Courtesy of Huskers.com
Arizona State’s Nick Foles takes a beating as DeJon Gomes, Pierre Allen and Jared Crick meet at the quarterback.

Nebraska 33
Arizona 0

Dec. 30, 2009 • 7:06 p.m. Central
Holiday Bowl • San Diego, CA • ESPN
1st 2nd 3rd 4th  F 
Arizona 0 0 0 0 0
Nebraska 10 13 10 0 33

Embed from Getty Images

1st quarter
NU: Zac Lee 4 run (Alex Henery kick) 13:45 
NU: Henery 47 field goal, 8:53
2nd quarter
NU: Rex Burkhead 5 run (Henery kick) 11:57
NU: Henery 50 field goal, 8:25
NU: Henery 41 field goal, 0:35
3rd quarter
NU: Henery 22 field goal, 10:07
NU: Niles Paul 74 pass from Lee (Henery kick) 3:39

                            UA        NU
FIRST DOWNS................. 6        19
  Rushing................... 3        11
  Passing................... 2         7
  Penalty................... 1         1
NET YARDS RUSHING.......... 63       223
  Rushing Attempts......... 20        48
NET YARDS PASSING.......... 46       173
  Comp-Att-Int........ 10-31-1   13-25-0
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS....... 109       396
  Total offense plays...... 51        73
Fumbles-Lost.............. 1-0       0-0
Penalties-Yards.......... 2-25      7-55
Punts-Average.......... 9-41.6    4-35.5
Punt Returns-Avg...... 1-(-1.0)   3-15.0
Kickoff Returns-Avg.... 7-21.1    1-49.0
Interceptions-Yds......... 0-0      1-37
Possession Time......... 21:48     38:12
  1st Quarter............ 6:19      8:41
  2nd Quarter............ 3:24     11:36
  3rd Quarter............ 4:58     10:02
  4th Quarter............ 7:07      7:53
Third-Down Conv. ........ 3/15      9/18
Fourth-Down Conv. ........ 1/2       0/0
Red-Zone Scores-Chances... 0-1       3-3
Sacks By-Yards............ 0-0      2-20

RUSHING
UA: K. Antolin 11-69; N. Grigsby 4-8; M. Scott 1-4; J. Criner 1-1; N. Foles 3-(-19)

NU: Rex Burkhead 17-89; Zac Lee 18-65; Niles Paul 1-20; Cody Green 5-18; Lester Ward 2-14; Roy Helu Jr. 3-8; Dontrayevous Robinson 1-6; Austin Jones 1-3

PASSING
UA: N. Foles, 6-20-1, 28 yds, 0 TDs; M. Scott 4-11-0, 18 yds, 0 TDs

NU: Zac Lee 13-23-0, 173 yds, 1 TD; Cody Green 0-2-0, 0 yds, 0 TD

RECEIVING
UA: D. Dean 3-24; K. Antolin 2-12; J. Criner 2-2; N. Grigsby 2-0; T. Turner 1-8

NU: Niles Paul 4-123; Mike McNeill 3-19; Rex Burkhead 2-14; Brandon Kinnie 2-12; Curenski Gilleylen 1-3; Chris Brooks 1-2

Attendance: 64,607

 

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Cornhuskers throttle ’Cats

Nebraska registered its first-ever bowl shutout with a 33-0 pasting of Arizona in the Holiday Bowl.

Led by All-American defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and Holiday Bowl Defensive MVP Matt O’Hanlon, Nebraska’s Blackshirts had a nearly perfect night. Arizona’s only serious scoring threat came on its final drive, when the Wildcats accounted for 72 of their 109 yards and three of their six first downs. P.J. Smith’s pass breakup on Arizona’s final play preserved the shutout.

O’Hanlon set the tone in the opening minute with an interception of a Nick Foles pass, returning it 37 yards to the Arizona 5. Husker quarterback Zac Lee scored two plays later on a four-yard run.

An efficient and balanced Husker offense finished with 396 total yards and 19 first downs, while Alex Henery and Niles Paul gave Nebraska huge advantages on special teams.

Henery went 4-for-4 on field goal attempts, including a 50-yarder, and three of his punts buried the Wildcats inside their own 15.

Paul, the game’s Offensive MVP, had a 49-yard kickoff return and averaged 15 yards on three punt returns to give the Huskers excellent field position throughout the game. The junior wide receiver added a 20-yard run and a 74-yard TD reception, the Huskers’ longest play from scrimmage this season. Paul finished with four receptions for 123 yards and accounted for 237 all-purpose yards.

Records set | Notes

Omaha World-Herald
Lincoln Journal Star
Arizona Daily Star*
S.D. Union-Tribune*
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Nebraska bowl history

2009 schedule
04/18 Reds 31, Whites 17
09/05 Florida Atlantic W 49-3
09/12 Arkansas St. W 38-9
09/19 @ Virginia Tech L 15-16
09/26 Louisiana W 55-0
10/08 @ Missouri W 27-12
10/17 Texas Tech L 10-31
10/24 Iowa St. L 7-9
10/31 @ Baylor W 20-10
11/07 Oklahoma W 10-3
11/14 @ Kansas W 31-17
11/21 Kansas St. W 17-3
11/27 @ Colorado W 28-20
12/05 Texas L 12-13
12/30 Arizona W 33-0
Courtesy of Huskers.com
Defensive MVP Matt O'Hanlon

Commentary

Stryker

If you’re a Husker fan who’s more than 30 years of age, you got the definite feeling that you’d seen something like this before, and you couldn’t stop smiling.

Tad Stryker
HuskerMax
Shatel

The Husker offense looked like, well, an offense.

Tom Shatel
Omaha World-Herald
McKewon

The Blackshirts evoked memories of those days of heaven, the mid-1990s.

Sam McKewon
Nebraska StatePaper
Sipple

The offseason just got much more pleasant for offensive coordinator Shawn Watson.

Steven M. Sipple
Lincoln Journal Star
Chatelain

The Huskers stored up three weeks of anger and dumped it on hapless Arizona.

Dirk Chatelain
Omaha World-Herald
York

The Huskers found … something they will need to make a serious run for a national championship in 2010 – some real, honest-to-goodness offensive swagger.

Randy York
Huskers.com
McKeever

Arizona’s hope of turning this thing into struggle-for-yardage slugfest was derailed in the early going thanks in large part to the creativity of NU offensive coordinator Shawn Watson.

Curt McKeever
Lincoln Journal Star
Hansen

The Holiday Bowl came off as a game between the Big 12 and the Little One.

Greg Hansen
Arizona Daily Star
Canepa

Hear tell Arizona spent upward of $30,000 on throwback white helmets. … White flags would have been much cheaper – and appropriate.

Nick Canepa
San Diego Union-Tribune
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