Photo of Murray Hill scenic overlook
Harrison County, IA
The Truth
The real story behind the largely fictional history
OUR MISSION
The Cornfrontation Historical Society is almost entirely fictional. While this site occasionally borrows real places, real events, and real historical figures, the stories, controversies, institutions, documents, rivalries, and “historical record” presented here are largely invented for entertainment.
Our mission is to create fun, fictional context around the rivalry between Nebraska and Iowa and to give two of the nicest fan bases in the country more material for good-natured debate, teasing, and family argument.
WHERE THIS STARTED
I grew up in both Wayne, Nebraska, and Chariton, Iowa, with extended family spread through the Missouri River Valley—especially around Harrison County, Iowa, and the neighboring communities of eastern Nebraska.
Most of that family still lives relatively close to one another. They are also divided, somewhat unevenly, between Iowa and Nebraska fans.
That has produced a lot of material.
The idea for the Cornfrontation traces back to the first Iowa–Nebraska football game after Nebraska joined the Big Ten. In the crowd, a Nebraska fan held up a sign with a wonderfully simple message:
IOWA HAS BAD CORN.
No statistics. No recruiting analysis. No conference history. Just corn.
It perfectly captured the kind of debate that had always existed within my own family—serious enough to argue about, ridiculous enough that nobody should actually be angry.
That became the foundation for the Cornfrontation.
Help Us Improve the Historical Record
The Cornfrontation Historical Society welcomes family stories, legends, photographs, rumors, questionable memories, and other alleged historical evidence for consideration by the Society.
They do not necessarily need to be true.
If your grandfather once settled an argument over corn quality at a county fair, we want to hear about it.
If your aunt maintains that an Iowa farmer secretly crossed the Missouri River in 1978 to obtain superior Nebraska seed corn, we probably want to hear about that too.
Good stories come from everywhere. We hope to build the Cornfrontation canon from contributions by families throughout Iowa, Nebraska, and beyond.
WHY THIS EXISTS
Debate has always been part of sports, families, and communities. At its best, rivalry gives us something harmless to argue about, laugh about, and bring up again at Thanksgiving.
Too often today, disagreement turns into something less enjoyable. People stop debating the subject and start attacking the person. Competition becomes contempt, and humor disappears.
The Cornfrontation is intended to operate by a different set of rules.
We absolutely intend to belittle the losing side. We simply intend to do it with enough humor that everyone still wants to come back next year.
If an Iowa fan can spend ten minutes explaining the obvious superiority of Iowa corn, a Nebraska fan can respond with equally questionable evidence, and both can still sit down for dinner afterward, then the Cornfrontation has accomplished something worthwhile.
The initial historical canon for the Confrontation Historical Society was a collaborative effort with my niece. Her support was instrumental to making this an interesting read. She is a freshman at the University of Iowa . . . but I won’t hold that against her.
A note on accuracy: The Cornfrontation Historical Society is a fictional project created for entertainment. Unless specifically identified as factual and sourced, historical documents, quotations, organizations, events, and accounts appearing on this site should be presumed fictional. Kornfrontation.com is not affiliated with or endorsed by the University of Iowa, the University of Nebraska, Iowa State University, their athletic departments, or their respective conferences.