Favorite Hawkeye win over Nebraska

[HawkNorth]

What's your favorite Hawkeye victory over Neb? It's a tough call for me, they're all sweet!

1981: After a 57-0 beatdown the previous year in Lincoln, the Hawkeyes stun #7 Neb 10-7 in Iowa City. Iowa holds Neb without a score until late in the 4th quarter. Signature win in a season that saw the Hawks return to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 23 years.
2013: After a series of one-sided losses to ranked Neb teams, the Hawks go into Lincoln and come out with a dominant 38-17 victory. First Hawk victory over Neb since 1981. Hawkeye senior linebackers Kirksey, Hitchens and Morris dominate all day taking turns tattooing Husker QB Ron Kellogg. Bo Pelini meltdown and horrible fake punt attempt doom Huskers. KVM makes a couple of great catches. Canzieri and Weisman pound the ball.
2015: Hawks cap a historic undefeated regular season by holding off the Huskers 28-20. Tight game until Jordan Canzieri rips off two long TD runs on consecutive plays from scrimmage to stretch the lead. Parker Hesse tips a pass and scores a TD.
2016: Hawks destroy #15 Nebraska 40-10. LeShun Daniels rushes for 158, Wadley for 105 on just 11 carries. Kittle gets two scores. D. King returns a punt for 44. McCarron returns a punt for 29. CJ throws for 3 TD's. A good time is had by all.
2017: Hawks kill Big Red 56-14. After a 14-14 tie at the half, the Hawks come out and blow out Neb with a 28 point third quarter. Wadley rushes for 165 and a score, IKM goes for 90 and a score, Butler scores, Toren Young reaches pay dirt. Josey Jewell has 8 tackles, an interception, a TFL and three pass breakups. ISM returns opening second half kickoff for a TD. Whew!
2018: Huskers wipe out a 28-13 third quarter Iowa lead with a furious comeback and tie the score with 3:22 to play. Nate Stanley hits TJ Hockenson for a critical first down on 4th and 8 from the Neb 37 to set up a dramatic Miguel Recinos game winning FG to clinch the Hawkeye victory in a walkoff 31-28 win. Pandemonium. Mekhi Sargent rushes for 173 yards on 26 carries.

 

[dekhawk]

81. My first year at Iowa. Neb fans were rather arrogant before the game.

 

[cecilB]

2015, a game that was as conservative as could be, more dominant than most realize....the mountain top of a memorable season. I suppose that game would have felt the same if it was any opponent. Next in line would be 1981.

 

[longliveCS40]

2017. Complete domination and a whole lot of fun to watch.

 

[WestIAHawk]

Last year...cause they thought they had it...after Hawks let them back in it...(AND THEY DID LET THEM BACK IN IT), the Hawks kicked all their fans in the nuts...

My real answer is every damn win over debbie is sweet...

 

[TKingpin]

Why is “all of the above” not an option?

It was 2017 for me. Never threw a pass after the first play in the 4th quarter. We were running every play and they knew it. They still couldn’t keep us out of the end zone TWICE!

Fant returns to Nebraska and has a career game.

Total. Complete. Domination.

 

[ROCKY MOUNTAIN HAWK]

As long as Scott Flop remains their coach, there’s going to be many more Hawkeye victories to choose from.

I’ll say Iowa’s 2023 victory in Lincoln on Flop’s last game in Neb.

 

[mvhomerl]

Not sure, but this will be my favorite Nebraska thread.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

I'm gonna go old school.

In 1896, Iowa and Nebraska played on Thanksgiving Day, in Omaha, through a heavy snowstorm. Even after adding an extra 10 minute overtime, the teams had to settle for a 0-0 tie.

Unsatisfied with the weather-afflicted result, both teams agreed to meet again two days later.

This time, Iowa was able to get a 1st half touchdown, which was good enough to earn them a 6-0 win over the Bugeaters.

The win, which didn't count towards their conference record, capped a 7-1-1 season. The previous tie did count and, fortunately, was enough to lock up an outright conference championship, which was the first in school history.

 

[TKingpin]

Thank you, Methuselah, for that eyewitness report! Well done!

 

[anon_i8nzeu2gbf0ba]

It's 1981, and it's not even close. That game turned the Iowa program from two decades of being a Kansas-style doormat into a Big Ten and national power. Everything else is a distant, distant second.

