Fun fact: Nebraska-Iowa, the Johnson & Johnson game, without the pharmaceuticals

It’s Cows vs. Pigs, er, Huskers vs. Hawkeyes, in a game named after a David Bowie song

Black Friday, dark skies. That’s the setting for Friday’s nighttime Nebraska-Iowa football game, which sounds like it needs a few fun facts.

1. The final six games of the series were decided by one score.

2. Iowa’s last three losses to Nebraska came in Iowa City.

3. Last Saturday, running backs Kaleb Johnson of Iowa and Emmitt Johnson of Nebraska combined for 368 total yards.

4. Kaleb Johnson has scored a touchdown in every game this season – the only player in Iowa history to reach the end zone in the first 11 games of a season.

5. Jim Lachey’s streak of 357 consecutive games in the Ohio State broadcast booth ends Saturday, as he will be in Iowa City on Friday for his son, Iowa tight end Luke Lachey’s, final home game. Friday’s late start time made it impossible for Lachey to get to Columbus for Saturday’s noon opener, Michigan-Ohio State.

6. Every Power Four Conference team has been bowl eligible at least once since 2017, with the exception of Nebraska until it beat Wisconsin last Saturday to improve to 6-5.

7. Iowa has played in two Citrus Bowls, a Pinstripe, an Outback, a Holiday and a Music City during that time and would have played in the Music City in 2020 had Missouri not withdrawn.

8. “This will be the last time we have six wins,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said. Husker fans stormed the field after win No. 6 last Saturday in Lincoln.

9. Former Iowa quarterback Paul Burmeister, who played in the 1993 Alamo Bowl, records the play-by-play for the NBC broadcast of that game. Former Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, who played against Iowa in the 2006 Alamo Bowl, will provide color commentary.

10. This is the first season since 2016 that Iowa has had three different starting quarterbacks.

11. Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola was the only first-year freshman quarterback to start in Week 1 for a Power 4 conference team.

12. Iowa’s Jay Higgins leads the nation with four interceptions by a linebacker.

13. This was the first year since 1939 that the Huskers did not allow a rushing touchdown at home. The visitors scored 12 passing touchdowns.

14. Last year, the final over/under in the Iowa-Nebraska game was 25.5 points, the lowest of any college game this century. The Hawkeyes won 13-10. This year’s edition started at 39.

15. The over has paid off in nine of Iowa’s 11 games, more than for any other team in the country.

16. Iowa scored 67.5 percent (218 of 323) of its points after halftime.

17. The Hawkeyes’ 29-13 victory at Maryland last Saturday was the first 29-13 result in Iowa’s 1,319-game football history. The Huskers’ 44-25 victory over Wisconsin last Saturday was the first 44-25 result in Nebraska’s 1,392-game football history.

18. In Nebraska, cows outnumber people 3 to 1. In Iowa, pigs outnumber people 7 to 1.

19. Nebraska is the only state in the United States that is triple enclosed. That means you have to travel through at least three more states to reach an ocean, gulf, or bay.

20. This is the hero game. David Bowie sang his song “Heroes” on CBS’s “Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas Special” in 1977.