Nebraska completes its 2019 regular season on Friday afternoon with its traditional Thanksgiving Friday matchup with Big Ten West rival Iowa. Game time from Memorial Stadiium is set for 1:30 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on KBBN 95.3 FM with coverage on the Husker Sports Network beginning at 11:30 a.m.
Nebraska will enter the game witih a 5-6 record, following a 54-7 victory over Maryland on Saturday in College Park. The 47-point margin of victory was Nebraska’s largest against a Big Ten opponent in its nine seasons in the conference. The Husker offense continued to find a late-season stride, rolling up more than 500 yards, including more than 200 yards both rushing and passing for the third time in four games.
Nebraska needs a victory in the Heroes Game matchup in order to become bowl eligible for the first time since the 2016 season. The Huskers will also be looking for their first win over Iowa since a victory in Iowa City in 2014.
Iowa will come to Lincoln with an 8-3 overall record and a 5-3 record in Big Ten Conference play. The Hawkeyes are ranked 19th in the Associated Press Poll and No. 20 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Iowa has won its past two games heading into the regular-season finale, including a 19-10 victory over Illinois on Saturday in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes boast one of the nation’s top defenses, allowing just 306.1 yards and 12.2 points per game. Iowa has not allowed an opponent to score more than 24 points and has limited five teams to 10 points or fewer.
Series History
Nebraska and Iowa will meet for the ninth straight year in the regular-season finale on Friday at Memorial Stadium.
• Before Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011, the teams met 41 times as non-conference opponents, including 14 games between 1930 and 1946. Nebraska and Iowa also met four straight years from 1979 to 1982, and the final matchups as non-conference opponents were in 1999 and 2000.
• This year’s meeting will mark the ninth straight year that Nebraska and Iowa will meet on the day after Thanksgiving. After a two-year break from the Black Friday matchup between the schools in 2020 and 2021, Nebraska and Iowa are scheduled to resume their post-Thanksgiving matchup in 2022.
• Nebraska had an eight-game win streak in the series and a pair of five-game win streaks. Iowa’s current four-game win streak is its longest in the series.
