The Iowa Hawkeyes and Nebraska Cornhuskers face off this week for his or her 53rd all-time matchup, and their twelfth since Nebraska started play within the Massive 10 Convention in 2011.

When this season started, I had deliberate an enormous knowledge undertaking for the Iowa-Nebraska recreation, however the season didn’t play out anyplace close to the way in which I anticipated, and that undertaking merely doesn’t make sense now. So I’ll put it aside for one more yr. As a substitute, I current an Oral Historical past of the Iowa-Nebraska Soccer Collection in 53 information, the quantity chosen in honor of this being the 53rd all-time Iowa-Nebraska matchup.

Additionally, I have to give a shout out to an outdated buddy of mine, a Nebraska fan and throughout Good Dude, who offered somewhat of Nebraska perspective on this collection historical past. He shall stay anonymous (for his personal security) until he chooses to determine himself.

Please be aware that this submit and the information in them isn’t meant to inflate Iowa and put down Nebraska (although they generally do) nor to inflate Nebraska and put down Iowa (although they generally do this, too). That is only a story about two brothers arbitrarily separated by an accident of geography, whose fates have been intertwined in peculiar methods, and who conflict and battle with one another, however, finally, have extra in frequent with one another than not.

With out additional ado:

Reality 1. The primary ever recreation of school soccer was performed between Rutgers and Princeton on Nov. 6, 1869, lower than one yr after Nebraska turned a U.S. state.

Nebraska was admitted to the union because the thirty seventh state on March 1, 1867, and the College of Nebraska-Lincoln was chartered shortly thereafter in February of 1869. On the time, soccer was considered an “japanese” sport, and Nebraska was, geographically, on the far western fringe of the nation’s main infrastructure. For perspective, Leland Stanford drove the golden spike to attach the transcontinental railroad in Could of 1869, three months after UNL was chartered..

Reality 2. Nebraska leads the all-time collection 29-20-3.

You in all probability know this already. I get reminded of it a minimum of one a yr. Not too long ago, that reminder tends to return within the night on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Reality 3. Iowa has held the general collection lead solely as soon as.

On Nov. 26, 1891, Iowa performed Nebraska within the first-ever recreation of this collection. Iowa gained, 22-0. The groups tied 10-10 the next yr. Nebraska then rattled off three straight from 1893-1895 and have by no means relinquished the collection lead

Reality 4. These groups as soon as performed one another in back-to-back video games over the course of a weekend in Omaha..

On Nov. 26, 1896, they performed to a becoming 0-0 tie, solely to show round and play once more on Nov. 28. Iowa took the second recreation, 6-0.

Reality 5. Nebraska’s mascot – the “Cornhusker” – is a reference to an upset victory over Iowa.

In 1893, Nebraska upset Iowa, 20-18, and a college newspaper ran the headline, “We Have Met the Cornhuskers And They Are Ours.” The time period “Cornhuskers” was a reference to Iowa getting “husked” by Nebraska. The moniker was adopted by Lincoln-area author Cy Sherman (himself initially from Iowa), who disliked the outdated crew identify, the “Bugeaters” (an unflattering reference to a bat). After Sherman’s continued utilization within the Lincoln press, the college adopted the identify. 40 years later, Sherman would discovered the AP Ballot, which might, in a twist of historic irony, torment Nebraska for many years.

Reality 6. The primary 9 video games on this collection weren’t performed in Lincoln or Iowa Metropolis.

The primary seven had been all performed in Omaha, adopted by two in Council Bluffs. Since then, the collection has largely traded off between the 2 dwelling venues, with some exceptions.

Reality 7. The longest internet hosting streak belongs to Nebraska.

Nebraska hosted the 1933, 1934, and 1937 video games. The collection wasn’t performed in 1935 or 1936.

Reality 8. Iowa’s longest internet hosting streak is 2, and has occurred twice, each occasions break up by lengthy breaks.

Iowa hosted in 1919 and, after a prolonged break, 1931. Iowa additionally hosted the final WW2-era recreation in 1946, and the primary recreation when the collection briefly returned in 1979.

Reality 9. Iowa and Nebraska have by no means performed when each groups are nice.

Each Iowa and Nebraska have had runs of greatness, however they’ve nearly by no means been on the similar time, and, in these few eras the place there was overlapping greatness, the groups merely haven’t performed. Of specific coincidence, regardless of enjoying nearly yearly by the Nice Despair and World Warfare II, the collection occurred to be off in 1939, the Ironmen season and Nile Kinnick’s Heisman Trophy yr.

