Nebraska Cornhuskers vs Northwestern Wildcats, Saturday August 27th, Aviva Stadium, kick-off 5.30
What’s going on?
Nebraska and Northwestern University travel to Dublin to open up their respective college football seasons. Around16,000 American fans are expected to fly over for the game on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium, showing just how serious university-level sport is taken over there. The full game-day experience will be on show in Dublin, with cheerleaders, bands and pep rallies accompanying the on-pitch action.
Why are they here?
There has been a campaign to bring American Football to Dublin and ‘grow the game’ for some time now. Boston College played the Army at the old Lansdowne Road back in 1988, while Notre Dame made their first visit in 1996 when they played the Navy at Croke Park. The two sides met again in 2012 at the Aviva while Georgia Tech and Boston again came over in 2016. Covid paused the games temporarily but as well as Saturday’s fixture, Notre Dame and Navy will return in 2023.
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Diehard gridiron fans are hopeful that these games show the growing Irish appetite for the sport in Ireland, something that some think will lead to the NFL eventually bringing a game over here.
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Is it a friendly?
Absolutely not. Both teams are in the Western Division of college football’s Big Ten Conference; this is the season opener to boot so plenty is on the line come Saturday evening.
Who are they?
Northwestern University is based just north of Chicago. They are a founding member of the Big Ten and have eight conference titles to their name, albeit the last came in 2000.
Much has been made in the build-up to Saturday of their head coach’s Irish roots. Pat Fitzgerald, who played for the university and is now in his 17th year in the coach’s hot seat, has family ties to Nurner, Co Kildare.
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Nebraska are also in the Big Ten, and sit alongside Northwestern in the western division. They have a bit more of a storied history, having won five consensus national titles in their history. They have an 85,000 capacity stadium which they have sold out on a mammoth 382 consecutive occasions.
Their fans are keen, to say the least, and will make up the bulk of the travelling support. Anecdotally, there has been a lot more Nebraska red than Northwestern purple wandering around Dublin in recent days. The biggest marker of the numbers coming? Three different pubs have been designated as official meeting points for Nebraska fans, Northwestern have just the one.
Northwestern’s proximity to Chicago means their fans have plenty of professional sports franchises to take up their attention, but in Nebraska the college football team is by far and away the biggest show, not just in town, but in the entire state.
Are they any good?
This isn’t the top end of college football coming over. The country’s best team tends to come from the South East Conference – the likes of Alabama and Georgia. Neither Nebraska or Northwestern would be seen as the strongest team in their own conference, that title belonging to Ohio State.
Both Nebraska and Northwestern struggled last season, finishing with identical records of three wins and nine defeats. That said, it’s not like either side is made up of mugs. The Athletic ranks Nebraska as the 70th best college team ahead of the season, Northwestern coming in at 87. It may not sound like much, but you can imagine how many university teams there are.
Nebraska were largely seen as one of the better teams with losing records last year given every game they lost was by single digits. Their main storyline coming into this season is the new man they have at quarterback, the main position. Casey Thompson has transferred from the University of Texas and has plenty of pressure on his shoulders to turn around the team’s fortunes.
When these teams met last season, Nebraska handed out a 56-7 drubbing. The Cornhuskers are sitting pretty with the bookmakers as 14-point favourites for Saturday.
Can I watch?
There are still tickets available, the cheapest coming in at €60. Sadly, it doesn’t look like the game is being shown on Irish TV.
The festivities are not confined to just the game itself, though. On Friday afternoon both teams will host pep rallies at Merrion Square – think cheerleaders and marching bands, plenty of noise and a lot of colour. Northwestern’s event starts at 3pm, Nebraska’s at 4.30pm.
On Saturday, the infamous tradition of tailgating gets under way at midday. American stadiums tend to have behemoth car parks in their vicinity, making them the usual venue for the pre-game barbecues and beer drinking, but the Aviva Stadium has no comparable facility. Instead, the Temple Bar pubs will have to do.
Nebraska have told their fans to gather at Buskers Bar, ThunderRoad Cafe and The Auld Dubliner. The Northwestern cohort will be in Fitzsimons.
