Nebraska heading to New York for bowl game | KLIN

Nebraska football will play in a bowl game for the first time since Dec. 2016. That bowl game is a blast from an even more distant past. The Huskers announced Sunday that they will be playing in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 28 against Boston College of the ACC. Matt Rhule’s first bowl game as Nebraska’s head coach will come one block north from where Bob Devaney coached his first bowl game and where NU got its first bowl win, a 36-34 victory in the Gotham Bowl over Miami at old Yankee Stadium to cap a 9-2 1962 season in Devaney’s first year as the Huskers’ head coach.

The Pinstripe Bowl began in 2010, the second year of the new Yankee Stadium, and for the last 10 years has featured a Big Ten team. Nebraska played its way into the bowl game with a 6-6 record, including victories over Colorado and Wisconsin. Meanwhile, NU faces the Eagles for the first time in school history. Under former Penn State head Bill O’Brien, BC went 7-5 including a non-conference win over Michigan State. The Eagles won three of their last four games to clinch bowl eligibility.

The game continues a surprisingly rich history for Nebraska in the New York City metro. In addition to the Gotham Bowl, Nebraska participated in the Kickoff Classic in 1983, 1988 and 1994. The game was annually staged at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., and the Huskers went 3-0 with wins over Penn State, Texas A&M and West Virginia in the game. In addition, Nebraska is 7-0 all-time against Big Ten member Rutgers, including 3-0 in Piscataway, N.J., and a 1920 win over the Scarlet Knights at the Polo Grounds, just across the Harlem River from the sites of both old and new Yankee Stadium.

The matchup is only the second in Division I college football this season that pits two former NFL head coaches against each other. O’Brien was the head coach of the Houston Texans, while Rhule coached the Carolina Panthers. The only other such matchup in college football this year was Nebraska’s win over Rutgers and former Tampa Bay coach, Greg Schiano.

Tickets are on sale now for Husker Athletic Fund members and Nebraska Football season ticket holders based on their HAF ranking. If tickets remain after that priority sale, the public can purchase beginning Wednesday at 10 a.m. All tickets will be sold online and delivered via mobile phone. Tickets range from $45 to $150.

The game will kickoff at 11 a.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 7 a.m. on KLIN and Froggy 98.