In an atypical move, the Iowa Hawkeyes will travel to Lincoln, Neb. for a Friday game to take on the Cornhuskers. It's an interesting way to start a new rivalry on a big lead-in to rivalry week.
At times this season, it looked like this budding relationship might fizzle as a true rivalry. Nebraska has been ranked virtually all year. It won seven of its first eight games, and even a 17-48 thumping at Wisconsin did little to erase the opinion the Cornhuskers could be representing the Legends Division in Indianapolis.
Nebraska's offense hadn't always been fantastic, but it had nearly always been effective. The defense wasn't quite what was hoped, but it had been good enough.
QB Taylor Martinez still hadn't solved his inconsistency issues, but RB Rex Burkhead had stepped up and taken control of the offensive production. However bland the overall stats may have looked, Nebraska was winning.
What's more, the defense showed up big in a huge 24-3 victory over Michigan State. The Cornhuskers were virtually in the driver's seat for a shot at the Big Ten title.
Iowa, on the other hand, was not.
In only the Hawkeyes' second game, they lost to Iowa State and were manhandled a few weeks later by Penn State. Victories over Northwestern and Indiana did little to instill much confidence in a Hawkeye season that was threatening to go down the tubes. Then they lost to Minnesota, of all teams.
Iowa's offense was good, but inconsistent. QB James Vandenberg was consistent, but not good enough to lead the team into the conference title chase. RB Marcus Coker had trouble with fumbles early, then appeared to struggle with confidence moving forward.
I loathe to even start in on the defense.
The line was failing to get any kind of push up front. The linebackers were good but spread too thin, and the secondary was getting burned deep like it hadn't been in years.
This was a Hawkeye team hanging on by a thread.
Suddenly, things have changed.
Martinez continues to struggle against good defenses. He had his worst passing performance of the year against Michigan, completing only 39 percent of his passes. That came on the heels of the Penn State showdown where he completed 50 percent of his throws.
While that's not great news for Cornhusker fans, it's even worse news that Burkhead has been playing injured and hasn't been able to take control of games the way he had early. In three of his last four games, Burkhead has been held under four yards per carry and only managed 36 yards against the Wolverines.
Meanwhile, the defense continues to be hot-and-cold. It held Penn State to just 14 points, but gave up 28 to Northwestern and sacrificed 45 points to Michigan.
Iowa suddenly appears to be matching up fairly well with the Cornhuskers.
While the defense is still questionable, it did manage to hold Denard Robinson and the Wolverines to just 16 points in a Hawkeye victory, showcasing its reacquired ability to deal with dual-threat quarterbacks.
The linebacker corps is finding its jobs much easier as the line has started getting more pressure into the backfield. Of Iowa's 19 sacks on the year, eight of them have come in just the last three games.
The secondary is still somewhat questionable, but Nebraska isn't a true deep-ball threat.
The offense, meanwhile, is finding better balance than it's had at any point in the year. Over the last four games, Coker has averaged 28 carries, 120 yards, 4.29 yards per carry and 1.5 touchdowns.
WR Marvin McNutt has absolutely exploded. Over the last four games, he has averaged 8.25 catches, 120.75 yards and a touchdown. More important than the stats, however, is how McNutt has come through when the Hawkeyes needed him to step up most.
There are a lot of questions suddenly surrounding this football game.
Which defense will Nebraska unveil? Will it be the one that shut down Michigan State, or will it be the one that rolled over for Michigan?
If it's the former, Iowa will have to rely very heavily on its inconsistent defense to stay in this game and the fledgling rivalry could sputter before it even really starts. If it's the latter, however, the Hawkeyes have more than enough weapons at their disposal to put the Cornhuskers on their heels early and could make the nation sit up and take notice.
Right along with that, what defense will Iowa bring to the table? Will it be like the one that limited the Wolverines? Will it be as effective at getting into the backfield as the one that racked up five sacks against Purdue?
Or will it be the watched the Cyclones run right past them and couldn't seem to find the right end of the field against Michigan State?
If it's the former, Nebraska's offense is struggling enough for Iowa to keep them in check. If it's the latter, the Hawkeyes could be forced to dig their way out of a hole.
On top of all of that, Nebraska comes into this game with an 8-3 overall record while Iowa comes in at 7-4. Both programs are 4-3 in conference play. They're about as evenly matched as you're going to find in terms of their respective records.
Forget about border wars. That stuff doesn't mean nearly as much in today's college football world as it used to. Forget about ancient history. Nobody pays attention to that stuff anymore.
This is a game between two teams with some powerful weapons, but that have also struggled across the board. They were both in contention for their division crown within the last couple of weeks. Both are 2-2 in their last four games and both are fighting for a good bowl game at the end of the season.
I don't care what Vegas says about the odds, I'd put them about even. This game could go either way, depending on which teams show up.
It may not have looked that appetizing a little over a month ago, but this is shaping up to potentially be just the kind of game needed to kick-start a great rivalry.
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