USCs Josh Shaw makes a diving attempt to bring down Ameer Abdullah in the fourth quarter.

South­ern Cal 45
Nebraska 42

Dec. 27, 2014 • 7:10 p.m. Central
Holiday Bowl • San Diego, CA • ESPN
1st2nd3rd4th F 
Nebraska17017842
South­ern Cal101421045
1st quarter
NEB: Brown 29 field goal, 11:05
USC: Jackson 98 kickoff return (Heidari kick) 10:54 
NEB: Bell 18 pass from Armstrong (Brown kick) 8:23
USC: Heidari 42 field goal, 6:05
NEB: Pierson-El 9 pass from Armstrong (Brown kick) 1:25
2nd quarter
USC: Agholor 17 pass from Kessler (Heidari kick) 13:11
USC: Allen 2 run (Heidari kick) 6:39
3rd quarter
USC: Jackson 71 pass from Kessler (Heidari kick) 12:01
NEB: Abdullah 20 run (Brown kick) 9:41
USC: Allen 44 run (Heidari kick) 8:06
NEB: Brown 25 field goal, 2:28
USC: Dixon 20 pass from Kessler (Heidari kick) 2:03
NEB: Westerkamp 65 pass from Armstromg (Brown kick) 0:24
4th quarter
NEB: Armstrong 15 run (Armstrong pass to Bell) 6:52
 
                          NEB      USC
FIRST DOWNS............... 28       22
  Rushing.................  9        9
  Passing................. 16       13
  Penalty.................  3        0
RUSHES-YARDS (NET).... 43-144   34-194
PASSING YDS (NET)........ 381      321
  Att-Comp-Int....... 51-32-1  39-23-1
TOTAL OFFENSE ........ 94-525   73-515
Fumble Returns-Yards..... 0-0      0-0
Punt Returns-Yards...... 2-24      1-6
Kickoff Returns-Yds.... 8-191    8-211
Int. Returns-Yds......... 1-0      1-0
Punts-Average......... 7-44.7   9-34.8
Fumbles-Lost............. 0-0      1-0
Penalties-Yards......... 7-45    12-97
Possession Time........ 34:26    25:34
Third-Down Conv. .... 7 of 20  3 of 14
Fourth-Down Conv. .... 1 of 3   1 of 1
Sacks By-Yards.......... 2-15     3-23

RUSHING
NEB: A.Abdullah 27-88; T.Armstrong 12-41; T.Newby 4-15. 

USC: J.Allen 26-152; J.Davis 4-45; N.Agholor 1-0; C.Kessler 3-minus 3.

PASSING
NEB: T.Armstrong 32-51-1-381
USC: C.Kessler 23-39-1-321.

RECEIVING
NEB: D.Pierson-El 8-102; K.Bell 7-71; A.Abdullah 6-61; B.Reilly 4-36; J.Westerkamp 3-81; C.Carter 2-25; T.Newby 2-5.

USC: N.Agholor 7-90; B.Dixon 4-44; A.Jackson 3-73; J.Smith 3-66; R.Telfer 2-18; D.Rogers 2-10; J.Allen 1-16; G.Farmer 1-4.

Attendance: 55,789


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Coverage

Stats & Recap
Complete Stats

Huskers come up short in high-scoring Holiday Bowl: Tommy Armstrong racked up 422 yards of total offense, but Nebraska came up short on its final two drives of the fourth quarter in a 45-42 loss to Southern California in the Holiday Bowl.

The Huskers drove near the USC 30 with three minutes left and faced 3rd-and-3. After a timeout, Armstrong’s short pass across the middle to De’Mornay Pierson-El was batted down by a USC defender to set up a fourth down. On fourth down, Pierson-El came up short on a solid defensive play by the Trojans.

Armstrong set Nebraska bowl records for yardage, completions and attempts, but his Hail Mary attempt on the game’s final play was batted to the ground to seal the USC victory.

Omaha World-Herald*
Lincoln Journal Star*
More Neb. sources
Opponent sources
Other sources
Photos/Audio/Video

Photos

• Lincoln Journal Star: 12

Audio

Video

• Full game: DVD | YouTube
2014 schedule
04/12Reds 55, Whites 46
08/30Florida AtlanticW 55-7
09/06McNeese St.W 31-24
09/13@ Fresno St.W 55-19
09/20MiamiW 41-31
09/27IllinoisW 45-14
10/04@ Michigan St.L 22-27
10/18@ NorthwesternW 38-17
10/25RutgersW 42-24
11/01PurdueW 35-14
11/15@ WisconsinL 24-59
11/22MinnesotaL 24-28
11/28@ IowaW 37-34
12/27@ USCL 42-45
Pregame links & info
Tommy Armstrong passes as USC's Claude Pelon closes in.

Commentary

Sipple

Nebraska didn’t lose this game for lack of effort or lack of heart.

Lincoln Journal Star
Shatel

Mostly, they went out swinging. Did you expect anything less?

Omaha World-Herald
Johnson

At least Nebraska can head into the Mike Riley era on a good foot.

Callahan

To mentally have this team prepared on Saturday says a lot about this coaching staff and the job they did.

HuskerOnline
Vogel

There is no bigger question facing Nebraska in 2015 than this one: Can the Huskers stop the run?

Hail Varsity
Stryker

In the end, the Blackshirts were gouged too often by the Southern Cal running game.

HuskerMax
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