How disrespect led Jay Higgins to win Iowa football over Nebraska

IOWA CITY — Jay Higgins has something to say. To be fair, he usually does. Higgins won the Golden Hammer last season, given to the Iowa football player who dealt with the local media in the most cooperative and professional manner, and for good reason.

But when Higgins arrives for his postgame meeting with the media on Black Friday, it feels different. His tone – and his urgency – are unusual for him.

Higgins gives an opening speech without being asked a single question. That’s something a coach might do, but unusual for a player, let alone after a game.

Higgins comes out firing.

As it turned out, the tone for Iowa’s eventual 13-10 victory over Nebraska was set before the opening game. Not that the Hawkeyes needed more motivation Friday — with Senior Day and a rivalry matchup already underway — but Nebraska provided it.

“We went out there, the captains went out there, we usually shake hands and wish everyone good luck,” Higgins said. “They didn’t extend their hands. So that was a bit strange.”

There is video evidence of this. Iowa game captains Higgins, Quinn Schulte, Luke Lachey and Logan Jones approached the Nebraska players with their hands outstretched just to get a handful of air. The Iowa players are slowly backing down.

“The moment he didn’t shake our hands, I knew we had won,” Higgins said.

According to Higgins, that wasn’t the only pre-game stunt.

“Our guys are warming up, doing our pregame and their head coach (Matt Rhule) has been going through the warmup,” Higgins said. “So we knew straight away what kind of game it was.”

Higgins has a tendency to take things personally. That’s how he got to this point in the first place. His only power conference offer out of high school was Iowa. In 2023 and 2024, he made a compelling case to win the Butkus Award for college football’s top linebacker, but wasn’t even named to the list of finalists.

Higgins even said this ahead of Friday’s game: “I enjoy putting my head down, being doubted and just getting to work. I felt very comfortable in that headspace. I kind of prefer it right now.”

More:Iowa football: Hawkeyes LB Jay Higgins’ nudge to Butkus Award fits right into underdog story

So in his final game at Kinnick Stadium, Higgins certainly wasn’t going to let Nebraska’s antics go unnoticed.

At this point in his postgame speech, fellow linebacker Nick Jackson also joined Higgins.

“Would you like some more tea?” Higgins asked Jackson, hinting at more drama.

“What more tea is there?” Jackson says. “Let’s get started.”

At the start of the game, Higgins claims Rhule went even further.

“We were standing on their sideline and I approached their head coach and said, ‘It probably wasn’t a good idea not to shake hands,'” Higgins said. “And he asks, ‘Who are you?'”

“How many tackles do I have?” Higgins now asks Jackson.

Jackson shrugs.

“Enough,” he says.

(Higgins had a game-high total of 12 tackles).

Asked after the game about the disrespect Nebraska showed, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said: “I heard a few things in the locker room, but I wasn’t out there. “So I didn’t see it and really can’t say anything about it. There are certain pre-game rules of conduct that most people follow, but again, I didn’t see them. To be honest, I’m not too worried about it.”

The first half was ugly from an Iowa perspective. The Hawkeyes’ offense managed just 20 total yards and one first down. Nebraska went into halftime up 10-0.

But Higgins was extremely…unperturbed.

“I thought Drew (Stevens) was going to hit a 50-yarder to win,” Higgins said. “That’s what I said to myself at halftime. But how good did they feel at halftime? They didn’t shake our hands, 10 more. I mean, they were probably in the locker room freaking out.”

After halftime, the game began to unravel for Nebraska. They missed a 34-yard field goal and botched a punt return shortly after, giving Iowa the ball inside the five-yard line. With the score 10-3 at the start of the fourth quarter, running back Kaleb Johnson made an almost superhuman play.

Johnson is a remarkable story in his own right. He burst onto the scene as a true freshman, played virtually no role for most of his sophomore season, and has since developed into one of the best running backs in the country.

He showed that in every way when he caught a pass from quarterback Jackson Stratton and turned what should have been a minimal gain into a 72-yard touchdown.

“All the ups and downs we’ve been through, it’s been worth it because it’s just so much fun to see him be confident and act like a football player, a real football player,” Ferentz said of Johnson.

The score remained tied at 10 with less than a minute remaining, at which point Iowa defensive lineman Max Llewellyn found Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola and delivered a strip sack.

17 seconds into the game, Drew Stevens entered the game.

It was something of a turning point for Stevens, who was on the bench for last season’s game against Nebraska. In an eerily similar scenario, it was favored walk-on Marshall Meeder who got ahead of Stevens and blasted his first kick of his Iowa career over the uprights, winning the game.

More:Leistikow’s 6 Thoughts After Iowa Football vs. Nebraska: A Redemption Story by Drew Stevens

“It sucks when there’s someone else out there doing your job,” Stevens said. “I’ll be honest. That sucks. Especially if you train with it all year round.”

Much like Higgins, Stevens had an inkling of how Friday would end.

“You know, the crazy thing is actually, people ask me, ‘Are you planning your celebrations?'” Stevens said. “And what we talked about in about the second quarter or so. Like dude, we should lead the team to the cup if we get it. And then Max (Llewellyn) basically takes the ball from Mahomes Jr. (Raiola) and off we go.”

Stevens’ game-winning 53-yard field goal capped a regular season that admittedly didn’t go as well as some had hoped. Iowa returned some key pieces from a 2023 team that won 10 regular-season games. However, that magic didn’t fully carry over to 2024 as the Hawkeyes showed drastic swings in play.

Iowa, which finished the regular season 8-4, didn’t solve all its problems by defeating a Nebraska team that was barely bowl-eligible.

But it is a demonstration of faith.

Both Stevens and Higgins believed Iowa would win the game when things weren’t going that way. Faith outside the walls of the Iowa facility isn’t always great. But games like this give reason to believe that the program’s resilience-based foundation is alive and well, no matter how flawed some parts of it may be.

Iowa, defeated an astonishing 334-164 on Friday, can win despite its shortcomings rather than let them define it.

Even in a season that fell short of expectations, Iowa can hang on into 2025 and beyond.

Higgins didn’t get his pregame handshake from Nebraska. But he made sure he got plenty after Iowa’s win.

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