Breathe, Husker Nation. 

The Nebraska football team is bowl eligible. For the first time since 2016 – when Mike Riley was still the head coach and Tommy Armstrong was the NU signal caller – the Huskers are headed to the postseason. All it took was a 44-25 beatdown of rival Wisconsin as Nebraska broke a 10-game losing streak to the Badgers. 

The offense flourished in the second game under new offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen as freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola woke up from his slumber with a 28-for-38 showing with 293 yards and one touchdown. Sophomore Emmett Johnson added nearly 200 yards from scrimmage with 113 of those coming from the ground (on 16 carries) along with tying a team-high 85 receiving yards on six catches. The game ended with Nebraska gaining 473 yards in total offense with the most points scored in the Matt Rhule era.  

Now, with the monkey off their back and a bowl secured, the Huskers turn around to face their rival Iowa as NU plays on Black Friday for the 35th consecutive season. 

Here’s all you need to know for Friday’s primetime showdown. 

How to Follow Along 

Iowa Scout

Head Coach: Kirk Ferentz | 26th season | 203-123 (.623) Iowa Record; 215-144 (.599) Career HC Record | AP College Football Coach OTY (2002), Walter Camp Coach of the Year (2002), 4x B1G Coach OTY (2002, 2004, 2009, 2015) | 2x Big Ten Championship (2002, 2004), 3x Big Ten West Division titles (2015, 2021, 2023). 

2023 Record: 10-4 (7-2 B1G, 1st B1G West)  | 4x All-Americans | B1G Defensive Back OTY, B1G Punter OTY, 3x All-Big Ten First Team, 1x All-Big Ten Second Team, 5x All-Big Ten Third Team, 9x All-Big Ten Honorable Mentions | L, 35-0 to Tennessee in Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.  

All-Time Series: Nebraska leads 30-21-3 (Nov. 24, 2023 last meeting, 13-10, Iowa).

Fun Fact: The past six meetings between Nebraska and Iowa have been decided by seven or fewer points, including three games by three points. The total margin in the past six games is 29 points.  

Key Returners: Kaleb Johnson, RB, Jr. | Cade McNamara, QB, Gr. | Jazuin Patterson, RB, Soph. | Addison Ostrenga, TE, Jr. | Seth Anderson, WR, Jr. | Luke Lachey, TE, Sr. | Jay Higgins, LB, Gr. | Nick Jackson, LB, Gr. | Sebastian Castro, DB, Gr. | Quinn Schulte, DB, Gr. | Deontae Craig, DL, Sr. | Ethan Hurkett, DL, Sr. | Yahya Black, DL, Sr. | Aaron Graves, DL, Jr. | Max Llewellyn, DL, Jr. | Drew Stevens, K, Jr. | Mason Richman, OL, Sr. | Beau Stephens, OL, Jr. | Connor Colby, OL, Sr. | Logan Jones, OL, Sr. | Dunker, OL, Jr. 

Key Additions: Brendan Sullivan, QB, Jr. (Northwestern) | Jacob Gill, WR, Jr. (Northwestern). 

Key Departures: Cooper DeJean, DB (Philadelphia Eagles, 2nd Rd.) | Erick All, TE (Cincinnati Bengals, 4th Rd.) | Tory Taylor, P (Chicago Bears, 4th Rd) | Logan Lee, DL, (Pittsburgh Steelers, 6th Rd.) | Deacon Hill, QB, Jr. (Utah Tech) | Leshon Williams, RB, Sr. (Redshirt & Transfer) | Nico Ragaini, WR (Eligibility) | Kaleb Brown, WR, Jr. (Redshirt & Transfer) | Diante Vines, WR, Sr. (Old Dominion) | Joe Evans, LB (Eligibility). 

Outlook: Aside from the shortened 2020 season, Iowa locked up its 11th season in a row with at least seven wins under long-time head coach Kirk Ferentz. It’s also the seventh consecutive campaign where the Hawkeyes will finish above .500 in conference play. Coming off a 29-13 win over Maryland last week, there’s not much to play for entering Friday for both teams aside from rivalry bragging rights and a better bowl position. 

Much like its been over the course of this 14-year stretch of games, whoever wins in the trenches will come out on top. The running attack of Iowa versus the rushing defense of the Blackshirts will more than likely be the decider. The Hawkeyes are first in the Big Ten and 13th nationally with 213.5 rushing yards per game with first-year offensive coordinator Tim Lester calling the plays. Kaleb Johnson has come on as one of the premier running backs in the country with 1,492 yards on the season (135.6 YPG) with 21 touchdowns. Kamari Moulton (381 yards, 2 TDs) and Jaziun Patterson (235 yards, 2 TDs) will get some carries, but Johnson is the star. 

All other offensive categories fall short, however, as the passing offense (133.2 YPG) ranks 128th in the country, total offense sits at 101st and the scoring offense ranks 55th nationwide. Part of that has to be the rotating carousel of quarterback, which has been severely affected by injuries. Cade McNamara – who’s in his second season in Iowa City after transferring from Michigan – will make his first start since Oct. 26 against Northwestern. McNamara had to make a statement last week before the Maryland game due to rumors swirling he had quit on the team, but rather he was still dealing with concussion symptoms and wouldn’t be ready until Nebraska. 

He’ll certainly have more upside than walk-on Jackson Stratton who started against the Terrapins, but the amount of impact he can have is questionable. That’s where the defense will have to come in for support. Phil Parker’s group is once again one of the best in the country, despite being down in comparison to past years. The Hawkeyes are top 40 in most categories including rushing defense (26th, 115.1), pass defense (39th, 196.6), total defense (17th, 311.7) and scoring defense (12th, 17.7). Iowa also dominates in turnover margin, ranking first in the Big Ten and eighth in the country with a +11 margin. 

