Good-Timey Radio Hour

Hello, here we are again.

Gary Dolphin is on the radio. He says 75 and cooler on Saturday. It is a 'Be Gold, Wear Gold.' Whatever that means.

— Dolph liked RB Jonathan Parker. He had that 21-yard jet sweep. It was nice. Dolph also liked G Sean Welsh. I thought he looked good, too. He was between Scherff and Blythe. That's a good place to be.

Dolph also talking up Henry Kreiger-Coble. Again, it's like Dolph is using my brain. I think HKC is a player. I wondered about that hit he took on his catch, but he popped back up.

— Dolph talking about LB miscues. Credits UNI RB David Johnson. Iowa's LBs/safeties pulled it together in the fourth quarter. Give them some credit. That could've ended badly. Now, they have some film of their deficiencies. Time to fix that up.

— Dolph asks Ron from Lone Tree if there is actually a lone tree in Lone Tree.

Mind ... blown.

OK, check back for more. KF talks at 7:30.

— Kenny from Glenwood, good evening!

Kenny wants to know the biggest positive and lowest low from week 1. Dolph gives positives for the rush D (25 yards on 25 carries). Liked how QB Jake Rudock managed the game. You know I agree with that. Every game is an experience. Iowa missed throws, and it'll miss throws every week. Dolph: Iowa is oblivious to the deep pass. One more positive, four redzone appearances and four TDs. Actually, it was 4 of 6, but it still was an improvement from last season (worst in the Big Ten).

Dolph's negatives: Well, Dolph skipped those, but, in fairness, he touched on a few in the opening, so all good here.

— Fort Dodge Randy, hello!

Asks about the pace of the offense and wonders if Iowa should slow it down to Hayden Fry speed. Dolph missed the first part of Randy's call. Randy had hung up. Dolph pleads for a holla back.

— Bryce from Marshalltown, hello!

Talking up Marshalltown's own Tyler Kluver, the Hawkeyes new long snapper. All seemed to go well there. Dolph brings up the fact that the Big Ten doesn't name an all-conference long snapper. (Having voted for all Big Ten, I'm good with that. I'm not tracking long snappers. You're not, either. Don't lie! You're not.)

Bryce is going to hang up and listen on his end. Wait, what?

He also brought up UNI penalties. Every Iowa scoring drive was massaged by a UNI penalty. UNI didn't get homered. I'd say all were legit. One thing about that, though, Iowa ran 77 plays and the penalties didn't could, so Iowa was on pace for 90 plays. Does that sound right? That sounds insane.

— Jim in Pocahontas, you're on the air.

He believes the D is going to be all right. Wants to know what time the players enter the stadium. I think for 11 a.m. games it's 9, so generally about two hours before the game. People do line up for that, so get there early.

— Kirk Ferentz from Iowa City, hello!

Big plays were the most disappointing. To be a good defense, have to eliminate that. Fourth quarter it came together.

On David Johnson: 'We say that on film and couldn't do a thing about it.'

On 'lack of communication': 'You'd like to think we'd be able to shut those things down a little bit. Have to better understand where we're supposed to be, where to funnel people.'

On UNI 25 yards rush: Defense came together in the fourth. Have to be there at the beginning. Big plays take momentum away, 'pop your balloon.'

— Doug from Omaha, hello!

He's got two comments and a question. Says Kinnick crowd got two delay of games (it did). Sound system was clean and clear and was first class. Feel of crowd was fantastic. 'That's why they call it home-field advantage.'

What to look for from Ball State: They have a new QB. Played OK. Graduated a receiver, but got one back. Both backs were over 100 yards. Balanced attack. Two tight ends, good play-action. Good skill on the outside. Different preparation.

Ozzie Mann is the new QB. (Keith Wenning threw for 11,000 career yards! That is a — video game.)

KF: These guys know how to win. Similar to Northern Illinois. They can play with anyone in the country.

Dolph: They play with a chip on their shoulder.

KF references the Miami (Ohio) game.

— Jim driving through Fort Dodge.

Question stealers!

Talking RBs and WRs. How do you decide who goes into the game? (Great question!)

KF says skill positions are better. Still learning about the players. Praises Parker, he's entered the thoughts. It's going to continue to evolve. Learning about team in game competition, try to use them in the best way possible.

Jim said Iowa had no backs in '02. Dolph disagrees. KF said Jim probably meant '04. I think KF is right.

— Chad from Waterloo, you're on the air.

Wondering if KF will share insight on realistic goals for the season.

KF wants the players to be the best they can be and see where that charts. Never been a big one to put tangible numbers up on a board. It's what you do with the opportunity.

— Tommy from Des Moines, YOU'RE TOMMY FROM DES MOINES!

Makes noise about the defense. Believes in the defense. Won't comment on the offense.

Tommy has to get his shots in.

KF focuses on the positive comment. On the offense, hopefully it improves as it goes long. Working on cohesiveness.

— Talking LTP, and why not? Dolph says LTP reminds him of Mitch King.

