Hawkeye Report Podcast

It's a very busy edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast. Tom Kakert and Kyle Huesmann are with you on the show and we are covering Iowa football coordinators speaking to the press and media day for the Iowa men's and women's basketball teams.

We open talking about the Iowa football team and coordinators talking to the media during the bye week. We open with an extended conversation about the quarterback position moving forward and what offensive coordinator Tim Lester had to say about it on Tuesday. We also talk about what we would do, but also what we think Kirk Ferentz and Tim Lester would end up doing. Could Hank Brown be out for another game?

Also, what did Phil Parker have to say about his defense and the six sack pass rush that showed up last weekend in Seattle. Could we see this new look Raider package coming back into play with linebackers bringing pressure to opponents? Finally we talk to special teams coordinator Chris Polizzi talk about Boston Everitt, Caden Buhr, and the challenge of having to change jersey numbers during the game.

Then we head to women's hoops and Kyle talks about what he thinks of this year's squad. Will there be challenges with having just 11 players on the roster. What is the potential of this year's team and what might the starting lineup look like this year? How will it look with a different offense and who could thrive in it?

Lastly, we talk about Ben McCollum's squad, who held their media day on Monday morning. What did we learn about the team and which players have been impressing starting out this summer? What will the keys be to the season for the Hawkeyes and why might they be headed towards a team that shoots a lot more three point field goals this year?

Iowa moved on 5-1 on the season on Friday evening when they dominated Washington, 41-24 in Seattle. This week on the Chuck Long Podcast, we have plenty to discuss regarding the Hawkeyes and particularly the quarterback position. With Hank Brown out due to a shoulder issue, Jeremy Hecklinski stepped in and shined.

We look back at his performance and how he stepped and played very well. What do the Hawkeyes do moving forward at the quarterback position when Brown is healthy? We talk to Long about what he would do and what we think Kirk Ferentz will end up doing and why this situation is a good problem to have in college football.

We also do a little x's and o's talk with what Tim Lester has been doing with his use of pre-snap motion and how that it creating problems for opposing teams and how they are using Tony Diaz to do it and how they are using tight ends in motion to create opportunites in the run game.

After that, we talk about the defense and Phil Parker dialing up some new pressure looks. How they used linebackers to get more pressure and why they will need to do that moving forward.

How should Iowa handle the bye week with their players? Rest some players or full speed ahead with work?

Then we talk about another wild weekend in the Big Ten and what we make of it. Finally we wrap up with the show by picking games that we can actually watch fully this weekend with the Hawkeyes on a bye week.

It's a post game edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast, this time coming after Iowa's fifth win of the season, as they demolished Washington on Friday night in Seattle. It was an impressive performance from the Hawkeyes, who dominated the line of scrimmage all night long with over 200 yards rushing on offense and 6 sacks of the quarterback on defense.

We discuss the first start of Jeremy Hecklinski and evaluated his performance. Iowa's use of motion and using Tony Diaz as almost a decoy to open up other players in the passing game, plus we discuss the great job that the Hawkeyes ground attack did, particularly Kamari Moulton, who ended with 208 yards on the ground.

We also talk about the defense and how they schemed up a way to get more pressure, which led to six sacks. We also discuss how winning two of the first three in conference play has opened up all sorts of possiblities for the Iowa football team if they continue to win. Could they be a dark horse college football playoff team this year?

We take one final look back at the Iowa loss to Ohio State with former Hawkeye quarterback Chuck Long on his podcast this week. It was a great weekend in Iowa City with only the result to the game being a bit of a downer for Hawkeye fans. We start with the Iowa offense and their inability to punch in early opportunities for touchdowns instead of field goals. What is missing with the Iowa ground game right now? What can be done to fix it?

We then discuss the incredible performance by Buckeye wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who had over 200 yards receiving on the day. He essentially had a gravitational pull on the entire secondary all game long and dominated even when he was not the target in the passing game. Should we be concerned that Iowa has given up over 400 yards in total offense the last two games?

After that we discuss facing Washington and a short week. Iowa also is dealing with a possible injury at quarterback. How would you handle Hank Brown and Jeremy Hecklinski this week in practice? What about other guys who are dinged up? How do you keep the Washington quarterback in check?

Then we discuss this past week in the Big Ten. Is the old Big Ten West on the rise? How impressive were Northwestern, Nebraska, and Wisconsin this weekend? Then we look ahead this week and we predict the winners of several games, including Iowa at Washington.

It's the post game Hawkeye Report Podcast and for the first time in the 2026 season, it comes after a loss. Iowa lost to Ohio State, 31-14 on Saturday afternoon. Everything was great about Friday and Saturday in Iowa City with ESPN College Game Day and Caitlin Clark back in Iowa City, but the only thing that went bad was the actual game.

We look back at the loss and what went wrong for the Hawkeyes against the Buckeyes. Why it was important for Iowa to put points up early, but they felt settling for field goals and how good was star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith for the Buckeyes in this game. How much did Iowa being without their starting safeties impact the game and Iowa's passing defense?

