Hawkeye Report Podcast

It's a busy edition of the Chuck Long Podcast. We open the show looking back at Iowa's dominating performance in their win over Wisconsin. We start off discussing the offensive line play and how they mauled the Badgers up front on Saturday afternoon, rushing for 329 yards. But, it was also the defensive line that owned the line of scrimmage as well, limiting Wisconsin to 124 yards rushing. 

We also discuss the play of Brendan Sullivan in his first start with the Hawkeyes. How did Chuck Long think he played? Were there any concerns with how he ran the team? Did his ability to run the football impacted what Iowa can do on offense? Should he continue to be the starter, even if Cade McNamara is back? We also dive into the whole idea of when McNamara is back and which player should be the starter. 

Then we take a look at the possibility of Kaleb Johnson entering the Heisman Trophy race this season? Does he merit being part of it? How about the race for being the top running back in the country or the best offensive player in the Big Ten?

Finally we wrap up discussing the Big Ten this past weekend and who made a jump and who tumbled? We also pick games for this coming weekend. 

A lot of ground to cover this week on the podcast and much of it involves the quarterback position for the Iowa Football team. First, we take one final look back at the Northwestern game and what we saw there and the play of Brendan Sullivan. 

Then we look at everything that has happened since the game on Saturday that includes a new depth chart that includes Sullivan as the starter and doesn't include Cade McNamara. We discuss McNamara suffering a concussion and how he will miss this week and will almost certainly be questionable for next week at UCLA as he goes through the protocols. Then there is a potential injury to Marco Lainez, who was listed as the starter, which would elevate Jackson Stratton as the Iowa backup quarterback this week. Who would be Iowa's third stringer this weekend? We have that news on the pod. 

Then we preview the game against Wisconsin. What have we seen from the Badgers? Are they a decent team who has beaten bad teams and struggled when they step up in class? What have we seen this year from their backup quarterback and their ground game? What about their defense?

We move on to Tom's Fearless Forecast for Iowa men's basketball. What will the record be for the Hawkeyes? Will that make the NCAA Tournament? Then we wrap up picking some football games this week, incuding the Wisconsin/Iowa prediction. 

This week on the Chuck Long Podcast we review his weekend in Iowa City as the Grand Marshal of the homecoming parade before getting down to talking Iowa Football. 

Of course we open with the change at the quarterback position. What did Chuck see from Cade McNamara before he threw the pick six and was he simply never the same after he took that big hit at the end of the first quarter? 

Then we discuss what Chuck saw from quarterback Brendan Sullivan once he took over in the middle of the second quarter. What did Sullivan do well and how did he do throwing the football? How much of an impact did his mobility have on how Iowa was able to get their offense rolling in the third quarter? 

We look at the new two deeps released on Monday that have Sullivan starting and McNamara not on it, assuming he is dealing with concussion symptoms. What will this week be like in terms of prep for Sullivan and how will it be different being at the top of the depth chart? 

Also, we talk Iowa's peformance on defense and the great day for the Iowa special teams this past Saturday. Then we talk some Big Ten football before picking several games coming up this weekend, including Iowa vs. Wisconsin. 

It's the recap and reaction version of the podcast. Tom Kakert flying solo in this one talking about the Hawkeyes convincing win over Northwestern on Saturday afternoon. Does Iowa have a full fledged quarterback controversy or was it already decided today in the win over the Wildcats? What did Kaleb Johnson say that should have cemented what Iowa does moving forward and what might Kirk Ferentz do?

Then we talks about the Hawkeye special teams and a great day for punter Rhys Dakin and return man Kaden Wetjen, who finally took one to the house fo a score. Finally we wrap up the football side of things with a look at the Iowa defense. We knew they would rebound and they did on Saturday, holding the Wildcat offense in check. 

Then we turn our attention to basketball and recap what we learned from the exhibition game against Minnesota Duluth. The three big man proven players, but it was an uneven performance by the point guard position. What were the highlights and concerns coming out of the game? 

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It's going to be a busy weekend of Hawkeye sports and the podcast previews all of it. We open the podcast by discussing the Kirk Ferentz presser from Tuesday and standing by Cade McNamara as the starting quarterback for the Hawkeyes. Also Kirk's comments about who makes those decisions...hint...it's not Kirk. We also talk about the Hawkeyes struggle with tackling and how they should bounce back this week. 

We then preview the game against Northwestern. We detail that the Wildcats are headed to Iowa City with several key players who will be sidelined due to injuries. Is this a great bounce back spot for Iowa against a poor pass defense put out there by the Wildcats?

Then we move to more global thoughts on Iowa football and how this team will finish up the season in the final five games of the year and is Iowa State's success influencing some of the Iowa fan frustration? 

Finally we talk recruiting news, preview the Iowa men's hoops team playing an exhibition game on Friday night and we want to see from that game, and finally we pick some football game this weekend. 

