GAME ONE: Iowa vs. Illinois State Preview with Randy Reinhardt of The Pantagraph

hello and welcome to hotkey Nation this is hotcast your Iowa football basketball and recruiting podcast brought to you by hawkey Beacon and rivals.com I'm your recruiting analyst and host elliotl Elliot cluff on Twitter joined by Randy Reinhardt of The Pantagraph out of Bloomington right Bloomington Illinois Randy correct normal yes there you go and I got your last name right Reinhardt Reinhardt is correct yes perfect perfect Ry kind enough to join us here to preview the Iowa versus Illinois State game coming up this weekend August 31st kicking off the 2024 season for the Hawkeyes and the red birds of course uh believe it or not if you're a former listener of cornstalks and Sports Talk this is the second time Randy and I have joined each other to preview an Illinois State game previously on my on my un IB but uh before we get started make sure that you hit that subscribe on YouTube Apple podcast Spotify wherever you're listening drop a like drop a comment on YouTube So Randy Illinois State the number 20 team in the FCS to start the season um I know they were I guess kind of middle of the road in the mvfc uh for a few years there you could almost chalk it up as a as a win for uni for a while and then Illinois would state would sneak one out or or something like that it just kind of seems like a back and forth between Illinois State and the Panthers but uh what are your expectations for for the Red Birds this year are they high considering they're in the top 25 to start the year like where are things at uh in normal Bloomington yeah I think the expectations really are High um uh I think a a playoff run is is uh or a playoff birth first of all you got to have a playoff birth before you can have a playoff run but uh yeah I think a playoff birth is is very uh realistic um but one thing that always comes into play is as you remember from your Northern Iowa days is is being part of the Missouri Valley Al although uh uh El state is is rated 20th n or 19th in one poll 20th in the other uh nationally in in FCS they're uh there are five other teams in the conference rated higher than they are and I believe there was actually one more team rated higher than the red birds in the actual conference preseason poll so I believe the red birds were seventh there and and you know it it's very possible to be uh um to be realistically ranked seventh in this conference and still be considered a top 20 national team right I you know it's a mouthful and I I always like to go back to the saying of for those who don't follow FCS football the mvfc is like the SEC of the FCS it's just a gauntlet and like teams like Illinois State start off their season playing a power four power four team and then they go into this ridiculous schedule I I don't know what ill inois State schedule looks like off the top of my head but I imagine they play The Dakotas you know South Dakota North Dakota South Dakota State North Dakota State South Dakota state of course the reigning National Champs um and and North Dakota State being one of uh the The Perennial top programs in the country and then you've gotten uni and then you've got uh Southern Illinois so like what what does that schedule look like uh to you for Illinois State on top of playing Iowa at one point this year yeah actually it it breaks fairly well for the Red Birds this year with the uh amount of teams in the conference uh there are two teams each year that each team does not play so the two teams uh the Red Birds don't play this year are South Dakota and South Dakota State who happen to both be ranked in in the top uh five or six overall so so that's kind of a nice schedule break but then you still play North Dakota State you still play Southern Illinois you you still play Northern Iowa so it's still a still a very good schedule but it it does work well that uh at least two of the teams predicted to be among the top five nationally that you're not going to see it all in the regular season and and so let's get back to Illinois State's roster here uh especially well especially nowadays in college football you can see so much turnover in one year let alone at the FCS level where you're trying to get as many FBS guys on your roster in the offseason as he can you're potentially seeing some of your best players move up I guess move up you know um to to power F power four or group of five football is it a pretty much a new slate at Illinois state or is there a lot of season vets on the roster what are you looking at here for the Red Birds uh the Red Birds really did well as far as not losing very many players uh in the portal uh I would say the two biggest ones they had a a cornerback who started uh most of the season last year but uh has moved uh gotten in the portal and actually ended up taking a uh another step in FCS so did not did not move up to FBS and and there was a uh the uh the running back from uh Cole Mueller from two years ago that was the the leading rusher um decided to go elsewhere but their their running back uh room is is really uh is really loaded this year so I think they'll be fine with that one so um they did bring in uh a a quarterback from Kansas State who is uh uh who will be playing we're not exactly sure how much yet but he will be playing uh a couple of defensive linemen and and an offensive lineman from uh Minnesota who will probably be a starter so uh as far as portals pluses and minuses they're they're probably on the plus side there pretty easily so you mentioned that that quarterback from Kansas State Jake is it rubly rubley Ru correct Ru believe it or not I I went ahead and looked him up he was a fourstar on Rivals and Iowa offered him out of the portal and I'm I'm kind of surprised uh that I just I didn't recognize that name first of all but I mean I