Nebraska vs Northwestern Kicks Off in an Unexpected Exciting Destination

Dublin- College football is back in two different ways on August 27th when the season kicks off with the Nebraska Cornhuskers facing the Northwestern Wildcats in Dublin, Ireland.

College Football Down Under

The NCAA Division One football season kicks off outside America for the first time in five years. Northwestern and Nebraska’s showdown break’s a five-year drought of college football being played overseas.

The last overseas NCAA game was in Sydney, Australia, when the California Golden Bears defeated the Hawaii Warriors 51-31 in 2016.

 Despite the game being a blowout, fans lined up to view American football as 61,000 people were in the stands. It was a profitable experience for the venue as well, reporting that 70,000 cups of beer were sold per the Chicago Times.

The players embraced this opportunity as well, with one of the California players claiming Australia as “Bear Territory.”

Ireland’s High Hopes

While August 25th’s matchup is the first NCAA football game to be played in Ireland since 2016, it certainly will not be the last, according to John Anthony the founder of Anthony Travel and Irish American Events.

“We intend to kick off the season every year in Ireland,” Anthony stated per the Associated Press.

Nebraska versus Northwestern will be the first game in a five-year deal in a series called the Aer Lingus College Football Classic which will take place in Dublin every year. Notre Dame and Navy will play in next year’s opener at Aviva Stadium.

The Big 10 Travels Well

The Big 10 matchup will have a lot of viewers, with a plan of 35,000 fans in attendance. Despite the game being 3,600 miles away from both universities, 13,000 Big 10 fans will be in attendance to cheer their teams on. 

Both teams are excited to take the field as Northwestern Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald described it as a “once in a lifetime opportunity,” per the Associated Press.

The Cornhuskers certainly seemed excited as well as a recent social media post showed the members of the team taking pictures of Aviva Stadium.

This appears to be an even matchup headed into this game as both teams finished with a record of 3-9 last season.

New Faces

The Cornhuskers have two new faces commanding their offense this season.

The Cornhuskers offensive coordinator Mark Whipple is a new hire after orchestrating Pittsburgh University’s high-powered offense last season. After their previous quarterback Adrian Martinez transferred to Kansas State, Nebraska brought in Casey Thompson.

Thompson is a transfer from Texas University who has high expectations for the season.

Same Cast

While the Cornhuskers have fresh faces, the Wildcats are the exact opposite as they’re returning nine offensive starters from the previous season. The player looking to make the largest impact on the game for Northwestern is the star running back Evan Hull.

Hull had an incredible season last year rushing for over 1,000 yards.

Kickoff for this highly anticipated matchup is at 12:30 p.m. EST.