Iowa and Nebraska meet on Friday in Lincoln for the first time as Big Ten foes. The Hawks are 7-4 after posting their first road win of the season at Purdue while the 8-3 Huskers will be looking to shake off the effects of last weeks 45-17 loss at Michigan.
Nebraska coach Bo Pelini says the preparation goes a long way and having the right attitude on the field is important as no one plays a perfect game. There won’t be nearly as much on the line in this game as both teams hoped for heading into the season but Pelini expects this to develop into a rivalry.
Pelini says Iowa is close and there are a lot of people from the state of Iowa that live in Nebraska and vice-versa, so he says it is a natural rivalry. Nebraska’s big advantage is a run game that averages 224 yards per game against an Iowa defense that is yielding 154 yards on the ground per contest.
That’s the most an Iowa defense has given up against the run since the 2000 team that finished 3-9. They will need to kind of effort from the defensive line they got in last week’s win at Purdue. Polini says they play good defense and are sound in what they do.
Pelini expects a hard fought game as he says Iowa is a physical football team that plays the game the right way.