Nobody loves punts more than the Big Ten West and Friday’s college football game between Nebraska and Iowa was no exception. The sold-out crowd at Lincoln Memorial Stadium lost its collective mind over a gorgeous boot during the early portion of the fourth quarter.
There was a lot at stake during the Heroes Game. On one end, the Cornhuskers were one win away from a 10-win season. On the other end, the Cornhuskers were one win away from reaching bowl eligibility.
Both teams wanted to finish the year strong for similar reasons. Both teams have had extremely lackluster offenses throughout the majority of the season.
As a result, the sportsbooks set the Over/Under at 25.5 points — the lowest total in history. It was not low enough. Iowa and Nebraska broke Las Vegas.
Through the first three quarters of the game, the two teams combined for 11 punts and 20 points. They knotted things up at six punts a piece with just over 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Cornhuskers punter Brian Buschini landed beautiful kick at the one-yard-line, which sent the home fanbase into a frenzy. They unleashed the largest cheer of the entire game.
Meanwhile, somewhere amongst the excitable crowd, two fans in particular were beside themselves.
They were not rooting for either team. They were rooting for punts, as proudly displayed on their shirts.
Buschini’s performance was everything that the two fans could have hoped for and more. Their electric reaction to the pinned punt is what makes the Big Ten West so special— punts. So many punts.
Both teams ultimately combined for 14 total punts over 60 minutes.
To make the entire thing even funnier, Iowa ended up winning the game 13-10. Sportsbooks tried to prevent themselves from losing money on the ‘Under,’ as has been the case with most Iowa games over the last two or three weeks. They failed. The game went Under the historic 25.5-point total.