Four Questions for Nebraska Football Heading Into the Black Friday Showdown Against Iowa

The Nebraska football team will head into its season finale against Iowa with perhaps a bit more uncertainty than anyone would have hoped for. After starting 5-1 for the second consecutive season, the Big Red has once again run into some roadblocks in the back half of the schedule. After the 37-10 pounding at the hands of Penn State, the Huskers have a chance to right the ship heading into the bowl game, in what has become a massive game against the Hawkeyes.

How well does this Nebraska team match up against Iowa?

Nebraska has struggled to stop the run this season, as just about everyone knows at this point. Iowa’s offense doesn’t exactly jump off the page (as usual), but it’s much improved over previous years, and they’ve been getting solid quarterback play from Mark Gronowski, who is a threat to run. I guess it was too much to hope the Hawkeyes would just always be starting a backup quarterback, converted from another position, against the Huskers.

As always, the Iowa defense is among the best in the nation. Phil Parker’s unit is in the top 10 nationally in total defense and scoring defense, and top 15 in rushing defense and passing defense. And those numbers haven’t been puffed up by the usual slate of offensively challenged, former Big Ten West opponents; they’ve played Indiana, Oregon, USC, and Iowa State, not to mention the fact that they beat the Penn State team that just mauled Nebraska.

On paper, this is not a great matchup for the Huskers. Rhule and his coaching staff will probably have to do their best coaching job of the year to put the Big Red in a position to win.

Will Dana Holgorsen empty the bag of tricks?

Dana Holgorsen has been an upgrade for the Nebraska offense. There are certainly questions about what Rhule and Holgorsen ultimately want the identity of this offense to be, and there are things we’d like to see them do better next year. But, the 2025 offense has been the best we’ve seen of any of Matt Rhule’s three years at the helm in Lincoln.

That said, I thought we might see a bit more in the way of trick plays and creative concepts once Holgorsen took over the playcalling. And now, it’s Iowa week. Common Fans are dying to get a win against the hated Hawkeyes, and a W would really help the narrative that the train is still on the tracks in year three under Matt Rhule. We’ve seen Heinrich Haarberg line up under center, only to lunge forward for a tush push or hand the ball off to Emmett Johnson. Has that been setting up a trick play? Is there something more the extremely athletic, very fast former QB can do? We saw Lincoln Riley’s Trojans run a couple of trick plays: a flea flicker for a big gain, and another nifty little play to get a game-tying two point conversion. Will Holgorsen have anything similar dialed up and ready to go?

How much does this one game mean?

After losing to Penn State in the manner that they did, I would argue this game is massive for Matt Rhule. Win, and the Huskers are 8-4, a full two games better than last season, with a chance at a ninth win in the bowl game. Lose, and the boys in red will fall to 7-5, and will need a bowl win to avoid finishing the season with the exact same record as last season (7-6). There’s also the added dynamic that it’s Iowa, winners of nine out of the last ten against Nebraska. Some of those losses have been among the most inexplicable, annoying, frustrating, terrible, awful losses in Nebraska history. Frankly, the Huskers had no business losing some of those games (last year’s included!). It has to stop.

It’s funny to think the perception of the season can swing so dramatically on one game, but I genuinely believe that’s where we are. Rhule could have bought himself some more leeway by winning just one of Michigan, Minnesota, USC, or Penn State. The fact that the Huskers fell short in all of those makes the game against the Hawkeyes that much more important.

Can the Huskers finally get the Hawkeye off their back?

So, can the Big Red get the big W on Black Friday? I’ll be honest, I don’t think this is the greatest matchup for the Huskers, for all the reasons mentioned above. Iowa’s defense might be even better than the Penn State unit that only gave up 10 points to Nebraska less than a week ago. And their offense has more life than any Iowa squad we’ve seen in recent years, to go along with the aforementioned running quarterback. By contrast, going into last year, I had a high amount of confidence that Nebraska matched up well with the boys from Iowa City, and had a good shot to get the win (which they should have done). This year feels different.

All that said, it’s Black Friday, it’s a rivalry game, and all bets are off. This game is almost always a rock fight that goes down to the wire, and I expect it to be again. Can the Huskers make that one extra play (or avoid that one extra mistake) when they need it? Can they find a way to get over the hump? Common Fans from Scottsbluff to South Sioux City sure hope so.

Is beef an acceptable alternative to turkey?

Bonus question. Sometimes I pose these questions without providing an answer; they’re just food for thought. In this case, I will say unequivocally that I believe beef is absolutely an acceptable alternative to turkey. In recent years, we in the Birkel household have grilled ribeyes for Thanksgiving, and this year we will be making a chuck roast. With all due respect to all the turkey lovers out there, I just don’t like it. Please know, you can still be a patriotic American and enthusiastic Common Fan without eating turkey. There are other alternatives.

In all seriousness, I want to send a big thank you to all the readers out there, along with all the Common Fan Podcast watchers and listeners. It’s been another thoroughly enjoyable season, and we couldn’t do it without you. Now let’s finish the season with a couple of Ws (and some Nebraska beef)!

And as always, GBR for LIFE!

Agree? Disagree? Tell us what you think, Common Fans. We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email at commonfangbr@gmail.com or find us on YouTube.

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