Fun Facts: Iowa-Nebraska, separated by a river named for a third state

Welcome to the Fun Facts series-finale. Twenty tidbits. Share them with your family, friends and fellow fun-lovers. Today, the subject is Iowa-Nebraska football. Let’s gooooo!

1. Iowa has won its last six games at Nebraska. No team had done that after 1960. The Huskers were 15-2-1 at home against the Hawkeyes before the current streak.

2. The Huskers outgained the Hawkeyes by 170 yards last year and still lost.

3. Iowa made field goals with either :00 or :01 left to beat Nebraska four times since 2018. Four different kickers were involved.

4. The Hawkeyes have won their last 12 road-finales and covered the spread in 11 of them.

5. Nebraska Coach Matt Rhule was born in New York City. Others born there include Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, Eddie Murphy, Robert DeNiro, Barbra Streisand, Howard Stern, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Scarlett Johansson, Billy Joel, Michael Jordan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Charlie Sheen, Mary Tyler Moore, Jon Stewart, Anthony Bourdain, Lou Reed, Tupac Shakur and Theodore Roosevelt.

6. Huskers starting freshman quarterback TJ Lateef hasn’t thrown an interception in 71 passes.

7. The last seven games in the Iowa-Nebraska series have been decided by one score.

8. Nebraska has allowed 23 points in first-quarters, 88 in third-quarters. Iowa has scored 91 points in first-quarters, 36 in third-quarters.

9. In the Huskers’ four losses, they allowed 286 rushing yards to Michigan, 186 to Minnesota, 202 to USC, and 231 to Penn State. A running back of each of those teams had at least 129 rushing yards in those games.

10. Ross Tucker will be CBS’ color commentator for this game. He is on Princeton University’s 150th Anniversary All-Time Team.

11. The Huskers have several players who are Iowans. They are from Sioux City, Cedar Falls, Crawfordsville, Logan, Lester and Eldridge.

12. With seven wins, Iowa is assured of remaining one of just four teams without a losing record since 2014. The others are Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State.

13. Iowa’s Mark Gronowski threw his 100th career touchdown pass last week against Michigan State.

14. Kirk Ferentz’s first game as Iowa’s head coach was a 42-7 home nonconference loss to Nebraska in 1999 and his Hawkeyes lost the first four times they played the Huskers. His teams are 10-3 against Nebraska since.

15. There are still people who pronounce Ferentz’s last name “Fuh-RENTZ” instead of “FAIR-untz.”

16. The Big Ten-champion Nebraska volleyball team is ranked No. 1 in the nation. It is 28-0, with 3-game sweeps in 23 of its wins.

17. Cedar Rapids, Neb., is 127 miles northwest of Omaha. It’s between Primrose and Belgrade.

18. Now for the musical portion of Fun Facts: This is called the Heroes Game. “Heroes” was one of David Bowie’s most-beloved songs. He sang it at his final full concert, in Germany 21 years ago.

19. Bruce Springsteen’s song “Nebraska” ends with “Well, sir I guess there's just a meanness in this world.”

20. “Coming up Close” is a ‘Til Tuesday song set in Iowa. It is lovely. It ends with this:

Coming up close

Everything sounds like

Welcome home, come home

Come on home