LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said his captains last week at Iowa did not handle the pre-game coin toss properly in choosing not to shake hands with the Hawkeyes.
Game captains Elliott Brown, Emmett Johnson, MJ Sherman and DeShon Singleton declined to extend their hands before kickoff for a traditional handshake with Iowa players. After the Hawkeyes beat the Huskers 13-10 on a last-second 53-yard field goal by Drew Stevens, Iowa linebacker Jay Higgins detailed the pre-game moment in interviews.
“I found out about it afterwards,” Rhule said Wednesday in remarks that opened his news conference to announce the Huskers’ recruiting class. “That’s not what we want to do. That’s not the right way to handle it.”
The second-year coach said the Nebraska players “felt some type of way” about Iowa’s decision to protect the logo at the 50-yard line from Huskers who typically hold a prayer at the middle of the field upon their arrival as visitors at a stadium.
Nebraska’s pregame prayer caused disturbance between the Huskers and the home teams when they played at Colorado in 2023 and at USC last month.
“Iowa didn’t want us to do it before the game,” Rhule said. “They told us we had to go to the end zone. When we came out to walk to the end zone, there were seven armed state troopers standing on the logo.”
The Huskers held their prayer in an end zone at Kinnick Stadium.
“They felt that,” Rhule said. “It wasn’t maybe channeled the right way. But we’ve got great guys. We’ve got great leadership. Not the right decision, not what we wanted. But I think when you watch that game, credit to both teams, between the lines, there were no unsportsmanlike fouls, no trash talking, no taunting.”
He said the Nebraska players would “learn” and “grow” from the experience.
“We’ll be better,” Rhule said. “We’ll make our guys understand that we’ll always shake everyone’s hand before we play and after we play, regardless of the score.”
Required reading
(Photo: Dylan Widger / Imagn Images)