I was there for that 1981 game, and several others more recently, but it would be nearly impossible to ever top that 1981 win given the total context in which it took place.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, an Iowa fan base that hadn't seen an Iowa team with so much as a winning record in 20 years started chanting "Rose Bowl! Rose Bowl! Rose Bowl" in an ironic but hopeful voice. And, of course, those chants turned out to be prophetic.

No, no Iowa-Nebraska game has ever topped that one.

 

[hawkeye54545]

Huh, it's hard to believe Nebby was once ranked they have been so terrible lately.

 

[ZJSARENOTFREE]

It's 1981, and it's not even close. That game turned the Iowa program from two decades of being a Kansas-style doormat into a Big Ten and national power. Everything else is a distant, distant second.

I was there for that 1981 game, and several others more recently, but it would be nearly impossible to ever top that 1981 win given the total context in which it took place.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, an Iowa fan base that hadn't seen an Iowa team with so much as a winning record in 20 years started chanting "Rose Bowl! Rose Bowl! Rose Bowl" in an ironic but hopeful voice. And, of course, those chants turned out to be prophetic.

No, no Iowa-Nebraska game has ever topped that one.

National Power may be a stretch...

21 1999 Big Ten 1 10 0 .091
22 1998 Big Ten 3 8 0 .273
23 1997 Big Ten 7 5 0 .583
24 1996 Big Ten 9 3 0 .750
25 1995 Big Ten 8 4 0 .667
26 1994 Big Ten 5 5 1 .500
27 1993 Big Ten 6 6 0 .500
28 1992 Big Ten 5 7 0 .417
29 1991 Big Ten 10 1 1 .875
30 1990 Big Ten 8 4 0 .667
31 1989 Big Ten 5 6 0 .455
32 1988 Big Ten 6 4 3 .577
33 1987 Big Ten 10 3 0 .769
34 1986 Big Ten 9 3 0 .750
35 1985 Big Ten 10 2 0 .833
36 1984 Big Ten 8 4 1 .654
37 1983 Big Ten 9 3 0 .750
38 1982 Big Ten 8 4 0 .667
39 1981 Big Ten 8 4 0 .667

 

[FlickShagwell]

It's 1981, and it's not even close. That game turned the Iowa program from two decades of being a Kansas-style doormat into a Big Ten and national power. Everything else is a distant, distant second.

I was there for that 1981 game, and several others more recently, but it would be nearly impossible to ever top that 1981 win given the total context in which it took place.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, an Iowa fan base that hadn't seen an Iowa team with so much as a winning record in 20 years started chanting "Rose Bowl! Rose Bowl! Rose Bowl" in an ironic but hopeful voice. And, of course, those chants turned out to be prophetic.

No, no Iowa-Nebraska game has ever topped that one.

That 1981 Iowa team beat the #7, 6, and 5th ranked teams in the country in Nebraska, UCLA, and Michigan, respectively that season.

Nebraska


UCLA


Michigan

 

[MikeT2425]

Used to say, "any win", nut now it's more like asking for favorite win over the Cyclones. Kind of "ho-hum".

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

National Power may be a stretch...

21 1999 Big Ten 1 10 0 .091
22 1998 Big Ten 3 8 0 .273
23 1997 Big Ten 7 5 0 .583
24 1996 Big Ten 9 3 0 .750
25 1995 Big Ten 8 4 0 .667
26 1994 Big Ten 5 5 1 .500
27 1993 Big Ten 6 6 0 .500
28 1992 Big Ten 5 7 0 .417
29 1991 Big Ten 10 1 1 .875
30 1990 Big Ten 8 4 0 .667
31 1989 Big Ten 5 6 0 .455
32 1988 Big Ten 6 4 3 .577
33 1987 Big Ten 10 3 0 .769
34 1986 Big Ten 9 3 0 .750
35 1985 Big Ten 10 2 0 .833
36 1984 Big Ten 8 4 1 .654
37 1983 Big Ten 9 3 0 .750
38 1982 Big Ten 8 4 0 .667
39 1981 Big Ten 8 4 0 .667

Iowa > everyone

 

[grayhair81]

That 1981 Iowa team beat the #7, 6, and 5th ranked teams in the country in Nebraska, UCLA, and Michigan, respectively that season.

Nebraska

View embedded media

UCLA

View embedded media

Michigan

View embedded media

And sandwiched between the Nebbie and UCLA games was a turd sandwich in Ames. I got tickets to that. Had a world class hangover on a hot day and hat to endure that.
But 81 was a magical season. It started the wheel rolling.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Thank you, Methuselah, for that eyewitness report! Well done!