Reality 10. The present run of 11 consecutive annual video games is the longest within the historical past of the collection.

Earlier than that, the longest run was from 1891 to 1899, throughout which period the groups performed ten occasions in 9 seasons.

Reality 11. Iowa is 2-7 in opposition to ranked Nebraska groups.

Nebraska has been ranked in 9 video games in opposition to Iowa, and gained all however two of them. For 7 of these video games, the Cornhuskers had been within the high 10. Naturally, one in all Iowa’s two victories is over a high 10 Nebraska crew (1981).

Reality 12. Nebraska is 0-4 in opposition to ranked Iowa groups.

In equity, Iowa hasn’t been ranked in lots of of those video games as a result of, as famous, the groups have hardly ever performed when each are good.

Reality 13. The primary ranked Iowa crew Nebraska performed was in 2015.

Iowa gained that recreation in Lincoln to finish an undefeated season. The opposite three video games the place Iowa was ranked had been the final three: 2019, 2020, and 2021.

Reality 14. Nebraska gained the one additional time victory on this collection.

The now-legendary 2014 “That’s Soccer”/”We Needed to Consider The place Iowa Was As a Program” recreation is the one regulation tie on this collection because the additional time guidelines went into impact. Nebraska gained on a landing catch by Kenny Bell, who appeared to bobble the ball as he stepped out of bounds, however the name stood. I used to be livid about this on the time (partly as a result of Iowa had blown a 17-point lead), however, in hindsight, it was in all probability for one of the best.

Reality 15. Nebraska holds the longest win streak on this collection.

Nebraska gained 8 straight from 1931-1941. The groups didn’t play in 1935, 1936, or 1939.

Reality 16. That report is in jeopardy.

The Hawkeyes have gained 7 in a row going again to 2015, the second-longest streak within the collection.

Reality 17. Nebraska has the biggest margin of victory within the collection.

They gained by an appalling 57-0 in 1980.

Reality 18. Iowa’s largest margin of victory on this collection got here in Lincoln.

In 2017, the Hawkeyes gained 56-14. The sport was tied at halftime.

Reality 19. Iowa has scored greater than 30 factors solely six occasions on this collection.

The Hawkeyes are 5-1 in these video games, the lone loss coming within the 2014 additional time recreation.

Reality 19. Iowa has been shut out ten occasions on this collection.

The years had been 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1913, 1917, 1931, 1937, 1938, 1980. In case you’ve forgotten how good the Nebraska’s defenses was once. The Blackshirt factor was once actual.

Reality 20. In 21 of Nebraska’s 29 wins, they held Iowa to single-digit factors.

Once more, the Blackshirts had been as soon as a factor. Additionally of be aware, Iowa has additionally gained two video games over Nebraska whereas scoring within the single digits. Due to course they’ve. We’d get a 3rd in 2022.

Reality 21. Nebraska and Iowa each have FIVE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS!

Really, they each have both zero, or extra. It depends upon the way you depend nationwide championships. The factor is, the NCAA has not traditionally acknowledged or arrange a mechanism for figuring out the collegiate soccer nationwide champion. As a substitute, it has relied on recognition by non-affiliated organizations, mainly sports activities writers, newspapers, and analysts. Relying on the status of the group, the NCAA would acknowledge that group’s nationwide champion in its report books, which is why we’ve a number of break up championships. Such organizations are often known as NCAA-recognized selectors.

Of the NCAA-recognized selectors, Iowa has 5 nationwide championships, however solely one in all them is from a significant modern selector: the Soccer Author’s Affiliation, which was, on the time, arguably probably the most prestigious. Nonetheless, the Hawkeyes completed #2 within the AP Ballot that yr to LSU.

In the event you embrace all NCAA-recognized selectors, Nebraska has like 15-20 natties.

Reality 22. Nebraska as soon as accomplished a convention season with out surrendering a single level all yr.

Significantly. Again within the Missouri Valley days, the Cornhuskers Dan Gabled their approach by that convention and went 9-0 with out giving up a single level.

Reality 23. Nebraska tried for many years to get into the Massive 10.

