HUSKER FOOTBALL: Iowa Gets Late Field Goal To End Nebraska’s Season

By ERIC OLSON
AP College Football Writer

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP Nov. 29) – Keith Duncan kicked a 48-yard field goal with one second left, giving No. 19 Iowa a 27-24 victory over Nebraska on Friday that leaves the Cornhuskers out of the postseason for a third consecutive season.

The Hawkeyes (9-3, 6-3 Big Ten) overcame a sluggish second half offensively to beat the Cornhuskers (5-7, 3-6) for a fifth straight year and second year in a row on a late field goal. Last year they won on a 41-yarder as time expired.

Iowa, which had its 14-point lead wiped out in the third quarter, started its final possession at its 26 with 32 seconds left. Stanley had a long pass to Nico Ragaini overturned to incomplete on video review, but then completed a pair of 22-yard passes to Ihmir Smith-Marsette and Sam LaPorta to bring on the reliable Duncan.

The Huskers called two timeouts before Duncan drilled the winner down the middle and with plenty of distance.

Nebraska, down 24-10 at half, tied it with back-to-back touchdowns in the third quarter. Luke McCaffrey entered the game for a play in place of quarterback Adrian Martinez, rolled to his left and hit JD Spielman with a perfect 39-yard TD pass.

After the Huskers forced a punt, Martinez was back in and the Huskers played some power football while driving 60 yards for the tying score. The Huskers ran on 12 of 13 plays, the only pass being an 11-yarder to Kade Warner to convert a fourth-and-6 before Wyatt Mazour ran up the middle into the end zone from 9 yards.

Smith-Marsette scored on a 45-yard on a reverse run and ran back a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown as Iowa got out to its lead in the first half. The Hawkeyes had 183 yards on 24 plays over their first five possessions, but they had only 73 yards on the next 26 snaps before their winning drive.

Iowa rushed for 225 yards, its most since going for 351 against Middle Tennessee on Sept. 28, but 100 came on two scoring plays.

Stanley completed 11 of 24 passes for 99 yards, his lowest total since throwing for 86 against Maryland last year. Tyler Goodson ran 13 times for a season-high 116 yards.

Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz moved ahead of the man he replaced, Hayden Fry, on the Big Ten list for career conference wins. Ferentz now has 97, behind only Ohio State’s Woody Hayes (153), Michigan’s Bo Schembechler (143) and the University of Chicago’s Amos Alonzo Stagg (115).

This was the ninth straight Black Friday meeting between Iowa and Nebraska. A Big Ten scheduling change-up has the Huskers playing Minnesota on the day after Thanksgiving the next two years. Iowa-Nebraska will be back on Black Friday in 2022.

THE TAKEAWAY

Iowa: This was a hard-fought win for the Hawkeyes and one they’ll savor because it came against their border rival. Except for the big-play touchdowns, their offense continued to be middling.

Nebraska: The Huskers dropped to 0-6 against Top 25 opponents under second-year coach Scott Frost.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Iowa will stay in the Top 25 thanks to Duncan’s late field goal.