But then after that they are
12:50
favored to Ken Pomeroy. Then their next six games and 10
12:55
of their next 11. Now I don't think they're going
12:57
10 and one in this stretch. Rutgers, USC at Oregon, at
13:02
Washington, home for Northwestern at Maryland, the
13:05
one loss in there, Purdue, home for Nebraska at Wisconsin, Ohio
13:10
State, Penn State. They're favored in every one of
13:12
those games except for them. Now a lot of them are like one
13:14
point, sure. The Nebraska games got to be
13:16
tight because you have to. A great start, yeah.
13:17
They're favored by 4 at home in that matchup, so very close
13:21
games overall, but then you start thinking and they stack a
13:25
bunch of those. You get to 13 and seven in the
13:27
conference. Can you get a couple of days off
13:29
in the Big 10 tournament? Right.
13:30
And you're playing maybe not the double by top 4, but that single
13:34
by that you get and finish in the top eight.
13:36
I think that's a realistic scenario for them.
13:38
I think the path is there. And the other part we talked
13:40
about it often come around March.
13:42
Iowa in the last 40 years has never had a bracket open up in
13:47
front of them. We go back to when Iowa State
13:49
had to beat what, a 13, a 12 and a 13 seed to get to the Sweet
13:53
16. Iowa hasn't had that.
13:55
Iowa hasn't had a team get upset in front of them for the team
13:58
that they'd be facing in the next round.
14:00
If that happens, even as a seven seed, we've seen 15 is knocked
14:03
off too. You're playing that 15 in the
14:05
round of 32. It hasn't happened for Iowa.
14:07
Hampton, ring a bell? Yes, absolutely.
14:09
Devin, thanks for the call. Happy New Year to.
14:11
You and that's something that is a possibility it just hasn't
14:14
happened for Iowa. So the path is there.
14:17
I think there's a possibility, but it starts against UCLA and
14:20
this is going to be one of the best point guards that they're
14:22
going to see in Donovan Dent all season long.
14:24
This is going to be a tremendous match.
14:25
How? About that match up, indeed.
14:26
All right, real quick, Monday Night Football last night.
14:29
What what what did I watch last night, Trent?
14:31
I mean, how does this happen? The Rams have so much to play
14:34
for, but and this? Is year after year after year in
14:37
the NFL when we get to this point, well, this team has
14:39
something to play. It doesn't matter.
14:40
It doesn't. It truly doesn't matter.
14:44
How does Atlantic come out and just Kurt Cousins talk about
14:48
turn the turn the clock back. This looked like Kurt.
14:51
Good Kurt Cousins again. And he's been that way.
14:53
Most of the. Year since he's come back.
14:55
He needed a year to get past the Achilles notice.
14:58
No doubt in my mind, No doubt in my mind, he's a much better
15:03
quarterback than I think a lot of people thought that he would
15:05
be at this point. We'll see.
15:07
He's still got a couple of years to think under contract in
15:09
Atlanta. If you are a team looking for
15:12
that bridge quarterback, a developmental quarterback that
15:15
that you're going to bring in and you need somebody to start
15:17
for a year or two, would you rather have Kirk Cousins or
15:21
Malik Willis? Oh.
15:24
He's not long range, he's not going to be your starter.
15:26
Willis can run. Willis has got some wheels.
15:33
I you know what and, and if and if there's two teams and Willis
15:36
is the guy that's First off the board.
15:38
I think you're happy with Kirk Cousins.
15:40
Kirk Cousins, he's playing very good football right now.
15:42
He is. I think the answer is Willis
15:46
just because of a couple of reasons, but more, maybe more so
15:49
than anything, just because of the way he can run the football.
15:51
Is it in addition to throwing the football?
15:54
We shall see. But the Rams right now, they're
15:56
looking at the five or the six seed, of course, so much on the
15:59
line on Saturday night. By the way, Thunder, Joel, get
16:01
to you in just a second. Did the NFL do the right thing
16:05
as far as placing their games Saturday night to Sunday night?
16:07
There's a lot of people out there that think the NFL aired
16:10
that the NFC West clash should be the finale of the regular
16:14
season. What do you think?
