A longstanding rivalry will be renewed Friday afternoon when Nebraska hosts Iowa in a Big Ten Conference game in Lincoln, Neb.
It’s the 56th meeting between the Cornhuskers and Hawkeyes, the 15th since Nebraska joined the conference in 2011. Known as the Heroes Game, Iowa has won 10 of 14 meetings as conference foes including the last two, both on walkoff field goals.
Another field goal at the buzzer propelled Iowa (7-4, 5-3 Big Ten) to a 20-17 win over Michigan State last week. Drew Stevens connected from 44 yards to complete a comeback from down 10 in the fourth quarter.
Iowa’s past three games have been decided by a combined 10 points, and for the season, the Hawkeyes are 2-4 in one-score games.
“Everybody’s tired right now, everybody is sore, it’s part of the territory,” said coach Kirk Ferentz, who has won 211 games in 27 seasons at Iowa. “It just seems like every year this game is back and forth.”
Nebraska (7-4, 4-4) got blown out 37-10 at Penn State in its last game. The Cornhuskers have dropped three of five since a 5-1 start.
“I’d like to win every game we play,” third-year coach Matt Rhule said. “We came here with an intention of building a program that will last. We don’t want short-term results. We’re not where we want to be. We want to be national champions.”
Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson, a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award (college football’s top running back), leads the Big Ten in rushing with 1,234 yards. He has topped the 100-yard mark seven times this season, including the past four, but in two games against Iowa has gained only 98 yards on 29 carries.
The Hawkeyes are fourth in the Big Ten in run defense, allowing 101.6 yards per game.
Freshman quarterback TJ Lateef will be making his third start for Nebraska since Dylan Raiola suffered a season-ending injury. He’s completing 70.4 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and no interceptions.
Iowa senior Mark Gronowski, a transfer from South Dakota State, is the winningest quarterback in NCAA history with 56 victories. He’s thrown for 1,363 yards with seven TDs and six interceptions with the Hawkeyes.
