Iowa-Nebraska football series now has legit bad blood, a legit good thing

All true rivalries are organic.

You can’t produce them by using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or growth stimulants.

When Nebraska began Big Ten football play in 2011, the conference let the Huskers keep their annual Black Friday date and substituted Iowa for Colorado as their opponent. Before Colorado, it had been Oklahoma. Nebraska’s Black Friday tradition dates to 1990.

Many of us thought Nebraska-Iowa on the day after Thanksgiving would instantly be a huge deal, the two neighboring schools with a Big Ten day to themselves and a network television time slot.

It wasn’t. For one thing, the two programs hadn’t met in 11 years, and clashed only six times between 1947 and 2000. Iowa football had zero Black Friday tradition.

It felt forced and a little off for a few years. Gray, cold Friday mornings. Far fewer students in the stands because of the holiday break and pockets of empty seats at both locations no matter the attendance figures they claimed.

But time takes time. Huskers-Hawkeyes has evolved into a genuine feud.

The indomitable George Kittle was on Scott Van Pelt’s ESPN SportsCenter telecast Monday after his San Francisco 49ers’ victory over Carolina, shredding former Nebraska/NFL linebacker Will Compton.

Former Hawkeye Kittle, whose wonderful NFL career was enhanced even more Monday by his 6-catch, 78-yard effort, got a text from podcaster Compton forecasting Nebraska glory and Iowa failure when the teams collide Friday in Lincoln.

Knowing how to make good television, Van Pelt egged on Kittle to turn up the juice. Kittle, a professional wrestler disguised as a tight end, took the cue and ran with it like he was about to bowl over another poor Carolina defender.

"Hey, Will Compton, didn't really appreciate your voice memo on the day of my Monday night football game, talking crap to me about Nebraska-Iowa," Kittle shouted in mock seriousness.

“That’s the type of thing Nebraska does. They take cheap shots. Hey, I’m preparing for a Monday night football game on national television and you’re coming to me about Iowa-Nebraska? That means you’re scared. You’re terrified.You lost by 30, at Penn State? They just fired their coach and you lost by 30? Are you kidding me?

“Iowa’s going to come in there, run the ball down your throat, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Sit on the bus that doesn’t go anywhere and shut your mouth.”

Compton’s immediate social media reply was “Not surprised by Kittle taking shots at me & the Huskers on national television while I’m trying to keep my head above water. Only Iowa guys. I’d literally never spew nonsense like that on a platform like ESPN. Disgusting.”

Alrighty then! There’s also the fact that while Iowa has won eight of the last nine meetings between the two and the last six in Nebraska, the last seven games were decided by one score. Incredibly, four were won by Iowa on a field goal with either no time or one second remaining.

That has given Iowa fans a lot of fuel to berate the Huskers, and has aggravated Big Red to no end. You know Nebraska wants this game badly on Friday, and you know the Hawkeyes would love to keep the Huskers under their thumbs.

Last year, Nebraska captains wouldn’t shake hands with Iowa’s at the midfield pregame coin-flip. That was prominently mentioned by Hawkeye linebackers Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson in postgame interviews.

“So that was a little weird,” Higgins said in one of his more-gracious remarks. The Iowa football social media accounts posted video of the non-handshakes later that day.

“It’s GREAT to be a HAWKEYE!,” Iowa special teams coach LeVar Woods replied to the post.

Defensive coordinator Phil Parker, who spends about as much time on social media as he does in Bulgaria, had this sly take on X:

“Some rivalries are hard to grasp,” he wrote on a post with a photo of Iowa defensive backs showing off the traveling trophy in their dressing room and an emoji of a handshake.

Nebraska Coach Matt Rhule tried to tamp things down this week, saying “I respect them, and I respect the way they play, I respect their coaches, and I respect Phil Parker more than probably any other coach in college football, so there's no bad blood for me at least.”

There is, though, for all involved. And that’s good. This is a rivalry game now, a real one.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com