Obligatory "Is Iowa a Rival" Thread
- Thread starter Mavric
- Start date
Hayseed
New member
We have a different definition of rival. To me it's the team you want to beat the most, like Oklahoma, but yeah it helps to beat them once in a while before you call them a rival. I still think the Iowa 'rivalry' is a media fabrication.
broganreynik
New member
Personally, I think Northwestern is our rival. Not only because the games have been close, but they still claim to be NU when clearly they are NW and we are NU.
Also, the two teams could play each year for the rites to wear an ’N’ on the helmets the next time they meet. Eff stupid corporate trophies; play for the N on your helmet.
Also, the two teams could play each year for the rites to wear an ’N’ on the helmets the next time they meet. Eff stupid corporate trophies; play for the N on your helmet.
Scarlet Overkill
New member
Jason Sitoke
New member
That wasn’t an Iowa fan. He’s the sucker who got swindled out of a teenth of meth for that jacket.
knapplc
Active member
I don't understand Nebraska's obsession with having a "rival."
We don't need a rival. Every team does not have a rival. Rivalries are something that develop over time, organically. That is not what's happening here. And it sucks.
The main reason this Iowa "rivalry" talk happens every year is because the major news outlets that cover Nebraska football have a huge footprint in Iowa. A huge, HUGE chunk of their audience roots for Iowa, and they have to sell stories to that audience. So they stoke this fire that burns not-so-brightly for most Husker fans to further their own ends. And most fans aren't discerning enough to grasp that, so they just blithely follow along.
To understand why Iowa may or may not be a rival, we need to understand who and what we think Nebraska is.
Nebraska is a team that has won five national championships in the modern era. We have two legendary coaches, hall-of-famers, who have won multiple national championships each, both in the last 50 years. We have three Heisman Trophy winners in that span. I don't even know how many conference championships. Or divisional championships. A lot, each. Nebraska is one of the top five winningest programs in college football. Ever. We are a Baron of the sport. A pillar.
None of the above is an exaggeration. None is hyperbole.
So let's understand who and what Iowa is. Until 2011, we didn't play them regularly. In the modern era (1965-present) Iowa has been a perennial mid-tier team in the Big Ten. They have no national championships to their name. They have no Heisman Trophy winners. They have no coaches that Nebraska would rather have. They are not in a more enviable position than Nebraska, unless you count the worst period of contemporary Nebraska football, in which Iowa has a better record.
But there's a problem with that metric. Because that is not how Nebraska Fan measures themselves or their team. If you want to claim Iowa as a true rival, you have to accept that what Iowa is or has is what Nebraska wants, or wants to be.
And that is decidedly not the case. And it has not been the case since Nebraska joined the Big Ten, or even before that.
And anyone making the claim that Nebraska aspires to be what Iowa is fundamentally is lying to themselves. Because we endeavor to be regularly relevant on the national stage, frequently compete for the conference title, and occasionally compete for a national championship.
If you claim that's not what Nebraska Football is, or wants to be, you're lying to yourself.
And when you acquiesce to that concept, you cannot claim that Iowa is our rival. Because they are not that, they are not Nebraska's barrier to that, and they never have been that. Ever.
Iowa is no more Nebraska's rival than Minnesota. Or Northwestern. Or Wisconsin.
Iowa may be *a* rival. And that's fine. They're in our division, we play every year, we want to beat them.
But they are not *our* rival. They are not the hurdle we must overcome to achieve our goals. They're just another hurdle.
Finally - and sadly, for those who think Iowa is our rival - Iowa does not consider us to be their rival. They never have. They dislike us, they want to beat us, and they have disdain for us. But that is not a special or unique thing for Iowa Fan. They feel the same way about Wisconsin and Minnesota, and far moreso toward them than toward us.
This rivalry talk is dumb and cheap. It is not reciprocated, and it is forced and inorganic.
It is no different than when Dan McCarney decided on a whim that Nebraska was Colorado's rival in the 1980s.
Nebraska Fan disdained that designation. It was laughable.
And now we want to be Colorado, and make that same claim?
Ugh. No.
For god's sake, let's have more dignity than that.
We don't need a rival. Every team does not have a rival. Rivalries are something that develop over time, organically. That is not what's happening here. And it sucks.
The main reason this Iowa "rivalry" talk happens every year is because the major news outlets that cover Nebraska football have a huge footprint in Iowa. A huge, HUGE chunk of their audience roots for Iowa, and they have to sell stories to that audience. So they stoke this fire that burns not-so-brightly for most Husker fans to further their own ends. And most fans aren't discerning enough to grasp that, so they just blithely follow along.
To understand why Iowa may or may not be a rival, we need to understand who and what we think Nebraska is.
Nebraska is a team that has won five national championships in the modern era. We have two legendary coaches, hall-of-famers, who have won multiple national championships each, both in the last 50 years. We have three Heisman Trophy winners in that span. I don't even know how many conference championships. Or divisional championships. A lot, each. Nebraska is one of the top five winningest programs in college football. Ever. We are a Baron of the sport. A pillar.
None of the above is an exaggeration. None is hyperbole.
