Has an Iowa team with a losing record ever beat a Nebraska team with a winning record??
Since you're so obsessed with knowing the answer to this question, the answer is yes...............
In 1898, the Iowa Hawkeyes went 3-4-2 as a Midwestern college independent with wins over Upper Iowa, Simpson.......and 8-3 Nebraska.
The Hawkeyes defeated the Bugeaters, 6-5, in the season finale.
Despite starting 6-0 on the season, the Bugeaters would struggle down the stretch taking Ls to late 1800s powerhouses such as Kansas City Medics (24-0), Drake (6-5) and then Iowa to finish the season 8-3.
The loss sent the Bugeaters into a spiral the following season as they would go just 1-7-1, earning a win over Lincoln High School and a revenge tie against those powerhouse KC Medics, but then taking another 24-0 loss to the Medics later in the season, along with losses to such teams as South Dakota and Grinnell College.
Iowa, meanwhile, used the 6-5 win as a springboard into the 1899 season as the Hawkeyes would go 8-0-1, with the lone tie a 5-5 affair on the road against the Amos Alonzo Stagg-led Big Ten Champion Chicago Maroons, a team that went 16-0-2 on the year. That Iowa team would also only surrender 11 points total on the season, winning all but two of their games by shutout.
If you wanna get into the weeds a bit more, Iowa went 4-4 in 1930, picking up a 12-7 home win over a Nebraska team that went 4-3-2. So technically not a team with a losing record, but also not a winning record as well.....
And in back to back seasons in 1943 and 1944, Iowa earned their only win of those seasons over Nebraska teams that finished just 2-6 both seasons. The Hawkeyes won the 1943 contest in Lincoln, 33-13, and the 1944 contest in Iowa City, 27-6.
This was also during WWII, so several rosters around the midwest, including Iowa's and Nebraska’s, were heavily affected by the loss of players joining the war effort, with many of the best players enlisting to play with the various service programs that sprouted up during WWII. One notable program, in particular, was Iowa Pre-Flight, which essentially shared the campus with Iowa, and was among the top college football programs during that time period, going 26-5 over 3 seasons while finishing 2nd and 6th in the AP poll in their final two seasons.