Nebraska is finally comfortable playing Big Ten West football as the division comes to an end

There are other division games this week, but Iowa-Nebraska is the one. The perfect ending. The only way it could end.

Nebraska kicker Tristan Alvano attempts a field goal at Wisconsin Nov. 18, 2023 | Courtesy Nebraska Athletics

Here we are at the end. The last days of the Big Ten West, our own college football Jante.¹

Nebraska football wasn’t born in Jante. It moved there. Perhaps that is why the Huskers didn’t win the parochial division of punts and field position once in 10 seasons. The only way to happily exist in Janta is by following the rules, and the rules were an adjustment for non-native Nebraska.

This isn’t even all that surprising. Over the 50 seasons prior to Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten in 2011, the Huskers won 474 games, 38 more than the next-closest program. Nebraska left that life behind for a community where Rule No. 1 is Do not think you are anything special.

There are nine more rules in Jante, but they’re all variations of that same idea. If you wanted to combine them all into one sentence, just think of a sentence that’s the opposite of “We’re hoping the Big Ten will have to modify their system for us.” That was said nearly six years ago, but it was the Huskers’ struggle for the past decade. For various reasons at various times to various degrees, Nebraska remained a cultural outsider. It just never could follow all the rules.

This presents two ironies on the final weekend before Jante is annexed and then bulldozed so the Big Ten can complete its coast-to-coast football superhighway.

One, to become bowl eligible for the fourth time in the 10-year history of the division Nebraska must beat West champ Iowa. The Hawkeyes, under Kirk Ferentz, aren’t just excellent at following the rules, they’ve developed a style of football that actively enforces them. Do not imagine yourself better than we who will punt on fourth-and-1 from the opponents’ 39 while trailing by one midway through the fourth quarter because that punt will stick at the 1, our homegrown, pork-fed defensive tackle will beat your butter sculpture of a guard and a safety provides just enough points without being ostentatious.

Two, Nebraska is the closest it has ever been to being a citizen in good standing of Jante by playing classically Western football. Statistically speaking, the Huskers and Hawkeyes are virtually the same. Yet, Iowa is 9-2 and Nebraska is 5-6. Why? The Huskers know the rules as well as ever under Matt Rhule and, more importantly, respect them, but they still violate one or two.² Thus, the Huskers are 1-4 in one-score games while the Hawkeyes are 4-1 in the nail-biters and will be the last team to represent Jante in Indianapolis.³

All of which is to say, there are other Big Ten West games this week, but this is the one. The perfect ending. The only way it could end.

Let’s get into the gory details of what the Huskers’ need to do on Black Friday.