I have covered the Iowa and Nebraska football teams since the early 90’s; I have followed both for as long as I can remember. My first memory of the rivalry takes me back to September 12, 1981 as I was sitting in my parent’s car in Aspinwall, IA listening to the game on WHO. I remember Jim Zabel going nuts as an unranked Iowa team knocked off the7th ranked Huskers 10-7.
I get asked all the time who I think is better. That’s a very complicated question and one that really needs a lot of explaining. Look at the all time series, Nebraska leads 26-12-3; the last Iowa win was the victory in 1981. Nebraska won in 1982, 1999 and 2000. This was a rivalry when the series started back in 1891, but these neighboring state schools have only played each other 6 times since 1979 with the Huskers holding 5-1 edge in the match up.
Spring practice is getting ready to start and Nebraska is entering the Big 10 Conference which means the border war is renewed and that’s why this blog and future website has been created. Every year we get to watch what I think will be one of the best rivalry games not just in the Big 10 but the country.
Iowa fans have a lot to be excited about, let’s face it; over the last 10 years the Hawks have been even if not better than the Huskers. Kirk Ferentz arrived in 1999; Nebraska is uncharacteristically on its 3rd head coach since then.
A year to year comparison of the programs will change from year to year, up and down for both teams much like the stock market. However when you look at both programs as a whole, Nebraska is in a completely different class than Iowa, an ELITE class. Now before you Hawk fans click the X at the top of your window, listen to my rational.
College football as been using polls to choose its National Champion since 1936. Did you know, since 1936 on 30 different teams have won national championships? 30! This means there are over 90 division one schools that haven’t won a national title. This is an elite group, much like the Presidents Club. And it’s not easy to get in, the last new member of the National Championship Club, Florida in 1996. The Gators have won two more since then. This year’s National Champion, Auburn was already a member; the Tigers won their first title in 1957.
Since 1936, Nebraska has 5 national championships, that ties them with Ohio State and Miami and only Alabama, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and USC have more. Iowa finished 2nd in the AP poll in 1958 and 1960, after winning the 2010 Orange Bowl, the Hawks finished ranked 7th in the AP and Coaches poll.
The addition of Nebraska to the Big 10 gives the conference more national championships than any other league. 20 overall when you count the Huskers 4 from the Big 8 and 1 from the Big 12 and Penn State’s 2 as an independent. Until Iowa can add to this list, the Hawks will always be in a different class when it comes to comparing programs.
Big Ten National Champions
Nebraska | 5 |
Ohio State | 5 |
Minnesota | 4 |
Michigan | 2 |
Michigan State | 2 |
Penn State | 2 |
The National Championship Elite Class (Programs) Since 1936
Alabama-8 | Notre Dame-8 | Oklahoma-7 | USC-7 | Nebraska-5 |
Ohio State-5 | Miami-5 | Minnesota-4 | Texas-4 | Florida-3 |
LSU-3 | Army-2 | Auburn-2 | Florida State-2 | Michigan-2 |
Michigan St.-2 | Penn St.-2 | Pittsburgh-2 | Tennessee-2 | Colorado-1 |
Georgia Tech-1 | BYU-1 | Clemson-1 | Georgia-1 | UCLA-1 |
Maryland-1 | Syracuse-1 | Texas A&M-1 | TCU-1 | Washington-1 |
Okay, you’ve looked over the list and you are thinking Army? It won 3 in-a-row from 1944-1946, but we know West Point no longer has the emphasis on football as it once did. Some of these teams have been up, some have been down but they all belong to and elite class, a class of national champions and this is what set these teams a part from the rest of college football.
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