16:17
I do. I wonder about the turn around
16:21
factor for it. If you have these two teams, one
16:24
of them's obviously going to get the one, the other one's going
16:26
to have to play in the wild card round and have to go on the road
16:28
on top of it. If that was a part of the
16:30
thought process too, is we're going to have a team that played
16:33
the last game of the season and I was going to have to turn
16:35
around, go on the road again, if that was a part, obviously not
16:38
the case with Pittsburgh and but.
16:40
They stay home. I think that's the way I would
16:42
have done it. The stakes are incredibly high.
16:44
I think it should have had that spotlight as we saw a year ago
16:47
with Detroit, Minnesota playing on that Sunday night game.
16:50
It's the spot that I think made the most sense.
16:52
But that's the only thing I can think of is.
16:54
That the Steelers, Ravens, that rivalry that was so good.
16:57
Yes, that that's a part of it too.
16:59
Right, because that's been, is that been the best rivalry of
17:03
the last 15 years in the NFL? I think it is, yeah.
17:07
I think it is none of the NFC East ones that are historic
17:10
ones. No AFC West ones, historic ones.
17:13
Bears, Packers wasn't good. No Vikings, Packers, I don't
17:16
think has that same kind of national cache.
17:18
Chiefs annihilate everybody. Right.
17:20
Definitely don't have that one. I think it's, I think it's the
17:23
Steelers and the Ravens. The AFC East goes from New
17:26
England for decades. Dominating.
17:28
To the Bills, the last half decade, there just hasn't been a
17:31
whole lot of other that is going along.
17:32
Yeah, I think so. I think that has been the best
17:35
rivalry last 15 years. All right, let's get to Joan
17:37
here. We'll get a break.
17:38
Head down to Tampa, Catch up with David Eichelt.
17:40
Mitch Holt is still to come. Final opportunity to hear from
17:43
Mitch's. They will bring the curtain down
17:44
on the Chiefs. Oh, Joe, Happy New year.
17:46
How are you? All right, fantastic.
17:48
I'll try to make this quick. Being a Falcons fan.
17:50
First off, I I yeah, sure. Give me Willis.
17:52
FedEx is a stick in the mud when it comes in pocket presents or
17:56
in purgatory when it comes to draft one.
17:58
There's got to be a guy slinging beard that can sling a football.
18:00
Give him out there to play quarterback.
18:02
Hey, real quick. I don't know if you saw the
18:03
Stephon Diggs thing. Just can't stay out of his way.
18:07
At what point is it a CT? E.
18:11
Problem. And also somehow this will be
18:15
Josh Allen's fault. Diggs get in trouble.
18:17
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's unbelievable.
18:20
Joe, thanks for the call. I appreciate it.
18:22
So if what Joe was referring to, Stephon Diggs was charged with a
18:26
felony strangulation and suffocation, A misdemeanor
18:29
assault, battery, charges stemming from an incident in
18:31
early December. He was in court this morning.
18:35
He is. He and his attorney are working
18:37
out a financial settlement for the victim.
18:40
Don't know who the victim is, does not say whether male or
18:42
female. So we don't know.
18:46
We, we, we know nothing about that other than the fact Diggs
18:50
was in court trying to resolve the dispute.
18:53
What does that mean as far as the NFL?
18:55
He's he's declaring his innocence, but he's willing to
18:57
write a huge financial check. So I'm not sure those things add
19:02
up. But that'll be the up to the
19:04
judge to decide that. But yeah, that's the last thing
19:06
you need right is is a team that's going into the playoffs
19:10
as the two seed in all likelihood and maybe your best
19:14
weapon from the receiver position.
19:16
Diggs been great. Diggs had really good season,
19:19
but he's This is what comes with Stefan Diggs.
19:22
You know a lot of baggage. A lot of baggage and will he be
19:26
able to play? You know what, what, what's
19:28
Roger Goodell going to do? Are they going to drop the
19:29
hammer at some point or do you wait for this to make its way
19:32
through the system? We've seen it both ways.
19:35
I will take a time out. I called next.
