Iowa Opens as Slight Favorite vs. Nebraska

Come November 28, the Iowa Hawkeyes head to Nebraska for their final regular season game of the year. These two teams are coming off completely different weeks, but the Hawkeyes were the lone team to pull out a win. It took everything in their power to beat a Michigan State team that was winless in the Big Ten, but at the end of the day, a win is a win.

Nebraska fell to Penn State, a team Iowa defeated at home a few weeks ago. Sure, the Cornhuskers are without their starting quarterback, but Iowa's sluggish performance against MSU certainly indicated how close people are seeing this game. At this point, Iowa is 4.5 point favorites.

Iowa Heads To Nebraska As 4.5 Point Favorites

Iowa is -4.5 at Nebraska with an over/under of 38.5 on Black Friday.
— Chad Leistikow🆑 (@ChadLeistikow) November 23, 2025

After needing a last-second field goal to get past the now 3-8 Spartans, people are starting to question how good this Iowa team truly is. Their offense looked horrible for three quarters, but fifth-year quarterback Mark Gronowski had the fourth quarter of his life, on senior day, no less. Gronowksi had a few massive throws that led the team to victory, along with a few other key plays.

Nov 22, 2025; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes quarterback Mark Gronowski (11) scrambles for yards as Michigan State Spartans safety Malik Spencer (43) misses the tackle during the fourth quarter at Kinnick Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images | Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

Regardless, Iowa will head to Nebraska as 4.5-point favorites. They've only won two games by fewer than that point total, with one of those being their most recent game against MSU. The other was against Penn State, which just so happened to take down Nebraska by 27.

Nebraska is hosting Iowa, which may have influenced the line, but that doesn't excuse the fact that the Cornhuskers are coming off their most disappointing loss of the year. Everything has gone downhill since QB Dylan Raiola was ruled out for the rest of the season, but they'll be looking to end the year on a win and try to right their wrongs from the Nittany Lions game.

Iowa Loves To Win Big

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— George Barnett (@CoachBarnett_OL) November 23, 2025

While Iowa's biggest blowouts of the year have come at home, they went to Wisconsin on Oct. 11 and shut out the Badgers, 37-0. Keep in mind, the Badgers are coming off a pair of ranked wins, so that game looks much better in hindsight.

Nebraska has yet to lose back-to-back games this season. They've dropped three of their last five, but most of their losses have been close. The PSU game was their most lopsided, and they also lost to Minnesota, 24-6, a team that Iowa beat comfortably, 41-3. It's hard to compare common opponents, but also hard to look past when those are the results.

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