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FULL THANKSGIVING SHOW: USD's Travis Johansen, Huskers-Hawkeyes with Travis Justice, Thirsty Thanksgiving Football Forecast with Trent and John
It's hard to beat Thanksgiving weekend when it comes to a football feast. That's not just because Thanksgiving may just be the best holiday there is — simply for the food and a full day and night of pigskin to pig out. It's rivalry week for the FBS and opening playoff weekend for the FCS. In this holiday version of Happy Hour, John Gaskins and Trent Singer sink their teeth into a sublime menu with their "Thirsty Thanksgiving Football Forecast." Will the Jackrabbits and Coyotes — both trending up and both coming off playoff-clinching wins in their regular season finales — both beat the stuffing out of their first round opponents at home? Will the Hawkeyes make the Huskers look like turkeys for the 10th time in their last 11 Black Friday battles? Will it be all gravy for Kalen DeBoer in the Iron Bowl (Alabama at Auburn) and Jimmy Rogers in the two-team Pac 12 Title Tilt Part 2 against Oregon State? Will Max Brosmer and the Vikings get mashed like potatoes in Seattle? Will the Chiefs get on a roll in Dallas? Will the Packers be a piece of cake (or pumpkin pie) for the Lions? After the forecast feast, kick back with your favorite cocktail as you hear about the winning casserole Travis Johansen has whipped up in Vermillion over the last seven weeks. The Coyotes have been as hot as an oven in these "must win" games, but how can they prevent themselves from cooling off after a bye week before the playoffs? It would help to stay healthy. Johansen fills us in on the status of key starters like L.J. Phillips, Wyatt Lawson, Zach Witte, and Brock Woolf. Plus, a preview of the same Drake Bulldogs the Coyotes creamed in September. Finally, dessert. It is saltier than it is sweet. Nebraska vs. Iowa has become a bitter, hard-hitting Black Friday brawl since the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2011. Few people are more qualified to depict the nature of the raucous rivalry better than Travis Justice, who hosts a daily morning show and weekly Hawkeye postgame show in Des Moines while also hosting a weekly Huskers podcast. He grew up in Iowa a Hawkeyes fan, then worked in both TV and radio in Omaha covering the Huskers for over 15 years and has done these Hawkeye shows and Huskers podcasts for over a decade. The schools and fan bases don't exactly like each other. Nebraska owns five national championships to Iowa's zero (well, unless you want to count the 7-1-1 outfit in 1958 that topped the Football Writers Association of America's final poll). The Hawkeyes simply own the Huskers. Iowa has won nine of the last ten meetings — the last seven of which have been decided by a touchdown or less. Both are 7-4 and going bowling. Both have mobile quarterbacks and have played a boatload of nip-and-tuck, white knuckle games. Will it be the winningest quarterback in Div. I history, senior ex-Jackrabbit Mark Gronowski, piloting another down-the-stretch Hawkeye heartbreaker, or freshman T.J. Lateef turning the tide of the series in just his third career start? Or perhaps it comes down to a bruising defensive hit that forces a turnover or a field-flipping, game-changing punt return. Or, for the third straight year, a field goal in the final seconds. Iowa has won these last two games 13-10 on the latter. We'll see if Kirk Ferentz's stoic three-hour stare turns into a smile once again or Nebraska, for just the second time since 2014, makes Ferentz frown. Gobble, gobble.
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2:27:53
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2:27:53
Thirsty Thursday Football Forecast: SDSU & USD playoff games, Huskers-Hawkeyes, P4 rivalries, NFL
It's hard to beat Thanksgiving weekend when it comes to a football feast. That's not just because Thanksgiving may just be the best holiday there is — simply for the food and a full day and night of pigskin to pig out. It's rivalry week for the FBS and opening playoff weekend for the FCS. In this holiday version of Happy Hour, John Gaskins and Trent Singer sink their teeth into a sublime menu with their "Thirsty Thanksgiving Football Forecast." Will the Jackrabbits and Coyotes — both trending up and both coming off playoff-clinching wins in their regular season finales — both beat the stuffing out of their first round opponents at home? Will the Hawkeyes make the Huskers look like turkeys for the 10th time in their last 11 Black Friday battles? Will it be all gravy for Kalen DeBoer in the Iron Bowl (Alabama at Auburn) and Jimmy Rogers in the two-team Pac 12 Title Tilt Part 2 against Oregon State? Will Max Brosmer and the Vikings get mashed like potatoes in Seattle? Will the Chiefs get on a roll in Dallas? Will the Packers be a piece of cake (or pumpkin pie) for the Lions?