19:36
Miller and Condon, glad you're with us.
19:38
It's the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
19:50
Hi, I'm Marie Condon. Welcome back.
19:52
Iowa Sports Radio Network. Wherever you are listening in
19:54
the state of Iowa, we are grateful that you're doing so.
19:56
Let's head down to Tampa Bay where tomorrow rely a quest.
20:01
It's the Hawks. It's Vandy and some Hawks
20:05
getting 55 and a half I think is the number.
20:08
At least that's what it has been.
20:09
Here is David Eichold, hawkeyeinsider.com, part of 24/7
20:12
sports. David away from football just
20:15
for a second, but still kind of on the same.
20:17
Train of thought, just what if Hawk fans, Are they into this?
20:21
Are they travelling down to Tampa Bay to to watch their team
20:25
one last time? Yeah, they are.
20:28
I mean, going to beach day yesterday, outside of getting
20:31
sunburned a little bit, there were probably about 85% Iowa
20:36
fans, which, you know, I did think Iowa fans would outnumber
20:41
Vanderbilt, but maybe more Vanderbilt fans are making the
20:43
trip day of. I have heard Vanderbilt's ticket
20:46
sales have been fairly decent. But no, this is a very Hawkeye
20:50
heavy crowd from everything I've seen.
20:52
You're running into quite a few of them downtown, a lot of them
20:56
at the beaches as well. So, you know, bowl games might
20:59
be dying. I think there's without, you
21:00
know, I think that's undoubtedly true.
21:03
But I think Iowa fans, especially given the blizzards
21:06
back home, I think they'll take every excuse every year to come
21:10
down to a warm place like Florida and watch football.
21:13
You look at the matchup, Diego Pavi is obviously getting a lot
21:16
of headlines. No Eli Stowers, the tremendous
21:18
tight end for the Vandy. But when you look at this
21:21
matchup, what's it going to take?
21:22
It does it does it feel like I was going to have to score in
21:25
this game? If they're going to pull it off,
21:26
it's got to be more of that 2724 type of game as opposed to 1713.
21:31
What's the game plan here and what's it going to take to beat
21:33
Vanderbilt? Yeah, I'm right there with you.
21:36
And it's something I think it's been X Factor all year.
21:38
Guys, I always got through the football.
21:40
They have to throw the football effectively because if you dive
21:43
deep into Vanderbilt's numbers, again, tremendous football team.
21:47
But one number I don't think is being talked about enough.
21:49
Vanderbilt's 119th in the country in passing defense.
21:53
They're giving up 10.5 yards of completion.
21:56
Now again, they're in the SEC. There's a lot of really good
21:59
receiver cores or still a lot of really good quarterbacks.
22:01
We we all know this, right? But there's a a big chance for
22:06
Tim Lester to call one of his best games to the Hawkeye,
22:09
because it's not Even so much about taking the one-on-one
22:11
shots down field. It's about being methodical.
22:15
It's about surgically diagnosing the defense, taking advantage of
22:19
the routes between 8 to 12 yards, easy pitch and catch.
22:22
Give Mark Gronowski a chance. Iowa, I think, has to put up at
22:26
least 25 points if they want a shot in this Because, look,
22:29
Diego Pavia might not be the big.
22:31
Well, he's definitely not the biggest.
22:33
He's 59 on a good day. I was about 20 feet from him.
22:35
I don't know how he's listed 6 feet tall, but maybe that's just
22:39
the benefit of being a Heisman runner up.
22:41
You're able to get your height changed a little bit.
22:43
Not the fastest, does not have the biggest arm.
22:46
You know what he can do? He can play football like he is
22:50
backyard football to a tee. They are first in the country in
22:54
yards per play. I believe these are about 7.6 to
22:57
7.7. Iowa needs to be all the score.
23:01
I think they need to throw the ball for potentially over 200
23:04
yards. Have to be aggressive.
23:06
But this is definitely one where you want to pass the ball well.
23:09
But you also have the Joe Moore award-winning offensive line.
23:13
So again, I think this is a big showcase game for Tim Lester to
23:17
surgically kind of don't want to say dominate, but just be very
23:21
surgical against a very, very good Vanderbilt team.