Early on, Nebraska had problem discovering good opponents. Positioned on the far western reaches of the nation’s main transportation infrastructure at a time when journey was a lot slower, the Cornhuskers typically resorted to enjoying highschool groups for lack of different opponents. Nebraska’s administrations felt they’d by no means obtain nationwide recognition in the event that they didn’t play higher schedules, and, given their dominance within the Missouri Valley, you’ll be able to see why.

They utilized for Massive 10 admission repeatedly, together with in 1899, 1902, 1903, 1907, and 1913. They had been stored out whereas groups they had been beating had been let in (notably amongst them, on the time, was Iowa). The Cornhuskers continued to hunt Massive 10 admission over time, making their final huge push when the College of Chicago Maroons dropped out of convention athletics. Michigan State was added as a substitute.

Reality 24. Kinnick Stadium nearly killed the Iowa program.

Flush with athletic division revenues within the roaring Twenties financial system, Iowa constructed Kinnick Stadium in 1929, then referred to as Iowa Stadium, and borrowed a ton of cash to do it. Does the yr 1929 stick out to you?

The inventory market crashed that yr and despatched the nation into the Nice Despair. With it went Iowa’s fortunes. The Despair, droughts, a sluggish agricultural financial system, and crippling debt to finance the stadium all introduced Iowa to its knees. On high of that, this system was caught working an unlawful slush fund to pay gamers in 1930 and quickly kicked out of the Massive 10.

Reality 25. The Cornhuskers acquired jobbed repeatedly by the AP Ballot.

The AP Ballot was launched within the Thirties, and, at first, crystalized the fears of Nebraska’s administration that their distant location and weak schedules would maintain them out of the nationwide highlight.

Regardless of the Cornhuskers’ gaudy data and repeated convention titles, notion lingered within the nationwide sports activities media that Nebraska was a fraud, and their rankings mirrored that skepticism.

For instance, within the 1936 AP Ballot, 7-2 Nebraska completed behind 6-2 Notre Dame. Nebraska had misplaced to the one ranked crew it performed (Pittsburgh), whereas Notre Dame had overwhelmed Ohio State, Military, and #1 Northwestern (you learn that appropriately).

However then within the 1937 season, Nebraska went 6-1-2, its lone loss approaching the highway at #1 Pittsburgh, however they however completed the season ranked even additional behind 6-2-1 Notre Dame and behind 6-2 Minnesota, who Nebraska had defeated earlier that yr.

Reality 26. Each the Nebraska and Iowa soccer applications had been decimated by World Warfare II.

The Navy opened a pre-flight college on the College of Iowa in 1942 for the battle (the opposite pre-flight colleges had been at Georgia, UNC, and St. Mary’s). Iowa Pre-Flight, dubbed the “Seahawks,” performed at Kinnick and used Iowa’s services and tools. Legendary Mizzou coach Dan Faurot coached the Seahawks to a 9-1 marketing campaign in 1943, and completed 2nd within the AP ballot, rattling close to profitable the nationwide championship. The battle, and the pre-flight colleges, drained athletic expertise throughout the nation, sending each the Hawkeyes and Cornhuskers right into a tailspin. No pun supposed.

Reality 27. Over 60% of Nebraska’s wins over Iowa are from the WW2 period or earlier.

Iowa and Nebraska performed off-and-on from the Eighteen Nineties by the 1910s, and settled right into a sample of enjoying nearly yearly from 1930 to 1946. Nonetheless, Iowa was a deep monetary gap and, apart from the 1939 Ironmen season, typically uncompetitive. Nebraska head coaches Dana Bible and Biff Jones pummeled the Hawkeyes yr after yr, increase a collection lead of 20-8-3 by the 1946 season. Three of Iowa’s wins throughout that point interval had been in the course of the Iowa Pre-Flight seasons, when neither college had any expertise.

Reality 28. Iowa was going to be Nebraska earlier than Nebraska was Nebraska.

From 1956 by 1960, the Hawkeyes went 38-7 and gained two Rose Bowls and one (or two) nationwide championships (relying on which selectors you acknowledge). In 1960, Iowa performed one of the crucial troublesome schedules any crew has performed within the historical past of the game, with each opponent on the schedule however one being ranked, they usually completed 8-1, dropping solely to eventual AP nationwide champion Minnesota. Even then, a number of NCAA-recognized selectors selected Iowa as their nationwide champion (however, in fact, not the AP).

After the 1960 season, Head Coach Evashevski retired to grow to be the athletic director. In the beginning of the 1961 season, the Hawkeyes had been pre-season #1 and anticipated to blow up out of their small-population state and grow to be a perennial powerhouse for many years to return.