The more you know.jpg

 

[grayhair81]

Only one Nubbie troll so far? They must not be up yet.

 

[anon_i8nzeu2gbf0ba]

National Power may be a stretch...

That 1981 Iowa team beat the #7, 6, and 5th ranked teams in the country in Nebraska, UCLA, and Michigan, respectively that season.

Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, UCLA, USC, and virtually every other "national power" isn't one EVERY year. Look it up. Nor is Iowa. But since 1981, Iowa has been in the mix more often than not, and far more often than any other similar period in Iowa football history.

 

[FlickShagwell]

Only one Nubbie troll so far? They must not be up yet.

Despite the 8 page thread at the top of the Husker Board about KF being the worst coach in college football - seriously, go take a look - they don't care about Iowa. Really. They'll tell you how much they don't care about Iowa for hours at a time.

 

[Hawk Writer]

My favorite one will be this November 2019

 

[NevadaHawk]

1981. That was Hayden's third as the head coach and Iowa fans were hoping for a turn around. That win over the cornsuckers signaled there were better days ahead and that landmark season was sparked by our dominating defense. A very sweet memory.

 

[ZJSARENOTFREE]

Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, UCLA, USC, and virtually every other "national power" isn't one EVERY year. Look it up. Nor is Iowa. But since 1981, Iowa has been in the mix more often than not, and far more often than any other similar period in Iowa football history.

Average over the years listed is 7-5 a season. That is hardly a national power. I agree with you teams aren't that every year, but I don't think anyone outside of Iowa fans think they have ever been any sort of national power.

 

[TKingpin]

The more you know.jpg

I did have another question - since you may have been there - exactly who carved the Sphinx?

 

[BlackNGoldBleeder]

81. My first year at Iowa. Neb fans were rather arrogant before the game.

So, not much has changed in forty years.

 

[NorthDSMHawk]

There has been so many lately they all sort of run together.

 

[KuwaitHawk]

As long as Scott Flop remains their coach, there’s going to be many more Hawkeye victories to choose from.

I’ll say Iowa’s 2023 victory in Lincoln on Flop’s last game in Neb.

It will take that long for kNebby to fire him?

 

[KuwaitHawk]

Only one Nubbie troll so far? They must not be up yet.

They are waiting for the one computer to come back on the net. Power was down.

 

[grayhair81]

Average over the years listed is 7-5 a season. That is hardly a national power. I agree with you teams aren't that every year, but I don't think anyone outside of Iowa fans think they have ever been any sort of national power.

Yeah, I probably wouldn't call the Hawks a national power. Good to slightly above average. And they have been wiping their backsides with your girls regularly. How does it feel to be a doormat for a not national power?

 

[TS568]

As long as Scott Flop remains their coach, there’s going to be many more Hawkeye victories to choose from.

I’ll say Iowa’s 2023 victory in Lincoln on Flop’s last game in Neb.

This. Their administration reportedly already knows Frost is in way over his head but they will give him 5 years because he’s a former player. By 2023 some of the beatdowns we’ll be giving them will make the 2017 massacre look like a nail biter.

 

[TheCDiggity]

2016 for me, nebby comes in ranked and cocky and 2 long TD's broke open the flood gates to a thrashing.

 

[FlickShagwell]

This is as good a thread as any to put this thought that entered my head while mowing the lawn today:

Is Scott Frost just a glorified (and less obnoxious) PJ Fleck?

Fleck took Western Michigan (who’s been really bad this century - they won 9 games in 2008, but otherwise, bad to mediocre) from 1-11 in his first season to 13-1 with a loss to Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl in year 4 and was a hot commodity, ultimately going to Minnesota where he currently has them looking like they did under Glen Mason when they fired him.

Frost went undefeated in year 2 at UCF (who, aside from being terrible the year before he came aboard has had multiple 10+ win seasons since 2007 and Josh Heuple continued that after Frost left proving that winning wasn’t some magic spell that only Scott could cast in Orlando) and was viewed similarly.

Fleck went 5-7 in “year zero,” while Frost went a pants shittingly awful yet hilarious 4-8 in his first season.

Fleck “rows the boat,” obnoxiously calls everything “elite,” and creepily forces recruits to commit by not letting them leave his office, as per numerous Gopher decommits after the fact. Frost doesn’t do these things, but he sure doesn’t mind it if you’re his running back and you run afoul of the law, a trait he picked up from Tom Osborne - Nebraska gonna Nebraska, after all. Wonder how many of his players handguns are in his safe...

