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Tad Stryker: Something Tangible
Sticking it to your rival is one thing, but beating Iowa at its own game and ending possibly the worst current losing streak in the Nebraska athletic department provided some vindication for Cornhusker players who have endured the disappointment of losing seasons throughout their careers, but kept battling their way toward a distant hope that somehow, it would be worth it.
It was worth it when Garrett Nelson, the man who showed more character in a losing season than any Husker since the post-World War II career of Tom Novak, grabbed the Heroes Trophy and held it aloft on a memorable Black Friday in Kinnick Stadium. You could see it in the face of every Husker player.
Nebraska’s 24-17 win over Iowa not only salvaged something memorable from a painful season, it kept the 7-5 Hawkeyes from clinching a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game, and more importantly, it provided tangible evidence that the worst stretch of Husker football in six decades might possibly be nearing its end. Scoring 17 points off turnovers — something Iowa has made a living doing for the past decade — will do that for you.
This was a win for guys like senior Caleb Tannor, who played his team-record 56th game and had two tackles for loss, including a sack, and for second-string linebacker Eteva Mauga-Clements, who made seven tackles, including the most important one of his career — a strip sack of Iowa quarterback Alex Padilla, recovered by Nelson, which set up the Huskers with a 17-0 halftime lead.
This was a win for Bill Busch, who started his season by stabilizing Nebraska’s woeful special teams, then was reassigned to defensive coordinator after the ouster of Scott Frost and Erik Chinander in September. Busch came up with an aggressive defensive game plan which forced three turnovers, including a victory-clinching interception by Chris Kolarvic in the game’s final minute.
And most notably, this was a win for Mickey Joseph, whose most notable accomplishment during his nine-game run as interim head coach was to keep the team motivated and focused. Although he won only three of those nine, he exuded class and a refreshing no-nonsense attitude. Joseph gave you the feeling that adults were finally in charge of the Nebraska football program once again. His game-management ability is certainly open to question — it likely would improve if Trev Alberts gives him the chance to keep running the program — but there’s no denying he kept the season alive for his players, which is precisely what Alberts asked him to do.
Striking hard and early is typically the best policy in road games, and Nebraska did just that, stopping Iowa on its first two series. Then Trey Palmer took center stage. But first, give Mark Whipple a bit of credit in his final game as a Husker offensive coordinator. He had a good game plan early, using short passes to move the ball and looking for an opportunity to hit the Hawkeyes deep. Iowa’s secondary has taken the initiative all season, but on Black Friday, Casey Thompson and Palmer grabbed control of the game in the first half, and the Huskers used their passing game to gain a slight time-of-possession edge.
Thompson found Palmer behind the Hawkeye secondary and hit him with a perfect strike. The 87-yard touchdown play was Nebraska’s longest since Tommy Armstrong Jr. and Quincy Enunwa combined for their 99-yarder against Georgia in the 2014 Gator Bowl.
Palmer finished what is likely to be his one and only Nebraska season with a flourish. He had a game-high nine catches for 165 yards, and added another TD reception on an 18-yard play early in the second quarter. That catch broke Stanley Morgan’s school record for receiving yards in a single season. Palmer provided the long-ball threat that Nebraska hasn’t shown in an Iowa game since De’Mornay Pierson-El in 2014.
Give the Nebraska offensive line a bit of credit, too; although it was unable to generate a running game, it at least kept the Hawkeye defense from totally disrupting Thompson and the passing game. The Hawkeyes got two sacks, but Whipple’s scheme protected the offensive line about as much as could have been hoped.
But the main story was turnovers. Nebraska got a season-high four takeaways. Nobody dreamed of NU going plus-three in turnovers against iowa, but that (along with avoiding the crushing penalties that plagued the Hawkeyes) gave Nebraska just enough of an edge to win snap its seven-game losing streak to Iowa.
The single biggest play in the game was the muffed punt by Iowa sophomore Arland Bruce that came in the opening moments of the third quarter. Alante Brown recovered it at the Iowa 18-yard line, and three plays later, Casey Thompson threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Washington to stretch the Huskers’ lead to 24-0.
Iowa fought back in game’s final 20 minutes, scoring two touchdowns to cut the lead to 24-14, and when Rahmir Johnson fumbled to set up Iowa with the ball on the Nebraska 27 with 6:03 remaining, it looked like amazingly, the Huskers might find a way to hand this game to the Hawkeyes. But that’s when Busch and the Husker defense stood tallest.
When they absolutely needed to, the Husker defenders did the job, holding the Hawkeyes to a 45-yard field goal, then stopped them on their final two possessions to bring Iowa’s seven-year win streak over the Big Red to a close. In the final six minutes, the Hawks gained less than a yard per play, and got just one first down. The Huskers did it without their two starting inside linebackers and a starting safety. They held Iowa to 274 total yards (3.8 yards per play). Their full-out 60 minutes of defensive effort, coupled with 33 minutes of opportunistic offense, were enough to get the job done.
It was Nebraska’s first win over a Big Ten team that ended its season with a winning record since the 2018 Michigan State game, a 9-6 slugfest played in the snow. One satisfying bite of success at the end of an underachieving season is not enough, but it will make things a lot more tolerable in the coming months.
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