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Nebraska Football Melts in Second Half, Loses to Iowa on Last-Second Field Goal

Iowa makes a 53-yard field goal as time expires to complete a comeback over Nebraska.

Kaleb Henry

Nov 29, 2024; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; The line of scrimmage between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the third quarter at Kinnick Stadium.
Nov 29, 2024; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; The line of scrimmage between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the third quarter at Kinnick Stadium. / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
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Not all demons have been eradicated for Nebraska football.

Iowa kicked a 53-yard field goal as time expired Friday night to beat Nebraska 13-10. The Hawkeyes close the regular season 8-4 while the Huskers are 6-6 headed into bowl season.

Nebraska jumped out to a 3-0 lead on its first offensive possession. The teams combined for 10 punts in the first half, but NU tacked on a touchdown in the final minute to take a 10-0 lead into the half.

Then the Nebraska of the past decade re-emerged.

The opening drive of the third quarter finished with a missed field goal for the Big Red after a bad sna[. Iowa's ensuing possession lasted just five plays, but the punt ended in a scramble in which Vincent Shavers thought the ball had touched a teammate. He attempted to grab the loose ball, which turned into a turnover and Iowa ball at the Nebraska four.

The Hawkeyes turned that special teams mistake into three points. After a Nebraska punt, Iowa's Kaleb Johnson took a screen pass 72 yards to the house, tying the game 10-10 early in the fourth quarter.

The contest remained close into the final minutes. The Blackshirts forced an Iowa punt with 1:45 left, setting up the Nebraska offense with the ball at its own 20 with two timeouts.

Husker QB Dylan Raiola marched the Big Red to the Nebraska 43. On first and 10, Raiola was hit by Max Llewellyn. The ball came lose and Iowa recovered.

Iowa ran the ball up the middle with Johnson twice, burning the clock to just three seconds left. Drew Stevens then capped off the comeback with a 53-yard field goal.

Iowa gained just 164 yards on the day, including only 49 on the ground. Quarterback Jackson Stratton completed 8-of-15 passes for 115 yards and one score.

Nebraska tallied 334 yards of offense. Raiola completed 22-of-32 passes for 190 yards. Emmett Johnson ran for 71 of NU's 144 yards on the ground.

The Huskers now await their bowl destination.

Box score

Nebraska Athletics Notes

  • Iowa won on a game-winning field goal with less than 20 seconds remaining for the second straight season, both by 13-10 margins. With the loss, Nebraska leads the all-time series 30-22-3 while the Hawkeyes own a 10-4 advantage since the Huskers joined the Big Ten Conference.
  • Nebraska held Iowa scoreless in the first half, marking the fourth opponent this season Nebraska has shut out in the first half (Colorado, Purdue, Rutgers). The first-half shutout is Nebraska’s second straight at Kinnick Stadium against Iowa, as the Huskers led 17-0 at halftime in 2022.
  • The Huskers held Iowa to five first downs and 164 total yards.  Both of those are the fewest totals Nebraska has allowed in a Big Ten Conference game. The previous low for first downs allowed by Nebraska in a Big Ten game was nine on three occasions (most recently 2020 at Rutgers), while the previous lost for opponent total offensive yards in a Big Ten game was 175 against Michigan on Nov. 9, 2013.
  • Overall, Nebraska allowed its fewest first downs (5) since Kansas also managed five first downs against Nebraska on Nov. 13, 2010. The Huskers allowed their fewest total yards (164) since holding Northern Illinois to 149 yards on Sept. 16, 2023.
  • Nebraska held Iowa to 115 passing yards, the fewest by an opponent this season. NU has gone 22 consecutive games without allowing 300 passing yards, dating back to last season.  That is the longest streak for the Huskers since a 29-game stretch without allowing 300 passing yards spanning the 2008 to 2010 seasons.
  • 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. He 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.
  • Raiola has completed 71.3 percent of his passes over the past three games, connecting on 77-of-108 passes.
  • Running back Dante Dowdell had a 1-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter to give Nebraska a 10-0 lead. It was his 12th rushing touchdown of the season. His 12 rushing TDs are the most by a Husker running back since Devine Ozigbo also had 12 in 2018. It is the most by any Husker since quarterback Adrian Martinez rushed for 13 touchdowns in 2021.
  • True freshman receiver Jacory Barney Jr. caught three passes for 29 yards, giving him 52 catches this season. He is three catches from JD Spielman’s record for the most receptions by a freshman in school history (Spielman caught 55 passes in 2017).
  • Barney also moved within three catches of the top 10 on Nebraska’s season receptions list. Johnny Rodgers (55 in 1972) and JD Spielman (55 in 2017) are tied for 10th place on that chart.
  • Offensive tackle Bryce Benhart started his 12th straight game this season and the 53rd of his Nebraska career. He tied place-kicker/punter Alex Henery (2007-10) for the most starts in program history.
  • Bryce Benhart and Ty Robinson each played in their 59th career game at Nebraska, extending their school record for games played.
  • Nebraska senior defensive lineman Ty Robinson continued his dominant season with three tackles, a TFL and a quarterback hurry. Robinson finished the regular season with team-leading totals of 6.0 sacks and 11.0 TFLs.
  • Tonight’s game captains were WR Elliott Brown, RB Emmett Johnson, S DeShon Singleton and LB MJ Sherman.

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MORE: McMaster's Big Ten Football Pick'em: Week 14

MORE: McMaster's Big Ten Football Power Rankings After Week 13

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Kaleb Henry
KALEB HENRY

Kaleb Henry is an award-winning sports reporter, covering collegiate athletics since 2014 via radio, podcasting, and digital journalism. His experience with Big Ten Conference teams goes back more than a decade, including time covering programs such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, and USC Trojans. He has contributed to Sports Illustrated since 2021. Kaleb has won multiple awards for his sports coverage from the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. Prior to working in sports journalism, Kaleb was a Division I athlete on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Track and Field team where he discussed NCAA legislation as SIUE's representative to the Ohio Valley Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. 

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