IOWA CITY, Iowa – So people are wondering why Nebraska’s captains refused to shake hands before the coin toss at Kinnick Stadium on Friday night.

Let me try to explain it. They don’t like Iowa.

These Nebraska players did not want to perform athletically in the company of this opponent. They weren’t concerned with respecting the game in a series that, in their view, featured repeated moments of disrespect perpetrated by the Hawkeyes and directed at Nebraska.

The Huskers aren’t fazed by a petty gesture. You are crazy. You’ve had enough. And it’s disingenuous of the Hawkeyes to act like they don’t understand or that this protest came out of the blue.

Nebraska selects game captains before each kickoff. On Friday, Elliott Brown, Emmett Johnson, MJ Sherman and DeShon Singleton took the middle of the field. When the Iowa captains shook hands with the Huskers, a traditional gesture, the Nebraska four didn’t move.

Ope 😂

pic.twitter.com/jTJlQnJOUH

— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) November 30, 2024

“That was a little strange,” Iowa linebacker Jay Higgins said after Iowa’s 13-10 win.

But was that it?

Understand that it is tradition in this series for Iowa to rip the hearts out of the Huskers. It happened again on Friday. Defensive lineman Max Llewellyn sacked Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola and recovered his fumble with 20 seconds to play before Drew Stevens hit a 53-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Huskers, 13-10.

Imagine being kicked in the stomach over and over again and watching the bully cheer in your face. Four times in the last seven years, Iowa has beaten Nebraska on field goals in the final seconds.

Amazingly, last year in Lincoln, Iowa defensive lineman Ethan Hurkett intercepted QB Chubba Purdy in the final 20 seconds and the Hawkeyes won 13-10 on a 38-yard field goal by Marshall Meeder as time expired.

To celebrate recapturing the Freedom Trophy after Nebraska’s only win since 2014 two years ago, Iowa players waved goodbye to the Huskers and their fans and wished them “Merry Christmas” before Nebraska’s seventh straight home bowl season stayed.

It was painful, second-year Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said last week.

In 2019, at Nebraska, Iowa kicker Keith Duncan hit a 48-yard walk-off field goal, then turned to the home bench, wagged his finger and blew kisses to the Huskers.

As Nebraska players arrived at Kinnick Stadium on Friday and moved to the center of the field to gather as a team for prayer, uniformed police officers stood guard over the logo.

There will be no meeting on the 50 yard line. Strange how things turned out this way. pic.twitter.com/fFnhloycx0

– Damon Benning (@damonbenning) November 29, 2024

Nebraska didn’t play dirty against Iowa on Friday. It was a clean game – aside from the Huskers’ special teams blunders, missed assignments in the second half and the late turnover.

They weren’t headhunting. They didn’t try to start fights or commit personal fouls. Such actions, common in rivalry games, would have crossed the line of poor sportsmanship.

But a silent protest before the coin toss as a reminder of the motivation in the game?

Spare us the disingenuous audacity.

Higgins and his teammates either chose not to pay attention or the Hawkeyes knew exactly why Nebraska wanted to send a message that the bullying was over.

None of Nebraska’s game captains were made available to the media.

And the problem is that the strategy backfired on the Huskers.

Nebraska dominated much of the game. It was a shutout until the end of the third quarter, when Iowa was only able to kick a field goal after recovering a blocked punt at the Nebraska 4-yard line. The Huskers held Iowa to 20 yards and one first down in the first half – and only a paltry five first downs in the game.

But Kaleb Johnson rushed for 72 yards, 44 percent of the Hawkeyes’ effort, on the first play of the fourth quarter to tie the score and foreshadow Nebraska’s inevitable collapse.

“Very similar to last year and probably previous years,” Rhule said. “We found a way to lose the game in the end.”

Rhule said he was more than disappointed with the finish. He said he was angry.

“Thanks to them,” said the coach. “These guys have been winning for a long time. They believe. They play the pieces until the end. We have to catch them.”

The Huskers went 6-6 this year and lost five games by a total of 29 points.

In four games, against Ohio State, UCLA, USC and Iowa, they ended up with turnovers and had plenty of time to win or even tie the score. And in the fifth, Raiola missed an open receiver in the end zone that would have given the Huskers the lead before Illinois won in overtime.

Nebraska will accept a bowl invitation next weekend for the first time since 2016. The season is not over yet. But it was defined by those late-game mistakes.

“One game doesn’t define us,” senior defensive lineman Ty Robinson said.

No. But five do.

After losing four games by a field goal and a fifth in overtime last season, the Huskers created the “Chasing 3” mantra. Nebraska built its offseason program and motivational base around the goal of getting three points better.

The irony was in the cold Kinnick air on Friday.

“We had to do what they did,” Rhule said.

He said he didn’t believe in bad luck. “We just have to get better.”

Raiola said he “couldn’t be prouder” of the progress Nebraska has made since Week 1.

“A loss like this doesn’t do justice to the success and progress we’ve made as a team,” the freshman quarterback said.

But progress is largely measured by victories. Against Iowa, Nebraska counts one win in the last decade.

His gesture before Friday’s game wasn’t an affront to the game of football or more than an about-face against Iowa, but it rang hollow.

In the end, when it always comes down to Nebraska playing Iowa, the Huskers failed again.

“It should probably bother people a little bit,” Rhule said.

Rest assured, people are worried.

(Photo: Jeffrey Becker / Imagn Images)