The Hawkeyes and the Cornhuskers won’t be strangers when they meet on the gridiron, now that Nebraska has joined the Big Ten Conference starting in 2011. Old Gold checked the record books and learned that the teams have already played 40 games. The rivalry goes back to the Benjamin Harrison administration, when “foot ball” was spelled as two words.
 
Problem is, Old Gold is one of those baby boomers who long believed that Iowa never—not ever—played Nebraska until Sept. 22, 1979, Hayden Fry’s third game as Iowa’s coach. Upset-minded Iowa lost, 24–21, but Nebraska coach Tom Osborn credited the Hawkeyes afterward: “I think Iowa out-coached us today,” he said, according to the Sept. 24, 1979, Daily Iowan.
 
But getting back to the not ever. As it turns out, while Old Gold is wrong, there is a kernel of truth—no pun intended—to the assumption. Before 1979, the Huskers and Hawkeyes hadn’t played for 33 years—not since Iowa’s 21–7 victory in 1946. And it’s been 10 years since their last showdown, a 42–13 loss in Lincoln on Sept. 23, 2000. But starting in 1891, the third season of Iowa football—er, foot ball—the rivalry played out nearly every year (except during the 1920s) until the end of World War II.
 
The 1918 season was particularly noteworthy. Among Iowa’s offensive linemen was the legendary Fred “Duke” Slater, a freshman out of Clinton (Iowa) High School who was named All-American, went on to a pro career, and was elected to the Football Hall of Fame in 1951. The 1918 contest against Nebraska was Slater’s first win for the Hawkeyes—a 12-0 shutout—and Iowa went 6-2-1 that year. The next year was even sweeter—Iowa 18, Nebraska 0—thanks to Slater’s effective blocking, allowing teammate Aubrey Devine to score the touchdowns.
 
Old Gold is honor-bound to note that the Hawkeyes’ all-time record for this rivalry is 12-26-2. But Old Gold will also point out that, in the last decade, Iowa has had two conference championships. That’s two more than the new kids on the block.

—David McCartney, University Archivist

Fred “Duke” Slater, All-American offensive lineman for the Hawkeyes, about 1920.

Source—Iowa Digital Library, F.W. Kent Collection of Photographs, RG 30.01.01, Athletics series, folder “Football Players,” University Archives, Department of Special Collections, University of Iowa Libraries

Sept. 22, 1979

Oct. 12, 1946

Nov. 22, 1913

Iowa-Nebraska football programs.

Source—Department of Athletics Guides, Programs, and Tickets Collection, RG 28.03.03, Football Programs series, University Archives, Department of Special Collections, University of Iowa Libraries.