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1:29:20
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1:29:20
Hawkeyes & Huskers talk show host Travis Justice dives into the Black Friday brawl
Nebraska vs. Iowa has become a bitter, hard-hitting Black Friday brawl since the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2011. Few people are more qualified to depict the nature of the raucous rivalry better than Travis Justice, who hosts a daily morning show and weekly Hawkeye postgame show in Des Moines while also hosting a weekly Huskers podcast. He grew up in Iowa a Hawkeyes fan, then worked in both TV and radio in Omaha covering the Huskers for over 15 years and has done these Hawkeye shows and Huskers podcasts for over a decade. The schools and fan bases don't exactly like each other. Nebraska owns five national championships to Iowa's zero (well, unless you want to count the 7-1-1 outfit in 1958 that topped the Football Writers Association of America's final poll). The Hawkeyes simply own the Huskers. Iowa has won nine of the last ten meetings — the last seven of which have been decided by a touchdown or less. Both are 7-4 and going bowling. Both have mobile quarterbacks and have played a boatload of nip-and-tuck, white knuckle games. Will it be the winningest quarterback in Div. I history, senior ex-Jackrabbit Mark Gronowski, piloting another down-the-stretch Hawkeye heartbreaker, or freshman T.J. Lateef turning the tide of the series in just his third career start? Or perhaps it comes down to a bruising defensive hit that forces a turnover or a field-flipping, game-changing punt return. Or, for the third straight year, a field goal in the final seconds. Iowa has won these last two games 13-10 on the latter. We'll see if Kirk Ferentz's stoic three-hour stare turns into a smile once again or Nebraska, for just the second time since 2014, makes Ferentz frown. Gobble, gobble.
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32:03
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32:03
Travis Johansen on health of Phillips & other major starters, how Drake is better since September matchup, more insight on Yotes' late surge
Kick back with your favorite cocktail as you hear about the winning casserole Travis Johansen has whipped up in Vermillion over the last seven weeks. The Coyotes have been as hot as an oven in these "must win" games, but how can they prevent themselves from cooling off after a bye week before the playoffs? It would help to stay healthy. Johansen fills us in on the status of key starters like L.J. Phillips, Wyatt Lawson, Zach Witte, and Brock Woolf. Plus, a preview of the same Drake Bulldogs the Coyotes creamed in September.
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26:32
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26:32
NLA: Zim on Jacks' huge win at UND, Jackson & Eidsness leadership, Chase Mason conspiracy theories, FCS playoff field
Just how big of a win was South Dakota State's 34-31 thriller at North Dakota? Ask the reporter who has been on the Jackrabbit beat for 10 years and gets far more access than most college football beat reporters, and he'll tell you it changed the tenor of the entire 2025 season. Ask him if it may have changed the tenor of where the program is headed after the first full season of a new head coach and entirely new staff, and, well, you'll want to hear the answer. Sioux Falls Live's Matt Zimmer was in Grand Forks and gives you even more insight into the relevance of the victory than he does in his articles. It can't be underestimated. But, how much does it evaporate all the issues that led to SDSU losing four games in a row, particularly the embarrassment against Indiana State and the swift, early 35-0 tailspin against Illinois State? How did that latter loss actually fuel Saturday's win? Can we now definitively say the Jacks can beat New Hampshire or even No. 3 Montana — which awaits the winner — without Chase Mason? We might not ever know the answer to that question, because head coach Dan Jackson on Monday told Happy Host John Gaskins he is "confident" in Mason being able to play in Saturday's home playoff game. So how does this change things for SDSU's postseason, if Mason indeed plays? And, what do we make of others who cover the FCS accusing Jackson — we're paraphrasing here — of trying to use Jedi mind tricks and keep opponents guessing if Mason will play or not each of the last few weeks? On his daily "Hot Mic" show in Fargo, WDAY-TV's Voice of the Bison Dom Izzo said this on Monday: "The Chase Mason thing is beyond infuriating. And, I said it after the Bison game. FCS writer/analyst) Craig Haley and got ripped for it — and Craig was dead-on about it — it's just completely unnecessary. They warmed up Chase Mason again just for this illusion for the (FCS Playoffs) Committee that, 'Hey, he might be coming back.' He's not! "Jack Henry played and won the game. I think it was out there, like, 'Hey, if we lose, we might get our quarterback back. It's just so stupid unnecessary." You'll want to hear what Zimmer, who regularly goes to practice and was on the field observing Saturday's warmup, has to say about that assertion. SDSU also scored what appears to be a major recruiting victory on Friday night when Sioux Falls Lincoln quarterback Brody Schafer announced on social media his commitment to SDSU. Schafer is on pace to easily break older brother Tate Schafer's career passing and total yards and touchdowns in Class 11AAA, the state's highest level of high school football. Sanford Sports Academy's football director and veteran high school football analyst Kurtiss Riggs has called Schafer the best high school football quarterback talent to come from South Dakota. Riggs also feels like USD missed a golden opportunity to offer Schafer a scholarship before SDSU. Does Zimmer agree? Also in this episode, our latest conversation about a watered-down FCS playoff field thanks to the numerous departures from the subdivision to FBS the last several years. Does it make watching these playoffs so uninteresting that Zimmer pines for the Jacks to move up to the FBS the way many Bison fans and media do? If the school can't yet do it, the coach sure can. Jimmy Rogers left SDSU for Washington State last year and brought his whole staff and over 20 players and formerly-committed-to-SDSU recruits with him. Now, NDSU coach Tim Polasek was reported to be the lead candidate at Oregon State and also in the mix at Colorado State before agreeing in principle to a new seven-year deal that comes with a "significant pay raise" on Tuesday. Meanwhile, No. 2 ranked Montana State's coach Brent Vigen on Tuesday was close to signing a deal with Oregon State. What does Zim make of this apparently necessary step to a G5 school in order for a head coach from the FCS to eventually earn a Power Four conference job?
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1:19:47
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1:19:47