Huskers Host Hawkeyes on Black Friday

The Matchup
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 Stadium 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 with 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.

Nebraska-Iowa to Compete for Heroes Trophy
Nebraska and Iowa will battle for the Heroes Trophy when they hit the field at Memorial Stadium on Friday. The Heroes Game is the annual trophy game between Nebraska and Iowa.

While both teams aim to win the trophy on the field, both Nebraska and Iowa wished to make their annual meeting about more than just winning a football game. With that in mind, the schools partnered together to not only create a trophy, but to use a national stage to honor a citizen hero from each state. In addition to the trophy that will be claimed by the winner of the game, both an Iowa and Nebraska native will be honored for extraordinary acts. Those individuals will be announced later this week.

Nebraska Continues Thanksgiving Friday Tradition
Nebraska will continue its long-standing tradition of playing on the day after Thanksgiving. This Friday’s game with Iowa will mark the 30th consecutive season the Huskers have played on Thanksgiving Friday.

NU met Oklahoma in the final six seasons of the Big Eight Conference (1990 to 1995), then played Colorado in all 15 of the Huskers’ Big 12 Conference years (1996 to 2010), before taking on Iowa each of the past nine seasons.

Nebraska will close the 2020 and 2021 seasons against Minnesota on Black Friday, before Iowa returns as the opponet for the regular season finale beginning in 2022.

•     Nebraska owns a 19-10 record since 1990 in games on the day after Thanksgiving, including a 5-1 record against Oklahoma, an 11-4 mark against Colorado and a 3-5 mark against Iowa.

•     Nebraska is 10-5 at home in Black Friday games since 1990, including 1-3 against the Hawkeyes.

•     In addition to the past eight years, Nebraska and Iowa also closed the regular season against each other nine times from 1892 to 1916. ??????

Huskers to Honor Seniors on Friday
Nebraska will hold its Senior Day festivities before Friday’s game, honoring 22 players who will appear in Memorial Stadium for the final time against Iowa.

The group includes 14 fifth-year seniors, including seven players who will likely leave Nebraska as four-year letterwinners.

• The 2019 senior class has players from 12 states, including seven native Nebraskans.

• The 22-man senior class has accumulated a total of 219 starts in their collegiate careers. The group has six players with at least 15 starts at Nebraska including defensive lineman Carlos Davis (35), cornerback Lamar Jackson (35), linebacker Mohamed Barry (25), long snapper Chase Urbach (21), linebacker Alex Davis (20) and punter Isaac Armstrong (18).

• Seniors on the Nebraska offense have made a total of just 13 career starts at Nebraska.

• Linebacker Mohamed Barry will finish his career in the top 15 on the Nebraska career tackles chart.

• Cornerback Lamar Jackson will end his career in the top 10 in school history in pass breakups.

• Twin brothers, Carlos and Khalil Davis, are the seventh set of brothers in NU history to each record at least 100 career tackles.

• Fifteen of Nebraska’s 22 seniors are playing the 2019 season as graduate students, with another five players set to graduate in December.

2019 Nebraska Football Senior Class
• Avery Anderson, S, Surprise, Ariz.
• Fyn Anderson, DL, Lincoln, Neb.
• Isaac Armstrong, P, Lincoln, Neb.
• Mohamed Barry, LB, Grayson, Ga.
• Darrion Daniels, DL, Dallas, Texas
• Alex Davis, LB, Riviera Beach, Fla.
• Carlos Davis, DL, Blue Springs, Mo.
• Khalil Davis, DL, Blue Springs, Mo.
• Austin Hemphill, RB, Gretna, Neb.
• Lamar Jackson, CB, Elk Grove, Calif.
• Reid Karel, S, Seward, Neb.
• Eric Lee Jr., S, Milton, Mass.
• Wyatt Mazour, RB, Albion, Neb.
• DaiShon Neal, DL, Houston, Texas
• Kanawai Noa, WR Honolulu, Hawaii
• Jeramiah Stovall, CB, Omaha, Neb.
• Chase Urbach, LS, Grosse Pointe, Mich.
• Vaha Vainuku, DL, Salt Lake City, Utah
• Nick Virka, OL, Morse Bluff, Neb.
• Jackson Walker, P, Overland Park, Kan.
• Mike Williams, WR, Lake City, Fla.
• Jaron Woodyard, WR, Gaithersburg, Md. ?

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