Today was the first day NFL scouts asked about LTP, BTW. All it took was 4 TFLs and two sacks. KF thought he was great last year. LTP is a graduate student studying educational leadership.

— On kick and punt: Wanted that last field goal by Marshall Koehn (37 yarder wide left). Knows Kidd wanted to do better. Thought there were some good things.

Lines are open.

— Dolph says there are about 5,000 tickets still remaining.

— Larry from Corydon, hello!

The official with the C, the center judge. It's new to the Big Ten this year. KF liked it. The biggest difference you'll notice is the center judge will spot the ball. When he backs out, he looks across the ball on pass plays. Two people watch the edge for holding, same for running game. Officials are all about field mechanics. The biggest difference is spiking the ball. The center judge will stand over the ball until he's released by the official, and then the official will start the clock once the center judge clears.

Excellent obersvation, Larry. Well done.

KF said bench control is an emphasis this year. Iowa received a couple of bench warnings last Saturday, he said.

— Chris in Quimby, hello!

Question on the checkdowns. Were there opportunities down the field?

The way UNI is structured, it made Iowa work. Solid zone defense. The strategy is to make you work the field and be patient. Saw some things on tape, made you wish the QB waited another count. You'll see that every week. Never a bad thing to take what's there. You'll see it open up as the season goes on. Mentions KMM on third down and Iowa finished 7 of 14 on third down.

— Kyle in Sioux City, who was shotguned wedding'd into Iowa fandom flipping from Nebraska.

Kyle asked about walk-ons. KF mentions Bo Bower and Boone Myers. Very high on both. Looks at both on the same line. The fullbacks, also walk-ons who were awarded scholarships. Great pride, great work ethic, that's the fine line in evaluation. There are a lot of guys in-between. What makes them go is pride and work ethic.

The '04 championship team will be honored next week. Walk-ons Tyler Luebke, Pete McMahon and Sean Considine were a big part of that group.

— Commercial. Going to try eat a hard-boiled egg before the show returns.

OK, I made it, but ate some shell.

— Jim from CF is on the air! He has thoughts.

He wonders if FBS should play FCS schools. One of those everything to lose and nothing to gain deals. Fair question. Jim would rather pay off UNI and not play them.

Well, this question might come up in 2016, when the Hawkeyes host North Dakota State.

KF: 'We're going to find out in a couple of years.'

Iowa can't back out on an FCS that's on the schedule. It can cash in the contract, but what message would it send? The last Iowa-UNI game, for now and regarding the Big Ten's stance on FCS, will be 2018.

I tend to agree with Jim, but Iowa will play it out with FCS on the schedule.

— A.J. from Clear Lake, he's taking his 12-year-old to his first game. He'll fumigate some hog barns (in Eldridge and Delhi), calling it a 'good, beautiful working Saturday.' A.J. helps coach DEs at Clear Lake High. Liked what he saw last week from that position. (We talked about A.J. last year and a lot of you on Twitter know him and he sounds like a terrific gentleman.)

KF suggests A.J. take Jared DeVries, who lives in Clear Lake now, with him to the game for a few snaps. (No more eligibility :(

KF liked the DEs, happy with the group. It sounds like it's a group of three in Drew Ott, Mike Hardy and Nate Meier, who's really made a push.

Good stuff to say on Hardy and Ott. Compared Ott to LTP. It's the quiet things he does that help the defense. A table setter.

Back to A.J., farmers make this state go around. A huge percentage of us aren't that far from a farm connection. My grandfather was a farmer in southwest Wisconsin, a couple of towns over from where my wife's grandparents farmed (no, we're not related, you crazy nuts). Here respect here. In fact, the hard-boiled egg I just ate is from Kroul Farms, which is between Solon and Mount Vernon and, yes, it's the family home of Matt Kroul, who started 50 games as a DT for the Hawkeyes.

Just a little aside.

— Derek in Waukee, hello!

Oh my goodness, Derek's uncle is Jim Killoran, who used to coach at Dubuque Wahlert. I played sophomore football for Mr. Killoran. I was a horrible teammate, he helped set me straight. Great man, still remember the impact he made on me in short period of time.

Talking Pat Mitchell, the longtime Cedar Falls coach. One of the nicest, classiest gentleman I've met during my time as a sportswriter.

— Jan in Boone, hello!

Jan is a dude, like Jan-Michael Vincent.

He wants to play more upper-echelon schools in non-con.

KF: Still believes the B1G will expand to 10 games. All about program and philosophy. Iowa teams tend to get better as the year goes on. Believes it's development for Iowa in September. More about getting the feet on the ground and getting traction.

— Dave from West Des Moines.

Thanks KF and wife Mary for there contributions to the UI.

More air under Willies bomb and it's six. It was a triple, looking for home runs down the road.

— Ball State concerns. They know how to win. Well-coached, balanced. Iowa didn't improve in week 2 a year ago. (Missouri State game and all those penalties.)

And we're out. Thanks for reading.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@sourcemedia.net