23:24
And yes, I would never envisioned saying that five
23:27
years ago about Vanderbilt. I don't know.
23:29
Has the Ference Clark Lee press conference happened yet?
23:32
And if so, was I know Vanderbilt's aware of Caden
23:36
Wegen, but how will they try and prevent him from seemingly doing
23:40
what he does most Saturdays and that's making somewhat of a play
23:44
on special teams? What has Wegen come up when it
23:47
comes to Vanderbilt? Yeah, so we just got done with
23:51
them maybe about 15 to 20 minutes ago.
23:54
So I'm still kind of hanging around where where I need to be.
23:57
But yeah, I mean, they're definitely aware of Legion.
23:59
And I do think that that's something that does concern
24:02
Clark and he really didn't comment too much on it.
24:04
But they're aware of the mismatch, right?
24:06
I think they know that if they give him an inch of room, he has
24:11
a chance to dominate. Quite frankly, I do think
24:13
they're worried about their past, their punt coverage
24:16
because again, you look at Diego Pavia, you look at the offense
24:19
that Vanderbilt has, guys, Vanderbilt's only averaging 2
24:22
punts a game. So their entire game plan is to
24:25
just go score as many points as possible and take one of Iowa's
24:28
best players and who I think could be one of the best return
24:32
men in the history of the Big 10 Conference out in Cane Luigi.
24:35
I mean, statistically, he matches up with with about
24:38
everybody. So I'm very curious from that
24:41
standpoint. But another thing that maybe I'm
24:43
overthinking this because you guys know I love a good
24:45
conspiracy theory. You know, I like that.
24:47
I try to think outside the box every once in a while.
24:50
Remember, this is Lavar was his last game too.
24:54
How many times over the years have we seen a creative wrinkle
24:59
to Iowa's return game, A creative wrinkle in a special
25:02
teams coverage? Maybe they want to go out with a
25:05
bang. Maybe they know that's what it's
25:07
going to take to beat a very good Vanderbilt team again.
25:10
They've only lost, I believe, Alabama and Texas both.
25:13
On the. Road another wrinkle there so
25:16
it's it's it's going to be a lot of fun.
25:18
But you're exactly right. They're they're very aware of
25:20
them. But I also think that Clark Lee
25:24
has undoubted trust in Diego Pavia to get it done.
25:28
And one of the big factors also really quick guys, we've seen
25:33
Heisman runner UPS, you know, take advantage by with defense
25:37
in games before. And especially if you're Diego
25:40
Pavia and you have that kind of forget all voters except it
25:44
wasn't forget. You know, he's going to come out
25:48
there with a chip on his shoulder looking to absolutely
25:50
prove that he should have been the Heisman.
25:53
Was McCaffrey a runner up? I think so, yeah.
25:57
Yeah. Well, that's perfect example.
26:00
That didn't go very well. So on the heels of the game,
26:04
you'll get back or you'll be working.
26:06
Certainly come Friday, that is when the transfer portal opens.
26:09
It is going to be an onslaught. You know, normally at this time
26:12
the last couple of years we've known what the early signing
26:15
period is going to be. Now just one signing period.
26:17
It'll be these two weeks that will be happening in January
26:20
starting on Friday. What do you anticipate it's
26:22
going to look like for Iowa? One, I do think we're going to
26:27
see at least one surprise from Iowa that enters the portal.
26:30
I couldn't give you an exact name, but there have been, you
26:33
know, rumblings about, you know, potential impact player 2 that
26:36
could enter the portal. But another thing is Iowa's not
26:39
in a panic right now, right? They have a methodical plan of
26:42
how they're going to attack. Number one, I think they need
26:45
defensive tackle, have to get an impact defensive tackle.
26:48
I know they're going to target one of those.
26:50
I think they also get a target defensive end for depth purposes
26:53
because I think you look at some of the guys like you'll say up.
