Friday's Match-Up: Nebraska at Iowa

Nebraska (4-7, 3-5 Big Ten) at Iowa (7-4, 4-4)

Friday, 11 a.m., Kinnick Stadium

TV: FOX (Brian Custer, Ben Leber, Jen Hale)

WHAT’S AT STAKE: Consider this Nebraska’s bowl game in an emotional, up-and-down season that currently has the Huskers playing like a bowl team, only without the qualifications. What better way to end the first season of the Scott Frost era than by ending a three-game losing skid to conference rival Iowa? A victory would mean the Huskers won five of their final six games, with the lone loss in that span by five points at then-No. 8 Ohio State. Iowa enters the game after a 63-0 trouncing of Illinois, but the Hawkeyes had lost three straight games prior to that in a season they didn’t meet preseason expectations.

KEY STATISTIC: Nebraska freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez has 2,910 yards of total offense, and needs 90 yards against Iowa to record the seventh 3,000-yard total offense season in school history. He would be the first by a freshman, and just the second by an underclassmen.  

PLAYERS TO WATCH: Iowa defensive end A.J. Epensesa leads the team and ties for second in the Big Ten with 8.5 sacks. … defensive end Anthony Nelson is tied for sixth in the Big Ten with 7.5 sacks, and the 16 combined sacks are the most of any pair of teammates in the Big Ten. … Quarterback Nate Stanley has thrown 21 touchdown passes, the third most in the conference. His 47 touchdown passes over the last two seasons are the second-most ever in school history over a two-year span. … Since taking over the starting running back position, Nebraska senior Devine Ozigbo has surpassed 100 rushing yards in five of eight games. He and Wisconsin’s Johnathan Taylor are the only two backs in the Big Ten with four 150-yard games this season. … Linebacker Mohmaed Barry (below) is the first Nebraska player with six double-figure tackle games in a season since Will Compton in 2012. With 101 tackles, Barry is the first Husker to crack the century mark in the season stat since Zaire Anderson had 103 tackles in 2014.

WHEN NEBRASKA HAS THE BALL: Nebraska just won a game without scoring a touchdown for the first time since 1937. That 9-6 victory came against a stout Michigan State defense, and Iowa is every bit as stout. The Hawkeyes rank second in the Big Ten in scoring defense (16.5), rushing defense (99.5), passing defense (180.1), and total defense (279.5). Iowa’s rushing defense ranks eighth in the country, and its scoring defense ranks ninth. “They're very stout up front,” Nebraska offensive coordinator Troy Walters said. “They have 6-7, 6-6, 6-7 defensive linemen. They're aggressive, active. They create pressure, they really want to create pressure with four guys and then on the back end they're very sound. They don't do a lot, but what they do, they do well. They play together.” Iowa is opportunistic in the secondary. The Hawkeyes have 17 interceptions, the most in the Big Ten and second-most in the nation. What’s more, 15 of those interceptions have come in the last seven games, when strong safety Geno Stone entered the starting lineup and Amani Hooker moved from safety to outside linebacker.

WHEN IOWA HAS THE BALL: Remember, the Hawkeyes, more than anyone in the Big Ten, like to use their tight ends. Noah Fant has 19 career touchdowns, more than any other tight end in Iowa history, which is saying something. Another tight end, T.J. Hockenson, has a team-best 663 receiving yards on a team-best 41 receptions, with six receiving touchdowns. And senior Keegan Render paces an offensive line that’s allowed a mere 13 sacks, fewest in the Big Ten. “The offensive line does a good job of really knowing what their assignments are and executing, and then the tight ends cause you some problems,” Nebraska defensive coordinator Erik Chinander said. “They’ve got a couple two or three guys they can put in there; they all block really well, and they can all run routes really well so. They cause some problems in the run game. If you're going to try and cover those guys, and then if you try to load up the box and stop the run game, they're going to beat you in the pass, You have to have a good plan to take those tight ends away."

NEBRASKA WINS IF ... it continues its trend of cleaner football, wins the turnover battle and has better offensive success in less-than-ideal forecast weather than it did in last week’s game. Suffice it to say the Huskers’ recent surge has caught Iowa’s eye. The Hawkeyes aren’t overlooking Nebraska, meaning the Huskers, so very hungry to end the season on a winning note, have to play smart and be sharp. Expect a tussle.

BY THE NUMBERS

29: Consecutive seasons the Huskers have now played on the day after Thanksgiving, a streak that began with a 45-10 loss at Oklahoma in 1990. This is the eighth straight meeting with Iowa on the day after Thanksgiving, and in 2020, Minnesota will become the fourth such opponent during this current streak, which also includes Colorado.

1989: The last year Nebraska didn’t play a football game the day after Thanksgiving. The Huskers ended the regular season with a 42-25 home victory over Oklahoma the Saturday before Thanksgiving in a game that wasn’t televised because Oklahoma was on NCAA probation in the first season post-Barry Switzer.

24: Yards senior receiver Stanley Morgan Jr. needs on Friday to set the Nebraska career receiving yardage record. Morgan has 2,666 career yards, which trails only Kenny Bell on the career charts. Morgan passed Bell last week on the career receptions chart with 182.
Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.