Jeremy Hecklinski jumped in at quarterback and played well. Does this open up the quarterback race once again and what is Hank Brown's status moving into next week, on a short week having to travel to Washington. We also look at the struggles of the Iowa ground game and why it is concerning this season.

Plus we have a few Iowa men's basketball news and notes items for upcoming events.

Fun new podcast for the middle of the week leading up to a huge football game on Saturday against Ohio State with ESPN College GameDay in town. We are thrilled to have on the show this week George Wrighster from the Unafraid Show and On3 to look back at the Iowa win over Michigan and we preview the game against Ohio State. The former Oregon Duck and NFL Tight End talks about what he saw from Iowa against the Wolverines and we fully preview the contest against the Buckeyes. What are his thoughts this season on Ohio State and how does he see that game playing out?

Then we move over to talking to Kyle Huesmann and Tom Kakert about the upcoming game against the Buckeyes. What do we think of the Ohio State squad this year and their ability on both sides of the ball. This year they have the best player in the country in Jeremiah Smith, but the rest of the receivers have not put up huge numbers this year. We also look how they have given up a decent amount of rushing yards this year.

Then we pick games this week in college football, including the Hawkeyes and the Buckeyes contest.

This week on the Chuck Long podcast, Tom Kakert and Chuck Long discuss one of the most stunning victories of the Kirk Ferentz era. Iowa went into the Big House at Michigan and walked it off with an incredible 20-19 victory. Was this the most Kirk Ferentz win of the Ferentz era?

We start with the game winning play and the drive that Hank Brown authored on Saturday. Can a drive like the really elevate a quarterback and his play moving forward. Long talks about how a game in his day gave him confidence moving forward and how he could see that with Brown after this game winning drive. We also discuss the the other touchdown pass by caught by Reece Vander Zee and his route running along with the two high level throws made by Brown in those situations.

Then we discuss the struggles of the Iowa ground attack against good teams, like Iowa State and now Michigan. Why is Iowa struggling to run the ball and what are some potential solutions? What would Long recommend for an easy solution to open up the box a bit more for running lanes?

We also dive into the Iowa defense and what we like and how they have been able to take opposing teams into deep water and get stops in the red zone. Then we look at another wild week in the Big Ten and look at several of the game this past weekend before picking some winners this coming weekend, including the Ohio State vs. Iowa game.

What in the world just happened? That's what Iowa fans were thinking as they celebrated the Hawkeyes walk-off win on Saturday at Michigan. It was the first road win over a ranked Big Ten team in over a decade and it was a pretty incredible victory. Tom Kakert and Matt Randazzo break it down shortly after the win.

We discuss the final drive that saw Hank Brown connect with Reece Vander Zee for the score. We talk about the decision the drive before by Kirk Ferentz to try a long field goal and miss and how many were being critical of that decision, but Ferentz ends up geting the victory. We also talk about Brown and his development as a quarterback and the progress he has made since his poor performance at Kids Day in Iowa City.

Also, we talk about the Iowa defense coming up with a big stop late in the game that made that final drive possible and we look ahead to next week and also what this win over Michigan means longer term this season. Also, could ESPN College Game Day be coming to Iowa City?

It's time to really dive into the Hawkeyes first road game of the year. Tom Kakert and Kyle Huesmann are joined by Clayton Sayfie from The Wolverine to breakdown the game in Ann Arbor this weekend. We talk to Sayfie about the up and down start to the Michigan season and the play of quarterback Bryce Underwood. Plus we discuss the similarities between Kirk Ferentz and Kyle Whittingham and how the new Wolverine head coach is trying to build his culture at Michigan.

Then Tom and Kyle breakdown the game even further. We look at the concerns we have from an Iowa perspective heading into this game with a young Hawkeye team making it's first road trip and Iowa's struggles on the road against ranked opponents. We discuss the running back room and what that might look like and how turnovers will be the key to this game and probably impact the outcome. We wrap up talking about the big college football games this weekend and picking the winners of those games.

This week on the Chuck Long Podcast, Tom Kakert and Chuck Long are talking a whole lot of Iowa and Big Ten football. We open talking about the Hawkeyes win over Northern Iowa and we wonder about the growing divide between the FBS and the FCS and if these type of games are even worth playing moving forward.

We talk about the development of Hank Brown and what Long is seeing in terms of his development. What is he seeing in terms of improvement and going through his progressions and how that has gotten better. Also we talks about the strong running game and how the Hawkeyes had three 100 yard rushers. What should Iowa do in terms of a pecking order in the event that the three backs, plus Kamari Moulton and LJ Phillips are healthy? We also discuss the 1983 game against Minnesota where the Hawkeyes had three 100 yard rushers and why Long didn't play in that game.

Also, we stroll down memory lane with Iowa vs. Michigan memories. Long talks about the 1981 win at Michigan and what that did for the program in their Rose Bowl season. We also look at several other games against the Wolverines and the challenge of playing in the Big House.

Then we look at Michigan this year and assess how good Byce Underwood is at quarterback. Plus we look back at the Big Ten this past weekend and what impressed us and what didn't. Finally we wrap up picking some games from the upcoming Big Ten slate of games.