Iowa vs. Nebraska Football: First Half Open Thread

One last game thread for one last game. This season is -- mercifully -- almost over. Soon we'll be able to consign it to the dustbins of history and move on. But before we get to that point, there's still one more game to be played, one more opponent to take on. On paper, this game looks daunting and a result every bit as lopsided and awful as last weekend's bludgeoning at the hands of Michigan seems probable. And maybe that's exactly what will happen. Maybe tens of thousands of Nebraska fans will fill up Kinnick Stadium and cheer on Big Red and, at the end of the game, celebrate their Legends Division title and their impending trip to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship Game.

Or maybe Iowa can summon the spirit of the 2000 Northwestern game or the 2007 Illinois game or the 2011 Michigan game, games where Iowa teams that were, frankly, not very good pulled it together for sixty minutes at home and played better, smarter, faster, hungrier (and, to be sure, luckier) than their superior opponents. That's not the most likely outcome... but it's on the table. And to be clear: a win today isn't going to solve everything. Win or lose, Iowa's season will still be over after today. Iowa will still have seven losses on their resume, many by embarrassing, lopsided margins. There will still be several obvious holes in Iowa's team, several obvious flaws in our schemes that will need to be addressed in the off-season. But... it would be more tolerable, more pleasant, more plain fun if we could enter this off-season on the back of a win rather than a sixth straight loss. And if we could spoil Nebraska's Big Ten title hopes in the process? So much the better.

WHO: #17 Nebraska (9-2, 6-1 in B1G)

LINE: Nebraska -16

WHEN: 11am CT; Friday, November 23, 2012

WHERE: Kinnick Stadium; Iowa City, IA

TV: ABC

The usual rules apply: no links to illegal online streams, no porn, no religion, no slurs, no politics, etc.