Iowa, Creighton, Nebraska and Thanksgiving 2011 ...

We get ready to welcome Thanksgiving week this year. It is a little different, with the changes in the college football landscape.

As a child, Thanksgiving would always include a great family feast and a little NFL football on television. While in college, I had the opportunity to spend a Thanksgiving with one my classmate's family in Oklahoma City. We drove down to Dallas and attended the Cowboys game vs. St. Louis for the holiday.

Over the years, Thanksgivings in Nebraska have been popular. The big family feast on Turkey Day, then then the Nebraska-Oklahoma games, which later became the Nebraska-Colorado games on Black Friday. Now, there is a football game that involves both Iowa and Nebraska, with the first Heroes Game in Lincoln, kicking off, as the Cornhuskers joined the Hawkeyes in the Big Ten Conference this year.

Iowa vs. Nebraska in Big Ten football

On Sunday, my alma mater, Creighton (3-0) meets in Des Moines' Wells Fargo Arena for a men's college basketball game with Iowa (3-0). It is the fifth time, since my graduation that both teams have met. The last time both teams meet was in the first round of the 2001 NCAA Basketball Tournament. Iowa has played, since in the NCAAs.

Two of our children are enjoying a week off of school for Thanksgiving. Another one of our daughters is off to Colorado to visit an old high school classmate. We look forward to spending Thanksgiving with the entire family again this year.

It should be interesting on Black Friday with the big football game. It will be interesting seeing Iowa playing after Thanksgiving regularly now, with the new Big Ten Conference. It's old hat for Nebraska, but it will be interesting with them now in the Big Ten.