Pacific Life Holiday Bowl Preview: Nebraska vs. Arizona

The Pacific Life Holiday Bowl features 2 teams on the rise in college football. The once prominent Nebraska Cornhuskers have not been relevant in the college football arena in over a decade. However, they have slowly turned their program around, and are a couple of good recruiting classes from being back in the limelight. Since Mike Stoops took over the Arizona head coaching job, this team has risen up the Pac-10 hierarchy, and now find themselves in a position to compete with the top teams.

With each of these 2 programs back in the top 25 (Arizona 20th; Nebraska 22nd), a bowl victory here might be enough to propel these teams to the next level. Winning a fairly significant bowl game goes a long way in the recruiting process, and may help them land a big time prospect or 2.

The Arizona Wildcats had only 1 loss this season that was uncalled for. Losing to a bad Washington Huskies squad back in the middle of October was the only real slip up on their schedule. A lose to a solid Cal team hurt their chances to win the Pac-10 title, but they rebounded nicely as they took the then #11 Oregon Ducks down to the wire in a 44-41 lose. Arizona capped off a very good year with a win against USC in the Coliseum. Now they take on a Cornhuskers team that is in virtually the same position as both teams try to end the season on a positive note.

Nebraska had a very similar season as they too had one bad lose this season to Iowa St (also in mid-October). With key victories against Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Missouri, the Cornhuskers find themselves with a chance to break through next year. Beating the Wildcats in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl would certainly help their cause. A well balanced attack on offense and a stout defense has given Nebraska a new outlook for the future. Their defense had only allowed more than 20 points in 2 games this year, and will have much of their defensive unit back for the 2010 season.

This should be a compelling game as the Vegas oddsmakers posted the point spread as a pick em. Nebraska’s defense will have a tough task keeping the Wildcat offense from moving the ball on the ground as the two-headed attack of Antolin and Grigsby can be a force. Nebraska has their own stud in the backfield with Roy Helu Jr racking up big yards. Tune in Wednesday night as these 2 teams on the rise fight it out in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl.

Related posts:

1. Nebraska & Washington meet again in Holiday Bowl
2. 2011 Holiday Bowl Matchup
3. Oklahoma St meets Arizona in Alamo Bowl Showdown
4. Texas faces California in Holiday Bowl
5. Wisconsin takes on Nebraska in NEW Big-10 Rivalry

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