Notes from HawkeyeReport.com . . .

OK, looks like Urban Meyer is going to be the guy at Ohio State. Add Meyer to Nebraska, and, yes, the Big Ten recruiting waters are red, red, red. Literally and figuratively.

In the weekly post from HawkeyeReport.com's Tom Kakert, he discusses Iowa vs. Nebraska off the field and in the living rooms of recruits.

The Missouri River serves as the dividing line between the states of Iowa and Nebraska. It also serves a dividing line when it comes to recruiting for the University of Iowa and the University of Nebraska.

While the two schools meet for the first time on the football field as conference foes Friday in Lincoln, Iowa and Nebraska surprisingly have yet to do battle, much anyway, on the recruiting trail.

Looking back at the recruiting classes that both schools have signed since 2008, the number of common offers that committed to one of the two schools is relatively small. The 2008 class was the high water mark of the head-to-head battles with Nebraska winning four with commitments from Sean Fisher, Ben Cotton, Collins Okafor and Will Compton. Meanwhile, Iowa won three battles, landing James Vandenberg, Shaun Prater, and Riley Reiff.

One of those players committed to both schools before eventually signing with Iowa. In April of 2007, Reiff made a verbal commitment to the Hawkeyes. Then, in October, he switched to Nebraska. Eventually in late December, he was back with the Hawkeyes.

That recruiting battle might have been the best one in the past five years between the schools.

In 2010, the two schools battled for six prospects, splitting with three apiece. No real battles took place other than Tobi Okuyemi from Minnesota, who made official visits to both schools before pledging to the Cornhuskers.

One of the big reasons for the lack of conflict and competition on the recruiting trail between the two schools comes down to the fact that until this year they competed in different conferences. With Nebraska residing in the Big 12, they focused quite a bit of attention to the south and specifically to the state of Texas. Their current roster has a whopping 21 players from the Lone Star State.

That focus was well served when the Cornhuskers played several games in Texas every year in the Big 12 members. Let's face it, prospects want to play games close to home and Nebraska offered that opportunity.

Iowa has always tried to recruit the state of Texas, especially when native Texan Hayden Fry patrolled the sidelines. In recent years, however, that number has dwindled. In fact, the only Texans on Iowa's roster were 2011 recruits.

Another fertile area for the Cornhuskers in recent years has been in California, where Iowa rarely visits. Nebraska has eight Californians on their roster, while Iowa has one walk-on from the state.

Will that change as Nebraska's conference affiliation begins to take hold?

“I'll be curious to see if they do shift more in this direction. I'm sure they will,” Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday. “They've had such a history in Texas and California, to name two places, I'd imagine they got a lot of good connections. They'll probably keep that alive as well.”

Ferentz also acknowledged that when it comes to recruiting, prospects generally like to either play close to home or at a school that allows them to play several games in their home state. That could lead to more head-to-head battles between the Hawkeyes and the Huskers on the recruiting trail as their territories continue to change.

Where would Iowa and Nebraska likely meet up on the recruiting trail?

Omaha has been a place that Iowa has dipped into over the years with guys like Seth Olsen, Adam Shada, Jeff Tarpinian, Shaun Prater and Cole Fisher. For the most part, those were players that Nebraska either didn't recruit or didn't get involved with until later in the process.

The Cornhuskers will dip into Iowa from time to time. They landed Ben Cotton a few years ago, but that was because his father returned to coaching at Nebraska. They also picked up Davenport North prep Marques Simmons, who eventually transferred to Iowa to finish up his career.

Two places to really keep a close eye on for Iowa/Nebraska recruiting battles will be Illinois and Ohio.

Going back to the days of Fry, Iowa has always made an effort to recruit Ohio. From the days of the Stoops brothers coming out of Youngstown, Ohio, to more recent times with the successful careers of Ricky Stanzi and Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, Iowa has had some significant contributors from the Buckeye State.

It's also a state that Coach Bo Pelini is always going to recruit. Pelini is a Youngstown native and still has strong ties around the state. The Huskers currently have five former Ohio preps on their roster and have a verbal commitment from a four-star offensive lineman from Akron in the 2012 class.

The other emerging battleground state could be Illinois. Iowa's success in the Land of Lincoln has been well documented over the years. Already in the 2012 class of 2012, the Hawkeyes have four verbal commitments and they could add to that list before signing day in Feb. 1.

Nebraska picked up a four-star offensive lineman from Illinois last year and has a verbal commitment this year from Jordan Westerkamp, a wide receiver who also held an offer from the Hawkeyes.

The rivalry on the field will certainly heat up in the coming years as Iowa and Nebraska meet in the final game of the season, but look for the battle off the field will be picking up steam.