Incredible stat illustrates Iowa football dominance vs Nebraska

Iowa owns Nebraska.

The numbers show it. The tape shows it. And Friday's 40-16 beatdown of the Cornhuskers in front of a sold-out Memorial Stadium was just the latest example. The Hawkeyes snatched Nebraska's soul, pouring it on in the second half to pull away from an overrated and overmatched Cornhuskers squad.

In Friday's beatdown, Iowa set some official and unofficial records. Mark Gronowski became the Hawkeyes' single-season rushing yards (491) leader for a quarterback. And head coach Kirk Ferentz won his seventh Big Ten game at Memorial Stadium, putting him amongst some "elite" Nebraska coaching company.

With his seventh Big Ten victory inside Memorial Stadium, Ferentz has more conference wins at that stadium than four other previous or current Nebraska head coaches. Bo Pelini had 12 Big Ten conference wins at Memorial Stadium in his tenure at Nebraska.

But, Ferentz's seven wins puts him ahead of Matt Rhule, Scott Frost, and Mike Riley, who each only had or have six conference wins at Memorial Stadium.

It's an absolutely insane stat, considering Ferentz and the Hawkeyes only play Nebraska in Lincoln once every other year. Rhule, Frost, and Riley each had at least three years in charge of the Cornhuskers, giving them plenty of opportunities to stack conference home wins. The fact that Ferentz has more wins in Lincoln than they did is a hilarious stat for Iowa fans and an embarrassing fact for Nebraska.

This stat just goes to show the absolute ineptitude of the Nebraska football program over the last decade. A once proud and elite program has dissolved into a mediocre Big Ten program. The Cornhuskers are basically Rutgers with a little more NIL money at this point. And they're now officially the little brother in this rivalry series.

Eleven years ago, Pelini said it was time to evaluate where Iowa was as a program after Nebraska beat the Hawkeyes in overtime. Ferentz has only lost to Nebraska once since then, and is undefeated at Kinnick West (known to some as Memorial Stadium).

It sounds to me like it might be time to evaluate where Nebraska is as a program. And Cornhusker fans aren't going to like what that evaluation reveals: a middle-of-the-pack, mediocre, overrated, stuck-in-the-past football program.

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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Incredible stat illustrates Iowa football dominance vs Nebraska