Iowa vs. Nebraska 2017 live stream: Time, TV channel, and how to watch online

The Nebraska Cornhuskers are having a very-bad, no-good 2017. On Friday, the Iowa Hawkeyes can end their western neighbor’s misery — and likely kick off a coaching search — by dispatching their Big Ten rival on the road. The two teams close out their regular seasons at 4 p.m. ET; the game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 (live stream).

Nebraska is guaranteed a losing record this fall, a spiral into mediocrity that could spell doom for head coach Mike Riley. Riley had the Huskers ranked as high as No. 7 last season, but he’s 6-11 in his last 17 games, including a vicious 40-10 defeat at the hands of the Hawkeyes. He’ll have the chance for some revenge Friday — but win or lose, it may be his last game on the sidelines in Lincoln.

Nebraska fired athletic director Shawn Eichorst. The school didn’t bother making up reasons related to the university’s vision or the athletic department’s long-term goals — it basically just said “We’re tired of not being awesome at football.”

Eichorst’s lone hire in a major sport came when he fired Bo Pelini and replaced him with Mike Riley. He seemed to make a mistake of scope by honing in on the guy who was most unlike the last guy, not the one who might have the highest ceiling:

The Huskers are 4-7 after getting disemboweled at Penn State on Saturday, 56-44. That doesn’t sound like a blowout, and on margin alone, it isn’t. But the score was 42-10 at halftime, so you get the idea.

Riley has now clinched a losing record to go on top of his 5-7 regular season in 2015, his first year. Last year’s nine-win campaign was fine, but Nebraska fired Bo Pelini when he averaged exactly that many wins. It’ll be the shock of the year if Riley is not fired shortly after the Huskers’ meaningless finale against Iowa, which the Huskers should lose.

The world of Iowa sports did get some good news Monday. It was announced earlier this afternoon that junior cornerback Josh Jackson is one of three finalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation’s most outstanding defensive back at the end of the season.

It was the third time this season the Hawkeyes have failed to log at least one pick in a game. Iowa lost the other two games -- against Northwestern and Michigan State -- as well. All three losses were by single-digits. The Hawkeyes had logged eight interceptions in the three games leading up to the Purdue loss. Iowa is 6-2 when they it gets an interception and 0-3 when it doesn’t.

The Hawkeyes burst into the College Football Playoff rankings on the virtue of a blowout home win over Ohio State but have sputtered since then. Wisconsin held the Iowa offense scoreless in the following game, then Purdue held the Hawkeyes in check to drop them to 6-5 on the season. If Kirk Ferentz’s team can’t turn things around Friday, it’ll head into bowl season with zero momentum.

The Huskers can’t get out of their own way on offense, and that’s led to embarrassing losses against Northern Illinois and Minnesota this fall. Factor in a slipshod defense that’s allowed 50-plus points in its last two games, and you’ve got the recipe for a Hawkeyes victory.