SAN DIEGO — After developing a reputation for high-scoring games and crazy finishes, the Holiday Bowl finally produced the first shutout in its 32-year history Wednesday night.
It wasn’t close, either.
Zac Lee threw a 74-yard touchdown pass to Niles Paul in the third quarter to highlight No. 20 Nebraska’s 33-0 pounding of No. 22 Arizona.
The coaches expected a defensive game and the Cornhuskers delivered, earning their first shutout in 46 bowl appearances.
Nebraska defensive tackle Ndam-ukong Suh, the AP national player of the year and a Heisman Trophy finalist, had only three tackles, including one for a loss, in his final college game. But he helped the Huskers harass Arizona quarterback Nick Foles all game long. Suh even went out for a pass early in the third quarter on a second-and-4 play from Arizona’s 5-yard line, but Lee didn’t throw his way.
Suh had been on the bench for most of Arizona’s final drive but came back in for a goal-line stand, along with some other starters. The Wildcats had the ball fourth-and-3 at Nebraska’s 8-yard line with 1:41 to play before safety P.J. Smith batted down Foles’ pass to preserve the Huskers’ shutout.
“We wanted to fortify that we were the best team on the field,” Suh said. “That’s the way we’ve been playing all year. We’ve been getting better week in, week out, and we had one last chance to do it as a team in 2009. That’s why we wanted to shut them down and make them realize that they needed to respect us, because we didn’t think they wanted to respect us at the beginning of the game.”
Arizona set Holiday Bowl records for offensive futility, finishing with just six first downs, 109 total yards, 51 offensive plays and nine punts.
Nebraska (10-4) got its first 10-win season since 2003. Arizona finished 8-5.
“Nebraska’s back and we’re here to stay,” coach Bo Pelini said.
Arizona 0 0 0 0 — 0
Nebraska 10 13 10 0 — 33
First quarter: Neb — Lee 4 run (Henery kick), 13:45. Neb — FG Henery 47, 8:53. Second quarter: Neb — Burkhead 5 run (Henery kick), 11:57. Neb — FG Henery 50, 8:25. Neb — FG Henery 41, :35. Third quarter: Neb — FG Henery 22, 10:07. Neb — Paul 74 pass from Lee (Henery kick), 3:39. A — 64,607. Ari Neb
First downs 6 19
Rushes-yards 20-63 48-223
Passing 46 173
Comp.-att.-int. 10-31-1 13-25-0
Return yards (-1) 82
Punts-average 9-41.6 4-35.5
Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 2-25 7-55
Time of possession 21:48 38:12
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Arizona, Antolin 11-69, Grigsby 4-8, Scott 1-4, Criner 1-1, Foles 3-(minus 19). Nebraska, Burkhead 17-89, Lee 18-65, Paul 1-20, C. Green 5-18, Ward 2-14, Helu 3-8, Robinson 1-6, A. Jones 1-3.
PASSING — Arizona, Foles 6-20-1-28, Scott 4-11-0-18. Nebraska, Lee 13-23-0-173, C. Green 0-2-0-0.
RECEIVING — Arizona, Dean 3-24, Antolin 2-12, Criner 2-2, Grigsby 2-0, T. Turner 1-8. Nebraska, Paul 4-123, McNeill 3-19, Burkhead 2-14, Kinnie 2-12, Gilleylen 1-3, Brooks 1-2.