The Hawkeyes played poorly in East Lansing on Saturday night and we discuss it from all the angles on the Chuck Long Podcast. We open by looking at Iowa's struggles on defense and specifically tackling. What happened on that front to make them vulnerable in the run game and what can Phil Parker do at one of the two cornerback positions moving forward?

Then we move over to the offensive side of the ball and the struggles of Cade McNamara throwing the ball on a consistent basis. What were the thoughts on the playcalling of Tim Lester and why was it a struggle to move to the ball in the first half. Should Iowa look to Brendan Sullivan as an option for a few series and see how that goes for the offense? 

We look at Iowa facing Northwestern and give some thoughts on the Hawkeyes overall national stats, particularly on defense and what is concerning on that front. Plus we talk about the Wildcats this season and how they have performed. Could this be a game where Iowa throws the football more?

After that we move on to talk about the Big Ten this past week. Is Indiana the best team in the conference? Has Wisconsin got their groove back? What has happened to Rutgers? How is USC sitting at 3-4 overall and 1-4 in Big Ten play? Then we pick some games this weekend. 

It's a little later than we had hoped, but a lot of ground to cover in this post game podcast. We open with a look back at the Hawkeyes ugly road loss at Michigan State. What went so wrong on Saturday night in East Lansing?

We start with the Iowa offense and their struggles in the first half with just 58 yards of total offense. Then they improved in the second half scoring 20 points. Iowa fans are calling for a change with Cade McNamara being benched? Will that happen? If not, why not? 

The real surprise was Iowa's defense struggling to the level it did with tackling. What caused that struggle to happen? Why could they not get off the field at any point in the game? What could or should Iowa do at the other cornerback position after the struggles they experienced on Saturday?

Then we look at one of the big news items of the week and that is Chris Doyle breaking his four year silence to speak for an interview. What did we think of the interview? What did we think of what the former Iowa strength and conditioning coach had to say? Should he receive a second chance in coaching? 

Finally we discuss what we have heard from Iowa men's basketball and their 'secret' scrimmage this weekend with Southern Illinois. What were the positives that we heard? Who started and led the team in scoring? 

This week on the podcast we open talking about the win over Washington. Once last look at the game and why it might be important to this team since they played the full sixty minutes and did so in all three phases of the game. 

Then we move on to preview the contest against Michigan State. They have a very talented quarterback in Aidan Chiles, but he is also turnover prone so far this year. We discuss what we have seen from the Spartans on both sides of the ball. Why their rush defense might be a problem for them going up against Kaleb Johnson in this game. 

We move on to talk more college football. There was a second half of the Big Ten projection this week that says Iowa finishes in a four way tie for first in the Big Ten regular season. How realistic is that result? We look at the ESPN FPI to see how difficult the remaining games are this year and rank them from toughest to easiest. 

After that we move on to talk some college basketball. The Ken Pom rankings for this year are out and Iowa is ranked higher than most places at 33rd. What do we think of hte ranking and it's pretty wild to see so many Big Ten schools jammed up together in the rankings. Then we pick some college football games, including Iowa at Michigan State. 

This week on the Chuck Long Podcast, we open the show not talking Iowa football. If you are interested in helping kids in the Quad Cities at the Children's Therapy Center, please hit the link and buy a raffle ticket. You could win $5000!

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Now on to Hawkeye Football. We have a lot to cover. Iowa beat Washington. We look back at the Iowa offense and their success. Starting with the recording setting running of Kaleb Johnson. Long discusses the ways that Tim Lester and Iowa and giving many different looks in their run game and how they get him the ball in the passing game. Speaking of the passing game, what about the play of Cade McNamara? What did he do well on Saturday?

We also talk about the defense for the Hawkeyes, along with the great day for the Iowa special teams unit. 

Then we move on to preview the game against Michigan State. What do we think of the Spartans and how concerning are their with exciting young quarterback Aidan Chiles, who also has issues with turning the football over. Finally we look at the Big Ten this past weekend before we pick games. 

Iowa came out and took care of business on Saturday afternoon at Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeyes rolled, particularly in the second half on their way to a 40-16 victory and it was also the 200th win at Iowa for Hawkeye head coach Kirk Ferentz.

In our post game podcast we discuss the significance of the victory for Kirk Ferentz. It's #200 and that means a lot to him and his player. We talk about the players reaction and what they said about their head coach after the game. 

We also get into the game and how this was their most complete game of the year. For the first time it was the full sixty minutes and not one half significantly better than the other. What did we see from the Iowa offense? In particular, the running of Kaleb Johnson, who seemingly can't be stopped even when you know he is running the football. We also look at the performance of Cade McNamara and what he did well in the game. 

We also discuss the defense and special teams. We talk about the pass rush making an impact and making life tough for Washington quarterback Will Rogers. We also talk about the huge interception by Jermari Harris in the second half and the overall outstanding play of Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson. Plus we talk special teams and the two excellent punts from Rhys Dakin, the strong kicking from Drew Stevens, and good returns from Kaden Wetjen.