Out of all the Big 10 opponents we have, Wisconsin is our only rivalry. The Iowa "rivalry" is a joke. Wisconsin at least has some heat with us.
Iowa is the state I drive to when I want to get cheap gas. They've been bros for far too long for a rivalry to ever even get started.
In the era of TV markets mattering more, Nebraska has to convince kids to come play for a state with snow in it. We don't have Tom Osborne running 4 practice squads of hopefuls and just picking the best out of each one because of his star power. If you want to be a star QB in the NFL you don't come through Nebraska either, so our offense will never be super hilariously OP.
This is a fanbase that still marks out when they see an option play run even though we botch if half the damn time because people still think of the good ol' days constantly. We're like, the only fanbase so spoiled that 9 win minimum seasons aren't good enough. We're always going to get shit on by the media and ESPN because we don't fondle them all the time, it's just the way it is. We get deranked for close wins. We have better consistent records than most of the SEC SEC SEC SEC, but they'll constantly be ranking off each other due to bias. We have to fucking hope that Wisconsin ranks up before we play them each year and the other division sends someone ranked to even smell the chance of the national title. It wouldn't even fucking matter if Nebraska had won out the past two years, we still wouldn't be going.
This got a bit ranty but at the end of the year what matters is the W and the L columns. Next year we play Wiscy at home and the players will be pumped up to kick their butt. Now we just need Wiscy to win out so they have a higher rank for us to boost off of. These losses are "embarassing" but this shit is week to week. So many fanbases dream of the sort of consistent records we have. If he needs to make staffing adjustments they'll come at the end of the season.
ps we also need to get the damn bluehairs to make noise at games all the time.