Pressing Questions: Malachi, Fidone, Donnie Raiola, Nebraska portal entries

Matt Rhule and bowl-bound Nebraska football are gearing up for the annual Black Friday rivalry game against Iowa.

The Huskers (6-5 overall, 3-5 Big Ten) and Hawkeyes (7-4, 5-3) are both entering the matchup coming off a win for the first time since 2019. Unlike that season, the Huskers are not going into the rivalry matchup with Iowa in need of a sixth win to qualify for the postseason. That’s on the back of a strong performance Husker fans have been dying to see all season – and for several years for the offense – in a 44-25 win over Wisconsin.

It was the second time this year that Nebraska has put up a 40-burger (40-7 win over UTEP in the season opener was the Huskers’ only other 40-point game in the last three seasons), and it was the team’s most points in a game in more than three calendar years (56-7 win over Northwestern on Oct. 2, 2021).

Iowa, meanwhile, has posted 40-plus points four different times in 2024, a year after having limped through one of the worst offensive seasons in college football in recent memory. Two of those were put up in wins over Northwestern (40-14) and Wisconsin (42-10) before a loss to UCLA (20-17) and then a bounceback last week over Maryland (29-13).

That’s all the time we have for small talk today. Let’s get down to brass tacks with Three Pressing Questions for Rhule at his regular game week press conference to kick off Iowa Week on Monday.