Arizona - Nebraska

Holiday Bowl December 30, 8:00pm San Diego, CA

Arizona (8-4) ____________ Pac10 __________ 236.36 ____ ___________YPG = 394 (110%) → +23% ____________PPG = 29.3 (124%) → +28% dYPG = 323.8 (85%) dPPG = 23.7 (86%) ____ Wk Opponent oPts Score 1 Central Michigan 257.98 W, 19-6 2 Northern Arizona -530.16 W, 34-17 3 Iowa 322.42 L, 17-27 4 Oregon St 189.28 W, 37-32 6 Washington 19.13 L, 33-36 7 Stanford 199.79 W, 43-38 8 UCLA 37.15 W, 27-13 10 Washington St -302.11 W, 48-7 11 California 176.17 L, 16-24 12 Oregon 385.85 L, 41-44 13 Arizona St -109.63 W, 20-17 14 USC 227.93 W, 21-17 0 X1234 XXX X,XX

Nebraska (9-4) ______________ Big12 __________ 177.80 ____ YPG = 324.5 (87%) PPG = 24.5 (96%) -11% ← dYPG = 276.4 (74%)__________ -45% ← dPPG = 11.2 (41%)__________ ____ Wk Opponent oPts Score 1 Florida Atl -101.06 W, 49-3 2 Arkansas St -183.23 W, 38-9 3 Virginia Tech 292.07 L, 15-16 4 LA-Lafayette -71.89 W, 55-0 6 Missouri 116.64 W, 27-12 7 Texas Tech 131.04 L, 10-31 8 Iowa St -19.16 L, 7-9 9 Baylor -105.91 W, 20-10 10 Oklahoma 102.05 W, 10-3 11 Kansas -89.35 W, 31-17 12 Kansas St -32.33 W, 17-3 13 Colorado -216.73 W, 28-20 14 Texas 487.27 L, 12-13

I don't want to make this one seem like a one-sided affair, but it's all about the Huskers here. The Wildcats are better than average on offense and defense, and can play with anyone. Nebraska on the other hand is pretty awful on offense and absolutely phenomenal on defense. If they play on each side of the ball like they have been, we could be in for a highly entertaining game. But if their offense finally gets going / defense has an off night, they could win / lose big.

Some good wins from both of them, the Cornhuskers over Missouri & Oklahoma, the Wildcats over Central Michigan, USC, Stanford, and Oregon State - advantage Arizona. A few bad losses too, to Iowa State and Washington, respectively. Will the Wildcats be intimidated? Probably not. Will they be patient and execute in the few chances they get? Maybe...

The Line: Arizona +3

The Call: Nebraska by 4

The Result: Nebraska 33-0

Damn. That was as dominant of a bowl performance as we've seen in a long time. It's hard not to wonder what the season would've looked like if the Husker offense had played like that on one or two possessions in the Texas, Iowa State, or Virginia Tech games. As uplifting as Idaho's win was a few hours earlier, this one has the potential to be extremely deflating for the Wildcats - it'll be interesting to see how they start 2010.