wasn't on the beat then but secondly that a program like Iowa didn't go after rubly in the portal so he ends up or you know another uh program at at the group of five or or power four level considering he was a fourstar back then and of course gets beat out by some talented guys that came to State like will Howard and and uh the the new guy who who beat out will Howard but uh what I guess have you been able to watch him have you been able to watch them practice go to Camp anything like that like what have you seen and who is he competing with at that quarterback spot yeah um uh he was here for for Spring ball so he got uh got uh introduced to the program and he is a uh he's a son of uh TJ rubley former NFL quarterback so he certainly got a a a history a family history of uh of playing the uh the position at a high level uh he's looked really good from the second he's he's gotten here he's got a he's got a great arm uh appears to have good good pocket presence can can move around a little bit in the pocket kind of keep himself alive and he's got a very strong and accurate arm um he's he's competing with but it sounds like both of them are going to more likely play uh Tommy writtenhouse uh has been the backup the last two seasons to uh Z back anex Dead uh both of these last two seasons annexed was hurt late in the year so ritten house ended up playing uh the last three or four games each of the last two years so he he does have a decent amount of of of playing experience um he's a he's more of a running quarterback but he's he's improved his his arm strength and his arm accuracy over the years so basically they have two quarterbacks and they don't sound like that they're going to pick one before the game that they're kind of going into the season expecting to play both in each game uh based on the situations so I don't think it's a matter of sometime next week they're going to say this guy is the starting quarterbacks so obviously they'll have to start one of them to for the first drive of the Season at kennick Stadium but uh I I think there's a really strong chance both of them will be playing okay so now there is that that moniker that if you have two quarterbacks you don't have one is that is that a concern for you one and two when I hear that especially matching up against an FCS program as somebody who covers Iowa it sounds like an opportunity for Iowa to kind of pin their ears back and get after the quarterback considering you know it's kind of up in the air yeah I I've I could definitely see that but it it seems like and I guess my first uh my first first thought when I heard uh rubley was transferring to Illinois State that he would probably uh step in and become the starter and uh even some of the Red Birds may have thought that too but I I think the Improvement of of writtenhouse has has kind of put them into a situation where this guy needs to play too so I don't think that uh I'm sure it'll be based on on situations obviously but they they do have similar talents uh but you know written is a better Runner but he's not a terrible passer uh rubley is a better passer but he can still run some too so it it's not I I know I've seen several plays that at practice where if Ruble is in there that I'm sure they'll they'll run him some and and and writtenhouse won't just run when he's in there so uh I'm sure the uh opposing defenses will look at that as okay if Rittenhouse is in we really need to be uh wary at the Run because he he is fast and he's a good runner but uh I don't think they will will be exclusively one or the other if one of those two is in the game okay now when we're looking at the rest of the Illinois State offense I it's hard not to look at Iowa's defense with eight guys returning on one of the best defenses in all of FBS football last year top five defense obviously you lose a Cooper de Jee but um eight guys returning defense going to be loaded what are some strengths for for Illinois state right off the bat I think you mentioned the running back group being being a strong point for for the Red Birds running back or for the Red Birds offense rather yes it really is uh and and that it will be really interesting to watch because you know even even big big 10 teams have a heck of a time moving the ball uh against Iowa and it most likely will again this season so will certainly be a a huge challenge for the Red Birds I think they can without uh insulting any future opponent I think they'll they'll walk out of uh kin state ium on uh on that Saturday saying well we just even if we go to the national championship game we've probably faced the the best defense we we will have faced uh all season so um yeah they they should be pretty solid uh pretty well balanced um uh Mason King is the uh is the number one returning running back uh if you look at their uh statistics from last year uh he went by Mason Blakemore so he he gained uh just under a thousand yards and he and and he missed a and he missed a game so he definitely would have was a can be considered a thousand yard rusher but he decided for family reasons I I talked to him about this it was uh uh King is is the last name on his mother's side and he wanted to honor that side of his family so he decided uh he wanted to go go by Mason King this year so it is not a a different player it's the same same player that Mason Blakemore was on the on the stat sheet from last year but he's now Mason King so um he has been a little banged up in uh in Fall he hasn't practiced a whole lot lately but he and he is coming off a shoulder surgery too but uh he says he's fine the coaches say he's fine I'm sure they're just keeping him out of contact uh uh as best they can um then the number two guy right now is a uh Winker Wright a uh kid from uh Southern Indiana who's uh had some really good flashes in the past uh he's had a little