Iowa football: The history of The Heroes Game rivalry vs Nebraska
By Andrew Wade
The Iowa football team ends their regular season Friday in their annual Heroes Game rivalry against Nebraska. Here is the short history of this rivalry.
Since Nebraska moved to the Big Ten before the 2011 season, the Iowa football team playing the Cornhuskers has become a fixture in Big Ten league play. Unfortunately, this game hasn’t been much of a rivalry in recent years as Iowa owns a 4-1 record over the past five seasons including three wins by greater than twenty points.
It hasn’t always been that way, however, and despite these two teams not being in the same conference until recently, they do have somewhat of a lengthy series history dating back to 1891 when Iowa and Nebraska squared off in their first ever matchup–a matchup that Iowa would win 22-0.
From that first game until 2013, Iowa would only beat Nebraska eleven times, which spans 122 years. In that period of time, Nebraska rattled off 28 wins which helped build Nebraska’s series advantage to 29-16-3 over the Hawkeyes.
Keep in mind that most of Nebraska’s wins didn’t even come during their powerhouse days in the early 90’s. In fact, Nebraska and Iowa only squared off once in the 90’s with Nebraska beating first year head coach Kirk Ferentz’s Iowa football team 42-7 in Iowa City.
From a program standpoint, Nebraska is one of the few teams that holds a statistical advantage in terms of program excellence. The Huskers lead the Iowa football team in bowl games, all-time wins, NFL draft picks, Heisman winners, national championships, and All-Americans. The lone category that Iowa holds an advantage in is bowl record where Iowa is .500 in their 31 bowls and Nebraska is .491 in their 53 bowl games.
This year’s game is somewhat unique in the context behind the game. In recent years, the Nebraska Cornhuskers have come into the last game of the season on somewhat of a downward spiral after starting the year with high expectations. In both 2013 and 2016 Nebraska either started the season ranked or were ranked heading into The Heroes Game rivalry. The Iowa football team proceeded to put the hurt on the Huskers 38-17 and 40-10 respectively.
Tides have turned, however, and this year, it’s the Iowa Hawkeyes that had high expectations this season before seeing their season go up in flames amid a three-game losing streak. Nebraska, meanwhile, got off to a terrible start to begin the season but have picked up their play as of late winning four of their last five games. To make matters worse, Nebraska is no longer bowl eligible so the only thing they have to play for is to end Iowa’s disappointing season on a sour note much like Iowa has done the past few years.