Narrator: They didn’t grow to be a perennial powerhouse for many years to return. A unique, small-population state did.

Reality 29. Bob Devaney was Nebraska’s 4th alternative.

Nebraska didn’t get better shortly from the devastation of WW2, and the crew was horrible within the Fifties. They fired their coach in 1961 and bid for the most popular rent on the time: Ray Nagle. But it surely was extensively believed that no person would ever win a actual nationwide championship at Nebraska and Nagle wished nothing to do with the job. Neither did Nebraska’s second alternative, John Ralston, or third alternative, Duffy Daugherty.

The Cornhuskers ultimately satisfied one in all Daugherty’s assistants, a man named Bob Devaney, to reluctantly take the job, on Daugherty’s assured assurances that Devaney may win a nationwide championship there.

And he did. Two of them, back-to-back. And eight convention championships. Nebraska already had nationwide championships from different NCAA-recognized selectors, however Devaney acquired them the elusive AP Ballot championship they lengthy dreamed of, and the nationwide stature and recognition that got here with it.

Reality 30. Iowa soccer was worse than Chris Ash Rutgers within the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies.

Pre-season #1 Iowa acquired off to a bang in 1961, going 4-0 to open the season however the crew fell aside as Iowa’s administration bungled its approach by off-the-field drama and scandal after scandal. NCAA violations, Massive 10 guidelines violations, social justice points on campus, authorized troubles, and a carousel of poorly managed firings and hirings of head coaches (together with, ultimately, the identical Ray Nagle that Nebraska coveted). All of it culminated in an open revolt throughout the the athletic division.

Thus, whereas Bob Devaney was and Tom Osborn had been profitable 10 video games a season, Iowa’s moribund soccer program was adrift in one of many worst 20 yr slumps of any program in NCAA historical past, going 49-120-5 for a profitable proportion of 0.259. For comparability, Scott Frost was 0.340 at Nebraska.

Reality 31. An upset over Nebraska made Hayden Fry into Hayden Fry

In 1978 Iowa employed an unconventional southerner with a thick Texas drawl named Hayden Fry as head coach. The Hawkeyes had already agreed to a 4-game collection with Tom Osborn’s Cornhuskers from 1979 to 1982 earlier than Fry arrived. The primary two video games went about the way you’d anticipate, however, in 1981, unranked Iowa opened the season by internet hosting #7 Nebraska and shocked the Cornhuskers by a really Iowa rating of 10-7.

The 1981 Hawkeyes would go on to upset #6 UCLA and #5 Michigan on the highway, ultimately being ranked as excessive as #6 within the AP ballot themselves. As a result of Massive 10’s arcane tie-breaking guidelines, the 8-4 Hawkeyes acquired a visit to the Rose Bowl. The loss meant little to Nebraska, but it surely put Hayden Fry on the map and set the stage for Iowa’s finest run of soccer since Evashevski’s groups of the Fifties.

Reality 32. Hayden Fry saved Iowa soccer and Nebraska is on the lookout for their Hayden Fry now.

Nebraska followers typically discover Iowa fan reverence for Hayden Fry baffling, and look at it as additional proof that Iowa is content material with mediocrity. In spite of everything, Nebraska’s lasting impression of Iowa from the Eighties was exuberance over being 8-4 and going to the Rose Bowl. However Nebraska followers weren’t actually being attentive to Iowa when Fry acquired good. The groups in any other case didn’t play once more till 1999, when Iowa was horrible, and Cornhuskers followers had their consideration on Oklahoma.

On paper, Fry’s report is good however actually not elite. However, success is contextual. Iowa was coming off 20 years of considerably worse than Scott Frost soccer. Fry upset three high 10 ranked groups, acquired Iowa again into the AP high 10, acquired to the Rose Bowl, and some years later, had Iowa cruising at #1 within the AP Ballot. He set up win streaks wherein Iowa demolished its most hated rivals for greater than a decade and he did it with swagger whereas producing maybe the best and most prodigious teaching tree within the historical past of the sport.

C’mon, Nebraska followers. That is the rent you’re on the lookout for now. However think about that what you’ve gone by for the final 5 years goes on for twenty earlier than you make that rent. You might have children, increase them, and ship them off to school earlier than Nebraska a lot as sniffs one other bowl recreation. Then you definately rent a man that brings you again. That’s what Hayden meant to us.

