Huskers Had it, Then Hard Luck and Heartbreak and the Hawkeyes Have the Heroes

ThotDoc's Brain Droppings on the Iowa game.

Iowa's Drew Stevens kicks the game-winning 53-yard field goal as time runs out. / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

On an extremely frigid Friday night in Iowa City, the Iowa Hawkeyes were dominated throughout and inexplicably won 13-10 on a walk off field goal for their only lead of the game. It was shocking and painful and yet almost commonplace as Iowa has performed the same trick four times against Nebraska since 2018 and for the seventh straight game in the series the outcome was decided by less than seven points. In a game that shouldn’t have been close, the Huskers had two miscues on special teams, one lapse on defense, and a controversial lost fumble with :20 remaining.

Nebraska out yarded Iowa 334-164, held a 20-5 advantage in first downs, nearly doubled Iowa in time of possession, held Iowa to 0 for 10 on third down conversions and ran 25 more plays than the Hawkeyes…and lost. Iowa’s five first downs were the fewest by a winning team in the FBS since 2000. It was also the fewest first downs Nebraska has allowed since Kansas managed that many against Nebraska on Nov. 13, 2010.

Nebraska led 10-0 at intermission with a field goal on their first possession after a 10-play 64-yard drive and a touchdown on their last possession of the half going 74 yards on 12 plays. The Blackshirts held Iowa to 20 yards on 20 plays in the first half with five 3-and-outs and a single first down. It also appeared that the Huskers should have been awarded a safety on a kickoff with :38 left as the Hawkeye return man touched the ball in the field of play and pulled it into the endzone. Not to be and not surprising from Big Ten officials that got worse as the game wore on.

Nebraska took the second half kickoff and drove 65 yards on 11 plays before a bad snap led to a missed 34-yard field goal when the Huskers could have gone up 13-0. The Iowa quarterback then fumbled twice on their first offensive play and the Huskers couldn’t capitalize. Nebraska then tries to recover a punt that no one had touched and apparently Vincent Shavers touched the ball a millisecond before the Iowa defender and the Hawkeyes get a gift at the 4-yard line. After a brilliant goal-line stand, Iowa kicks a field goal to cut it to 10-3. At this point, Iowa had 51 total yards. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Iowa runs a screen play to Kaleb Johnson that should have been stopped for no gain, but five missed tackles later, the running back had rumbled 72 yards for the tying score. With the exception of that one play, Iowa had 92 yards of offense the rest of the game.

With a chance to drive for a winning score, Isaiah Neyor drops a pass that may have been a touchdown or at least been deep in Iowa territory. Then with 20 seconds left, Nebraska does what it cannot do, turn the ball over in their own territory, and the Iowa kicker nails a 53-yarder for the win. The strip sack of Dylan Raiola was also controversial. He stated afterwards that he thought he had controlled the ball down to the ground. But somehow, an Iowa defender is allowed to pry the ball out from underneath Raiola, and it’s ruled a turnover. Only in Iowa can these things happen. Only in a state where pigs outnumber people seven to one.

The defense played brilliantly except for one play. The five first downs and 164 total yards are the fewest totals Nebraska has allowed in a Big Ten Conference game. It also held Iowa to 115 passing yards, the fewest by an opponent this season. The Huskers had a sack and 9 tackles for loss. Defensive lineman Ty Robinson continued his dominant season with three tackles, a TFL and a quarterback hurry. He finished the regular season with team-leading totals of 6.0 sacks and 11.0 TFLs. Malcolm Hartzog, John Bullock and DeShon Singleton led the defense with five stops each and James Williams garnered his fifth sack of the season.

Nebraska freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola completed 22-of-32 passes for 190 yards. With his 190 passing yards, Raiola increased his season passing yardage total to 2,595 yards and moved into 10th place on the Nebraska season passing lists and moved within 22 yards of tying Adrian Martinez’s freshman passing record of 2,617 in 2018. He has also completed 71.3 percent of his passes over the past three games, connecting on 77-of-108 passes.

Dante Dowdell (13 carries for 50 yards) had a 1-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter to give Nebraska a 10-0 lead, his 12th rushing touchdown of the season. Emmett Johnson added 18 carries for 71 yards and led all receivers with 6 receptions for 25 yards. Jahmal Banks contributed 4 catches for 41 yards and true freshman receiver Jacory Barney Jr. caught three passes for 29 yards, giving him 52 catches this season. Barney is three catches from JD Spielman’s record for the most receptions by a freshman in school history (Spielman caught 55 passes in 2017). Nate Boerkircher had two big catches for 39 yards and Thomas Fidone had a grab for 25 yards.

When it mattered most, Nebraska’s special teams came up lacking. The missed field goal and the muffed punt spelled a 6-point difference in a game lost by three. Brian Buschini’s potential record-breaking season was curtailed by a 34.9 punt average on 7 boots. Yes, it was cold, but the Iowa punter averaged 40.4 yards on 9 kicks. Jacory Barney’s two kickoff returns failed to get past the 20.

The Huskers finish the regular season at 6-6 with just a one-game improvement over last year’s record. Woulda, coulda, shoulda as five of the six losses were in one-score games, compared to just one victory in those close contests. The bowl destination is yet to be determined, but a victory to avoid another losing season is almost mandatory at this point, lest the off-season be filled with copious amounts of wailing and gnashing of teeth.Go Big Red!!!

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