trouble staying healthy but um um then they have a transfer from Western elois uh Seth Glatz who will probably get some time uh also and couple young running backs uh Josh Robinson and uh Lawson and Matt Lawson was blanking on his first name there but uh Josh Robinson and Matt Lawson who are a couple of young tailbacks who are uh have been impressive so they have several options there now I think what a lot of us expect to be the real battle for for Iowa is just figuring things out offensively really right now they're kind of in a a quarterback situation quarterback Battle of their own between Kade mamir and Bren and Sullivan and what I do know what I do remember about Illinois state is Zeke venburg being an absolute monster on the defensive front for the Red Birds a couple years ago uh he was the FCS defensive player of the year that year wasn't he yes he was yep so not on the roster yeah I was gonna say yeah I imagine he's gone but is that still kind of a a noteworthy noteworthy thing for Illinois State pass rush like what what does the defense look like what are their strong points yeah they they really do love to bring pressure uh probably the two biggest guys to watch watch there are uh Jaylen gains they technically play a a 34 uh defense but the one of the four linebackers uh does line up on the line line of scrimmage quite a bit so it's a it's a 34 that looks a lot like a a 43 but uh Jaylen Gaines is that uh uh what they call that Jack linebacker so he he uh lines up on the edge is a good pass rusher and then the uh the other one would be a uh linebacker um Amir Abdullah who led the team at Sachs last year uh was ninth in voting for the uh FCS defensive player of the year last year he he he put up some really big numbers had nine and a half 10 sacks somewhere in there so those are the two primary pass rushers okay and and that's their staple they like to get after the quarterback um right right yes yes and they and they will bring up a a safety every once in a while too to uh uh Keandre Jackson the strong safety every once in a while he'll creep up on the on the line and and just uh and come on the blitz so that's uh that's something else they'd like to do too so prerogative get after the quarterback um does that cause turnovers like is there anything additionally that they like I mean obviously sacking the quarterbacks and winning itself but like if you can cause turnovers that's that's that's a big win too I guess is that their prerogative part of their prerogative too in in getting after the quarterback that's something obviously that that's a goal of their defense they haven't been they've been good but I wouldn't say great at forcing turnovers the last couple years but they uh each of the last couple years they they've been among the best uh FCS teams uh Nation uh Nationwide in sacks so they they do end up getting a lot of sacks a lot of pressures but uh something that that did also hurt them sometimes last year when they you do bring a lot of pressure if the quarterback does get away then there there may be some room for him to run so it did give up quite a few yards on quarterback scrambles last year too so that's that's something they really need to be aware of that if if they're blitzing somebody um and they don't get the don't get the sack then they've still got to make the play right and while we're mentioning that does that maybe hurt their ability to stop the run too because what we've what we've heard out of uh camps so far is Iowa's offensive line is much improved and we saw it at Kids Day open practice the Run game looks pretty solid does that inhibit you know their desire to get after the after the Quarterback does That kind of inhibit their ability to stop the run too occasionally or what do you think there occasionally yes uh that can be a problem um especially uh just running uh running Straight Ahead which I would certainly expect Iowa to do uh use their power and and try to uh run it down the red Bird's throat basically or or at least try to so yeah that that can be uh can be problem they do have some some good young uh defensive linemen but they don't have uh a returning guy uh who is who is uh returning conference Allstar or anything like that uh Jake Anderson is a a defensive tackle who who was on I believe he was on the second team of the U Missouri Valley preseason team and he he did have a good year last year so they they do have some good young players but they don't have any anybody with with a whole lot of uh uh career achievements behind their name now when we're looking at just the season ahead for Illinois state every team got its story lines everybody wants to follow right sounds like quarterback situation is a big thing with the Red Birds is there anything else that maybe you or or fans are like okay this is what we're looking at game one or maybe even once they ease into maybe a little bit easier part of their schedule um in the noncon that that folks are watching for Illinois State this year yeah I think the proba the big thing is just the uh development of the of the offensive line they uh they do have some some good experience there but they've made some uh made some changes there too so they brought in uh uh JJ Gade day from uh Minnesota who's who's going to start a tackle um they have a uh probably their uh probably the quite possibly the best pro prospect on the entire team is his offensive lineman uh hunters and brono uh he's played tackle the last couple years they would like to move him into guard uh this year and that was the idea bringing in JJ Gade to to play that Tackle Spot soan brano could could come in and play guard uh have a couple other transfers they have a a couple guys from duke who will uh uh uh Elijah roten is a possible starting center uh Ron Carr uh will not be playing at Iowa uh he's coming off an injury