26:55
And so, yeah, we all know he's going to take a step forward,
26:58
right? They lose a number of impact
27:00
guys on the edge, but I think they want one more for depth at
27:03
least. I think they're going to look at
27:05
cornerback. Maybe it's safety because Zach
27:07
Luttmer can play about anywhere and as Mark Gronowski calls him,
27:11
the Walmart Cooper de Jean or the Dollar General Cooper de
27:14
Jean. But I'll tell you, I I take a
27:16
nickel Cooper de Jean if I needed to, right, because of how
27:19
dynamic he was as a Hawkeye. But outside of that, I think
27:23
they're going to look at wide receiver for sure.
27:25
And if another running back enters the transfer portal, we
27:28
know TJ Washington and 10 then in the portal.
27:31
He is not with Iowa right now in Tampa.
27:35
You know, I'm not going to be surprised if Iowa looks to go
27:37
get somebody in that running backroom as well.
27:40
Maybe they get an offensive lineman just for depth and maybe
27:43
have a guy for longer than one year.
27:45
But I think the positions of emphasis are going to be
27:47
defensive tackle, cornerback and wide receiver, but and I think
27:52
even kicker. Too.
27:53
I'd love to say that. Is going to open for a kicker as
27:55
well. Yep, because Drew Stevens is out
27:58
of eligibility and had a really good year.
28:03
Did they offer Conradie through back?
28:06
They better have kicked the tires.
28:08
Did you know that, David? I don't, but I would not be
28:12
surprised if they would have kicked the tires had he had he
28:15
answered the portal because I I think they trust his kicking
28:19
ability. Anybody should.
28:22
I heard mid 6 figures that that's what they were willing to
28:27
offer. He's obviously staying at Iowa
28:30
State, but so neither of you have heard that that's true or
28:33
not anything like that along those.
28:34
Lines I I couldn't give you direct confirmation, but I'll
28:37
tell you, just based on people I talked to that would be in the
28:40
know it it would make sense. Yeah, it would, quite frankly,
28:44
it would have made sense. But I do know that, you know, I
28:47
think there is a certain North Dakota State kicker that just
28:49
entered the portal last night. I I would not be surprised if
28:52
they kicked the tires around there too.
28:53
Good stuff it. Makes a whole lot of sense.
28:56
Are they happy with what they they've said?
28:58
They're happy. We've heard what Tim Lester
29:00
said, what Kirk Ference has said that yes, they're good at
29:02
quarterback. They feel good about Hank Brown
29:04
and that Hicklinski is there. Do you believe it when they say
29:07
that or is there at minimum you got to be shopping?
29:11
I mean, you got to to see what is out there.
29:12
I think at minimum take us into the quarterback spot.
29:16
They're not going to be actively shopping, but they're going to
29:19
be actively monitoring and that's the approach you I think
29:22
you need to take, right. I at this point, I believe the
29:26
betting if I default odds on it, I think Jeremy Hecklinski would
29:29
be probably at about -155 to be the starting quarterback next
29:33
season. I think he's ahead of Hank
29:36
Brown. I think Hank Brown's going to
29:37
stay and compete. If one of Iowa's quarterbacks
29:41
gets in the portal, then I do think that they would actively
29:44
shop. But even if they actively
29:46
shopped, man, like I don't think they're going to actively shop a
29:49
starting right away caliber quarterback.
29:51
I think they would do it for death purposes only because they
29:54
want to reinvest some of that NIL money in different areas.
29:58
And Tim Lester said best when we talked to him earlier this week,
30:01
oh, I guess I should say last week.
30:03
Now at some point you have to stop having one year rentals and
30:08
you have to develop somebody. And I think you look at Tim
30:11
Lester and the way his career is kind of unfolded, what he wants
30:15
to run out offensively, what he'd like to do.
30:19
That guy needs more than than a summer and fall camp to work
30:22
with a quarterback. Because again, Gronowski didn't
30:24
wasn't participate in spring. Iowa might have been more way a
30:27
way better passing team. And Mark Gronowski got in a full
30:30
spring. I don't want to say it, You
30:32
know, I'm not going to say they would have been a top 25 passing
30:35
offense, but I do think they take another step forward.
30:38
Maybe they have two 200 plus yard games instead of 0, right?
