‘No downside to winning’: Hawkeyes locked in to Nebraska with divisional crown in hand
A meaningless rivalry game kind of sounds like an oxymoron, right? But that’s sort of what Iowa’s battle with Nebraska is on Friday. They already have the Big Ten West championship in hand, yet one of their biggest rivals is on the schedule.
Yes, the Heroes Trophy is at stake. But the division has already been decided, so Iowa’s fate is already determined. The key to approaching this battle, is treating it like the 11 other games on their schedule.
“We approach each week the same,” Deacon Hill said. “Put our heads down, work hard, look at the tape, see what’s happening — then apply it to the field.”
“There’s no downside to winning another game,” Mason Richman said. “That’s the thing we’ve been preaching and Coach Ferentz mentioned in the team meeting yesterday. For us, it’s just about moving on to the next game and then our next opportunity to go out there and compete.”
Richman also noted Iowa’s 24-17 loss to Nebraska last year that kept them out of the Big Ten championship still resonates with the team.
“We did a great job last year and then we came to this game and obviously took a step back.” Richman said.
“We know what we signed up for,” Nick Jackson said. “In football, we get 12 games — every game matters so much. And we have another opportunity to play football. And any time we get a chance to play a football game, it’s just… you don’t take that for granted.”
“We both have something to play for,” Nico Ragaini said. “We know they’re going to come in and give us their best shot just like every time you play. They’re a good team. They lost their first two games and then won the next five out of six Big Ten games. That’s pretty impressive.”
“It’s an opportunity to get our 10th win,” Jermari Harris said. “So absolutely to get the Heroes Trophy back. The opportunity to go on the road, get a big win in a hostile environment. And we’re looking forward to an opportunity.”
“I’ve always looked at it as every game is important,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “I know it’s not always that way. When I coached at Worcester Academy, that was the most important thing going on at that given time when we played, and I think it’s just how people are wired. We have every intention of doing all we can to win Friday, knowing it’s going to be really tough.”
“To the other part, with all due respect, I think people don’t understand how tough it is to win games at any level. I had to jump in my car a week ago Monday — eight days ago, had to run out and do something real quick. Brady was on. They got that show with apparently him and Jim Gray, and there’s about a 60-second clip in there, where you wonder why this guy is just the greatest. Just talked about how everything is just so close in the NFL, and people don’t appreciate what it takes. He talked about how the team he played for is going through a tough spell right now.”
“He said it’s an organizational thing. When teams win, there are a lot of people involved. Same thing when they lose. Big picture, he talked about the NFL where it’s geared to bringing you back towards the middle. College football, it’s kind of the same way. It’s hard. It’s hard to win games. I think sometimes we get a little spoiled and we think it’s going to be easy or we’ve done this before so we’ll do it again. It just doesn’t work that way. It’s really competitive.”
Nebraska’s competing for its first bowl-eligible season since 2016. Iowa’s looking for its 10th win — it would be just the fourth 10-win regular season in the Ferentz era. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. in Lincoln this Friday.
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