Otherwise, I get the same vibe from both these guys. Some success at a mid major and immediately jump to a has-been with some dusty national championship trophies.

Fair comparison?

I actually think that Fleck has a more impressive resume coming into Minny as he went 1-11 in year 1, 8-5 in year 2 and 3 before 13-1 in year 4 at a school that’s sucked for decades. The Fuskers will tell you all about 0-12 the year before Frost got there, but in the last 12 years, UCF has been a monster regardless of who coached there. Fleck legitimately built his program while Frost was just the guy in the driver’s seat when it was as good as it was under George O’leary and Josh Heupel.

 

[Hans81]

Yeah, Fleck and Frost are decent analogies...both obnoxious young coaches that are quite full of themselves.

 

[HawkAlum2002]

2013. When Weisman turned the blackshirts into an black ink blot on their own field was when whatever mental edge Nebraska still might've had after winning a couple close ones in 2011 and 2012 went away for the foreseeable future. I also remember KMM dropping what should've been a TD pass from Rudock and having to settle for a FG. Then we stuffed the fake punt and the very first play after we got it back, Rudock hit him again for a TD to go up two TDs. Almost like Kirk knew right then if we don't beat ourselves, they weren't going to beat us that day.

 

[grayhair81]

This is as good a thread as any to put this thought that entered my head while mowing the lawn today:

Is Scott Frost just a glorified (and less obnoxious) PJ Fleck?

Fleck took Western Michigan (who’s been really bad this century - they won 9 games in 2008, but otherwise, bad to mediocre) from 1-11 in his first season to 13-1 with a loss to Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl in year 4 and was a hot commodity, ultimately going to Minnesota where he currently has them looking like they did under Glen Mason when they fired him.

Frost went undefeated in year 2 at UCF (who, aside from being terrible the year before he came aboard has had multiple 10+ win seasons since 2007 and Josh Heuple continued that after Frost left proving that winning wasn’t some magic spell that only Scott could cast in Orlando) and was viewed similarly.

Fleck went 5-7 in “year zero,” while Frost went a pants shittingly awful yet hilarious 4-8 in his first season.

Fleck “rows the boat,” obnoxiously calls everything “elite,” and creepily forces recruits to commit by not letting them leave his office, as per numerous Gopher decommits after the fact. Frost doesn’t do these things, but he sure doesn’t mind it if you’re his running back and you run afoul of the law, a trait he picked up from Tom Osborne - Nebraska gonna Nebraska, after all. Wonder how many of his players handguns are in his safe...

Otherwise, I get the same vibe from both these guys. Some success at a mid major and immediately jump to a has-been with some dusty national championship trophies.

Fair comparison?

I actually think that Fleck has a more impressive resume coming into Minny as he went 1-11 in year 1, 8-5 in year 2 and 3 before 13-1 in year 4 at a school that’s sucked for decades. The Fuskers will tell you all about 0-12 the year before Frost got there, but in the last 12 years, UCF has been a monster regardless of who coached there. Fleck legitimately built his program while Frost was just the guy in the driver’s seat when it was as good as it was under George O’leary and Josh Heupel.

Fleck actually did more with a LOT less than Frost has done so far. I love how the Nubbies wail about their cupboard being bare for Frost. They signed 26 four star recruits in the 15-18 classes. Their classes were in the low 20s with the worst class being ranked 31. Any of those classes is better than what Iowa pulls in any given year. Frost may or may not pan out but he has shown nothing so far that assures excellence in the future.

 

[mikesright]

All of the victories were sweet. However, getting the 40-10 win in ‘16 when coming into the game, Nebraska was ranked and 9-2, was especially sweet. Lots of Nebraska fans thought they were going to restore the order and instead got knocked the eff back into 4-8 hell

 

[percyland]

Favorite? Not sure. At this point it is getting so constant and predictable that it has kind of taken the fun out of it.

 

[HawkIDrummer]

1981 It was the day that the trajectory of Iowa football changed...and we've never looked back.

 

[rchawk]

Flick, thank you so much for the video of the 1981 game. That was by far my favorite UI-UN game. For you youngsters who have heard about the great Reggie Roby, there is visual confirmation.

And it was a hot day, September season-opener for both teams.

Jerry Hilgenberg and Gene Claussen were good radio announcers. I liked Gene's comment about Jerry not being able to keep still in his seat.

Lou King was 1st-team All Big Ten that year.