30:44
I think they're not going to be actively shopping, but they're
30:47
not going to be surprised by anything.
30:49
I think they have a really good strategy as the portal as far as
30:52
the ability to monitor it, the team they have around.
30:56
And I think there's a lot less pressure on Tyler Barnes to make
30:59
all the decisions now. He gets to negotiate.
31:02
Now he gets to actively, you know, talk to a bunch of people,
31:04
but he doesn't have to make the board, run the board, create
31:07
contact. Like Iowa, I feel like is way
31:09
more comfortable now in the portal than they were two years
31:13
ago. David, 10 seconds left.
31:16
I'm not asking for names, but those guys, those players that
31:20
may enter the portal, impact player one on both sides of the
31:23
ball. Can you go?
31:24
Will you go that far? I, I won't go that far, but the
31:29
one, the one I'm thinking of is on offense and I, I, I'm again,
31:34
I'm not want to throw too much out there.
31:36
It's only rumblings. I'm not going to be surprised if
31:38
it's a running. Back.
31:39
I was just going to say sophomore.
31:43
We'll leave it there. Thank you, David.
31:45
Appreciate you coming on, Joy. The last couple of days in
31:47
Tampa. You got a busy time once you get
31:50
back, David. I called 24/7 sports
31:52
hotkeyeinsider.com. Thanks, David.
31:53
Happy New Year. Thanks guys.
31:56
Happy New Year. Appreciate.
31:57
You good to talk to you, David. I called as we check in in Tampa
32:00
Bay. You hear that?
32:02
Don't have specific name, it sounds like you do.
32:04
I'm don't, I'm just guessing. I thought it mean if you're good
32:07
if. It's what are you a speculate
32:08
I'm going mold. And he's a sophomore, he's got
32:10
two years left. And on the other side of the
32:11
ball, and I hope I'm dead wrong, there's a there's a sophomore on
32:13
the other side of the ball that would be very much coveted.
32:16
Lutmer. Oh yeah, I mean he's there's
32:18
about phone calls. I.
32:19
Had to have been. He's a hell of a player.
32:21
By the idiots on the other side of the river and you can take a
32:23
guess what's river I'm talking about.
32:26
Well, if it was a W you don't like those idiots, I'm going to
32:30
say it's West. Your piece of things on your
32:33
idiot. Meter Mitch Holtis next Miller
32:37
and Condon, Glad you're with us on Des Moines Sports Station
32:40
106.3 KX and all. I'm Eric Condon, welcome back.
32:47
Final segment, hour number one. Glad you're with us.
32:49
College football talk to start hour number two and then
32:52
Heartland College sports. Matt Poston's on the Big 12
32:56
basketball as their conference play gets underway this weekend
32:58
and of course, football as well. Well, for the final time, start
33:02
way back in August talking to this guy as we do every year.
33:04
We're going to get one more next week to put a cap on things.
33:07
Awesome. Thanks for doing that.
33:08
Mitch Holt, just a little bonus Holter for us.
33:11
How are you, Mitch? Happy New Year to you.
33:14
Yeah, Happy New Year to you guys and Trent, I'm eternally
33:16
grateful to you. I'll just do it on the air for
33:20
cooling me in on the Boone Toro doors.
33:24
My high school Smith Center in Kansas, red and green, we were
33:27
ridiculed for years. People would play Christmas
33:31
carols when we'd come out to warm up.
33:33
And now Boone Toradors. In fact, I'm in the studio,
33:37
we're taping some shows for the Chiefs YouTube channel and we
33:42
got talking about the toradors of Boone and what a torador is.
33:46
And so I just, I'm so thankful to you guys for that.
33:51
And so, yeah, let's go, Boone. You know, for years I've had the
33:55
Irlam Cardinals, I've had the Colfax Mingo Tiger Hawks, the
33:58
Des Moines Christian Defenders, and now claim and put into that
34:01
same file the Boone Toradoris. That's awesome.
34:05
You know I. Mentioned it.
34:06
Matt McMullen. Matt McMullen found that Chad
34:08
Reinhart was a Boone Toradora. He's playing in the NFL.