Reality 33. Fry’s 1981 win over Nebraska is Iowa’s finest win within the collection.

Many of the Nebraska groups Iowa has overwhelmed haven’t been excellent. Not simply by Nebraska requirements, however by any cheap normal. However the 1981 crew was very good.

Reality 34. Nebraska arguably doesn’t have any “good” wins within the collection.

Most of Nebraska’s wins over Iowa groups both pre-date the ahead go or had been over horrible groups with dropping or middling data. This is because of a combination of things, mainly schedule and destiny. These groups grew up in numerous conferences and by no means performed one another when each had been good. One of the best Iowa crew Nebraska has overwhelmed is arguably the 1982 crew, although the 2014 win was in all probability probably the most gratifying for them.

Reality 35. Trendy Nebraska followers first met Iowa when Iowa suuuuuucked.

In the event you’re beneath in regards to the web page of fifty, you in all probability don’t have any reminiscence of the 4-game collection in opposition to Iowa from ‘79 to ‘82. Your first reminiscence of Iowa is the 1999 recreation, which occurred to be Kirk Ferentz’s first recreation. Nebraska was elite then.

Iowa … wasn’t. They went 1-12.

Predictably, Nebraska destroyed Iowa that yr (I used to be at that recreation and I’ve tales). Thus, current-day Nebraska followers noticed absolutely the worst Iowa crew because the Ford administration. So, after they started Massive 10 play in 2011, that’s what they anticipated to seek out ready for them.

Narrator: That’s not what they discovered ready for them.

Reality 36. For as a lot crap as we give them, Nebraska within the Nineties actually was unbelievable.

From 1994 to 1997, the Cornhuskers put up an totally preposterous 49-2 report, three undefeated seasons, two AP #1 remaining rankings, three Coach’s ballot #1 remaining rankings, and a profitable proportion of 0.960. To place this into perspective, Saban’s finest four-year run at Alabama was 0.933.

This timing of this period is, to Nebraska, analogous to Hayden Fry arriving at Iowa. By the top of the Eighties, Tom Osborn had but to win a nationwide title after a prolonged drought, and Nebraska was creating a status for being a post-season choke artist. The Cornhuskers had been additionally persistently ending outdoors the AP High 10, and a few had been suggesting that Osborn was previous his prime and didn’t have it in him to achieve the mountaintop. When Nebraska gained its three titles within the Nineties, they had been coming off three straight 9-win seasons (and everyone knows how they really feel about these) and 7 straight bowl losses. Osborn’s run of dominance hasn’t been equaled.

However, as we’ll see, it additionally marked the top of an period.

Reality 37. Osborn retired simply as the complete panorama of school soccer was about to shift dramatically.

Osborn retired after the 1997 season, proper as the complete panorama of school soccer was about to vary. I’ll write a fuller submit about this some day, however the brief model is that the addition of Texas and Texas A&M, the Massive 12 Championship recreation, and the change to the BCS system broke Nebraska’s recruiting base and mucked up not simply it’s profitable components, however that of many of the bluebloods in school soccer. The BCS specifically was designed by SEC fee Greg Sankey to inflate the SEC’s profile, and it labored brilliantly. After profitable simply 3-4 nationwide titles in the course of the traditional bowl period from the late Nineteen Seventies to 1998, after a full 4-year recruiting cycle beneath the BCS system, the SEC gained 75% of the remaining BCS titles earlier than the CFP was adopted.

The Cornhuskers rode the momentum of their mid-Nineties success into a 3rd nationwide championship in 1997, however Sports activities Illustrated astutely noticed the top coming, predicting in 1996 that that “Nebraska could win one other nationwide title, however the days when such a colossus dominated the sport are over.”

Narrator: They had been proper.

Of specific curiosity is that Osborn’s retirement, the establishment of the BCS system, and Iowa’s hiring of Kirk Ferentz all occurred inside a 12 month time interval, which makes Osborn’s retirement and/or the start of the Ferentz period at Iowa an fascinating time limit to check the respective fates of those two applications.

Reality 38. Kirk Ferentz was presupposed to be Bob Stoops.

In the event you keep in mind Iowa’s teaching search, Stoops was made the supply and was all set to return to Iowa Metropolis, however Iowa’s administration by some means bungled it and Stoops took the Oklahoma job. Iowa employed Kirk Ferentz as a substitute. Kirk went 1-12 that yr. Stoops went undefeated and gained the nationwide championship the next yr, upsetting #1 Nebraska 31-14 within the course of.