Linebackers Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson form the foundation of this defense. The two have combined for 186 total tackles as Higgins (106 tackles) also has a sack and 1.5 TFL while Jackson (80 tackles) has added 2.5 sacks and five TFLs. 

The defensive line is pretty stout as well with Aaron Graves leading the way with a team-high five sacks on the season with Max Llewellyn (4.5) and Ethan Hurkett (4.5) both not far behind. Higgins has a team-leading four interceptions with fellow defensive backs Jermari Harris and Quinn Schulte adding three interceptions each. 

The Hawkeyes had to say goodbye to punter Tory Taylor after he was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round of the NFL, and now have freshman Rhys Dakin on punt duty with a 44.9 yard average. Plus, All-Big Ten placekicker is back and is 17-for-20 for the season.

The impact of McNamara is the wildcard in this one, and the Hawkeyes hopes of moving the ball against a tough Nebraska run defense will prove to be difficult if they can’t get anything going through the air. Continuing the trend of past games, this one looks destined for a low-scoring, intense, cold season finale. 

With Holgorsen, Raiola and the Husker offense in some sort of groove, I like the chances of Nebraska pulling off its second-straight win in Iowa City. 

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Nebraska LB commit Christian Jones details his final visit ahead of early signing day in December.

Nebraska had many talented recruits on campus this past weekend, including some that are already committed to the Huskers. One of the commits to make it to campus to watch the Nebraska Cornhuskers clinch a bowl game was Christian Jones.

Jones is a 2025 linebacker commit for the Huskers who plays at Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska. He is rated as a four-star and is one of the highest-rated commits in this class for the Cornhuskers.

Jones caught up with HuskerMax following his visit.

“It was a great visit, especially with the win of being bowl eligible it was a great atmosphere to be in and I’m very happy for the players and coaches,” Jones said. “I talked to Coach Rob (Dvoracek) and (Defensive Coordinator Tony) White and just talked about the game and they are fired up and ready to go.”

Jones was able to catch up with another commit as well as a top target for Nebraska.

“I talked to Dawson Merritt and Breck Kolojay and we were just chatting it up,” Jones said. ”Me and Dawson recreated the Remember the Titans meme we both saw on Twitter.”

Jones committed to NU back in September and has felt the same attention from the staff as before his commitment.

“It’s been great, nothing has changed from when I wasn’t committed and I really appreciate that about Nebraska recruiting staff and coaching staff,” Jones said.

Jones played in the Nebraska Class A state championship earlier this week at Memorial Stadium. He had five tackles and an interception in the loss to Millard South.

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Nebraska men’s basketball followed up the domination in Omaha with a dominant showing at home.

NU topped South Dakota 96-79 Wednesday evening at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The Huskers improve to 5-1 as the Coyotes fall to 6-3.

“It’s been a good week for us obviously with the Creighton win,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. “Last year, we had a game that we won on the road at Kansas State, and we followed that up against North Dakota and they were up 16 on us in the first half. We talked a lot about that the last couple days, so I really did like our start. I thought we had the right mentality going into it, I thought we did a good job going out there and playing with energy, and playing with physicality.”

For the second consecutive game, the Huskers did not trail for a second over the 40 minutes of game time. Nebraska built the lead to 19 points at halftime and up to 23 early in the second half, but the Coyotes put together some runs to close the gap to close as 12. Unfortunately for the visitors, the home side answered the call each time and held off any chances of a full comeback.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t put them away, again we have to keep that edge for 40 minutes,” Hoiberg said. “That being said, there were a lot of positives in this game tonight. We’re going to enjoy tomorrow, a lot of them will be over at my house for Thanksgiving, and then we’ll get back to work on Friday and have a two day prep for an early game on Sunday. We have a lot of work ahead of us for a really good basketball team.”

Nebraska got the shooting going from deep, finally. The Huskers shot 48.5% overall and finished 13-of-33 from deep. NU was 9-of-16 at one point on 3s, but the pace fell off in the second half.

“It’s a confidence builder,” Hoiberg said. “You see what happens when the first couple go down, it’s the domino effect that goes on to the rest of the team. It’s just a confidence builder. And Connor (Essegian), I thought our guys did a good job finding him.

South Dakota shot 43.3% for the game, including 8-of-28 on 3s.

Connor Essegian scored a game-high 29 points on 10-of-22 shooting, including six made 3s. That mark is a new career-high for the Wisconsin transfer.

“It definitely doesn’t hurt to have a night like this for the team,” Essegian said. “To be able to score 96 points as a team is pretty good. It definitely boosts a lot of guys, the energy is going into it with that. We really have got to lock in on the defensive side of things. If we can score but we can’t defend, it usually doesn’t end very well.”

Brice Williams added 21 points. Braxton Meah had his best night as a Husker, scoring 12 points on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting.

“It took a minute trying to understand everything,” Meah said. “There’s a lot Coach Hoiberg puts into his system, so it just took me a little while to figure it out. We’re getting there.”

Juwan Gary and Berke Buyuktuncel both left the game early with injuries. Gary took an elbow to the face while Buyuktuncel left with a hip injury.

“We’ll know a lot more about those two in the next 24 hours,” Hoiberg said.

Nebraska stays home Sunday to host North Florida. Tip is set for 3 p.m. CST on the Big Ten Network.

Box score

Nebraska Athletics Notes

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