34:12
Yeah. So yeah.
34:14
Anyway, I'm delaying talk on the Chiefs.
34:16
No, I get it. And but you know what, I'll just
34:18
follow up real quick on this. I get so many people.
34:20
I think Trent and I both do. They're grateful that you, you
34:23
know, share your Iowa knowledge when you come on with.
34:26
Us a lot of winter nights driving through our.
34:28
State, there's a lot of good windshield time slipping through
34:31
the Missouri Valley Conference, no doubt about that.
34:33
Are you going to do any of that this winter, Mitch, by the way?
34:36
No, no, I gave it up a couple years ago.
34:38
There just wasn't much. This will be my first January.
34:42
In fact, the last time we were knocked out this soon I had a 25
34:47
game college basketball schedule Big 12 in in Missouri Valley
34:51
primarily in a few Big 10. Not not anymore.
34:54
Not when the season was going so late that just when he college
34:56
basketball laughs and my duties have increased here.
34:59
So it's, it's OK, but I'm going to have a January, I guess,
35:03
unfortunately. But fortunately to get, you
35:05
know, some wind back. I can tell you a real quick
35:08
story though. I might have told you this, but
35:10
I had back-to-back days. I was at Missouri State doing a
35:12
game and then I was going to do a game in Northern Iowa.
35:14
I was with Charlie Spooner. It was 64° when we left
35:18
Springfield. We drove -9 when we got to Cedar
35:23
Falls and Spoon, he was just terrified at the time was
35:27
asking. I was just giving him the
35:29
temperature as we as it dropped, as we entered the frozen and
35:33
tundra, the McLeod Center. But yeah, I've travelled the
35:36
whole state. I've been through every bit of
35:38
it. Yep.
35:39
Indeed. Well, it's going to be different
35:41
this week, but let's go to Christmas night.
35:43
I know you don't have any inside information.
35:45
Nobody does. Travis Kelsey might have told
35:47
some of his friends what his plans.
35:48
It sure seems like it was that the curtain was coming down.
35:52
It's that's that's what I will. That was my take away.
35:54
It sure seemed like he was soaking it all in right at the
35:57
end there, but that was just how I was viewing it.
36:01
No, I've, I've felt the same way.
36:03
And the fact that it did felt like a home goodbye.
36:09
And I wouldn't be stunned. I mean, he's 36 years old.
36:12
He's played 12,100 snaps. What else are you going to do?
36:16
And so that makes this week even a little bit more melancholy
36:22
because this could be it. But the fact that, yeah, it felt
36:25
like a goodbye that we'll see. He'll he'll do it in his own
36:29
time. Didn't see if I could go and buy
36:31
for Andy Reid. He was asked in his press
36:33
conference yesterday about the potential of him moving away and
36:37
going into retirement. He joked.
36:40
I think I'm coming back, right? So I don't think there's going
36:42
to be a firing here. I think he's going to be in good
36:44
shape. All indications though.
36:46
Andy Reid back for next season. Yeah, he'll be back.
36:50
Now there could be staff changes and that could be immediate next
36:53
week and we can talk about it. There won't be anything
36:55
official. I don't think that there's going
36:57
to be lots of changes with this team.
36:59
There always are with with most teams.
37:01
But this team now is at a point where you've got to reboot the
37:04
computer and that means staff changes, personnel changes.
37:07
You got to get the cap cleaned up and then get your strategy
37:11
going into the offseason. I was encouraged though, by the
37:14
way they played the Broncos in that game.
37:16
The Broncos, of course, have everything to play for and
37:19
that's a 1313 game with 5 minutes to go and give Bone X
37:22
credit. But he had third and 10 at the
37:24
Chiefs 45. If they stop him there, it's
37:27
going to get interesting. And the fact that they only had
37:30
one sack allowed and that's still Jonathan Cooper, Nick
37:32
Benito. And so anyway, they, they, they
37:36
played Denver toe to toe with guys that you're looking at to
37:40
evaluate that some of those guys you're going to hope to build
37:43
with in 26. Yeah, and including one of them
37:46
that how do you say his name? Poley?