Reality 39. Since Osborn retired, Iowa and Nebraska each have precisely 7 seasons of 10+ wins.

Nebraska gained 10 or extra video games in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2009, 2010, and 2012.

Iowa gained 10 or extra video games in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2015, 2019, and 2021.

Reality 40. Since Osborn retired, Iowa has had one head coach. Nebraska is about to rent its sixth.

The Cornhuskers fired Frank Solich, Invoice Callahan, Bo Pelini, Mike Riley, and, earlier this yr, Scott Frost. Iowa employed Kirk Ferentz in 1999 and, for higher and for worse, he’s nonetheless right here and stays the longest-tenured Division 1 coach.

Reality 41. Since Osborn retired, Iowa has performed in additional NY6/BCS bowls than Nebraska.

Nebraska has performed in two – the 2000 Fiesta Bowl and the 2002 Rose Bowl.

Iowa has performed in three – the 2003 Rose Bowl, the 2010 Orange Bowl, and the 2016 Rose Bowl.

Reality 42. Since Osborn retired, each Iowa and Nebraska have 1 win in NY6/BCS bowls.

Nebraska gained the 2000 Fiesta Bowl and Iowa gained the 2010 Orange Bowl.

Reality 43. Since Osborn retired, Iowa has extra convention championships than Nebraska.

The Cornhuskers gained the Massive 12 in 1999. Iowa gained the Massive 10 in 2002 and 2004. Nonetheless, Iowa’s championships are shared. Though undefeated in convention play in 2002, Iowa didn’t play the also-undefeated Ohio State “Luckeyes” that yr on account of a quirk of scheduling, and there was no Massive 10 Championship recreation on the time.

Reality 44. Nebraska’s loss within the One Second Left recreation put Iowa within the 2010 Orange Bowl.

In 2009, we had been nonetheless beneath the BCS system, which had 5 video games that includes 10 groups. The six main convention champions had been “AQ” – automated qualifiers – and obtained automated bids, leaving solely 4 “at-large” spots for others. Iowa was in 2nd place within the Massive 10 at 10-2 and, going into convention championship weekend, there have been simply sufficient at-large spots for Iowa. The loser of the SEC championship recreation would get an at-large bid, as would each TCU (then within the Mountain West) and Boise State. Iowa was the consensus choose for that remaining spot at #10.

However that assumed Texas beat Nebraska within the Massive 12 championship recreation. Texas was BCS #3 and Nebraska, at 9-3, was #22. If the Cornhuskers gained, they would get a BCS recreation beneath the AQ guidelines, and Texas, at 12-1, will surely not fall out of the BCS High 10 and as a substitute take of the at-large spots. Because the lowest-ranked BCS crew, that will push the Hawkeyes out.

However Texas did win, 13-12, on a walk-off area aim. However, on the speedy prior play, with the sport clock winding down, Colt McCoy threw a go downfield and out of bounds and the sport clock appeared to run out. It appeared just like the ball landed out of bounds with one second left on the clock (that is debatable), however clock errors weren’t reviewable besides beneath “egregious” circumstances. Ballgame. Nebraska wins. Iowa is out of the BCS.

However wait! The video replay official decided that the clock error was certainly “egregious”, and ordered one second put again on the clock. Texas kicked the profitable area aim, Nebraska was out and Iowa went to the Orange Bowl, the place the Hawkeyes defeated the ACC Champion Georgia State Yellow Jackets to win their first BCS degree recreation because the Fifties.

Six months later, Nebraska introduced that it was leaving the Massive 12 and, in the end, becoming a member of the Massive 10.

Reality 45. The AP Ballot is to Nebraska what the Rose Bowl is to Iowa.

Till the mid-Nineteen Seventies, the Massive 10 solely permitted one Massive 10 crew to take part in post-season play, and that recreation was the Rose Bowl. As such, the Rose Bowl turned, over the generations, the Holy Grail of Massive 10 soccer achievement. There was actually nothing else to realize on account of convention guidelines. These guidelines modified within the Nineteen Seventies, and the Rose Bowl isn’t actually particular any extra, however the romance of the venue is in Massive 10 DNA, particularly for these groups who haven’t gained it in a very long time. It represents the top of excellence.

