Black Friday is when the Iowa-Nebraska football game will be played moving forward thanks to approval by the Big Ten Conference on Tuesday.
Both schools recommended that the game be played on the Friday after Thanksgiving for the foreseeable future and the league agreed with the decision. That means the originally scheduled date of Saturday, Nov. 30, 2013 has been moved to Friday, Nov. 29, 2013, this season.
The annual Hy-Vee Heroes Game also will be played on Black Friday (Nov. 28) in 2014 and beyond.
Although the start time and television information has not yet been released, the third installment of the Heroes Game will be played in Lincoln, Neb., this season. The Cornhuskers beat Iowa 20-7 in 2011 in Lincoln and then traveled to Iowa City last year and handed the Hawkeyes a 13-7 loss at Kinnick Stadium.
“We’re excited about playing our annual football game with Nebraska on the Friday after Thanksgiving for a number of reasons,” said Gary Barta, UI’s director of athletics. “This provides the student-athletes who have already lost the opportunity to spend the holiday at home with their families two days away from football. In addition, the Friday television window provides great exposure for our program. We greatly appreciate the adjustments in schedules that our fans, and those who help us stage the game in Iowa City every other year, will have to make.”
Nebraska holds a 28-12-3 advantage in the series. The teams have met just eight times since 1946.
Iowa and Nebraska met eight consecutive years (1891-98) on Thanksgiving Day, with those eight games played in either Omaha or Council Bluffs.