So let's understand who and what Iowa is. Until 2011, we didn't play them regularly. In the modern era (1965-present) Iowa has been a perennial mid-tier team in the Big Ten. They have no national championships to their name. They have no Heisman Trophy winners. They have no coaches that Nebraska would rather have. They are not in a more enviable position than Nebraska, unless you count the worst period of contemporary Nebraska football, in which Iowa has a better record.
But there's a problem with that metric. Because that is not how Nebraska Fan measures themselves or their team. If you want to claim Iowa as a true rival, you have to accept that what Iowa is or has is what Nebraska wants, or wants to be.
And that is decidedly not the case. And it has not been the case since Nebraska joined the Big Ten, or even before that.
And anyone making the claim that Nebraska aspires to be what Iowa is fundamentally is lying to themselves. Because we endeavor to be regularly relevant on the national stage, frequently compete for the conference title, and occasionally compete for a national championship.
If you claim that's not what Nebraska Football is, or wants to be, you're lying to yourself.
And when you acquiesce to that concept, you cannot claim that Iowa is our rival. Because they are not that, they are not Nebraska's barrier to that, and they never have been that. Ever.
Iowa is no more Nebraska's rival than Minnesota. Or Northwestern. Or Wisconsin.
Iowa may be *a* rival. And that's fine. They're in our division, we play every year, we want to beat them.
But they are not *our* rival. They are not the hurdle we must overcome to achieve our goals. They're just another hurdle.
Finally - and sadly, for those who think Iowa is our rival - Iowa does not consider us to be their rival. They never have. They dislike us, they want to beat us, and they have disdain for us. But that is not a special or unique thing for Iowa Fan. They feel the same way about Wisconsin and Minnesota, and far moreso toward them than toward us.
This rivalry talk is dumb and cheap. It is not reciprocated, and it is forced and inorganic.
It is no different than when Dan McCarney decided on a whim that Nebraska was Colorado's rival in the 1980s.
Nebraska Fan disdained that designation. It was laughable.
And now we want to be Colorado, and make that same claim?
Ugh. No.
For god's sake, let's have more dignity than that.
secretasianman
New member
secretasianman
New member
Nebraska fans are used to a “rivalry of respect” with Oklahoma. Two teams with similar history who battled nearly every year for the conference crown.
Nebraska fans are not used to a rivalry drawn on good old fashioned hate. That’s Iowa.
Nebraska fans are not used to a rivalry drawn on good old fashioned hate. That’s Iowa.
Xmas32
New member
This is well said.
Iowa to me is like what Kansas State was in the Big 8/Big 12 days after they got over the hump in 1998 and beat Nebraska for the first time in ages. It's a heightened level of disgust.
Red Five
New member
This OU rivalry on “respect” is revisionist history. It was pure hatred in the 70s and 80s. Switzer was the biggest cheater in CFB outside of the old SWC.
Hans Gruber
New member
Is Iowa a rival to Nebraska? Kind of. It's getting there. Look, it's never going to perfect like Oklahoma was. We just need to accept that Nebraska will never have another Oklahoma again.
I can come up with a scenario that essentially would make the two full-blooded rivals for the next decade. It will only to take two games over the next year and one week.
2018 game next week: Nebraska comes out and pummels Iowa like they did to Colorado in 2005. Nebraska scores late, goes for two and gets it. Nebraska beats Iowa in Iowa City 46-14. Most Nebraska fans mock Iowa after the thrashing and say Iowa may never beat Nebraska again.
2019 game in a year and one week: Nebraska enters at 9-2 and ranked around the top 10. Iowa enters at 7-4 enduring a standard Kirk Ferentz ho-hum year. Nebraska would clinch the west division with a win. They don't win though. Iowa rolls into Lincoln and stuns Nebraska 24-20 after the Hawkeye D has a goal line stand in the final minutes to preserve the win. Iowa fans mock Nebraska about how they failed to win the division again and that they never will again.
This scenario makes Iowa the biggest rival for most Nebraska fans for the immediate future. Not forever. but for at least a while. And the more games like the two above and the further entrenched they become as rivals.
I can come up with a scenario that essentially would make the two full-blooded rivals for the next decade. It will only to take two games over the next year and one week.
2018 game next week: Nebraska comes out and pummels Iowa like they did to Colorado in 2005. Nebraska scores late, goes for two and gets it. Nebraska beats Iowa in Iowa City 46-14. Most Nebraska fans mock Iowa after the thrashing and say Iowa may never beat Nebraska again.
2019 game in a year and one week: Nebraska enters at 9-2 and ranked around the top 10. Iowa enters at 7-4 enduring a standard Kirk Ferentz ho-hum year. Nebraska would clinch the west division with a win. They don't win though. Iowa rolls into Lincoln and stuns Nebraska 24-20 after the Hawkeye D has a goal line stand in the final minutes to preserve the win. Iowa fans mock Nebraska about how they failed to win the division again and that they never will again.
This scenario makes Iowa the biggest rival for most Nebraska fans for the immediate future. Not forever. but for at least a while. And the more games like the two above and the further entrenched they become as rivals.