JOHNSTON, Iowa — After a two-year hiatus, it appears Iowa and Nebraska will return to their Black Friday tradition.
The Hawkeyes and Cornhuskers will resume their series on the regular season’s final Friday beginning with the 2022 season, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said on Saturday.
“It sounds like we’re going to rekindle it, right, whatever year that is,” Ferentz said at a Iowa youth camp event in Johnston, Iowa.
Last fall, former Nebraska athletics director Shawn Eichorst and former football coach Mike Riley publicly stated their preference to stop playing on Black Friday. Iowa remained interested in keeping that date. When the Big Ten announced the 2020 and 2021 schedules, league officials switched the Hawkeyes’ season-ending opponent to Wisconsin. Iowa athletics director Gary Barta said he has had surface discussions with Wisconsin athletics director Barry Alvarez about moving those games to Friday.
“I think after that, I think we’re back together and I think it’s maybe a long-term thing,” Ferentz said. “But I thought the last one was long term, too. We saw how that turned out.”