Iowa football vs. Nebraska: Live score updates, highlights, analysis (Nov. 29, 2024)

IOWA CITY — Drew Stevens has redeemed himself against Nebraska.

A year after getting benched at halftime against the Huskers, Stevens kicked a 53-yard field goal as time expired to lift Iowa (8-4, 6-3 Big Ten) to a 13-10 win over Nebraska (6-6, 3-6).

Defensive lineman Max Llewellyn set up the game-winning opportunity with a strip-sack at the Nebraska 36 with 20 seconds remaining.

Stevens and Llewellyn were far from the only heroes in the Hawkeyes’ comeback win, however.

Iowa star running back Kaleb Johnson, in a season full of eye-popping plays, broke five tackles on a 72-yard catch-and-run that tied the game and swayed momentum toward the Hawkeyes on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Earlier in the second half, Iowa defensive back John Nestor recovered a muffed punt on the Nebraska 4-yard line. That turnover eventually set up a 20-yard Stevens field goal — Iowa’s first points of the game to cut the Nebraska lead to 10-3.

Iowa overcame an uninspiring first half offensively, as it amassed only 20 total yards before intermission. The Hawkeyes were averaging less than 1 yard per carry at that point, and quarterback Jackson Stratton was struggling as well.

(Stratton ended up going 8-of-15 for 115 yards, but 72 of those yards can be attributed to Johnson’s after-the-catch magic early in the fourth quarter.)

But Iowa’s defense did not give up any points in the second half, opening the door for the Hawkeyes’ second-half comeback.

Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola went 22-of-32 for 190 yards against Iowa’s secondary, which again was without starting defensive back Jermari Harris.

The Huskers also amassed 144 rushing yards, albeit at a not-super-efficient clip of 3.3 yards per carry. Emmett Johnson led the Huskers with 71 rushing yards.

It was the seventh consecutive Iowa-Nebraska game that was decided by one possession. Iowa has won all but one of those games.

With Friday’s win, the Hawkeyes have won at least eight games in each of the last nine full seasons (excluding the shortened 2020 season).

Stevens was benched against the Huskers last year after missing two field goals. Marshall Meeder provided the game-winning kick then after a Nebraska turnover.

Iowa will seek its ninth win of 2024 in its yet-to-be-announced bowl game. The Hawkeyes will learn their bowl fate — most projections point to the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa — on Dec. 8.

— John Steppe