Nebraska and Wisconsin are aiming for bowl eligibility in the Big Ten duel

IOWA CITY, Iowa (WOWT) – The Black Friday tradition of a heartland battle continues as Nebraska (6-5, 3-5) faces Iowa (7-4, 5-3) meets Heroes Game, where both teams look to strengthen their position on bowl selection day with a win in the regular season finale.

The Huskers lead the Hawkeyes in the all-time series 30-21 with three ties, but it has been Iowa that has dominated this matchup of late. The Huskers are just 4-10 in this matchup since joining the Big Ten in 2011, with the Hawkeyes winning every meeting from 2015 to 2021.

The Big Red finally ended that streak with a win in Iowa City two seasons ago.

GAME INFO

• WHERE: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa
• WHEN: 6:30 p.m., Friday, November 29th
• REGARD: NBC-WOWT (Streaming on Peacock)
• HEAR: Huskers Radio Network
• VEGAS ODDS: Nebraska +3, O/U 39.5

That’s right – the last time the Huskers entered Kinnick Stadium, they left with a win. But when that happened, Matt Rhule was still collecting checks from David Tepper and the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, while Mickey Joseph served as interim frontman for Nebraska following the firing of Scott Frost earlier in the season.

Then last year, Iowa beat the Huskers 13-10 on a walk-off field goal in Lincoln – a loss that ended Nebraska’s bowl hopes for an eighth straight season. But this time there is no such pressure. The Huskers already secured a bowl game berth last week when they beat Wisconsin 44-25 at Memorial Stadium.

HUSKER FOOTBALL

“This (season) was tough,” Rhule said. “It takes really tough people to do what we tried to do – to overcome that hurdle. When you lose to Indiana like we did, then come back to Ohio State and lose, then come back to UCLA and lose, then make a few (personnel) changes and you lose to USC, it’s only reasonable that you start to lose confidence or start to question things. (Beating Wisconsin) was big for us, it was big for me. I believe in what we’re doing, but still, it’s great to have an idea of, ‘Hey, it’s working here, right now.'”

Now Nebraska wants to carry that momentum into Friday and beyond. A triumph over a bitter rival can mean a lot to a program, regardless of the stakes, and as he heads across the Missouri River to meet Kirk Ferentz and the Hawks on home soil for the first time, Rhule is aware of that quite conscious.

There is no love lost between these two programs.

“I know how much the Iowa game means to our guys,” Rhule said. “Last year I loved this group, and when I left the field after we lost, the way we lost… As we left the field, their players waved to our boys and said, ‘Merry Christmas!’ You know, that was painful. That was really painful. So I have no doubt our guys will be ready, but (Iowa’s) guys will be ready too. It really just depends on the football.”

So what can you expect from football itself?

Well, as always, the Iowa Hawkeyes like to run in the 2024 edition… and run, and run some more. Tailback Kaleb Johnson is undeniably one of the best rushers in college football. In 11 games, Johnson has recorded 1,492 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns while averaging 6.7 yards per carry.

All of these stats rank among the top 5 halfbacks nationally with more than 150 attempts this season. ESPN’s Field Yates named Johnson the second-best running back in the 2025 NFL Draft, behind only Heisman hopeful Ashton Jeanty of Boise State.

“(Iowa) has always been the premier outside zone (running) team in the country,” Rhule said. “Johnson is fantastic. He can make people miss, burst and go the distance. Whichever quarterback was out there, they did it. They drove some teams off the field just by shoving the football down their throats.”

Johnson has managed to remain consistently dominant despite his backfield mate changing several times. Iowa began the season by transferring Cade McNamara to Michigan at quarterback before subbing in Brendan Sullivan for two games in relief, providing the spark for an otherwise poor season at the quarterback position. But then Sullivan had to sit out due to an injury and the Hawkeyes had to take Jackson Stratton out of the game.

Stratton — a 6-foot-4 sophomore from California’s Bay Area who completed 10 of 14 passes for 76 yards in Iowa’s win over Maryland last week — will be named Friday against Nebraska. It will be his second collegiate career start.

However, stopping Johnson — or at least slowing him down — will be the Huskers’ top priority. Nebraska’s defense ranks 5th in the Big Ten against the run and has allowed just two rushing scores so far this season, so the Blackshirts are certainly up to the task, but Johnson and Iowa’s run scheme presents its fair share of challenges.

“Johnson is playing at an incredibly high level and they have an experienced offensive line,” Rhule said. “They do a lot of what you see NFL teams do: They run the ball to the open side and then check it…for a lot of us that were in the NFL, that’s kind of what we do know and she” “I’m doing really, really well.”

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