37:48
It looks like they they found something there.
37:50
Yeah, he's a good player, bitch. He has and in fact, this week,
37:54
if people are interested, we'll have in our Defending the
37:56
Kingdom podcast, Chuku wig Chuku Abuka Goldrick, who's from the
38:02
international. Well, he's the right tackle, the
38:04
left tackle. That's a pulley Pulley's got a
38:06
chance. And the dude never did not play
38:08
high school football, barely played JUCO ball, played only 22
38:11
games at Washington State, and it just shows.
38:13
You can still find guys in the era of All Star games and pro
38:18
days and combines. There's still some guys that
38:20
slip through the cracks. That's a pole at the least.
38:23
We'll go into 26 as a swing tackle and he's going to make a
38:26
challenge to be a starting tackle.
38:28
And he basically came out of nowhere.
38:30
So they will go into the game 325 against the Raiders with the
38:34
Raiders potentially having the number one pick already locked
38:37
up. They normally try to keep those
38:39
games together, but if the Giants win, it doesn't matter
38:42
what happens. Could potentially we see AI
38:45
don't know an inspired effort out of a Raiders team that
38:48
already know they have a number one pick.
38:50
They don't have to worry about Some guys on the fringes go out
38:52
there. What do you anticipate we're
38:53
going to see in this finale on Sunday?
38:56
Yeah, we get, I think fans got to be careful here by, you know,
38:59
tank the game and get the draft pick.
39:01
It's not a video game. And and they played hard last
39:06
week in that Giants game. You got Jamal Adams, you're
39:09
looking at Malcolm Koontz. The these guys had just piled up
39:14
tackles and we're playing with a lot of effort and actually
39:16
getting Kenny Pickett in as the starting quarterback may make
39:19
them more dangerous to win this game.
39:21
Tyler Lockett's on this team. I could see Pickett targeting
39:25
Tyler Lockett about 15 times. Michael Mayer, who was a good
39:29
tight end, he just got overshadowed by Brock Bowers.
39:32
But I mean, they they've got some dudes on this team and I
39:35
think they'll play to win. I know fans can.
39:38
You just don't turn it on and off.
39:40
Let's just turn winning on and then we'll shut cut it off.
39:42
And you know, it's the era of opting out of stuff and not in
39:47
the NFL, not with guys that get paid to do it.
39:50
I think they're going to get the Raiders will give all they've
39:52
got. Final minute, let's talk about
39:55
your fine sponsor, the folks at Papa John's.
39:58
Yeah, we want to. I've got one more week with you
39:59
and we'll we'll chop it up again.
40:01
For these guys, I think they might be the official pizza, not
40:03
only of Christmas because they're red and green or the
40:07
bone torodores, but I think they're probably the official
40:10
pizza of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, so.
40:14
Here we got to be a. Bulk, all kinds of stuff.
40:17
And Tom and Matt Donaldson, I've talked about him for years and
40:20
years, but what they do for the state of Iowa, the city of Des
40:23
Moines, and their philanthropic, philanthropic strategies are
40:29
just amazing. I love being associated with
40:31
them. I love these segments and love
40:33
to make the state come alive, whether you're a Chiefs fan or
40:37
not. So happy New Year to you guys.
40:39
We'll do one more segment next week.
40:41
Get ready for 26 and good luck to you guys.
40:44
I'll get into the whole playoff thing.
40:45
I'm looking forward to. It yeah, playoffs are very
40:47
interesting indeed. I'm going to do some research on
40:50
it, so I'll give you a couple slants that maybe you haven't
40:53
heard. We'll do that next week.
40:54
Thanks, Paul and Joy Vegas, we'll talk to you next week.
40:56
Thank you, Mitch Holtis, the voice of the Kansas City Chiefs.
40:59
Love this segment. Appreciate what the Donaldson's
41:01
do for us and our audience making this possible.
41:04
Bama, Bob, Trent and I will take a look at the four playoff games
41:07
tomorrow and well, one tomorrow, 3 on Thursday and a couple of
41:11
others as well. Matt Poston's going to join us
41:15
at 1:30, Miller and Condon.