Nebraska vs. Iowa Isn’t a Rivalry
From the moment the final second ticked off the clock in Iowa’s 40-20 victory over the Purdue Boilermakers, you began hearing the talks about the Nebraska vs. Iowa rivalry game taking place on Black Friday. This raised an interesting question for me: Is this game really rivalry for Husker and Hawkeye fans? To make a long story short, No, and here is why.
The “History” of the Rivalry has a few too many gaps in it
Nebraska and Iowa can lay claim to one of the oldest rivalries in college football history, as the Huskers and Hawkeyes had their first battle on Thanksgiving Day of 1891, with the Hawkeyes winning 22-0. This starting point means that the Husker vs. Hawkeye rivalry is tied for the fifth oldest rivalry in history The popular rivalries such as Michigan and Ohio State, Bedlam, and the Red River Rivalry are all much younger. Where the problem begins is with the stop and start nature of the rivalry. Despite technically being a rivalry for 124 years and counting the Husker and Hawkeyes are entering just their 46th meeting. To put that into perspective, the Florida versus Florida State rivalry did not begin until 1958, but in the 57 years since the beginning of the rivalry the Gators and Seminoles have played each other 58 times. To put things simply, it’s hard for Husker and Hawkeye fans to believe in a rivalry where the longest stretch of consecutive games is just 10, with that streak occurring way back in 1891-1899.
The trophy/rivalry name just isn’t very cool
One thing that I’ve learned about the Big 10 after being a part of it for 5+ years is this, the Big 10 LOVES trophies. This became clear when the respective athletic directors announced that Nebraska and Iowa would take place in the “heroes game” every Black Friday. The idea was to honor one Nebraska and one Iowa citizen who demonstrated heroic qualities at some point that year. It all sounded really cool and nice on paper, but it was revealed as extremely underwhelming for both fan bases. Iowa fans were disappointed because they were used to playing for really cool trophies like the Cy-Hawk trophy or the Floyd of Rosedale, while Husker fans were disappointed because… well pretty much they were disappointed that their rival in the Big 10 was going to be Iowa. What’s truly sad about this rivalry and its trophy is that Nebraska and Minnesota created a WAY better rivalry trophy in about 10 minutes, as Faux Pelini and Goldy Gopher created the $5 bits of Broken Chair Trophy on Twitter. That trophy is as awesome as it is absurd.
Nebraska had a way better rivalry with Penn State ruined by continued expansion
When the Big 10 first expanded, adding just Nebraska and forming the Legends and Leaders division (terrible name I know), the idea of crossover rivalries was first introduced. The two teams that stood out the most to Husker nation were Penn State and Wisconsin. The Huskers and Penn State were both connected due to the two teams being the newest Big 10 members and Joe Paterno and Tom Osborne being good friends off the football field. Wisconsin meanwhile, appealed to Husker fans due to the Barry Alvarez connection and the team’s similar style of play. Bret Bielema, then Wisconsin’s head coach, personally called the Big 10 to ask for the Huskers as the Badgers’ crossover rival. The Big 10 ultimately chose Penn State, and Husker fans were overjoyed. Their first game with the Nittany Lions will go down in history as the first game following the Sandusky scandal that nearly destroyed the Penn State program. Nebraska won that 2011 game in a highly emotional 17-14 battle setting the stage for a fun and competitive rivalry. In 2012 Nebraska won a controversial game against Penn State 32-23, and then snuck by Penn State 23-20 in overtime in 2013. Three games, three emotional and thrilling contests. Everything seemed perfect on the rivalry front. Unfortunately, the Big 10 decided that they preferred TV money over football quality, as they added Rutgers and Maryland to the conference. This reshuffling killed the Nebraska versus Penn State rivalry and replaced it with Penn State vs. Maryland, and Nebraska versus Illinois. Both teams and both fan bases got hosed by that deal.
Iowa missed its chance to really make this into a rivalry
The first Heroes Game between Iowa and Nebraska took place in 2011 with both teams sitting at 4-3 in conference play and out of the top 25. Nebraska won a relatively boring 20-7 contest between two mediocre teams. 2012 was a different story though. Nebraska entered the game at 9-2 and 6-1 in Big 10 play, with their only losses coming to an undefeated Ohio State and a 9-3 UCLA team. The stage was set for Nebraska to win the Big 10 championship and go to the Rose Bowl, as only a 4-7 Iowa team and a 7-5 Wisconsin team stood in their way. But a bitterly cold day with 30+ mph winds crippled both offenses and let Iowa nearly pull the upset. Luckily for the Huskers, Rex Burkhead returned from a knee injury and led the Huskers to 10 second half points and Nebraska held on for a 13-7 victory. Nothing gets a rivalry started better than one of the teams playing spoiler and ruining the other’s title hopes. Iowa missed out on that chance in 2012, and the rivalry has suffered because of it.
Nebraska doesn’t consider Iowa to be on their level
Nebraska fans are known as some of the most knowledgeable and polite to opposing teams. But as a lifelong Husker fan, let me tell you a dirty secret about Nebraska fans. We can be pretty arrogant when it comes to choosing our rivals. There have been only three teams that Nebraska fans have accepted as rivals, Oklahoma (because we despised Switzer and could never beat them in the mid 70’s and early 80’s), Miami (because we always had to face them in Miami and couldn’t beat them until 1994), and Texas because the Longhorns are just despicable. Iowa, whether correctly or not, has been lumped into the same category as Kansas State, Missouri, and Colorado, meaning that Nebraska fans will constantly laugh and dismiss any talk of a rivalry no matter how good they are.
The games simply haven’t meant that much
A big reason why Nebraska fans are reluctant to consider Iowa their rivals is because of how spoiled they were when they had their rivalry with Oklahoma. For almost two decades, that game between the Sooners and Huskers decided who would win the Big 8 Conference and go on to the Orange Bowl or National Championship game. With Iowa, the stakes are usually for third place in the Big 10 West and a trip to the better mid-tier bowl game in Florida.
So how do we make it a rivalry?
I’ve been a bit of Debbie Downer this entire article, so lets end this one on a higher note. Hope is not lost on this matchup becoming a rivalry. In fact the seeds for a rivalry may have been planted last year when a herculean performance from Demornay Pierson-El allowed Nebraska to come back from a 24-7 deficit and shock Iowa 37-34 in an overtime classic. That game put Kirk Ferentz on the hot seat coming into 2015, and led to Jake Rudock being chased out of Iowa City in favor of CJ Beathard. The rivalry could truly explode this Friday, and I could see it happening two ways. The most obvious way would be for Nebraska to pull off a shocking upset, and ruin Iowa’s national championship hopes. The other way would be for Iowa to lay a beat down on the Cornhuskers and defeat them by 30+ points on senior day. This rivalry is like a pot of water on an oven that’s just starting to bubble. It needs one of the teams to turn up the heat a notch for the rivalry to begin to boil.
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