The Iowa Hawkeyes and Nebraska Cornhuskers first played in 1891 and despite being in separate conferences for the next 120 years, still found time to play each other 41 times before the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2011. For most of that time, Nebraska was the bigger name in college football and highly ranked in their meetings from the late 70’s to the year 2000. The two border schools became a fixed Black Friday rivalry in the new super-sized Big Ten but early on the Huskers continued their winning
ways against the Hawkeyes. An Iowa win in 2013 was cathartic, but after a disastrous collapse in 2014 which led to a 37-34 overtime win for Nebraska, it certainly felt like Iowa had far to go if they wanted the nascent rivalry to become competitive.
Nebraska fired coach Bo Pelini after the 2014 season with AD Shawn Eichorst infamously stating he had to “evaluate where Iowa was” as a program, insinuating that beating Iowa was not enough of a peg for their coach to hang his hat. Entering Black Friday 2015, Iowa was a perfect 11-0 and ranked #4 in the nation and the Huskers were a middling 5-6. With a Big Ten championship game looming, the Hawkeyes had to prove Eichorst wrong and cement a perfect regular season campaign.
The first quarter was…not great. Not for Iowa and not really for Nebraska, just an ugly fifteen minutes in which both teams traded punts amid windy and cold conditions. The biggest highlight was a truly awful Tommy Armstrong Jr. throw which was easily intercepted by Cole Fisher. It was fortuitous for Iowa as they Marshall Koehn had just shanked a rugby-style punt for only 17 yards the play before. The pick saved Koehn’s bacon and gave the Hawks another chance to flip the field. Which they did four plays later after they went three and out. Like I said, it was an ugly quarter.
Things got more interesting in the second quarter, when Iowa finally got the scoring started with a CJ Beathard rollout touchdown pass to George Kittle. This came after the best drive of the game to that point for either team, six plays and 66 yards. The Iowa defense would hold the Huskers to only one first down on their next drive, but Desmond King, who sat out the first quarter due to a team rules violation, muffed the punt and gave Nebraska the ball back at the Hawkeye 31. Within three plays, the Huskers were on the board with a touchdown of their own on a Imani Cross run.
Iowa’s offense couldn’t respond, as they’d only go four short plays before they’d have to give it back to Nebraska. It was at that point, however, that the Hawkeye defense came up with another interception, this one by Parker Hesse, who tipped Armstrong’s pass up into the air, reeled it back in, and walked the few yards in for a pick six.
Nebraska couldn’t respond on their following drive but neither could Iowa build on their momentum as the minutes ticked away in the first half. Iowa’s final drive of the second quarter was kept alive by a targeting call on Husker linebacker Nate Gerry after a wicked hit on Tevaun Smith. Gerry would be ejected but Smith would stay in the game. Even after the awarded yards, Iowa couldn’t sustain the drive and would punt back to Nebraska. The Huskers would kick a field goal right before halftime to make the midpoint score 14-10 Iowa.
As drab as the first quarter started, the third opened with a veritable flurry of scoring excitement. After the Huskers went three and out on their first drive, Iowa used only two plays to find the end zone after a big Desmond King punt return (and late hit penalty on Nebraska) and a 29-yard Jordan Canzeri touchdown run. With a two-score lead Iowa had a little breathing room. But that room wouldn’t last long. The Huskers marched 75 yards on 11 plays to cut the lead to 21-17 on another Imani Cross touchdown run.
Not to be outdone, Iowa countered with a touchdown drive of their own. This one a single play: a 68-yard Canzeri run to steal momentum back from Nebraska. On only ten carries, Canzeri had himself 130 yards and two scores and Iowa had its two-score lead back.
Tommy Armstrong Jr. did what he did best on Nebraska’s next drive, throwing his third interception of the game, this one to Greg Mabin on a desperation heave into double coverage. The turnover didn’t lead to any points, but after a long Beathard pass to Kittle, it allowed Iowa to flip the field back onto Nebraska and lock the game into a punt-off into the fourth quarter.
After Nebraska held Iowa to a punt deep in Hawkeye territory, things felt a little dicey. Despite 11-point lead with twelve minutes to play, there was still plenty of time for the Huskers to spoil Iowa’s perfect year. Nebraska made a game of it, driving all the way to the Iowa 18 before going for it on fourth down. Needing only one yard you’d think the Huskers would pound the ball. Iowa certainly thought so, loading up the box with eight defenders, only to see Armstrong throw deep to the end zone where receiver Brandon Reilly couldn’t make the grab.
The play was a choose-your-own-adventure of questionable decisions for Nebraska. They could have opted for the field goal to cut their deficit to a single score. With six and a half minutes in the game there would’ve been plenty of time to tie it up. The play call was also suspect, as color commentator Kelly Stouffer rightly pointed out a deep fade in the end zone when all you needed was one yard. Go for a run or quicker pass. Armstrong had a much higher probability option available to his left, with the tight end wide open just beyond the line to gain. It sure seemed like Armstrong zeroed in on Reilly from the start regardless of other options. Maybe he was hoping for the DPI call, but his loss was Iowa’s gain and it remained a two-score affair.
Going into conservative mode, Iowa went three and out with only a yard to show for it and giving it back to Nebraska at midfield. But Armstrong wasn’t done giving Iowa Black Friday deals, as he would toss his fourth interception of the day, this one to The Outlaw. Jewell would return it back to the original line of scrimmage and steal even more life from the Huskers.
Once again, conservative Iowa couldn’t get a first down to drain the clock and…once again, punted back to Nebraska. With just over three minutes to go and starting at his own 20, Armstrong led his team into field goal territory to finally get it back to within a score with 1:17 left to play. There was still a chance for them to ruin Iowa’s dream season, they’d just need to recover an onside kick, score a touchdown, and convert a two-point conversion just to tie the game. They’d need all those things to go right.
They couldn’t get the first one, as Henry Krieger-Coble recovered the onside kick to solidify the win. The Hawkeyes had survived Nebraska’s late push and earned their school record 12th win and a perfect regular season. The team raced to the end zone to reclaim the Heroes Trophy and nothing else happened after that day, no other games were played until the 2016 season opener.
Since Eichorst’s comments, Iowa has owned the series, going 9-1 and being the more nationally relevant program during that stretch, reaching the conference championship game three times while the Huskers would only reach the postseason twice. With a perfect season on the line in 2015, Iowa proved where their program was and flipped the script on their neighbors across the Missouri River.
