When Nebraska Athletic Director Bill Moos was hired in October 2017, one of the first messes he tried to clean up was the Black Friday debacle.
That seems to be coming to a close.
Moos, talking on the Husker Sports Network on Monday evening, said the Nebraska vs. Iowa matchup on the day after Thanksgiving is going to return and will be scheduled for “long after” he is gone.
“When I got here there were a couple things that I went right, straight to and that was Black Friday and to secure the rivalry with Iowa,” Moos said. “That will be scheduled long after I’m gone. And I mean, on the face of the Earth.”
The previous athletic director, Shawn Eichorst, was fired soon after Nebraska’s loss to Northern Illinois in September 2017, which followed a week full of controversy about the Black Friday game. Eichorst and the athletic department announced Nebraska would no longer play on the day after Thanksgiving and would finish its seasons in 2020 and 2021 against Minnesota, not Iowa. Eichorst later reversed his position in a press conference but was fired less than a week later.
Moos said he couldn’t reverse the scheduling of Minnesota, but those games will be played on Black Friday.
“And then we go into the Iowa series from then on out,” Moos said.
The reason why this is such a big deal, Moos said, is not only does Nebraska need a rival, but it needs exposure. And what’s better than being the main show the day after Thanksgiving, he said.
“It’s not like a typical Friday night game, Friday afternoon game, because people aren’t at work and so they’re watching our brand. And that’s a whole, big key of getting ourselves in that national picture.”
Moos then teased that the athletic department could announce some games on the schedule after the 2022 season to bolster Nebraska’s strength of schedule moving forward.