but he he was at Duke and he could factor in later on so I I think putting that offensive line together and having them become a a cohesive unit is is going to be really important there are two more questions that I want to ask before we get into like predicting score and stuff like that first one is in your time covering Illinois state or you know maybe even in just in recent memory have you seen the Red Birds pull off a FBS upset at all uh yes uh a few actually I can't remember the ex ex year right now but it was uh uh maybe 10 years or so ago they went up to uh Northwestern and and and beat the Wildcats on a uh on a last second field goal I believe that was uh 10 to nine so that was a it was a short field goal that that hit at the buzzer that hit the upright and and and glanced in and uh and all of a sudden the Red Birds had themselves a a uh a win over a Big 10 Conference Team um I've also seen him beat uh Central Michigan uh up there they went out to Colorado State and and beat them uh several years ago so they definitely have done it and you know they they do have a uh a big 10 win but I I don't think this uh this Iowa team is is probably uh a little higher or maybe a lot higher in class than What that particular Northwestern team was yeah I'm looking at ESPN here something I like to reference before uh we we talk final score predictions or anything like that but ESPN has Iowa at a 92.9% chance to win if Illinois State somehow pulls it off how do they do it um I would say defensively first of all um can't give up uh any big plays if they can hold Iowa under 20 points then and of course that that has happened to Iowa quite a bit they usually don't score a lot a lot anyway but if they can hold them under 20 points uh they they'll need a couple turnovers they may need a special teams play uh maybe a long pass somebody breaks open but uh I I if they are going to pull off what would be a a large upset that uh you know they would need a couple things like that to go right and still be able to hold their own at the line of scrimmage and not be uh uh totally run on all day all right well with that in mind we shall see and what I the way I see this sh taken out generally in these first few games maybe not so much against Iowa State in in week two but when Iowa plays in these games that maybe they could win by a ton they you know they score a few few points and but but nothing really blows up so I guess what I'm getting at is a final score prediction of 24 to six um what do you see from from the Red Birds and and the Hawkeyes this coming weekend in kenck stadium okay well that is that is interesting because as soon as you brought that up I started going through scores in my head and uh and the and the first one I came up came about was exactly 24 to6 hey we're we're thinking somewhat alike so I I can see the hawkey probably scoring uh somewhere in in the 20s um and and the Red Birds most likely being being held below 10 um like I said they're they're going to need a a big play uh a pick six um a return touchdown something like that to to Really probably get into the teens and make it interesting into the in the fourth quarter but uh um but they they do have that capability so I I don't want to copy you Elliot so go uh uh let me go 27 to3 then with uh with mine there so I I can't I can't take your 246 even though that that's what I was thinking too a little W wider margin there we go to to offer you a little bit more context I I probably should have before I before I gave my score prediction I do think Iowa just runs the heck out of the ball on on uh on Saturday I obviously they'll have to put the ball in the air on occasion but we what we saw at kids day was was which is their their fall open practice they they named the kid captains for the season but it was it was rough uh I'm not sure how much you've looked into Iowa at this point Randy but their longest completion of kidss day was 13 yards to a freshman and it was with the second string and so uh Kade mcnamer I'd have to go back and look at his stats but he was I think seven of 21 or eight of 22 something like that for uh 20 yards and it would be pick six so you know Illinois State's going to have you know may potentially have some opportunities uh by way of of some some rough quarterback play uh to at this point well if the Iowa offense is going against the Iowa defense in practice that uh that can't be an easy uh easy job either but uh I know there have certainly been some well documented uh struggles with the hay putting points on the board yeah oh you're preaching to the choir Randy all right we will see how it all shakes out this weekend in kinck stadium Randy will you be there no unfortunately I will not I as a uh as a oneman sports staff I'm uh I have some other duties that I will be uh attending to that weekend so uh I will not be but that's that's more of a uh that's definitely more of a budgetary thing than a than a lack of interest if it was totally up to me I would uh I would definitely be there well uh you can follow along I'm sure you'll be watching the game too but uh folks can follow along on on Twitter for for both of us um again Randy Reinhardt joining us from The Pantagraph Randy we appreciate it a lot all right thanks Ellie good to talk to you you too we'll wrap up here we appreciate you tuning in to this episode of hotcast brought to you by iowa. rivals.com in Hawkeye Beacon you're not a premium subscriber yet you can do that today at iowa. ral.com backs subscribe don't forget to subscribe here on YouTube as well leave a rate and review on Apple podcast Spotify Google Play leave a rate or leave a comment as well on YouTube what's your final score prediction are Randy and I right 24 to6 or or 27 to3 of course uh let us know for now my name is Elliot cluff Elliot cluff on Twitter and we will see you next time