Not so for Nebraska. For them, that’s the AP Ballot. The AP Ballot was based by one in all their very own, but it appeared down upon generations of Cornhusker groups. The elite ranks of school soccer have all the time been a gated group and Nebraska was lengthy perceived as being unworthy. Truthful or not, this notion was mirrored AP Ballot rankings. Over the many years, the nationwide recognition symbolized by the AP Ballot got here to be Nebraska’s Holy Grail in the identical approach that the Rose Bowl was to the Massive 10.

This disparity resulted in Nebraska followers trying down on the Massive 10, particularly because the convention’s arcane choice guidelines may ship an 8-4 Iowa crew to the “Grandaddy of them All.” “That’s one of the best the Massive 10 has to supply? 8-4?” That is, I think, why Nebraska followers, particularly those that grew up within the Eighties and Nineties, look down on the Massive 10 for fetishizing the Rose Bowl.

Reality 46. As a program, Iowa exceeds Nebraska in a single main class: bowl wins.

In the event you stack Iowa and Nebraska up side-by-side, it’s exhausting to check the 2. Iowa is arguably a borderline High 25 program all-time (which is outstanding contemplating this system has 20 straight years of sub-0.300 play), and Nebraska is High 10 all-time in most classes.

Besides one: bowl wins. The Cornhuskers all-time bowl report of 26-27-0 is definitely sub-500, whereas Iowa is 17-16-1.

Reality 47. Bo Pelini went 3-1 in opposition to Iowa however solely outscored the Hawkeyes by a complete of 1 level.

After becoming a member of the Massive 10, the Cornhuskers had been paired up with Iowa within the Black Friday recreation beginning in 2011, they usually’ve performed on that day ever since. Bo Pelini’s Cornhuskers simply dispatched an overmatched Iowa squad in 2011, and unexpectedly struggled in opposition to 4-7 Iowa in 2012. In 2013, Iowa went into Lincoln and dominated the Cornhuskers, 38-17. The 2014 recreation was shaping as much as be extra of the identical, however Iowa choked away a 17-point lead with turnovers and inexplicably persevering with to punt the ball to Nebraska’s unbelievable returner, De’Morney Pierson-El, who ran one again 80 yards for a landing. Nebraska eeked out an additional time win that day on a questionable Kenny Bell catch that irks me to this present day, and Bo Pelini was famously fired for it.

Bo went 3-1 in opposition to Iowa, however solely outscored the Hawkeyes by a complete of 87-86 in these video games. That’s a really Iowa strategy to win, however Pelini was a grad assistant at Iowa beneath Hayden Fry. Perhaps he acquired somewhat Hawkeye on him whereas he was right here.

Reality 48. In 2021, a former Nebraska participant described Iowa as “the simplest recreation of the yr” and a crew that he “by no means took … significantly.”

This was stated by legendary former Nebraska linebacker Will Compton, who, simply earlier than final yr’s Black Friday recreation, tweeted that when Nebraska performed Iowa in 2011 and 2012, the Hawkeyes had been “the simplest recreation of the yr” and he “by no means took them significantly.”

Iowa scored a complete of 14 factors in these two video games, so Nebraska’s protection did its job and Compton’s remarks are comprehensible from that perspective.

However neither recreation was a blowout.

Iowa was a 4-8 crew in 2012 and Nebraska was trailing these lowly Hawkeyes nicely into the third quarter, finally profitable simply 13-7 (to be truthful, the climate performed a major position on this rating). In 2011, the Hawkeyes, whereas actually not good, had been 7-5 with an upset win over #13 Michigan. Additionally, Nebraska’s schedule in 2011 included 3-9 Minnesota, 4-9 Fresno State, and 5-6 Chattanooga. Nebraska beat that Iowa crew 20-7, however Compton thinks it was a neater out than the Chattanooga crew they beat 40-7? Perhaps from the protection’s perspective.

In any occasion, I’m fairly happy with Nebraska persevering with to not take Iowa significantly.

Reality 49. Nebraska gave us New Kirk.

“However within the remaining evaluation, I needed to consider the place Iowa was.” These phrases had been spoken by Nebraska AD Sean Eichorst in protection of his resolution to fireplace Bo Pelini after the 2014 additional time win, and the remark rankled Iowa followers. Eichorst’s makes an attempt to elucidate it away didn’t assist.

