WATCH: Matt Rhule lightning round press conference before Iowa
Matt Rhule will lead Nebraska football into Game No. 12 – the final regular-season game of the year – on Black Friday.
It’s a matchup the Huskers (7-4 overall, 4-4 Big Ten) will enter as home underdogs against Iowa (7-4, 5-3) as the Hawkeyes (-6) opened the week as a near-touchdown favorite on Monday. It marks the third time Nebraska will be a home underdog this season and the fifth time* the Huskers will be underdogs at all in 2025.
*Michigan (-1) and USC (-4.5) closed as favorites for those two matchups in Lincoln. UCLA (-3) and Penn State (-8.5) closed as favorites for those two Husker road games.
The late-morning/early-afternoon game on Black Friday will be the third time Nebraska will be without its starting quarterback, Dylan Raiola, entering the game since the season finale vs. Iowa in 2023. Since that game, the sophomore had started every game as QB1 for the Huskers after making his debut against UTEP in 2024.
That 22-game streak came to a close against UCLA three weeks ago. Rhule and Nebraska will continue to lean on its true freshman starting quarterback, TJ Lateef, as QB1 for the third consecutive game.
Lateef’s first career start – against UCLA – came one week after playing most of the second half in a deflating 21-17 loss to USC in the most significant game of the Rhule Era at Nebraska. Lateef and running back Emmett Johnson paved the way to a key Husker victory, which gave the team seven wins to clinch the program’s best regular-season record since it went 9-3 in 2016.
Then, against Penn State last week on the road, the entire team – offense and defense – was overwhelmed, overmatched and outworked in a blowout loss, 37-10, in State College.
That loss to the Nittany Lions eliminated Nebraska’s opportunity to match that nine-win mark from 2016, but there remains plenty to play for – especially with Iowa coming to town, which will be the first home start of Lateef’s career.
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Opening kickoff in Lincoln is set for 11 a.m. Central Time with the game available to watch live on CBS.
Before the Week 14 matchup gets rolling, Nebraska held its last press conference of Game Week inside Hawks Championship Center on Wednesday.
Rhule took the podium for his weekly lightning-round session with the media as the Nebraska head man gave his final updates, injury reports and additional thoughts on the matchup with Iowa.
Watch and listen to Rhule during the press conference via the video below. You can also check out video and audio of Rhule’s more in-depth comments from his Monday Game Week press conference HERE.
Nebraska coach Matt Rhule:
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