Hawkeye Report Podcast

It's a very busy week for the Hawkeyes and we have you covered on the Hawkeye Report Podcast. Tom Kakert and Kyle Huesmann team up on the pod to preview the Iowa vs. Iowa State men's and women's basketball games.  But, before we get to that, it's college football portal season and there is plenty of news. Iowa might have found their portal quarterback in Hank Brown, who is visiting this week. We have plenty of news on that front and also two other visitors heading to Iowa City this week at a position of need. We also disucss the return of Logan Jones and what that means for the Iowa football team next year.  Then we break down the Hawkeyes and the Cyclones in women's hoops. Really interesting game between two nationally ranked teams. We look at the key match-ups in the game and if Iowa State can live up to their preseason billing and can the Hawkeyes bounce back after their first loss of the season that included 30 turnovers.  Finally we break down the Iowa vs. Iowa State men's game, which has been filled wit

It's been a busy last week with plenty going on in Iowa athletics. We have a lot of ground to cover on the podcast. First, Tom Kakert and Matt Randazzo open the show discussing Iowa heading to Nashville for the bowl game to face Missouri. This game was supposed to happen four years ago, but was canceled by Covid. What do we know about the Tigers and what was this process like? How close did Iowa get to going back to Tampa instead of Nashville?  After that we dive into the changing and evolving football roster. The transfer portal opens up on Monday and there are already Iowa players diving into the portal, particularly at quarterback. We also know that Iowa is actively looking for a quarterback in the portal. Are there any players that are on the Hawkeyes radar in the portal? What is the biggest issue in portal shopping this year? Does Iowa have any visits set up? Finally we switch over to basketball and dive deep into the Hawkeyes loss at Michigan. What were the main issues in the game? What can Iowa do abou

It's Signing Day for the Class of 2025 and that means a special edition of the podcast. We sit down for just over 20 minutes with the General Manager and Chief of Staff of the Iowa football program, Tyler Barnes, to discuss the 15 recruits that just signed with the Hawkeyes.  We run down just about every player and get Barnes thoughts on each and every one of them. He shares several great stories about how the class came together and how Coach Fitz, the former Northwestern head coach, is now a great recruiter for the Hawkeyes with his son set to join the program. We also discuss the trends in college football recruiting. Is Iowa going to continue to have recruiting classes in the teens and hit the portal for five players? Are the days of signing 25 players coming to a close? How important is the Iowa Swarm to the program, particularly this winter since payments to players from the House settlement will not begin until August. 

It's a later than we wanted post game edition of the podcast. Guess we could call it the morning after, but plenty to discuss on this shorter than normal podcast.  We start with the actual game before getting into the other drama surrounding the game between Iowa and Nebraska. First the game. How did a team that had 5 total first downs and was 0-10 on third down actually win a football game? We look back at how Iowa was able to capitalize on two special teams errors to keep three points off the board and put three on it. Then we discuss Kaleb Johnson doing his thing on a run after catch where he might have broken six tackles on his way to the end zone. Finally, once again, Iowa made a play late and created a turnover before Drew Stevens completes his redemption story kicking a game winner from 53 yards out.  After the actual game disucssion we get into the drama surrounding no handshakes at the coin toss and why Matt Rhule was walking through Iowa's warm up before the game. What was Nebraska apparently offend

Brock Harding posts a career high of 20 points and also his first collegiate double-double with 10 assists, so you knew there was going to be a podcast coming. Yes, of course there is for the Brock Harding Podcast. :)  We look back at Iowa's one-sided win over USC Upstate on Tuesday night and Harding having a great game in the blowout victory. We also talk about Owen Freeman shooting from three point range and Riley Mulvey scoring in double figures. Also, we look at the rougher side of the win and that was what looks like a pretty significant ankle injury to Seydou Traore and also missing Cooper Koch and Even Brauns. We also look ahead at the schedule with a week off before Iowa starts their Big Ten season against Northwestern.  Then we switch to football and preview the game on Friday against Nebraska. Who will be starting at quarterback for Iowa with Cade McNamara and Brendan Sullivan back at practice this week? What do we think of this Nebraska team and what is our predicted final score? We also give our f

