Nebraska game personal for Fisher

Make friends: Get to SB Nation’s team blog chats for this game at Black Heart Gold Pants for Iowa fans and Corn Nation for Nebraska fans. That would be something positive to build on during the first full offseason of the Mike Riley era.

The adjustments: Nebraska un-did some of its good by allowing gains of 29, 68 and 25 on consecutive plays in the third quarter.

Since joining the Big Ten, Nebraska has been Iowa’s biggest rival. If they can somehow remain in the top four in the college football playoff rankings, the Hawkeyes would earn one of the coveted semifinal berths.

“I don’t sense it as much with this team because they’ve been so level headed and even keel all year”, Long said.

“Some of the things that are coming out of their camp toward us aren’t necessarily the nicest things, and we’re just going to go out there and do our job”, Iowa wide receiver Matt VandeBerg said.

LJS: In your opinion, is Iowa really that drastically improved from last season, or has this turnaround been about fine-tuning some details – meaning Iowa wasn’t that far off in the first place? That being said, I doubted the Hawkeyes for the first five or six weeks of this season and I’ve learned my lesson. During the last meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Hawkeyes won, 38-17.

“I gave them seven points and put them in great position to, honestly, win the game”, Armstrong said. That includes a 40-point output at Northwestern and back-to-back 40-point performances against Minnesota and Purdue. Nebraska needs to keep its intensity through the fourth quarter against the Hawkeyes, who average 10.1 points in the final 15 minutes of regulation. Iowa was able to take advantage of a weak Purdue defensive line as Jordan Canzeri and LeShun Daniels Jr. combined for 126 yards and three rushing touchdowns. But one game stands between them, and that’s going to be one of the better ones on Friday’s slate. Recently, Nebraska’s pass defense has seen gains. “They recruit well, they’ve had great teams in the past”.

The real surprise for the Hawkeyes has been their passing attack.

Nebraska is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Iowa. Matt VandeBerg leads the team in catches with 56 and yards with 591. Beathard rolled out and found tight end George Kittle for a 10-yard TD pass to make it 7-0 Iowa. How did they overcome the lack of production against Nebraska?

“This is the one I’ll have to live with forever, ” Fisher said. Iowa doesn’t commit penalties and they rarely turn the ball over. “I think that everybody is obviously aware of the ramifications for them”, said Riley.

Iowa has already clinched a spot in the Big Ten title game next week. His program – sturdy, functional, a bit of a gas-guzzler stylistically – was operating to diminishing returns until this season, when quarterback C.J. Beathard, three running backs, an unheralded offensive line and a lunch-pail defense secured close wins over Pittsburgh and Wisconsin and have since gone on a tear.

The Hawkeyes and Huskers have found plenty of reasons to dislike each other and the week leading up to Friday’s game in Lincoln hasn’t been any different.