Aided by Iowa’s utter humiliation within the Hawkslayer Bowl (I’ve nonetheless by no means watched that recreation and I by no means will), Iowa followers impatience with Kirk Ferentz was as scorching because it had been since 2007. Ferentz employed a PR agency to assist him be much less of a grouchy poop in press conferences, Jake Ruddock was benched in favor of C.J. Beathard, and in 2015, we acquired New Kirk.

Iowa went undefeated that yr, capping off the marketing campaign with a lazy win over Mike Riley in Lincoln, and the Hawkeyes had been inside inches of profitable the Massive 10 Championship Recreation and going to the CFP. As a substitute, we acquired our favourite comfort prize: the Rose Bowl.

Just like the retirement of Osborn, Eichorst’s feedback and the firing of Pelini marked one other turning level on this collection. Nebraska hasn’t gained since, and it’s grow to be an Iowa fan custom, after beating Nebraska, to cease and remind ourselves to guage the place they’re as a program.

Reality 50. Since Eichorst needed to consider the place Iowa was as a program, the Hawkeyes are 7-0 in opposition to Nebraska.

Reality 51. Since Eichorst needed to consider the place Iowa was as a program, the Hawkeyes have outscored the Cornhuskers 236-137.

Reality 52. Since Eichorst needed to consider the place Iowa was as a program, the Hawkeyes have held the lead or been tied with Nebraska (normally 0-0) for 457 of the 480 minutes of recreation clock which have elapsed.

Reality 53. We ought to be rivals, and we ought to be associates, however we aren’t actually both, but.

Nebraska followers have interaction in considerably rigorous inner debate over whether or not Iowa is actually a “rival.” Traditionally, this clearly isn’t true. Till 2011, the groups performed solely sporadically in non-conference play, by no means met in post-season play, and by no means performed when something was actually at stake for both crew. There isn’t a lot juice there.

However Nebraska followers typically acknowledge that the Cornhuskers aren’t going anyplace they wish to be if they’ll’t beat Iowa and Wisconsin. Additionally, you guys have been actual dicks to Nebraska followers on-line. Rivalry or not, these groups stand in one another’s approach, and this recreation is the final recreation of the season. It means a minimum of somewhat bit extra to each fan bases than, say, Purdue.

So, whether or not or not it’s a rivalry, it’s nonetheless a recreation that issues extra, and that makes it particular.

Additionally, it doesn’t need to be as vitriolic as it’s. Till Nebraska joined the convention, Iowa was the smallest inhabitants state within the convention (by a major margin. Nebraska is even smaller and, with the majority of its inhabitants dwelling near the Iowa border, has a lot in frequent with us.

We’re each small agriculture states with no main metropolitan areas and no main skilled sports activities franchises. We’re in the midst of flyover nation. Iowa was once the Massive 10’s western outpost, now Nebraska is (nicely, till 2024). While you meet any individual from Chicago or Minneapolis, they don’t inform you they’re from Illinois or Minnesota. They identify town as a result of they determine with town.

However we don’t.

Whether or not you’re from North Platte or Kearney, you simply inform individuals you’re from Nebraska, and whether or not you’re from Mason Metropolis or Ottumwa, you inform individuals you’re from Iowa. Relative to the remainder of the nation, our cultural heritage and identification is our state identification extra so than our cities. And, with none main sports activities franchises, probably the most seen image of that identification is the athletics division of our flagship universities, particularly soccer.

When the applications are dangerous, it’s not only a dangerous yr of soccer. It looks like a foul yr to be an Iowan, or to be a Nebraskan.

We and Nebraska have that a lot in frequent, and whereas all people loves their groups, I do suppose these video games hit Iowans and Nebraska in another way than, say, Minnesota followers (there’s all the time hockey season) or Indiana followers (basketball’s on!). The best way our groups type a bit of us is exclusive throughout the convention, and, I think, in all probability nearer to how SEC followers really feel in locations like Mississippi and Alabama, the place there are additionally no main sports activities groups or metropolitan areas.

Or perhaps I’m simply speaking out of my ass.

Both approach, as we collect with household and associates this Thanksgiving and take time for gratitude for our blessings, take into account, earlier than you hearth off some acerbic, vitriolic Tweet or troll opposing fanboards, that Hawkeye and Cornhusker are flyover brothers separated solely by accidents of geography and historical past, and we’re extra like one another than not.

Be wonderful to one another. Blissful Thanksgiving. Go Hawks!