‘Woulda-coulda-shoulda’ costs Huskers in another one-score loss to Iowa on Black Friday | Football

Entering Friday, the Hawkeyes averaged 6.2 yards per rush and 244 per game on the ground over their five-game winning streak against NU. On Friday: 2.9 and 129. The Huskers entered dead last in third-down defense, yielding 54.7% in their first four games. Iowa converted just 4-of-14.

“We knew what kind of game we were going to get into with Iowa,” said sophomore inside linebacker Luke Reimer, who finished with a team-best 12 tackles. “They were just going to run the ball and we had to stop the run and stop the ball. I thought we did an OK job, but obviously not enough.”

Iowa opened up an early 10-0 lead thanks in large part to a huge advantage in field position. It started its first three drives at its own 32, its own 44 and the NU 46. Late in the second quarter, Nebraska held Iowa to a field goal at the end of a 12-play drive that kept the game within 13-6.

Even that deficit felt like a missed opportunity, however, considering Nebraska settled for field goals the first two times it drove into the red zone.

NU capitalized in the middle of the game, though, knotting the score at 13 just before halftime and then shrugging off a season-long bugaboo and taking the first drive of the third quarter right down the field for a go-ahead score on a 12-yard Rahmir Johnson touchdown run.

Iowa responded with a 14-play scoring drive of its own, then notched its first three-and-out before a 48-yard field goal from Duncan gave the Hawkeyes the lead back at 23-20 on the first play of the fourth quarter.