Iowa 13, Nebraska 10: Four losses

“History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” Mark Twain once said (so the legend goes). The rhyme must have become deafening at this point for Nebraska football, which found itself on the wrong end of a walk-off field goal by an Iowa placekicker fourth Since 2018 (this time by Drew Stevens) and lost to Iowa for the second straight year by a score of 13-10 after a late turnover by Nebraska set up a game-winning Iowa field goal.

Four Downs ends an Iowa-Nebraska game with another absolutely wild ending.

This game was a classic example of Hawkeye Devil Magic, one of those wins where Iowa pulls a win out of nowhere thanks to defense, special teams and good old-fashioned black magic when the offense doesn’t show up. Wins like these were commonplace during Iowa’s improbable 10-win seasons in 2021 and 2023, but we haven’t seen them as often this season given the offensive improvements made under the new offensive coordinator Tim Lester. When Iowa has won games this season, it’s usually because the offense (or at least the running portion of the offense) performed exceptionally well.

That wasn’t the case on Friday evening. Nebraska outgained Iowa by 334 yards to 164 and had 20 first downs to Iowa’s five. Nebraska nearly doubled Iowa’s time of possession – 39:01 to 20:59 – converting 8 of 17 third downs. Iowa failed to convert on a third down in the game.

Despite boasting the conference’s best rushing attack, Iowa ran for just 49 yards on 26 attempts (1.9 YPC) on Friday, which is 165 yards below its season average. Kaleb Johnson, the Big Ten’s top running back, had just 45 yards on 17 carries in the game.

Jackson Stratton, making his second career start, went 8 of 15 for 115 yards and a touchdown through the air, but his performance was far more edgy than last week. He had a hard time finding open receivers or getting the ball out in a timely manner and threw a few passes into the dirt. His most productive pass of the game – a 72-yard catch-and-run from Kaleb Johnson, which was also Iowa’s only offensive touchdown of the game And the source of nearly half of his total offensive yards in the game – was complete the result of an incredible individual performance from Johnson.

Johnson’s agility, his ability to break tackles, and his speed in the open field are what absolutely make this play, not the short backwards pass that Stratton throws to Johnson. Even though he was continually slowed down as a rusher, Johnson still found a way to have a massive impact on the game when he finally managed to put the ball in space.

This was another game that Iowa won despite it because of the crime and not because of it. And honestly, there’s no one in the country better at winning games like this than Iowa.

As mentioned above, Nebraska was noticeably better than Iowa on offense, owned the ball for almost twice as long, and was far more effective at sustaining drives. Still, they were only able to score 10 points because, although Iowa’s defense bent often throughout the game, it rarely broke. Nebraska’s only touchdown came on a drive just before halftime.

The Huskers’ other attacks into Iowa territory ended with a made field goal (in the first quarter) and a missed field goal (on a drive just after halftime, when Nebraska had the opportunity to go up 13-0 or 17-0 in to take the lead). on the Hawkeyes) and a punt from the Iowa 40-yard line in the fourth quarter. The Huskers only had two three-point drives the entire game (compared to six for Iowa), but were only able to create a handful of legitimate scoring opportunities against Iowa.

Iowa’s defensive line came up with several critical stops – the first four combined for four sacks and seven tackles for loss, big negative plays that often derailed Nebraska’s drives. Ethan Hurkett had two of Iowa’s four sacks and was a threat in the first quarter, while no play was bigger than Max Llewellyn’s strip sack and fumble recovery in the final minute of Friday’s game.

Llewellyn’s play came just moments after Sebastian Castro forced a fumble from Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson – but Johnson luckily fell on the ball to recover. Iowa needed a strong defensive attack on that final Nebraska drive – Iowa’s overtime prospects looked shaky given the offense’s struggles all night – and the defense more than held up its end of the bargain.

In addition to the defensive line, praise also goes to Jay Higgins, who made his last appearance at Kinnick Stadium an unforgettable experience. Higgins, just weeks removed from a serious hamstring injury, put up another whopping stat line: 12 tackles, one tackle for loss and two quarterback hurries. Higgins has been Iowa’s undisputed defensive leader for the past two seasons and delivered another memorable performance here.

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The special teams final memory of this game will be very fond, as it was another game-winning field goal by an Iowa placekicker that beat Nebraska. But the special teams in this game had a lot of ups and downs for the Hawkeyes.

Hold:

– Rhys Dakin punted the ball nine times (his most since also attempting nine punts against Iowa State) but had five punts that traveled less than 40 yards…

– …although one of them went down at the 5-yard line

– Kaden Wetjen had a 32-yard kickoff return and a 25-yard punt return…

– …but there was also some miscommunication with Max White on a kickoff return that resulted in neither player catching it and Iowa having to frantically retrieve the ball in the end zone for a touchback.

– Two of the game’s three biggest plays came on special teams: Stevens’ game-winning 53-yard field goal and the fumbled punt returned by John Nestor that gave Iowa the lead at the Nebraska 4-yard line and scored Iowa’s first points of the game game

Overall, it was a very strange day full of ups and downs for Iowa’s special teams, but the big positives will undoubtedly be the big takeaways from this game.

After all, it’s scary that Iowa beat Nebraska with a game-winning walk-off field goal for the fourth time since 2018, but it’s even more absurd how similar this 13-10 win over the Huskers was last year 13-10 win over Nebraska in Lincoln.

Like this year, Iowa struggled to find an effective offense last year against Nebraska, with another backup starter at QB in Deacon Hill. Like this year, Iowa needed a defensive lineman who could force a key turnover late in the game and give Iowa a chance for a game-winning kick.

Last year it was Ethan Hurkett with an interception, this year it was Max Llewellyn with the strip sack and fumble recovery. And of course both games ended with walk-off field goals – Marshall Meeder last year (ironically, he filled in for Stevens because he had several miscues) and Drew Stevens this year.

WATCH: Drew Stevens helps Iowa get out of Nebraska again

When it comes to close games in this series, Iowa is the unstoppable force and Nebraska is the very moving object; The Hawkeyes simply find ways to snatch victory from defeat, while the Cornhuskers have become experts at finding unlikely ways to lose games.