It's not an instant reaction podcast, but it's close. It's a Sunday night podcast recapping the Hawkeyes big road win over Maryland on Saturday afternoon. We look back at the win and how the Hawkeyes were able to dominate the game.  What were the keys to the win? Iowa dominating on the ground. We look back at the outstanding performance from Kaleb Johnson, who keeps stacking up yards on the ground. We also discuss the other 100 yard rusher, Kamari Moulton and how he got there. Also, Jackson Stratton managing the game and avoiding making mistakes in the contest.  It was also an impressive peformance by the Iowa defense. What went into that and we highlight a couple of unsung heroes on the Hawkeye defense. We also praise the toughness of Jay Higgins, who battled a bad hamstring to play in this game. Plus, TJ Hall coming off the bench to have a nice game.  We eventually get to the rumor mill that was churning late last week regarding Cade McNamara and Jermari Harris. Where do things stand? Will Cade McNamara pla

It's a clearly cloudy edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast. We say that because those were the words used by Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz to discribe the state of his clarity regarding who will start at quarterback this weekend against Maryland. We open the pod breaking down what Ferentz said about the starting job. Right now it's Jackson Stratton. Could it still be Cade McNamara or is that off the table now?  We also break down the battle with the Terps. Who are the key players to watch for Maryland on offense and defense? What do their numbers suggest about their team next year and how they match-up with Iowa this Saturday. What do we think Iowa's game plan will look like on Saturday? After that we look at Iowa's bowl game options? Could they be headed to Tampa? Is the Mayo Bowl possible if they stumble down the stretch? What about the Pinstripe Bowl?  Then we take a deep dive into Iowa men's basketball team and discuss the games in Moline and Iowa City. What did we make of the fan support in Moline? We di

New podcast for the Iowa football bye week because there's still plenty to discuss. Tom Kakert and Matt Randazzo open the show talking Hawkeye football and look back at the tough road loss at UCLA. What went wrong? Why has Iowa struggled so much on the road this year? Why has the defense struggled to get stops and give up chunk and explosive plays? We ask a couple of larger questions about Iowa football. Do we now officially characterize this season as a disappointment with four losses? We also discuss the positive developments this season and highlight a few of them, including the offensive line and wide receiver Jacob Gill and the disappointments, which includes the Hawkeye defense this season.  Then we move over to Iowa basketball and discuss the 3-0 start to the season. What have we seen that has us encouraged early on this year? Why Iowa's shooting has been good, but we continue to be concerned about rebounding the basketball. Is there really a controversy at point guard? We defend Brock Harding. :)  Fin

Plenty to discuss this week on the Chuck Long Podcast. We start with the loss on Friday night to UCLA and what he saw. Iowa finally got off to a good start and then faltered in the second quarter and beyond.  Brendan Sullivan went down with an ankle injury and Jackson Stratton was in the game for the first time as a Hawkeye. How did he perform? The larger question is what does Iowa do moving forward at quarterback and what do they do this week during the bye week at the position? What happens if Cade McNamara is back, and he is working his way to a return according to Kirk Ferentz? Do you stick with Sullivan as the starter moving forward? How quick would the hook be if there is a struggle and turnovers? We then discuss Iowa's road woes this season. Why have they lost three straight game on the road? What is the reason for the struggle on defense where they have given up over 400 years in three straight games and over 200 rushing in a pair of those games. How much of a concern is that in their next game agains

Welcome to the latest edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast. Tom Kakert and Matt Randazzo take one final look back at the win over Wisconsin. How impressive was that victory? Was that the best performance by the Iowa offensive line this season?  We talk about the situation at quarterback this week and moving forward. It's Brendan Sullivan's job until it isn't and we discuss how the later part of 2021 Iowa football season tells you how Kirk Ferentz will likely handle this situation once Cade McNamara is healthy....and he's not yet cleared the concussion protocols.  Then we take a deep dive into the UCLA Football team. After a bit of a rocky start at 1-5, the Bruins have won two straight on the road in conference play. But, they haven't won at home so far this season. Who are the key players to watch? What do we think of their offense, led by Ethan Garbers? Should Iowa throw the football more this week against a defense that is giving up a lot of yards in the air?  We discuss Iowa's somewhat underwhelming start

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 offensiv

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 thi

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 d

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?  You can also ta

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 ga

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

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 conditioni

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

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! GiveButter.com/QrtgES 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 ove

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